GoF Chapter Five
Mar. 9th, 2007 10:49 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
sistermagpie.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
deathtocapslockI figured out the mix-up from last week. I'd misnamed the original chapter number the firs time I did it.
*Reason #458 why I could never have written these books. I could never name anything Weasley Wizard Wheezes.
*Floo travel is a little violent—I’m surprised the Weasleys didn’t get concussions running up against that closed fire at the Dursleys.
*Percy and Ron are the long and lanky ones. In my head I see the twins that way too, but really they’re short and stocky.
*Actually, I can think of some words other than "cool" to describe Bill Weasley. "Looks like he stepped out of a music video from 1984" for instance. A fang earring? Try a little harder, Opie.
*Btw, isn’t it odd to hear Harry reference Muggle rock concerts to describe Bill? He’s so not a Muggle.
*I hardly think Arthur is the right person to decide what good Wizard-Muggle relations are. But then, I’m a Muggle. He’ll just memory charm me until I feel our relations are good.
*Mrs. Weasley is plump, not dumpy. (References CoS chapter 5, the trolley witch is also plump--see a pattern? Good maternal=plump.)
*Phew—nice to see Arthur was still planning to not tell on the twins to Molly. Sure he wants to rant about how the toffee single-handedly ruined his great strides in Muggle/Wizard relations, but he wouldn’t want to cause trouble for himself at home. What the little woman doesn’t know won’t hurt her.
*Ginny at this point still has a crush on Harry, "since his first visit to the burrow." Uh, actually she had a crush on him from his first minute because he’s a celebrity; it’s not like he did anything to earn this crush. Not that this will ever be held against Ginny the way it’s commonly held against anyone else.
*Despite Ginny’s having a crush on Harry, she can, of course, talk perfectly well in front of him by now. It is she who tells Harry what Weasley Wizard Wheezes is and about Molly’s problem with the shop. I miss Ginny’s real personality already.
*Ths twins’ stuff is actually dangerous, according to Ron, the sensible member of the family.
*Could the narrative voice make it more clear I should think Percy’s a jerk? I think that’s why Ron gets to put him down so that he turns pink. Bad people always leave themselves open to put-downs and are incapable of hiding how much they are hurt by them.
*Ginny continues to talk just fine, telling us Ron calls the owl Pig "because he’s being stupid" and "its proper name is Pigwidgeon." Ginny named the owl because she thought the name was "sweet." I’m surprised her second personality didn’t start calling the owl "Thunderball" in OotP and insist that was always his name.
*Ginny also only looks "curiously" from Harry to Ron when Ron almost mentions Sirius in front of her. Doesn’t Ginny already know about Sirius from eavesdropping or some other girlpower!activity? Isn’t this her cue to sassily mock Ron for his attempts at subterfuge? Oh right, this is the Ginny I like.
*Percy is very focused on his job and works till all hours. I can see why Arthur can so confidently tell him he couldn’t possibly have earned a promotion honestly. Why would anyone value hard work?
*People made a big deal out of Dudley’s "Who’s Cedric, your boyfriend?" line in OotP, so perhaps we should add Ron’s "[Percy and Mr. Crouch] will be announcing their engagement any day now" to the "lines frought with homoerotic meaning" list. I expect 12 inches on how this line totally justifies all instances of homophobic!Ron in fanon by Tuesday from each of you.
*There’s no room for 11 people in the house? The Burrow seems surprisingly unsuited to the number of people in the family. They only have 2 guests, and they can do magic.
*Also, Ron and Ginny and Percy all have their own rooms, normally? Pretty good for a family that size!
*I really would go insane living in the Weasley house. Even Bill and Charlie think creating a lot of noise and breaking something is the highest form of humor, especially if you can annoy somebody who’s working while you’re doing it.
*Okay, narrative voice, I GET that I’m supposed to find Percy an ass for the pride he takes in his work. THANK YOU.
*Of course, the twins can take pride in their work but their work is destructive and fun so it’s okay.
