sistermagpie: Classic magpie (I'm still picking.)
sistermagpie ([personal profile] sistermagpie) wrote2005-11-15 12:39 pm
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Blaise Zabini

I was reading this really interesting post here about a troubling fanfic trend I was unfortunately unaware of, which is that apparently post-HBP Blaise is less interesting than he was before...because he's black? Um, what? I recommend [livejournal.com profile] jazzypom's post because it is about fanfic depictions of black characters in HP in general. I don't read fic about the adults very often so I didn't know about the clichés concerning Kingsley Shacklebolt. As a Slyth fan I do know a bit about Blaise, though, and the post made me really think about

...how my own feelings about him have changed since HBP and I'm sticking them here too. Nothing coherent, just thoughts here and there:


I would never deny that one of the things about Draco Malfoy as a slash character is that aesthetically; it's interesting putting him with contrasting people. Harry, of course, is the main person I contrast him with. The two of them are like blood brothers with the black hair/white hair, green eyes/grey eyes, etc. I've always liked Blaise and was very happy with fics that created a sort of European Malfoy-ish family that probably taught the Medici’s a thing or two. I always saw Blaise as a boy, and pictured him as dark haired, tanned, big brown eyes.

My view of him shifted after I got the truth in HBP, but I honestly don't understand how the back-story we have for him could in any way be considered less interesting. The main difference for me is that where I used to imagine Blaise as part of a big family, now I see him isolated, more just him and his mother, though he probably has lots of relatives scattered around. He still seems continental to me, I think because I imagine his mother traveling around to all the hot spots to meet her rich husbands, with little Blaise in tow. How is this not a rich life for a Slytherin character? Especially one we now know is friends with Malfoy?

Plus he's also a Pureblood snob, so you figure his mother must be from a good family. She's not a little chorus girl who was pretty and so used that to snag a man of a better bloodline. Maybe she's from a family like the Blacks but they'd lost their money, so she took it upon herself to win back the life to which she was accustomed.

I wonder, too, if anyone would do anything with the fact that Blaise is the most sexualized kid in canon, and he has no father and a highly sexualized mother. Is this another woman who's bad because she's sexually aggressive? Is Blaise "bad" because of this quality of his mother? (The books don't have the best track record there.) Is anyone writing incestuous scenes where he and his mother engage in sexual conquest contests when they're bored in Monte Carlo? Somebody could probably write a really funny story where Draco visits Blaise over the summer and gets his mind blown at one of Blaise's mother's parties, or just in general gets an education.:-) Or he and Blaise wake up in Borneo with raging hangovers, wearing women's underwear. I mean, Blaise is totally cool by sixth year, but that's why it seems like it would be fun to see him at 12 when he hadn't gotten it down yet.

Perhaps Blaise's mother is distant. Perhaps they're very close and have a wonderful relationship that's lots of fun. Perhaps all the Slytherin boys adore her. Was Blaise close to any of his stepfathers? Did he hate any of them? Did he kill any of them? Perhaps the rumors about their death are just that, vicious rumors. Blaise is not the Slytherin boy who'd seen death, interestingly enough, so perhaps he and Draco are more alike in that way, surrounded by death but thinking it a game. Did Blaise help Draco out at all during the year?

What were anyone else’s thoughts about Blaise in HBP? Unfortunately anything about the character seemed to get overshadowed by the idea that ZOMG heez black and that totaly sux in a totaly non-racist way I swear but I'm gonna keep him white anywayz!!11!

Re: A few of my thoughts...

[identity profile] saturniia.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
Right. If he isn't part-white, at least far back in his family's history, he's probably related to an African who emigrated to Italy, or who lived in an African country that was under Italian control at some point in time.
gramarye1971: a lone figure in silhouette against a blaze of white light (Overachiever)

[personal profile] gramarye1971 2005-11-16 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
I think my geekiest fic moment involved looking up several different sets of railway timetables to ensure that two characters would meet at precisely the right time. ^_^
ext_22: Pretty girl with a gele on (Default)

[identity profile] quivo.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
I like that. I like that very much. How about we just make Draco the antihero and let Harry die an ignoble, sad death somewhere far, far away (by ill-advised tickling charm, as you suggested)?
ext_22: Pretty girl with a gele on (Default)

[identity profile] quivo.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, and went right back to not-noticing even after she helped him at the Ministry.

Guh.
ext_22: Pretty girl with a gele on (Default)

[identity profile] quivo.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
Right on!

