Rowling's Pottermore Notes
I'm not a member of Pottermore, so I'm glad that some bloggers have been collecting Rowling's notes from the site. The notes don't have that many surprises, but a few things did jump out at me.
( Spoilers Ahead, Obviously )
( Spoilers Ahead, Obviously )
Oh, and how James would make fun of Vernon to his face, but it's all cool, because later he'd feel slightly guilty. (Story of James' life - mocking the inferior, then demonstrating his superiority with mild flashes of conscience.)
Also interesting that apparently McGonagall was married at one point, but kept her own name being 'something of a feminist' - Rowling wading into new waters...?
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Oh, and how James would make fun of Vernon to his face, but it's all cool, because later he'd feel slightly guilty. (Story of James' life - mocking the inferior, then demonstrating his superiority with mild flashes of conscience.)
But he's not superior enough to actually apologize because that would mean acknowledging it's not okay if a Gryffindor does it.
I love the way James is supposed to be so brave, but he completely lacks the moral courage to ever admit he's wrong. Unlike that other guy Lily hung out with--uh, what was his name again? You know, the greasy sleazeball?
Apparently this site should have been called, "For JKR Ass-Kissers Only." But I guess that would have been too long a name, not to mention the naughty language involved. ; )
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Honestly, Rowling has been touting her books as "feminist" literature for as long as they've been around. And then she goes and makes every female character play second fiddle to a male one, and the most powerful women in the series antagonists!
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I know she did that body image rant (the one 'for girls' about how females are responsible for each other's poor body image, and how 'well-adjusted' males are baffled at the depths of viciousness to which we'll sink...) and the closest she'd get to mentioning feminism was of course, the more negative term - she doesn't like 'Stupid Girls'.
Like, she obviously really did want to express that women should be more confident about their variety of shapes, and more concerned with personality over appearance, but being who she is, she couldn't express it without making it about men's opinions being the foremost issues, and how useless Hollywood (female, of course) celebrities are in comparison.
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Oh, and how James would make fun of Vernon to his face, but it's all cool, because later he'd feel slightly guilty. (Story of James' life - mocking the inferior, then demonstrating his superiority with mild flashes of conscience.)"
I read Petunia's story. It reads like a segment from a children's storybook, the way it keeps beating you over the head with the idea that Petunia mistrusts magic and wants to associate only with people who don't do magic.
Incidentally, it talks about Petunia not believing that witches and wizards can cross water. Was that ever in the books? Because I don't remember seeing that anywhere.
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I'd missed that when I skimmed the note earlier. It's not mentioned in the books, but kaskait had a theory a few years ago that suggested that this was why the Dursleys had hid themselves on the island. Actually I like her explanation better than JKR's.
I hate how contemptuous JKR is of the Dursleys.
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