*Btw, are we supposed to associate Percy with ambition (since he’s been described as such) and the twins with lacking ambition (because Molly says they are)? Because the twins are probably the most ambitious of the family. I just kind of feel like we really are supposed to see their ambition as being something else because ambition=Slytherin.
*You know, I’d love to see the twins actually running their business because can’t you see them being totally strict with employees because everything has to be done right and done their way and they’re only used to working with each other where they agree on everything and understand each other? Like Harry, I doubt they’d like anybody breaking their own rules, no matter how loose they are with other peoples' rules.
*Percy mentions that Ludo Bagman is not doing his share as the head of Magical Sports and Games. But Arthur likes Ludo because his brother misuses Muggle artefacts and he bribes Arthur to cover it up. WTF? And seriously, based on Percy’s "dismissively" allowing that Ludo is likeable I really do think we’re supposed to see someone’s being likeable (which in this case means basically irresponsible) as a good reason to make them head of a government department, even if they misplace department members. Frankly, I’m surprised Percy isn’t scolding Arthur about those tickets. Or does Percy just not get that Arthur’s taking tickets for smoothing over a crime should get him fired? Because that’s beyond just looking the other way while Arthur takes paperclips.
*Well, even if Ludo is slacking off on the administrative stuff, at least he’s on top of bribing people with tickets.
*Ginny continues to display a personality without annoying the hell out of me. COME HOME GINNY!
*Btw, Harry plays Seeker at school and owns the best racing broom in the world. And now, back to our story…
*Let’s just pretend that sending someone feces in the mail is not generally considered the emotionally disturbed’s way of expressing rage and hatred.
*Just for fun, let’s go through Percy’s adverbs for this chapter. Leaving aside the few times he speaks without one, he speaks: smugly, heatedly, peevishly, pompously, dismissively, and sanctimoniously. He goes pink once, and red in the face once. It’s just funny, to me, that Percy’s over-enthusiasm about his job isn’t taken more kindly by his family. If we’re not ultimately expected to see Percy’s pov and have sympathy for him, I will just have to assume I live in another dimension from the intended audience.
Designated Hero
Um, care to repeat how you got those tickets, Arthur? I couldn’t hear you over Harry laughing at the Muggle-baiting.
Informed Attributes
Yes, fellow-Muggles, we really are supposed to see Arthur as our champion. Percy’s the bad government employee for being interested in safety regulations. Arthur’s the good one for taking bribes.
"Watermelon, watermelon, Where’s Bertha Jorkins? cantaloupe, cantaloupe"
Final score: 3
*Reason #458 why I could never have written these books. I could never name anything Weasley Wizard Wheezes.
*Floo travel is a little violent—I’m surprised the Weasleys didn’t get concussions running up against that closed fire at the Dursleys.
*Percy and Ron are the long and lanky ones. In my head I see the twins that way too, but really they’re short and stocky.
*Actually, I can think of some words other than "cool" to describe Bill Weasley. "Looks like he stepped out of a music video from 1984" for instance. A fang earring? Try a little harder, Opie.
*Btw, isn’t it odd to hear Harry reference Muggle rock concerts to describe Bill? He’s so not a Muggle.
*I hardly think Arthur is the right person to decide what good Wizard-Muggle relations are. But then, I’m a Muggle. He’ll just memory charm me until I feel our relations are good.
*Mrs. Weasley is plump, not dumpy. (References CoS chapter 5, the trolley witch is also plump--see a pattern? Good maternal=plump.)
*Phew—nice to see Arthur was still planning to not tell on the twins to Molly. Sure he wants to rant about how the toffee single-handedly ruined his great strides in Muggle/Wizard relations, but he wouldn’t want to cause trouble for himself at home. What the little woman doesn’t know won’t hurt her.
*Ginny at this point still has a crush on Harry, "since his first visit to the burrow." Uh, actually she had a crush on him from his first minute because he’s a celebrity; it’s not like he did anything to earn this crush. Not that this will ever be held against Ginny the way it’s commonly held against anyone else.
