death to capslock

Resolving the wrong story problem

2023-03-20T00:00:37Z

Posted by: sunnyskywalker

Film Crit Hulk’s essay “Black Widow and the Latent Last Act Blues” has some interesting thoughts about story beginnings and endings and how they work together to provide catharsis. (I haven’t yet seen Black Widow, but the essay makes sense anyway, so don’t worry if you haven’t either unless you care about spoilers.) He thinks the beginning of the movie is pretty great in isolation, but doesn’t properly set up the end, which makes the emotional resolutions at the end feel tacked-on and lackluster.

“that’s supposed to be the big lesson that’s at the heart of everything, right? And we genuinely do get the sentiment / fallout of it, but we’re still missing the most important thing that makes us care for it. Because there isn’t that first act thing where we experience the heartbreak of that along with them. […] ‘What is the thing they can do at the end of the movie that they couldn’t do at the beginning?’”

And this helped me crystalize one of my main problems with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now, there are a lot of problems with that book. The one I’m going to focus on here is Harry’s resigned march to his death. There are a lot of problems with this scene too — and I think one of them is that it wasn’t set up properly.

This is where one of the main themes of the whole series reaches its climax: that you have to accept death, not try to fight it forever. But…did Harry need to learn that lesson? ( Read more... )

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Is Dumbledore Death?

2016-07-18T17:30:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

There's a video on YouTube that postulates that Dumbledore might actually be the personification of Death itself. Here it is:

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So what do you think? Does this theory make sense, or not? Anyone have anything to add that might help it make complete sense?

Also, you'll be pleased to know that I have another project in the works! I'm not entirely sure when it will be ready, but I think you'll like it.

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 36

2015-08-30T22:23:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

LAST CHAPTER OF THE BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

( The end is nigh! )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 34

2015-08-29T22:34:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

Harry: S-so…this is it? I’m j-just supposed to go and die? No…it can’t be true. I must be dreaming. Somebody, please, tell me I’m dreaming!

( Read Chapter 34 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 32

2015-08-25T10:57:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

( Snape! *Sob* )

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Indestructible - Part III

2015-08-02T01:18:00Z

Posted by: condwiramurs.livejournal.com

Albus was a man who in certain ways passed the greater part of his own moral struggle and burdens onto Severus Snape, among others. He used the man, ruthlessly, as a mirror and a tool to shield himself from himself, from the full weight of the consequences of his own actions and errors.

His handling of one Tom Riddle, and refusal to be direct about addressing the problem because it would reveal his own complicity in creating it; his conduct as headmaster of Hogwarts and handling of the abuse Severus, among others, received there; the vilification of a quarter of the student population and adulation of another quarter that he encouraged, feeding into the war machine two streams of child victims, to be used by Tom and himself; his refusal to fully acknowledge and own up to the real errors of his that led to his sister’s death and what he needed to do in response, and his shunting-off of the echo of that work onto Severus Snape; his handling of the prophecy matter and the lives of his subordinates, which led in part to the deaths for which he held only Severus Snape (the only truly repentant one) fully responsible; his handling of the child delivered into his care, Harry, and the curse that marked him…

In so many ways the greatest difficulties of Severus’ life were created or driven in large part by Albus Dumbledore, and yet in response Albus offloaded all of the moral work and heavy lifting onto him. Betraying him, repeatedly.

Ultimately unto death, if we are to go with the straightforward reading of canon. (Hey! No body, no portrait - Severus lives! If you like to so believe.)

( Read more... )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 17

2015-07-14T23:58:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

[As Harry and Hermione turn to exit the graveyard, they spy an unknown figure in the distance]

( Read Chapter 17 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 16

2015-07-13T23:00:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

Harry: Oh, woe is me! Ron has disappeared and abandoned me! Me! The Chosen One!

Hermione: I’m ignoring you.

( Read Chapter 16 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 4

2015-06-26T17:58:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

( Read Chapter 4 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! HBP Chapter 30

2015-06-20T15:24:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

( THE LAST CHAPTER OF THE SECOND-TO-LAST BOOK!!! )

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Harry Potter Abridged! HBP Chapter 29

2015-06-19T21:27:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

( Read Chapter 29 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! HBP Chapter 28

2015-06-18T16:45:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

( Read Chapter 28 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! HBP Chapter 23

2015-06-13T18:17:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

( See Dumbledore show his nihilistic true colors! )

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Harry Potter Abridged! HBP Chapter 22

2015-06-12T23:33:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

( Read Chapter 22 )

( Bonus Scene )

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Ignotus and the Mirror: a Response to Terri_Testing and Jodel

2015-05-15T21:50:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

So I have a theory about Ignotus’s connection to the Mirror of Erised, inspired by the recent essay by Terri_Testing, and particularly one of Jodel’s comments. This theory assumes that at least some of the information in the legend of the three brothers is true, but doesn’t require that it be completely true (though it can be). Essentially, Ignotus built the Mirror in an (unsuccessful) attempt to communicate with his dead brothers.

