GoF Chapter Twenty-Two
Jul. 6th, 2007 09:53 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslock*Once they’ve changed one animal into another, can’t they just change it back again? They seem to go through animals like kleenex at this school. I shudder to think where they get them all.
*Professor McGonagall announces a ball. I see no reason to drag this out with a dance lesson, but we wouldn’t want to miss a chance for Steve Kloves’ trademark cliché wit.
*You’d think somebody would have taken the opportunity to get to know the exchange students outside of a forced dance, but no. The only real reason to talk to people from other schools is if you’re hooking up with them.
*I like Harry and Ron's wand fight. What will Hermione do when there's not some big problem for her to manage all the time? Ron and Harry will just enjoy doing stupid stuff together shooting the breeze. Hermione will have to spend her life creating problems just to have something to talk about.
*Harry’s never noticed how many girls Hogwarts held before. Up till now he could have sworn it was filled mostly with hot guys. He’s no doubt irritated that he has to stop ogling them long enough to ask a girl to the dance.
*That Draco Malfoy is some evil bully. I can see why people demand death for all his evil deeds.
*Cho is popular, but not in a good way. As opposed to Ginny and Lily, who are popular because people recognize their moral superiority.
*Another sign that Ginny is the good kind of popular is that she has no actual friends to annoy a guy.
*None of the girls who ask Harry would have wanted to go with him if he wasn’t school champion and so famous. What a shame he does not remember his true love, Ginny, who who wants him because he's the boy who lived and so famous. Huge difference there. Hey, at least those other girls like you for something you actually consciously remember doing.
*Btw, this really points out the problem with Harry’s fame coming and going. Why are girls only after him now?
*As was mentioned on the other re-read, Rita’s not a very good reporter. If she wanted a teacher to insult Harry it wouldn’t take much investigating to figure out that Snape’s your man, not Hagrid. I suspect Snape wouldn’t allow her to interview him, since he has a brain.
*Harry might’ve bent a few rules, bu’ Hagrid thinks ‘e’s all righ’ really, isn’ he? And that’s still true today. What’s a few Unforgivables and a flaying more or less?
*Kloves will thankfully be dragging out the Hagrid/Maxime thing, because we all care so fucking much about Hagrid.
*The Weird Sisters should have called themselves "The Cheap Way To Tell the Audience Dumbledore's Dance is Cool." Since we’ve never heard anyone care about music once in the whole series, it’s just fake. Being Muggleborn would be no excuse for not knowing who the number one musical group was in your school. Like there wouldn't be plenty of Ravenclaws and Slytherins who hated the Weird Sisters because they're too popular.
*Also, why is it a wireless? Do wizards even know what a wire is?
*As usual, Snape is the most useful teacher. Poison antidotes Harry. These might be helpful later.
*Boy, Harry really is like some kid out of a fable: "The boy who left important things until the last minute." Weeks of worrying about a dragon have just evaporated.
*Ron insists Harry’s earned a bit of a break. Why do I think this will be the story of Harry’s life when the series is over? Harry without Voldemort would probably not have moved from an armchair for the last four years, except for Quidditch.
*"Because George wants to invite him to the ball"--LOL!
*Okay, I see that since Hermione wants Ron to ask her she has good reason to be hurt when he announces he’s going after the prettiest girl he can find (not her), but she’s hardly one to pretend to not care about peoples’ looks. It is kind of ridiculous that neither boy considers asking Hermione or even asks her if she’s going. Way to make it make it clear you think she’s got no chance, guys.
*Cho doesn’t laugh at Harry when he asks to speak to her alone. That bitch.
*I think I’ve made my thoughts on this scene clear here..
*No, Ginny! Come back! Sadly, Ginny steps through the portrait hole, is plucked from the story by a giant authorial hand, and will never be seen again, replaced instead by the Worst Character Ever. Damn you, Harry! If you’d only had the taste to ask her to the ball we might have got to keep this Ginny!
*Maybe I’m remembering ninth grade wrong, but aren’t these girls acting a little babyish? And by a little babyish I mean a lot babyish? Like maybe because Rowling’s women are all this far from hideous caricatures? I wouldn’t have giggled at 14 if a boy asked me or my friend to a dance.
*Why is it, btw, that Harry and Ron don’t realize that Parvati and Padma are pretty? Dean says they’re the prettiest girls in their year. I realize that Harry is gay, of course, and that Ron is seriously doing his best to stay pre-adolescent on principle, but would a boy really not notice that these two are pretty, just in a general way?
