Ramblings on OotP
I'm re-reading OotP at the moment and, as always with the Potter books, noticing new things. Anyway, I don't have anyone to share these ideas with, so I'm going to inflict them on my f-list.
I've just been reading Chapter 12 - Professor Umbridge.
Thought No. 1:
While Trelawney is a complete charlatan and a very irritating woman, there actually isn' ( Read more... )
I've just been reading Chapter 12 - Professor Umbridge.
Thought No. 1:
While Trelawney is a complete charlatan and a very irritating woman, there actually isn' ( Read more... )
She doesn't really understand magic, I don't think, how to use it in a practical and inventive way, to make it your own and use it how you want (see how quickly she goes to pot when faced with original thinkers like Fred and George), it's all about rote learning.
I think you're right. Umbridge, as a bureaucrat and politician, probably has no need to use magic in anything more than a very mundane, everyday way, as a labour saving device almost. And this ties in with my comments above in the response to Gilpin's reply about her not really having the experience to teach DADA. Remus, on the other hand, very much has this creativity - he was a Marauder, and its easy to draw comparisons between the Marauders and Fred and George - and thus I think his confidence in his practical skills very much comes across in his teaching.
their teaching methods say a lot about their characters
Yes, and this is true for all the teachers I think. Partly because we see everything in the books from Harry's POV, and most of Harry's contact with the staff is in lessons, but also partly because teaching style does reveal a lot about character. For instance, we can deduce that Snape is probably pretty insecure due to the fact that he feels the need to belittle and humiliate his pupils. From this point of view I think it would be great to know what Dumbledore was like as a teacher.
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Of course the fact that the only bit of invention we see from her is something specificallyd esigned to harm children also says a lot about her character....
A fic about what Dumbledore was like as a teacher would be a great read. I bet he'd be a bit like Remus and Professor Flitwick - all about energy and enthusiasm for his subject, as excited to be teaching as his pupils are to be taught.
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Dunno, I'd always rather assumed it was something that already existed, but either way, it doesn't exactly show her in a good light.
A fic about what Dumbledore was like as a teacher would be a great read.
Are you volunteering? ;)
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No ;). Quite apart from my three WIPs, this morning I had a plotbunny for a fic inspired by the new OoTP posters, where Sirius doesn't die and in fact lives out his days as a bad white rapper, using his mistaken inprisonment as material. Just because I want to read him coming into the Grimmauld kitchen and saying to Remus: "S'up, homeboy?"
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ROTFL Oh yes! I can just see Remus' face - kind of suprised with confused blinking, and then he'd say something very polite and proper like, "Pardon?".
It could work - he has enough gold to afford all that bling, but the prison stay would afford him some kudos in rapper circles.
I can just see him doing an Ali G! "Is it 'cos I is a Black?". (Although that could come out a bit elfish if he's not careful.)
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I imagined Remus not even glancing up from his newspaper and saying, 'for the last time, Padfoot - '
'It's P-foot, how many times..?'
' - I am not, nor ever will be, your homeboy.'
'You're in my home, aren't you?' Remus sighs. 'And you're a boy?'
'The last time I looked but - '
'Well then you're my homeboy. I mean chill out, M-man.'
Remus rolls his eyes and goes back to his newspaper. 'Seriously, P-foot,' he says, 'don't I already have enough nicknames? And you'll have your eye out on that pimp cane, one of these days...'
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"I'll stop 'dissing' you, as soon as you snap out of this mid-life crisis. Put the kettle on would you."
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'Tea? I don't drink tea. I'm all about the Chrystal, man.'
'So it wasn't you I saw curled up in the library last night with a mug of Horlicks, then?'
'I swear to God if you tell anyone - I'll - I'll -'
'Pop a cap in my ass, is I believe the phrase you're fumbling for, Padfoot.'
The stuff really writes itself.
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The stuff really writes itself.
It does. Its a little worrying how fast I can come up with silly nonsense. If only medicinal chemistry came this easily...
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