I'd rather do TOO much research and have at least four legs to stand on than not enough, because it SHOWS.

I cannot help looking back to the exquisite craftmanship of series like LOTR and even that David Eddings (slightly crappy) monolith and weeping. All it needs is for her to have the little media book (mentioned somewhere else in this thread), and CHECK IT every so often. AND oblige us crazies by publishing it once the damn series is over.

Re: For once, using my default icon on purpose.

[identity profile] xerox78.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 01:09 am (UTC)(link)
And I do agree with you on the mixed thing. I always imagined Blaise's father being Italian or of Italian descent -- hence the Italian last name. Or Zabini could be Blaise's mother's last name and she herself is racially mixed. So many possibilities here.

Or Blaise could be like one of the characters in the book I am currently reading, whose many-times-married mother gave him the name of the man she was married to at the time of his birth, regardless of biology. :o) Or he could be like my mother, who is African-American on both sides, but her family's surname is Chinese. In fact, her pet side project is tracing her lineage to find out where the name came from.

Re: For once, using my default icon on purpose.

[identity profile] mondegreen.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
Or Blaise's mother could have given him the name of the one husband whom she loved, regardless of biology or even of her current husband's surname.
ext_150: (Default)

[identity profile] kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
It's so sad, because that's almost exactly what I thought when I heard about people not getting that she was Chinese when she was cast for the movie. Cho Chang wasn't enough of a clue? What did she have to be named for you to think she could be Chinese? Chinky McChinkerson?

LOL, that's exactly what I've been saying, though I usually say China McChinaman.

[identity profile] saturniia.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
*laughs at your icon*

You know, I just remembered the tune to the "Captain Planet" theme song. Other than that... Ton-tongue Toffee is another option, I suppose.

[identity profile] grasshopper.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
She's not a little chorus girl who was pretty and so used that to snag a man of a better bloodline.

Actually, it's usually the little chorus girls who become the snobbiest of all once they've caught their man, probably because they remember that if they can claw their way to the top, then so can anyone else from their background. So they shut out the people whom they now consider 'beneath' them.

[identity profile] xerox78.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
I have to admit, I laughed right out loud when I read that Blaise was black, as much from my own surprise as from predicting the "blacklash" that was sure to take place. Kind of like an employer who speaks to an job applicant over the phone and likes what (s)he hears, then when meeting him/her in an interview, is shocked to find that (s)he is black. (But (s)he spoke so well over the phone! And his/her name is Tommy/Sarah Jones not Montavious/ShaQuita Jenkins!) Employer then assumes that Tommy/Sarah can't possibly do as good a job as whoever Employer imagined Tommy/Sarah to be over the phone.
ext_22: Pretty girl with a gele on (Default)

[identity profile] quivo.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 01:48 am (UTC)(link)
I remember hating that show. It was third on the list of hateful shows, methinks, the head of that list being Voltron (DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE!). We resurrected it at [livejournal.com profile] pottersues when we were in dire need, and adapted it for our purposes.

sidestepping the main issue in favor of hot boydom.

[identity profile] shusu.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, they've just never seen this fellow. My friend transitioned from an Italian Blaise to another RP with that model. (Our characters may or may not have woken up in Tahiti hungover and well-rolled. *g*)

I wonder if perhaps the aesthetic standards of dark beauty have been under-explored. I mean, who has ready adjectives for that? There are a million ways to make pasty little brats attractive, but perhaps English is not the cultural language for flattering Blaise.
ext_6866: (Good point.)

[identity profile] sistermagpie.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
That is a great point and totally true--I was thinking more the fact that Blaise seemed to be accepted by this group of people who are all supposed to know who each other are and assuming that this meant they didn't see her as a social climber. But maybe they just don't care. Molly Weasley seems Pureblood and not upper class, maybe Blaise's mother was Pureblood but many generations removed from money if there was any and clawed her way up from the bottom. And go her, if she did.:-)

[identity profile] our-innocence.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
Or it can be Cho-jee, which also means butterfly.

I got immensely confused with Cho after a while. My first reaction, when Cho was introduced, was that she was Korean. My mother [who is natively korean]'s maiden surname is Chang, and Cho is a surname in Korea, as well. I shrugged it off as 'nice white lady who doesn't realise that Cho is usually a surname in Korea' and went on my merry way.