*Harry ends the chapter with one last stunning display of idiocy, when he hopes Padma Patil’s nose is centered. Padma, the identical twin of the girl standing in front of him. Is Parvati’s nose centered Harry?
*It’s kind of a shame JKR couldn’t have given Ron something here. Since Harry is the one all the girls are throwing themselves at and the one who gets to be the big hero and the sports champion and the Tri-wizard champion, maybe throw Ron a bone and make him the one who knows about girls? Instead Harry is everything: he’s the one that’s popular, but then also gets to be the everyman who worries about getting a date, and then also gets to be the cool guy who gets a date for his friend. And even when Ron starts getting some action in HBP it's always portrayed as if he's the slow one.
Idiot Picture
So after weeks of worrying about the last task, Harry’s just going to wing it on the next one. Believable for his character, but that character is an idiot. It’s a good thing he’s the hero of a warrior society with that kind of sluggish brain. Poor Barty’s got his work cut out for him there. He may at some point be wondering if he ought to Polyjuice into Harry to get him through the contest. Why doesn't Harry just hand the egg to Hermione and tell her to figure it out?
Informed Attributes
Harry’s ordinary, or famous, or not. The informed attributes will change scene according to plot needs.
Misdirected Answering
As fascinating as all this talk of balls and schoolwork is, is anybody following up on this question of who put Harry’s name in the Goblet and why? Anyone?
One Radio Rule
Actually, it’s a no radio rule, which is why Harry has somehow never noticed that wizards have a pop culture until it’s suddenly created for a dance.
Final score: 3
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-06 03:07 pm (UTC)Could Rowling have given up her chance to write superdooper, kick-ass, feminist (but not in a hairy underarm way), compassionate dominatrix GinnyJOsue?
I suspect that Ginny always had this wild transformation in store. It was going to happen come hell or high water. I think hell happened first.
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Date: 2007-07-06 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-06 03:50 pm (UTC)LOL! I'll always remember the fic where they discover the real Ginny in fake!Moody's bag, and they're all, "how could we not have realised; they were nothing like each other!"
It’s kind of a shame JKR couldn’t have given Ron something here. Since Harry is the one all the girls are throwing themselves at and the one who gets to be the big hero and the sports champion and the Tri-wizard champion, maybe throw Ron a bone and make him the one who knows about girls? Instead Harry is everything: he’s the one that’s popular, but then also gets to be the everyman who worries about getting a date, and then also gets to be the cool guy who gets a date for his friend. And even when Ron starts getting some action in HBP it's always portrayed as if he's the slow one.
No kidding. Harry is always portrayed as incredibly behind on these matters, until HBP at least, but for some reason, Ron has to be made out to be even worse. I don't really get why that's necessary. Ron's generally behind on everything else, why this too? Not to mention that it would kind of fit his character to be a bit more interested, and thus successful.
Another sign that Ginny is the good kind of popular is that she has no actual friends to annoy a guy.
Oh but Ginny, too, is "too popular for her own good". Thankfully, she knows to drop every friend or potential other love interest, or for that matter, anything else she might care about, at the drop of a hat as soon as Harry snaps his fingers at her.
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Date: 2007-07-06 09:37 pm (UTC)Bwahaha! I had never heard that!
I agree it's believable Ron might have been more successful. He's a lot more approachable, I'd think.
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Date: 2007-07-14 02:36 am (UTC)... Wow, that's awesome. If this fic is real, can I please have the link? :D
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Date: 2007-07-06 04:04 pm (UTC)I've always been mildly surprised that Rowling missed a trick out of the Scheming Predatory Female Stereotypes Handbook and didn't have any Hogwarts girls cozying up to Ron here just to get close to Harry.
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Date: 2007-07-06 09:16 pm (UTC)I'm sure most of us, being women, would have done the same thing, though.
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Date: 2007-07-06 09:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-07 01:05 am (UTC)lover's spatquarrel.no subject
Date: 2007-07-06 05:25 pm (UTC)"I can't," said Ginny, and she went scarlet too. "I'm going with - with Neville. He asked me when Hermione said no, and I thought...well...I'm not going to be able to go otherwise, I'm not in fourth year." She looked extremely miserable. "I think I'll go and have dinner," she said, and she got up and walked off to the portrait hole, her head bowed."
That extrememly miserable look shows how compassionate and caring she is to actually 'take Neville to the ball' as her fans claim. Because when you go on a social outing, the more socially acceptable member of the party is always the host, regardless of who asked whom.
