McGonagall and Umbridge

[merrymelody]

McGonagall - described by both the narrative and many fans (adella711 and I both recently took polls reflecting this, so even 'subversive' readers such as slashers seem to agree) as the fairest teacher at Hogwarts.
Umbridge - loathed by text and audience alike.
But are they so different?

Comments

[merrymelody]

I don't hate McGonagall or anything (she stopped Moody in the ferret scene, so she has my eternal admiration for that at least), but I do get sick of the 'McGonagall is the fairest teacher in the school because she's willing to take points off her house!'
Well yeah, but she or Albus will just add them on again, so way to prove a point there!
*slow handclap*
Kind of parallels Molly and Arthur in the Good Cop/Bad Cop dynamic, wherein the women nag, and the boys ignore them in favour of good old Arthur and Albus who feed them sweeties and don't insist on boring old rules.

Sometimes, I think the only remotely fair teacher in the whole institution is Binns, given that he can't even remember his students' names. That's...a depressing thought.

Indeed. Maya once made a point, I think, of noting that despite the Gryffindor students attitude of 'You don't pay attention in class? You deserve to get attacked', no-one pays attention in Binn's class (I think the exact quote was 'Binns slash Harry's arm for not paying attention, why dontcha?' ;)
As for the fairest teacher, I always liked Filch, despite him being 'faculty' as opposed to an actual teacher (much like Hagrid should be >:) - equal opportunity hating!

"Unless my memory deceives me (wouldn't be the first time) she also made a disparaging remark towards him about not showing the other wizarding schools his lack of magical skills in GoF."

Ooh, thanks. (Unfortunately neither Marysia nor Willowsevern, the online canon sources; have a McGonagall database, so I was forced to use Search and Replace, and got bored after PoA...;)
I'm not a huge Neville fan myself, but you'd think she'd learn from Pettigrew not to misjudge people - from little acorns grow large oaks and all that...
(Much like you'd think Albus would have learnt from Tom Riddle, or Severus Snape, or...*trails off into ranting hysteria and is led quietly away*)

[t0ra_chan]

but I do get sick of the 'McGonagall is the fairest teacher in the school because she's willing to take points off her house!'
Then Percy must be the fairest prefect since he also took points from Harry and Ron in CoS. And as far as I know they cannot give points. And still he is the most disliked Weasley in fandom. Yeah, how dare he do what his mother wants from him or sticking to the rules. He is also the only Weasley child who openly worries about his siblings. He was the only one who noticed that something was wrong with Ginny in CoS and ran immediately up to Ron into the lake after the second task. And still people think his behavior is justification for the twins to bully him all the time. *sighs*

[sistermagpie]

This is what frustrates me sometimes...when I like or dislike a character I'm really interested to know why. I'm not saying I'm always completely honest with myself, but I really do want to know what I'm reacting to and what that says about me. So it's frustrating when people throw out these easy things like, "I like McGonnogal because she's fair!" or "I hate Draco because I hate bullies and racists!" without really looking at the character or being honest. Mostly you're just sort of complimenting yourself--I'm a great person in that I love fairness and am not racist or a bully. It's fine to like McGonnogal but come on, are you sure it's because she's so fair? Or is it because she obviously likes your guys better and gives them brooms? Do you hate the twins? Because you can't pretend you just hate bullies and like the twins. Similarly, do you despise, say, Scarlet O'Hara? Because Malfoy's "racism" is pretty far removed from our own world, so much that the parallel might not even work, and it's really not his defining characteristic. Honestly, how much does he *do* in canon that's racially motivated? Very little. So maybe look a little closer to figure out what it really is that he does that you hate and why. It's probably not that he offends your liberal sensibilities.