I've heard about Cho being Chinese, which wouldn't make as much sense, since Chang [usually pronounced with a long ah] is pronounced/spelt more like zhyang in Chinese [at least in the mainland areas], and Cho isn't really used in China, at least not under that pronunciation, insofar as I can tell. As for Cho being Japanese, Chang is definietely NOT a Japanese surname, since they tend to be much longer than Korean/Chinese surnames. Korean surnames are usually one syllable, like Rhee, Lee, Pak, and Kim, and Chinese ones generally aren't much longer. Japanese last names, on the other hand, are typically much longer, like Katsumoto, Yoshimitsu, and so on. The shortest Japanese surname I've ever come across is Gozen, and that's an old, old name.

Additionally, the odds of her being both Chinese/Korean and Japanese are pretty slim, as all three cultures have been duking it out for centuries. Or rather, China and Japan have been using Korea as their personal fighting ground for centuries. The three cultures aren't fond of one another. I'm not saying it's impossible, but unless her parents are fairly rebellious or have been in the UK for a long time [both of which are perfectly feasible], they would have most likely married within their own race. While Cho is obviously fine with dating whomever she feels like, her parents generation tends to lean towards marrying within their own race. Not always fun, but elder generations of Asians tend to lean towards homogenity within their bloodlines.

/ramble

[identity profile] our-innocence.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
By race, I meant culture. My bad. :: headdesk ::

Re: sidestepping the main issue in favor of hot boydom.

(Anonymous) 2005-11-16 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
He's quite lovely and more along the lines of how I might envision Blaise.

There are a million ways to make pasty little brats attractive

I certainly think so (the Draco in my mind has or will grow into an ethereal beauty), but not everyone agrees. Some people are certain that being pale and pointed means Draco is ugly whereas I think it only tells us that he is very light-skinned and his features are sharp rather than blunt. Of course, someone that doesn't like blonds or pale skin or sharp features can label him as unattractive off-hand.

[identity profile] nmalfoy.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
I say Blaise is even hotter now. To me, anyway. Because he's got that exotic look going on, you know?

here via Snitch

[identity profile] amihan-811.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 06:32 am (UTC)(link)
I agree. I find Blaise more interesting post-HBP. There's just lots of new ways to explore his character in fiction now that we have new canon. I haven't paid attention to him before since he didn't seem to stand out in the previous books other than being another Slytherin kid with an unusual name. I actaully want to know more about his mom and how she got rid of all her husbands and if she's still on the look out for the next one.

[identity profile] slinkhard.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
Do it before Book Seven, Percy's got to make an appearance then!

[identity profile] slinkhard.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 07:36 am (UTC)(link)
It felt unfair to me, as a Crabbe and Goyle lover and apologist, to replace them with Blaise just like that, only because they aren't the most clever guys at Hogwarts.

Totally. They don't have the glamour of Blaise, but I'd rather read a fic about them, personally.

[identity profile] slinkhard.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 07:39 am (UTC)(link)
There's another way to look at things?!

As for Cho, I saw a clip, her accent's adorable. (They could have casted the most Aryan girl imaginable there, and the DR lovers would have been up in arms regardless. And the whole 'OMG, this character is so unworthy of Harry in the books, she CRIES (much like Hermione in every movie!) and has a life outside him' canon treatment doesn't help.) She PWNED Radcliffe in the short scene, anyway.

[identity profile] slinkhard.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 07:40 am (UTC)(link)
But....Narcissa!

earth, fire, water, wind, HEART!

[identity profile] slinkhard.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 07:44 am (UTC)(link)
But he took pollution down to zero! ;)

[identity profile] nellie-darlin.livejournal.com 2005-11-16 12:38 pm (UTC)(link)
To be honest, Blaise Zabini didn't even register on my radar before HBP. I'd only been in fandom a few months by HBP, and I'd sort of known who he was, but was still a bit vague on him since my principal ship was Remus/Sirius. But then HBP came out, and I didn't really notice that Blaise was black. I mean, I was glad to get some more perspective on a Slytherin, but I was more interested that JKR made him ANOTHER "bad guy" than that he was black, since my embryo thoughts on him had been that he could be a "good Slyth".

But like you, I found my interest piqued by the new canon info. How can we not be? The boy is good looking, wealthy, surely neck-deep in issues, and with a mother who is intriguing despite being mentioned once. What is there not to like? (And if you write that story with him having conquest contests with his mother ... well, I'll love you forever.)

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