The fact is, Ginny was Neville's second choice. The whole 'she only didn't speak around Harry' argument that MeliSSa Anelli and her ilk like to preach is just bull, because she is not constantly around Harry. She could quite easily have made friends over the years, and built up her little male fanbase when Harry wasn't around. If her behavior was only limited to Harry's presence, she would've been asked out by now, or at least have a few, you know, friends.
I guess it's just easier to go with the flow than admit Rowling f***ed up, huh? :/
Okay, I see that since Hermione wants Ron to ask her she has good reason to be hurt when he announces he’s going after the prettiest girl he can find (not her), but she’s hardly one to pretend to not care about peoples’ looks. It is kind of ridiculous that neither boy considers asking Hermione or even asks her if she’s going. Way to make it make it clear you think she’s got no chance, guys.
Or maybe she could've done that incredibly radical and modern thing like asking him out? The only reason she asks him to the Slug party in HBP is because she's the invited guest that needs a plus-one, but they're both on equal footing here.
Kloves will thankfully be dragging out the Hagrid/Maxime thing, because we all care so fucking much about Hagrid.
For some reason this drags up the memory of an article where the reporter claimed he hated the way Robbie Coltrane's talent was wasted on such a stupid character. And he hadn't even met Grawp yet.
Why is it, btw, that Harry and Ron don’t realize that Parvati and Padma are pretty?
If they'd realised earlier then we wouldn't have got this fascinating chapter!
Btw, this really points out the problem with Harry’s fame coming and going. Why are girls only after him now?
Because dates only existed in the WW from this chapter onwards. They were just waiting for the author to write in a big lame school event that no normal teenager would actually go to.
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Date: 2007-07-06 06:18 pm (UTC)Except even then she doesn't really ask him out. They fight; she says she was going to ask him, but he wouldn't want to go anyway; he says he would like to go; they become awkward; something distracts them and then the party isn't brought up until to whole Ron/Lavender and Hermione/McLaggen thing. The word "Ron, would you like to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with me?" never leave Hermione's mouth. I'm pretty sure if Hermione had actually asked Ron out and they had a set date, he would have never gone for Lavender.
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Date: 2007-07-06 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-08 10:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-06 07:01 pm (UTC)That reminds me of an interview with Richard Griffiths when he told a reporter that he discussed all his ideas about Vernon Dursley with Rowling. He asked her if he could use one of his ideas and she flat out told him no. Griffiths never made a comment about her behavior but let it speak for itself. Rowling is such a control freak that even an actor playing one of her characters can't deviate.
Unless it is GinnyJoSue. She can go from wallflower to Hot Mama in the space of about 4 to 6 months AND everyone will act as if that was always the case. Puleeze.
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Date: 2007-07-06 08:17 pm (UTC)I understand not wanting the film company to make a mockery of her creation, but there really is no point in having the movies exactly the same as the books, and that includes characterisation. I like that WB are actually keeping Ginny as a relatively normal, shy girl with a crush and not turning her into Quidditch goddess extraordinaire.
I think Evanna Lynch is a sweetie, but it's obvious why Rowling likes her so much - she doesn't deviate from the Luna of the books, and doesn't want to either. This isn't so bad as Luna isn't the most obvious character you point to when asked 'which character could be written better?', but it shows such blatant favouritism towards certain cast members. Poor Bonnie barely gets a look-in when Rowling's on set.
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Date: 2007-07-06 09:24 pm (UTC)LOL, I could have told you EL'd be Rowling's favourite as soon as EL gave that cloying interview talking about how Rowling has a 'glowing aura' and 'magic in her soul.'
JKR's sort of like her characters, no amount of flattery is too much.
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Date: 2009-02-08 10:56 pm (UTC)I would love if Rowling insisted the other Ginny actress wasn't good enough and put in Lindsay Lohan or someone.
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Date: 2007-07-06 07:35 pm (UTC)Hee, yeah. The Yule Ball is both very similar to and very different from my high school dance experiences. All the embarrassments over dates is familiar to me (more familiar than I'd like), but where are the students complaining about the stupid dance (but secretly dying to go)? Where are the students making a big fuss that they're not allowed to dance however they want, i.e. practically having sex with their clothes on? Where are the kids whining about the music choices? The girls surveying and judging everyone's outfit? Where are the kids who smuggle the alcohol in and then end up drunk in the bathroom at the end of the night? And where are the after parties?
