Five Things Fic(s)

[gyzym]

I'd just like to put it out there that purple_chalk made me do this, and I blame her.

Title: Five Times Draco Malfoy Was Pushed Into a Pool
Rating: PG-13

Comments

[woldy]

Eh, I'm not sure how much the overall population percentages in a country tell you about the representation by a given author, especially when the percentages may mask big differences in religiosity (in general, Americans are a lot more religious than Brits when measured by regular temple attendance etc). I remember leaving a comment in a HP fic last year where I objected to major Christian religious themes that hadn't been warned for, and the American author had the cheek to reply saying that since 'we' lived in a Christian culture s/he took that stuff for granted & didn't think it needed warning for. I replied to the effect of 'who the hell is we? This is a big, diverse fandom!'

I grew up in an area near London that is very Jewish (we got stuff through the door in Hebrew) and had a lot of Jewish friends, so my impression is that there are lots of Jews in the UK but that they are concentrated in a few urban areas (not surprisingly, these tend to be areas with kosher food and synagogues - I was shocked when I heard that a lot of Jews in North America walk to the synagogue). My guess, if I was going to guess, is that Jo has just personally never lived anywhere with lots of Jews and/or doesn't have many Jewish friends.

[gyzym]

Jews in North America totally walk to synagogue! But, generally speaking, only the Orthodox ones. And only in certain places; it's a mixed bag over here too. I grew up in a verrrry Jewish area, but go to college in a very rural one. Consequently, I am the first Jew most of my friends have ever met, and get all manner of really unusual questions (up to and including "Do you guys still do animal sacrifice?" and "Wait, Jews don't believe in Jesus?")

I mention the population thing only because I think the low number made it easier for her, or her publishers, to avoid considering it. Small number of Jews, smaller number of magical families and/or Muggleborn wizards, easy to just assume/claim to assume they don't overlap. No?

[woldy]

Ooops, I meant I'm shocked that so many people don't walk - stupid typing errors is what I get for playing about on LJ late at night, my apologies. My best friend grew up in the suburbs of Toronto & claims that everyone drove to their Orthodox synagogue, although they stopped going there after his dad was scandalized by the Rabbi closing a curtain (which seems hilariously hypocritical to me, but what do I know). Maybe low population density and/or cold weather in some areas requires these sort of compromises :-/.

Wow, those are astonishing questions. How does these people manage to get into college? *sigh*

Jo is famously bad at numbers (e.g. saying there are 1000 or 600 Hogwarts students, even though extrapolating from Harry's year suggests there are 280 at most given that not all the later year students return), so I doubt that the population percentages came into her thinking. I don't know how many named Hogwarts students there are, but my guess would be fewer than a hundred, so the difference between 0.5% of the population being Jewish v 2.1% wouldn't be all that evident given a small sample size (i.e. if Hogwarts is representative then per 100 students 0.5% rounds up to one Jewish student, whereas 2.1% rounds down to 2 Jewish students). Your point about the influence of the publisher is interesting, though - I hadn't considered whether they influenced the composition of the student body but they might well have done, especially since the students are named during the first few books when her writing was still being properly edited. *is thoughtful*