*Despite Ginny’s having a crush on Harry, she can, of course, talk perfectly well in front of him by now. It is she who tells Harry what Weasley Wizard Wheezes is and about Molly’s problem with the shop. I miss Ginny’s real personality already.
*Ths twins’ stuff is actually dangerous, according to Ron, the sensible member of the family.
*Could the narrative voice make it more clear I should think Percy’s a jerk? I think that’s why Ron gets to put him down so that he turns pink. Bad people always leave themselves open to put-downs and are incapable of hiding how much they are hurt by them.
*Ginny continues to talk just fine, telling us Ron calls the owl Pig "because he’s being stupid" and "its proper name is Pigwidgeon." Ginny named the owl because she thought the name was "sweet." I’m surprised her second personality didn’t start calling the owl "Thunderball" in OotP and insist that was always his name.
*Ginny also only looks "curiously" from Harry to Ron when Ron almost mentions Sirius in front of her. Doesn’t Ginny already know about Sirius from eavesdropping or some other girlpower!activity? Isn’t this her cue to sassily mock Ron for his attempts at subterfuge? Oh right, this is the Ginny I like.
*Percy is very focused on his job and works till all hours. I can see why Arthur can so confidently tell him he couldn’t possibly have earned a promotion honestly. Why would anyone value hard work?
*People made a big deal out of Dudley’s "Who’s Cedric, your boyfriend?" line in OotP, so perhaps we should add Ron’s "[Percy and Mr. Crouch] will be announcing their engagement any day now" to the "lines frought with homoerotic meaning" list. I expect 12 inches on how this line totally justifies all instances of homophobic!Ron in fanon by Tuesday from each of you.
*There’s no room for 11 people in the house? The Burrow seems surprisingly unsuited to the number of people in the family. They only have 2 guests, and they can do magic.
*Also, Ron and Ginny and Percy all have their own rooms, normally? Pretty good for a family that size!
*I really would go insane living in the Weasley house. Even Bill and Charlie think creating a lot of noise and breaking something is the highest form of humor, especially if you can annoy somebody who’s working while you’re doing it.
*Okay, narrative voice, I GET that I’m supposed to find Percy an ass for the pride he takes in his work. THANK YOU.
*Of course, the twins can take pride in their work but their work is destructive and fun so it’s okay.
*Btw, are we supposed to associate Percy with ambition (since he’s been described as such) and the twins with lacking ambition (because Molly says they are)? Because the twins are probably the most ambitious of the family. I just kind of feel like we really are supposed to see their ambition as being something else because ambition=Slytherin.
*You know, I’d love to see the twins actually running their business because can’t you see them being totally strict with employees because everything has to be done right and done their way and they’re only used to working with each other where they agree on everything and understand each other? Like Harry, I doubt they’d like anybody breaking their own rules, no matter how loose they are with other peoples' rules.
*Percy mentions that Ludo Bagman is not doing his share as the head of Magical Sports and Games. But Arthur likes Ludo because his brother misuses Muggle artefacts and he bribes Arthur to cover it up. WTF? And seriously, based on Percy’s "dismissively" allowing that Ludo is likeable I really do think we’re supposed to see someone’s being likeable (which in this case means basically irresponsible) as a good reason to make them head of a government department, even if they misplace department members. Frankly, I’m surprised Percy isn’t scolding Arthur about those tickets. Or does Percy just not get that Arthur’s taking tickets for smoothing over a crime should get him fired? Because that’s beyond just looking the other way while Arthur takes paperclips.
*Well, even if Ludo is slacking off on the administrative stuff, at least he’s on top of bribing people with tickets.
*Ginny continues to display a personality without annoying the hell out of me. COME HOME GINNY!
*Btw, Harry plays Seeker at school and owns the best racing broom in the world. And now, back to our story…
*Let’s just pretend that sending someone feces in the mail is not generally considered the emotionally disturbed’s way of expressing rage and hatred.