It's too bad - Harry missed out on all the fun parts of a school dance!
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Date: 2007-07-06 08:22 pm (UTC)The school dance thing has never been popular over here. I have to say I do envy American schools getting proms, because I'd have loved to have another thing to complain about with my friends, and another reason to look down on the popular kids. *sigh*
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Date: 2007-07-06 09:45 pm (UTC)I wouldn't mind that, actually--only the trouble with it is it implies Harry would have to slowly notice and warm up to her. So instead she has it both ways. Harry is indifferent to the first Ginny, but reacts more easily to her new personality. His feelings don't have to change, because she did.
The fact is, Ginny was Neville's second choice. The whole 'she only didn't speak around Harry' argument that MeliSSa Anelli and her ilk like to preach is just bull, because she is not constantly around Harry.
Of course--even if he's not looking at her there's plenty of places for us readers to see her. This scene is a great example--given who Ginny presumably already is, why would she go the ball with Neville? She would probably have been asked by other guys. Making her Neville's second choice nice-girl date, like it or not, *does* give us the wrong impression of who Ginny is--in the same way that her dating Michael Corner *and the way she tells us about it* gives us the "correct" idea in the next book.
Or maybe she could've done that incredibly radical and modern thing like asking him out? The only reason she asks him to the Slug party in HBP is because she's the invited guest that needs a plus-one, but they're both on equal footing here.
As was said below, I love that she never asks him, she just takes the invitation she was allegedly *going* to give him away as punishment. Throughout their relationship Ron's presented as the dumb one but really Hermione makes it impossible. She's constantly annoyed with him for not stepping up, but whenever he honestly makes a move towards her--and he moves towards her more than she does to him--she gets all annoyed again and freaks out. I know she's nervous too, but one can hardly blame Ron for thinking it's better to be with Lavender.
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Date: 2007-07-07 08:18 am (UTC)Not better, but easier - and thus wrong, because we know that you shouldn't go for what is easy, but what is right. That's why I still hold out hope for Harry NOT getting back to Ginny, because what could be easier than picking up a girl who does everything for you including a personality transplant?
no subject
Date: 2007-07-06 10:40 pm (UTC)Yeah, because she's too feminist to get off her self-righteous butt and ask him. Oh, I forgot. In Rowlingland, girls who make the first move with boys are fast-tail skanks (Lavender, Romilda, even Cho). And it's totally appropriate to call them "sluts". Someone on FAP once pointed that in the movie, Hermione had even more nerve expecting Ron to invite her to the dance, after she'd finished pointing and laughing at him when he got those ugly dress robes.
Oh yeah, and I love the double standard of Ron being painted as shallow and superficial for wanting pretty girls, while Harry gets a total pass for dating only the prettiest and most popular girls (Cho, Ginny), because he's The Chosen One, it's his due, and that's what a girl has to have to be "worthy" of him. (Notice that when Harry drops Cho, she has coincidentally lost all of her friends, except for Marietta. I'd even bet that in the unlikely event that Harry decides not to reunite with Ginny, she'll be back to hanging around Neville, Luna, and the Creevey brothers.)
no subject
Date: 2007-07-07 01:31 am (UTC)Nice! Honestly, the movies should just say out loud that movie cliches apply and as the main girl Hermione is entitled to be asked by everyone to the ball.
I'm sure Harry's never even noticed every one of his dates has been one of the prettiest girls in the school. Bwahahaha!
every one of his dates
Date: 2007-07-07 08:17 pm (UTC)Re: every one of his dates
Date: 2007-07-07 08:40 pm (UTC)Re: every one of his dates
Date: 2009-02-08 11:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-07 01:16 am (UTC)True, you'd think someone other than Ginny would have sent him a Valentine.
*Also, why is it a wireless? Do wizards even know what a wire is?
In British English, "wireless" is an older term for radio, presumably to distinguish it from the earlier telegraph and telephone. Not that wizards ever had these, but Rowling never saw a bit of alliteration that she didn't like.
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Date: 2007-07-07 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 03:04 pm (UTC)Harry's a bit like Jez in the BBC series Peep Show. Jez is a total loser, but he hangs around with Mark cos Mark's a slightly bigger loser and Jez can feel superior.
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Date: 2009-01-04 04:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-08 10:49 pm (UTC)Or in Harry's case, people from other genders. (Mothers, being asexual, do not count. Hermione should have realised this.)
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Date: 2009-02-08 11:18 pm (UTC)