( Read more... )

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Harry Potter Abridged! OotP Chapter 38

2015-04-23T23:15:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

The end of the fifth book!

( Read Chapter 38 )
*A/N: It’s funny he should say that considering Cho made him angry by mourning the death of Cedric in his presence earlier. So…it’s okay for Harry to be consumed by grief, but not Cho? Huh?

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Harry Potter Abridged! OotP Chapter 35

2015-03-10T21:26:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

( See Neville be a badass and a nod to classic "My Immortal!" )

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Harry Potter vs. Iron Maiden

2014-12-22T17:44:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

So since I've been traveling in England I've taken a liking to the English heavy-metal band Iron Maiden. Actually it's probably more accurate to say I've fallen head-over-heels in love with Iron Maiden and everything they stand for. If you've been paying attention, this is why I've begun to stick references to Iron Maiden in some of my Abridged entries. But the thing is, Iron Maiden's music, if you look closely, actually covers much of the same subject matter as the later Harry Potter books do. I think the difference is that Iron Maiden have always promoted themselves as a dark, dismal band, whereas Harry Potter started out as a fairly light-hearted children's series that could get dark and scary when it needed to, so while it makes sense for Iron Maiden to write a depressing song about life and death and choices, when Harry Potter brings up death it just feels...wrong.

( This got long. And a bit disjointed. )
So yeah. But above all I think it's interesting that so many artistic similarities between these two seemingly unrelated artists exist (even if they're not always used for the same purposes). I wonder if it's a cultural thing? I don't know how old JKR is but I do know that the band members of Iron Maiden were born in the mid-late 1950's, shortly after World War II. So...is it a British thing? Or a Brits-born-in-the-wake-of-world-wars thing? Or is it just coincidence?

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Deathly Hallows, Chapter 31: The Battle of Hogwarts

2014-05-11T19:54:00Z

Posted by: oneandthetruth.livejournal.com

In the Great Hall, McGonagall instructs the students about evacuating. When a Slytherin girl asks where Snape is, Minerva using the slang phrase, “done a bunk,” which causes all the houses except Slytherin to cheer. In other words we know the snakes are bad ‘uns because they like the Greasy One. Sorry. I don’t believe most of the non-Slytherin students either (1) hated Snape, or (2) blamed him for the way the school was run. That would require me to assume everybody in the wizarding world is as stupid and prejudiced as Harry and his allies. I’d be the stupid one if I believed that.

( Read more... )

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JKR and tears

2014-03-16T22:25:00Z

Posted by: cholovescedric.livejournal.com

Hi there everyone,

I used to be just ChoCedric, it has been a while since I've posted anything on this community, but I really needed to vent, and you guys are a great group of people to rant to, because I know you won't put me down, tell me that I'm just a big baby, or that my ideas are stupid.

I know I've said this on here before, but no matter how much time passes, I just can't seem to get over how JKR deals with emotion. It is often the case that when we are reading a book, we are told that it is good to think like the protagonist does, and it is definitely true in this case, what with JKR's comments about how the sun rises and sets on the saintlike Harry Potter.

As you all know by my username and by rants I've posted on this community before, this is particularly glaring to me in the example of Cho Chang. We are told to view her grief in a very negative light because a. she cries a lot, and b. she wants to know exactly what Cedric faced in his last moments. Because we, the readers, know what happened to him, we should just accept that others, those who knew and truly loved Cedric, don't need to have it explained to them. In the real world, if a teenage girl's boyfriend's corpse was dumped on a sports field with everyone ogling it and screaming, his blank, lifeless eyes staring into the sky, she would want to know why. And she'd hunt for answers, too. She wouldn't just wait until St. Albus Dumbledore the All-Knowing told her what had happened, and anyone who questioned St. Harry Potter, in the real world, would be considered reasonable people rather than evil incarnate.

I also honestly think that Rowling's whole issue with showing grief by crying is unfortunately something that many people in our society agree with, simply because of how Cho's behavior in OOtP was demonized by so many in the fandom. There are so many fans of Harry Potter that I talk to who say things like, "Oh, I couldn't stand Cho! She was such a bitch for crying all over poor Harry like that!" Those comments make me soooooo pissed! I think this is because so many in this day and age consider crying a weakness. God, could anything be more untrue? Granted, there's a time and a place to cry, but Cho was mainly doing it in bathrooms, and I think that's the perfect place! Yeah, maybe the outburst in Madame Puddifoot's was not quite the setting, but this was after months and months of her not knowing whether he'd suffered, whether he was in pain before he died, exactly what he'd been through. So I wholeheartedly understand why it happened.