*Just for fun, let’s go through Percy’s adverbs for this chapter. Leaving aside the few times he speaks without one, he speaks: smugly, heatedly, peevishly, pompously, dismissively, and sanctimoniously. He goes pink once, and red in the face once. It’s just funny, to me, that Percy’s over-enthusiasm about his job isn’t taken more kindly by his family. If we’re not ultimately expected to see Percy’s pov and have sympathy for him, I will just have to assume I live in another dimension from the intended audience.
Designated Hero
Um, care to repeat how you got those tickets, Arthur? I couldn’t hear you over Harry laughing at the Muggle-baiting.
Informed Attributes
Yes, fellow-Muggles, we really are supposed to see Arthur as our champion. Percy’s the bad government employee for being interested in safety regulations. Arthur’s the good one for taking bribes.
"Watermelon, watermelon, Where’s Bertha Jorkins? cantaloupe, cantaloupe"
Final score: 3
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-09 04:44 pm (UTC)Damn Percy. How dare he not uphold the Weasely tradition of failing honorably. Evil, its a sign of pure evil in Percy.
*You know, I’d love to see the twins actually running their business because can’t you see them being totally strict with employees because everything has to be done right and done their way and they’re only used to working with each other where they agree on everything and understand each other? Like Harry, I doubt they’d like anybody breaking their own rules, no matter how loose they are with other peoples' rules.
I would never want to work for the Twins. They are probably control freaks and screech over the slightest problems.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-09 06:13 pm (UTC)Maybe the twins' and Ginny's unecessarily violent actions in the name of humour are symptoms of short-man syndrome? (Gets imagine of Curly from 'Of Mice and Men' with red hair)
Or maybe the twins are compensating for something other than height...;)
Okay, narrative voice, I GET that I’m supposed to find Percy an ass for the pride he takes in his work. THANK YOU.
If Percy doesn't get his own back in TDH I will finally do what I threatened to do with HBP and give the book to a charity store.
Dun dun DUN!Ginny continues to display a personality without annoying the hell out of me. COME HOME GINNY!
*Pastes pictures of Ginny-one to milk cartons*
I really do think JKR has a lot of insecurities about her characters. She takes it personally that people liked Ron better than Harry and Hermione and dumbed him down from PoA onwards. Who's to say she didn't Sueify Ginny because she feared people wouldn't accept her as the LI because they were already invested in Hermione?
no subject
Date: 2007-03-09 07:30 pm (UTC)The problem is she shoots herself in the foot doing this. It's like a 14 year old Sue writer who got their creation criticised and then goes 'Well, how about if I give them a tragic past? And a snazzy hat? Will you like them more then?' No, the problem isn't that they're not special enough, it's that they're too special already.
IMHO, if people prefer Ron to Harry and Hermione, it might be because his flaws are acknowledged in the text and realistically affect his life (and also because what's JKR's definition of a flaw can sometimes be a value - Ron lacks the viciousness of H/Hr, which JKR might be seeing as her showing his cowardice or incompetence) so giving him more flaws and making Harry and Hermione more perfect in comparison is just encouraging the Ron fans, and creating sympathy for him among the people who are ambivalent.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 01:44 am (UTC)Her characterisation really does show all the signs of an inexperienced writer with no one to tell them that what they're doing is wrong. Any decent editor would be able to tell her that she fluffed up Ginny by giving her three different personalities or that Ron was getting more stupid by the page count. But no doubt her TWO editors are a little dazzled by the pound signs to read the books properly.
I really liked Ron in PS and CoS - after PoA he annoyed me, and I couldn't understand why. It's things like DTCL which look at the books from the view of a fan critic rather than a fan brat that really help me understand my changing opinions with some aspects of the books. Go anywhere like Mugglenet or the Leaky Cauldron and all you get is Rowling-is-a-goddess-worhsip-her!!!
'Well, how about if I give them a tragic past? And a snazzy hat? Will you like them more then?' No, the problem isn't that they're not special enough, it's that they're too special already.
