(no subject)
Basically this is something that has been in my head for awhile (namely since I finished Half Blood Prince, but it's not only to do with that, as much as the whole series) but I haven't had time to write it out. Since reading Underwater Light I have a lot of new thoughts that I hadn't thought before, and they need to be addressed, as well as some other things.
Firstly, I want to say that I love this series, I love these characters, and their world. I could get lost in it. Unlike so many other fandoms, I can loathe the canon terribly, and still adore the world and the people in it. I can't really explain that, but it's how it is. None of my other fandoms are so character driven, their plot driven. Both are good, obviously, but the characters in HP could rock in any plot they wanted to be in.
But here are some things I noticed ------
--- Slytherin is a terrible house. Each and every one of it's members is a potential Death Eater. Most of their families are already. Slytherin is full of naughty, nasty, mean spirited children who shouldn't be at Hogwarts in the first place. At least this is what we're led to believe. No one bothers to point out that Gryffindors can behave as badly, and as arrogantly, and have just as much disrespect for whatever rules are set in place. They can be just as judgemental and just as ready to hex a fellow student in a disagreement. We are led to believe that Draco is a bad person because he is smug and superior and arrogant and rebellious and mean. Because he bullies the other children, and jinxes people, and such as that. But if someone were to point out that fact that the same could be said of, oh, I don't know, James, Sirius, Ron, Ginny, the twins, and sometimes Harry, then what? Don't get me wrong here, I'm a Gryffindor. I adore all the characters I named (except Ginny). A lot of those "short-comings" are what I love about them, and I love Draco, too. But there it is.
--- I believe that this is because Gryffindor and Slytherin are two halves of a whole. They are different sides of a coin. Slytherin is every dark and selfish impulse that Gryffindor's surpress and hide from polite society. Because they are meant to be noble and heroic, but it's usually the heroes with the darkest dark side. This is why Harry could have done well in Slytherin, any Gryffindor probably could. The only difference between these two houses is choice.
--- No one ever stops to consider that maybe there is a legitimate reason to distrust muggles. Not to exterminate them, mind you, but the not like them, or want to go about associating with them. For this point, I'm going to pull a quote from Underwater Light:
"It's us or them. Just like it's always been. You believe all that history they feed us about the Burning Times, Potter? Cutesy little stories about Wendelin the Weird making the flames tickle? You think that's all there is to it? Those were times of fear. Muggles soon learnt that all you have to do is take a wizard's wand. Once they've done that, they can burn you, drown you or break every bone in your body, and thread your limbs through the spokes of a wheel. That's what they did, and that's what they would do now. This is a time of war, it's a time to be more careful, and I don't care if Muggle-lovers are running the show, it's not safe to let our secrets out!"
Malfoy's voice had slowly become more impassioned. His eyes were gleaming now, and he had stepped forward, closer to Harry.
Harry took a step backwards, startled by the force of Malfoy's words.
"You didn't have to use the Mudblood crack," he replied in low tones.
Malfoy leaned back against the wall, his voice chill again.
"I don't trust that kind of people," he returned. "Each one of them gives the Muggles more chance of learning about us and attacking us. Don't you know the kind of resentment a magical person could stir up in a family?"
I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak!
Harry crushed down Petunia Dursley's words into the back of his mind.
Also, even the "good" wizards, it's obvious, look down upon muggles and their ways. Sometimes the term is used in the negative. And even Arthur's "fascination" with them takes on the form of someone studying a lower lifeform.
--- I think that more than anything HBP proves that Draco is not evil. He simply isn't cut out for it. I've been saying for years that he would make a terrible Death Eater, and I've been proven correct, for now at least. I think that Draco is a messed up boy, with a messed up Father, and he tries to cover all of that by acting the way he does. It makes perfect sense. You can't blame him for Dumbledore, because the most evil Wizard that ever lived would have killed him and his entire family had he done anything different. He was clearly in distress about it.
--- All these years I've been waiting for this to pay off. I've been saying, "JKR can't really see things in black and white to that extent, she's gotta have something up her sleeve." But with the way she continues to portray Slytherin's (if they were all evil, why would that House be allowed to exist? Wouldn't it have been shut down?), and the way Snape turned out. She has such potential with this story, twists and turns, and such, and she has seemingly taken the easy way out of everything. Because every putting things in black and white like that proves the point of everyone who's ever said, "They're children's books!" Because, yeah, kid's books would have a predictable plot and one dimensional characters. I really hope she redeems herself in the seventh book. I'll love the characters either way.