When I mention that she and Cedric could have been very much in love (and I think this could definitely be the case, considering how lost and sad Cho was) I get rebuttals like, "But she's only a teenager! She doesn't even know what love is!" And that, too, is soooooo unbelievably untrue. I am 27 years old, and do you know how old I was when I dated my first serious boyfriend? I was 12! And we were very serious for many years. Believe me, if things hadn't worked out like they did, like the fact that he started drinking very heavily once he turned 21, and by heavily I mean so heavily that I was afraid he'd end up in hospital, I would be married to him today, if he'd continued to care for me as much as I cared for him, I loved him that much. He was everything to me. Even when our relationship started going to the dogs, I stuck it out for another 11 months because I wasn't ready to give up on him, I thought it was just a phase he was going through. And no, don't worry, he wasn't physically abusive. He just started getting very possessive and very jealous of who I hung out with, even if it was just with my sister, for Merlin's sake! But we'd had so much history together that I wasn't ready to let him go when things started to go downhill.

But that's enough about me. What I'm trying to say is that it's not unheard of for people who meet and fall in love very young to stay together. Granted, it's not unbelievably common, but it does happen. So the "you can't fall in love as a teenager!" thing just doesn't wash.

Please tell me any other thoughts you have on this! I know we've talked about this before, but do you guys agree that it's to do with the society we are growing up in that JKR considers tears really, really bad and seething, frothing rage really, really good? How do you think Harry would have reacted if Ginny's cold, lifeless body had been dropped in front of him?

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io9's AU ending idea for Deathly Hallows

2014-03-16T16:07:00Z

Posted by: sunnyskywalker

Good to know other people out there are also still analyzing the series and not finding the ending satisfying!

The Awesome Harry Potter ending JK Rowling didn't even know she had

The quick version for everyone who doesn't want to click through: a reasonable twist interpretation of "either must die at the hand of the other" is that in order to die, Harry or Voldemort must die at the hand of the other--that is, there isn't any other way for them to die. So by killing Voldemort, Harry loses any chance of ever dying himself and becomes forever The Boy Who Lived... which means that he sacrifices any chance of being reunited with his dead friends and family in the wizarding afterlife.

I have to say, this one hadn't occurred to me, but it's an interesting idea, assuming you could get the mechanics to work well enough not to distract from the drama. I'll have to give it some more thought. Immortal!Harry might be a little too terrifying an ending...

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Deathly Hallows, Chapter 24: The Wandmaker

2014-01-12T14:13:00Z

Posted by: oneandthetruth.livejournal.com

Harry seems to be suffering from PTSD at the beginning of this chapter: As he looks at Dobby’s body, he flashes back to kneeling beside Dumbledore’s body at the foot of the Astronomy Tower. That seems a little odd, given the differences in manner of death as well as size, color, and species of the corpses, not to mention that Dobby’s body has to be in much better shape than Dumbledore’s was. You’d think Harry would be reminded of Cedric’s body, since he was killed cleanly and left an intact corpse. But of course, Harry didn’t love Cedric the way he did Dobby and Dumbledore, so I guess that’s why he’s not associating them.

Harry calls for Dobby, “even though he knew that the elf had gone where he could not call him back.” Um, actually, you can, Harry; you just aren’t able to yet.

( Read more... )

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Death's own cloak

2013-12-17T20:22:00Z

Posted by: sunnyskywalker

The cloak has always seemed the odd Hallow out. It makes you invisible, but no more invisible than any other invisibility cloak. Dumbledore said vaguely that the cloak could "protect" anyone under it, but we see that you can easily be Petrified while under the cloak, and so presumably other curses won't have any trouble getting through either. Its only other special power seems to be not getting weaker over time. How can that measure up next to a super-powerful, semi-sapient want and a stone that (seemingly) lets you talk to dead people?

I finally realized that there's one power the cloak might well have, which would fit in seamlessly with everything JKR set up for it. It's just that the characters never had occasion to test it.( Read more... )

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Deathly Hallows, Chapter 5: Fallen Warrior

2013-03-20T22:06:00Z

Posted by: oneandthetruth.livejournal.com

Harry wakes up in the pond. Apparently it’s deep enough to keep him from getting killed on impact, but not deep enough to risk his drowning while he was unconscious. Since you can drown in 3 inches/6 cm of water, I’m not sure how this works.

( Read more... )

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Harry Potter and the Death Cult

2011-12-02T13:45:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

So recently I was reading this (actually really excellent) Pokemon fanfic, which appears to have been an attempt to iron out a rather confusing Pokedex entry. Basically, the fanfic revolves around the idea that a certain species of Pokemon has a custom that all young male members of the community must kill their own mothers as a rite of passage. Anyone who can’t do it is disgraced and treated as vermin for the rest of his life- failure to kill your own mother is considered a sign of despicable cowardice. The more I thought about this fic, the more I realized that there’s a similar parallel in Harry Potter- except that instead of the message being, “If you’re truly a real man and worthy of belonging, you’ll kill your own family on instruction,” it’s “If you’re truly brave, a true Gryffindor, you’ll kill yourself on instruction.”

( Read more... )

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