This actually reminds me of one of the parts of the series I always hated - right after the first dementor encounter on the train, Harry passes out and is frothing at something that happened before his memory had properly developed, and yet the girl who experienced harrowing possession the year before is merely 'white and shaking'. I often critisise Ginny-sue in my comments but Harry-Stu came first and I'll never forget how annoyed I was when I first read that.
IMHO, if people prefer Ron to Harry and Hermione, it might be because his flaws are acknowledged in the text and realistically affect his life
And because he gets almost no credit for anything he DOES do right, simply because he's not the hero. It's like when people worship the lead singer and ignore the guitarists.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 01:15 pm (UTC)ITA. DTCL has also helped me to actually like Ron from time to time.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 01:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 06:19 pm (UTC)But author intent and all that -- JKR has to know that she can't actually control what a reader perceives as valuable and likeable in a character. I mean, I love Hermione because she's complex but I'm also wary as all get out when it comes to her because I think she has the personality to be a dictator. Sometimes reading her, especially in OotP, all I can think of is --- Hello Robespierre! Long live the republic of virtue! And then there's Harry, who goes into really gray territory morally speaking and then somehow comes out smelling like a rose, completely exonerated by the narrative voice.
With Ron, I like the tension. I *like* that he's not content with being a clown. I *like* that his natural tendencies can run toward selfish self-indulgence but he manages to hold back and be generous most of the times. I *like* that he's a coward and braver than I would ever be at once. And I don't think that's what Rowling wants me to like nor do I think she can erase it without making the character completely unrecognizable.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-09 06:49 pm (UTC)Girl, it’s spring break. The only twelve inches I’m going to be doing… :: bursts out laughing, cackles as she points to a dirty, dirty horse play she knows of::
*I really would go insane living in the Weasley house. Even Bill and Charlie think creating a lot of noise and breaking something is the highest form of humor, especially if you can annoy somebody who’s working while you’re doing it.
And you wonder why Draco calls them heathens. This strangely reminded me of when it said that he did a cruel but accurate impersonation of Colin taking a picture of Harry. He’s cruel, yet he’s good at what he does. I’d love to read this series again in Draco’s POV.
*But Arthur likes Ludo because his brother misuses Muggle artefacts and he bribes Arthur to cover it up. WTF?
Right, next book I totally voted for the snake, especially when I had to endure the Weasley family for several chapters and shit. Percy, I’ll help you pack your bags. BTW, where did Percy go, exactly? We never get mention of him and I wonder how he took Barty Crouch’s death? I like to imagine that lives in a quiet flat, sipping Earl Grey and just glad to be out of the cave and in regular society. Extra points if he has a thank you letter from Severus Snape for his campaigning for thicker-bottomed cauldrons! (hey, Snape needs to be doing something now that’s he not teaching and anyone who had Neville can appreciate Percy’s efforts.)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 04:01 am (UTC)*Draco!love*
Or hey, what about Percy's? Oooh.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-09 07:00 pm (UTC)*ships Percy/Draco*
no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 04:23 am (UTC)PS: http://www.osmond-riba.org/lis/fanfic/PercyMalfoyList.htm
no subject
Date: 2007-03-09 09:36 pm (UTC)And he's so never been to a rock concert.
*Mrs. Weasley is plump, not dumpy. (References CoS chapter 5, the trolley witch is also plump--see a pattern? Good maternal=plump.)
That is to say, of course, fat only not. Fat would be evil.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 04:23 am (UTC)Yeah, but I can imagine Dursley going on a tirade about those hooligans after a news segment. And that's where Harry's opinions were really formed...
no subject
Date: 2007-03-10 12:55 am (UTC)No, I'd say its more complicated than that term.
Siren is the better word. An untrustworthy woman out for her own satisfaction.
Fleur can be included.
We also have Romilda Vane but she was ridiculous enough to show her card hand and make her desires obvious.
Hmmmm, I wonder if Rowling is a Robert Greene groupie?