Don't the twins even once criticize Percy for his suspected fairness? Like they think he, like Crouch, would judge family members strictly to make sure he was being fair? Fairness really only ever gets celebrated in this book when the good guys profit from it. If things are weighted to their side then the hell with fairness. I mean, that line about, "Wish McGonnogal favored us," doesn't have to be accurate. Perhaps the Slytherins would say, "Wish Snape favored us," everytime he comes down hard on one of them. The rest of the school would still say he favored them.

[merrymelody]

I loathe the twins. They don't seem to have much of the loyalty they're so quick to criticise Percy for lacking.
(To be fair, they can't really win with me: if they only picked on Slytherins and enemies, I'd call them bullies, but then I criticise them for also picking on their family and the other Gryffindors...Ah well, JKR's biased, why shouldn't I be? ;)
I do hate the whole 'But the twins are funny! They're only joking!' excuses.
So it's alright for Draco to make those Potterstinks badges, or laugh at Harry and the Weasley's parents? Since people laughed with him?
Likewise, Dudley could be seen as 'just teasing' Harry. He's just being 'brotherly'! 'That's what family do, tease each other!'
Really? I have one sister, so we perhaps wouldn't understand the physical roughness of boys, but we've certainly fought viciously over the years, and yet somehow neither of us have say, sent excrement through the post or tried to lock someone in an enclosed space like the twins. (Seriously, do I have a sense of humour failure here? I laughed at the 'Gred and Forge' line as much as anyone, but sending someone shit?
Creeps the hell out of me.
It reminds me of the Ever So Earnest dramas we used to have to watch in school about (oh, the cycles!) racism, wherein the Asian families in areas where they were minorities would get dog crap through their letterboxes...)
People who think the twins are funny often aren't amused by say, the Slytherins or the Dursleys humour. I wouldn't particularly laugh at any of them, but I'd say they're all equally mean-spirited. I think we mentioned this before, but for instance, the Slytherins laughing at Umbridge or Snape's jokes is 'sycophantic', but the Gryffindors all "roaring with laughter" over Hagrid calling Draco a 'ferret' is just them being normal children with a sense of humour, or as lexin put it: "not priggish."
(Really, is 'ferret' somehow wittier than calling someone a 'buffoon'?)

Honestly, how much does he *do* in canon that's racially motivated? Very little. So maybe look a little closer to figure out what it really is that he does that you hate and why. It's probably not that he offends your liberal sensibilities.

Don't the twins even once criticize Percy for his suspected fairness? Like they think he, like Crouch, would judge family members strictly to make sure he was being fair?

I think I must be missing the entire point of the Crouch scandal, but what was he supposed to do? Let his son off because he was family? Iirc, the kid was a DeathEater!
I doubt in the same position I'd make the decision to say 'Ah, fuck him! Off to the Dementors!' but the point he seems to be criticised for is that he didn't use his position to protect his own (while still convicting the Nasty DeathEaters who were unlucky enough not to be related to him.)

Because Malfoy's "racism" is pretty far removed from our own world, so much that the parallel might not even work, and it's really not his defining characteristic. Honestly, how much does he *do* in canon that's racially motivated? Very little.

I loathe the "Mudblood" is just like "nigger" comparison. It may shock the people similiarly, but we've seen absolutely no evidence of any Muggleborn person suffering any prejudice whatsoever, and frankly, comparing a fantasy parallel to actual suffering is ridiculous.

[merrymelody]

I think JKR contradicted herself on the points thing...iirc, in OotP, Ron says 'Blah Blah Prefects can't take points' and Draco says 'I know they can't but The Ever So Subtly Named Inquisitorial Squad can.'

Anyway, I love Percy!
All these people post OotP were also extremely quick to condemn him - "Ooh, he must be under Imperius, to be so cruel to his dear family!"
Yet precisely the same parallel is set up with Sirius, but because his family are the 'baddies', it's seen as a sign of strength for him to leave them.
Just like people condemn Draco for being loyal to his father, but also Percy for not being loyal to his.
Basically - if you're not on Harry's side, you must be Evil.