Firstly, I want to say that I love this series, I love these characters, and their world. I could get lost in it. Unlike so many other fandoms, I can loathe the canon terribly, and still adore the world and the people in it. I can't really explain that, but it's how it is. None of my other fandoms are so character driven, their plot driven. Both are good, obviously, but the characters in HP could rock in any plot they wanted to be in.
But here are some things I noticed ------
--- Slytherin is a terrible house. Each and every one of it's members is a potential Death Eater. Most of their families are already. Slytherin is full of naughty, nasty, mean spirited children who shouldn't be at Hogwarts in the first place. At least this is what we're led to believe. No one bothers to point out that Gryffindors can behave as badly, and as arrogantly, and have just as much disrespect for whatever rules are set in place. They can be just as judgemental and just as ready to hex a fellow student in a disagreement. We are led to believe that Draco is a bad person because he is smug and superior and arrogant and rebellious and mean. Because he bullies the other children, and jinxes people, and such as that. But if someone were to point out that fact that the same could be said of, oh, I don't know, James, Sirius, Ron, Ginny, the twins, and sometimes Harry, then what? Don't get me wrong here, I'm a Gryffindor. I adore all the characters I named (except Ginny). A lot of those "short-comings" are what I love about them, and I love Draco, too. But there it is.
--- I believe that this is because Gryffindor and Slytherin are two halves of a whole. They are different sides of a coin. Slytherin is every dark and selfish impulse that Gryffindor's surpress and hide from polite society. Because they are meant to be noble and heroic, but it's usually the heroes with the darkest dark side. This is why Harry could have done well in Slytherin, any Gryffindor probably could. The only difference between these two houses is choice.
--- No one ever stops to consider that maybe there is a legitimate reason to distrust muggles. Not to exterminate them, mind you, but the not like them, or want to go about associating with them. For this point, I'm going to pull a quote from Underwater Light:
"It's us or them. Just like it's always been. You believe all that history they feed us about the Burning Times, Potter? Cutesy little stories about Wendelin the Weird making the flames tickle? You think that's all there is to it? Those were times of fear. Muggles soon learnt that all you have to do is take a wizard's wand. Once they've done that, they can burn you, drown you or break every bone in your body, and thread your limbs through the spokes of a wheel. That's what they did, and that's what they would do now. This is a time of war, it's a time to be more careful, and I don't care if Muggle-lovers are running the show, it's not safe to let our secrets out!"
Malfoy's voice had slowly become more impassioned. His eyes were gleaming now, and he had stepped forward, closer to Harry.
Harry took a step backwards, startled by the force of Malfoy's words.
"You didn't have to use the Mudblood crack," he replied in low tones.
Malfoy leaned back against the wall, his voice chill again.
"I don't trust that kind of people," he returned. "Each one of them gives the Muggles more chance of learning about us and attacking us. Don't you know the kind of resentment a magical person could stir up in a family?"
I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak!
Harry crushed down Petunia Dursley's words into the back of his mind.
Also, even the "good" wizards, it's obvious, look down upon muggles and their ways. Sometimes the term is used in the negative. And even Arthur's "fascination" with them takes on the form of someone studying a lower lifeform.
--- I think that more than anything HBP proves that Draco is not evil. He simply isn't cut out for it. I've been saying for years that he would make a terrible Death Eater, and I've been proven correct, for now at least. I think that Draco is a messed up boy, with a messed up Father, and he tries to cover all of that by acting the way he does. It makes perfect sense. You can't blame him for Dumbledore, because the most evil Wizard that ever lived would have killed him and his entire family had he done anything different. He was clearly in distress about it.
--- All these years I've been waiting for this to pay off. I've been saying, "JKR can't really see things in black and white to that extent, she's gotta have something up her sleeve." But with the way she continues to portray Slytherin's (if they were all evil, why would that House be allowed to exist? Wouldn't it have been shut down?), and the way Snape turned out. She has such potential with this story, twists and turns, and such, and she has seemingly taken the easy way out of everything. Because every putting things in black and white like that proves the point of everyone who's ever said, "They're children's books!" Because, yeah, kid's books would have a predictable plot and one dimensional characters. I really hope she redeems herself in the seventh book. I'll love the characters either way.