Accio 2005

[coughingbear]

Well, that was great fun. And knackering. Had a fab time hanging around with ajhalluk, lexin and gloria1 ('lowering the tone since the First Age'), and sine_que_non767, and others. Snape was found not guilty. And took notes on lots of interesting papers, which I may type up with commentary at a later date.

ajhalluk gave a fascinating paper on the rule of law in the wizarding world (or lack

Comments

[hedda62]

the significance of Dobby's preference for odd socks, and his present of such to Harry

Well, Dobby is clearly heterosocksual, and is perhaps suggesting to Harry the value of such a lifestyle (fake!Moody's compliment may also bear on this). I should say that the predominance of homosocksuality in canon indicates that slashers do not need to read between the stitches, although the literal slashing of socks ought to be frowned upon.

With the exception of Dobby, the house elves are asocksual, however.

Best of luck with your conference; there is much to be unraveled here.

[coughingbear]

That's a very persuasive reading, and also of course strong support for those who read canon as a primarily homosocksual space. There is presumably a socksual continuum, from those who only like exactly matched black wool socks, to those like Dobby who prefer as flamboyant a mismatch as possible.

Are the house elves asocksual, or merely socialised/enchanted to believe that they are not interested in socks? Their fear and disgust may suggest the latter, so if they were in some way freed or given greater rights, they like Dobby might be seeking socks everywhere.

[hedda62]

In that context it would be worth looking at Winky's attitude (although without consulting the text I cannot recall whether she had any true experience with socks or only with the ancillary accessories) and also at the relationship between wizards and house elves, and the withholding of socks by those such as the Malfoys and the Crouches. It is worth noting that Harry gave Dobby his first socksual experience -- though he was required to use Lucius Malfoy as a third party in the exchange, a sort of sock puppet -- and that Harry's rather vanilla choice of socks is forced upon him by his Uncle Vernon; it is Dobby who later turns this exchange on its head, introducing Harry to the wilder world of hetero-socks. Perhaps Dobby is a socksual pioneer or visionary.

Then there is Dumbledore's enabling role in allowing free socks among those house elves who might wish to participate; but then we know all about Dumbledore and socks.

[coughingbear]

I need to look Winky up. She has, IIRC, a little suit to wear, but possibly rejects socks because she is in denial about her new and unwanted socksual freedom and in fact would prefer to be in a socks-free home with Crouch Sr?

Dobby is clearly a fast learner, socksually;* I like the idea of him being a kind of pioneer and of returning Harry's gift by introducing him to more exciting socks. He has certainly made the most of his socksual freedom. (And does he accept socks from Ron? Must do a bit of textual research.) But Dumbledore's socksual relationship with Dobby is not a place I wish to go (though inevitably that is where the idea for all this came from...)

* Speculation by either lexin or ajhalluk in one panel ran:
Speaker - We don't know what Dobby did to support himself before he got to Hogwarts.
Answer - Prostitution.

[coughingbear]

Ever So Evil... (sorry, I caught acronyms this weekend).

[clanwilliam]

I'm wondering if you lot can be friends with me anymore as I spent the weekend at Clarecraft Discworld Event, so we obviously have incompatible fandoms.

But that means I get Liadnan, so nyer!

[coughingbear]

But, but, but, I like Discworld too! Is that not allowed?

(And hope you're planning to post about CDE.)

[sine_que_non767]

Heeeee, the socksual paper! Excellent! Shall comment later - just a flyby to let you know you're quoted in my Accio 2005 report, here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/sine_que_non767/88643.html

[coughingbear]

Thanks! Very good post, and I wish the organisers may take note.

[sine_que_non767]

Thank you! You may be interested in my latest post on Accio, as two Committee members have now commented on my post.

[gloria1]

I suggest "Socksuality explored via the metaphor of alchemical symbolism" would make an interesting panel item.

[coughingbear]

Ah yes, the secret power of socksuality, into which only true initiates can tap.

[ex_ajhalluk585]

Lost In The Wash; The Nature of the Invisible, the Missing and the Unspoken as Powerful Constraints on the Assertion of Socksual Topics in a Public Forum