sistermagpie: Classic magpie (Boo.)
sistermagpie ([personal profile] sistermagpie) wrote2005-12-12 09:53 pm
Entry tags:

Amateur HP Psychology

I am not getting any e-mail and I don't know why. They just started coming, but anything from today before the last ten minutes seems to be gone.

I've been reading this book on the Shadow as in Jung (kind of a theme lately) and I'm reading about how the Shadow is all the things you repress in yourself, so you're enraged when you see them in other people. So somebody else could be a terrible person but wouldn't bother you as much because you're not repressing those kinds of things too much. What's horrible about it is I'm reading and knowing that my shadow…

Is post-GoF Ginny Weasley.

She's not the only one, obviously, but oh my god she so is my shadow. When I hear anyone defending her--even reasonably--I am filled with rage. Of course, being who I am (what I repress) I have to try to listen objectively and even admit when the person has a point, because I always want to be accurate and blah blah. Sometimes even I have to defend her because something's off. But what I really want to do is hex the person so that they shut up. Or say something mean that's probably like, "Don't start talking about Quidditch, you'll only embarrass yourself." Or run into the person and put them in the infirmary. This is why it's so strange when people say one must hate Ginny because one wants Harry for herself, because when Harry is liking Ginny it's hard for me to just not see him as a jerk. Like I picture them in their 30s as some dreadful couple I'd avoid. Unfortunately this isn't exactly objective canon analysis, so I can't usually just say that.

The one good thing about this is Lupin is a lot like me in this way--I mean, the kind of stuff he swallows--so maybe he hates her too. I believe when Ginny is throwing her temper tantrum in OotP Lupin quietly shuts the door. For Lupin that's probably the equivalent of smacking her in the face. Poor guy has to live with her.

Oh, the other thing I just read in one essay in the book that we tend to notice and react to Shadow things more in our own gender than the opposite gender--we can ignore stuff when it's in the other gender. I guess that's where fandom's OMG U R JUS JELLUS AND U DON'T LIKE GIRLZ!!1!!1

I was thinking about this in my ballet class, mostly because I have another Shadow problem there, or maybe it's just a pet peeve. Okay, in a dance class you often split into groups to do combinations. There is this woman who always GOES WITH ALL THE GROUPS! In this case there's just the two groups, but it drives me up a tree. The point is to split up so there's room. Yes, she's just one more person, but why the hell does she get to decide that she's the person who gets to dance whenever she wants because everyone else is only going once? What if everybody just decided to do that? (And btw, we're talking about somebody who's in class with some professional dancers--not me--and is herself not even really on the level the class is at. Every time I see her doing it I start stewing. Also she always winds up standing near me so I'm wishing there wasn't somebody so close to me because I don't like people behind me and look--it's her!

[identity profile] mondegreen.livejournal.com 2005-12-13 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
This is so interesting and also vaguely disturbing. Ginny is also my Shadow character; does this mean I have several (repressed) characteristics similar to Ginny's? If so, I think I want to keep on repressing.

This is just a personal anecdote, but when HBP came out I was visiting my parents. My dad is a big fan, too, and started reading the book after I finished it. He wasn't finished reading, but we started having a discussion about Ginny anyway. He's indifferent toward her, whereas I am filled with a seething, uncontrollable rage whenever I read her name.

In the middle of the discussion, my dad stopped in mid-sentence and said, "You look like Ginny when you do that."

"What?"

"When you put your hand on your hip like that, all angry."

"Wha -- what? I do not! And Ginny doesn't put her hand on her hip! Does she?"

"Yes, she does." Sure enough, he searched for and found the page where he read Ginny putting her hand on her hip (in full Diva-stance). He actually found textual evidence.

Like I picture them in their 30s as some dreadful couple I'd avoid.

God, me too. I can't even picture tolerating them as a couple if I were a Hogwarts student. I remember how I was at sixteen; I would have mocked them behind their backs. (See? Oh, man. I'm Ginny! No!)
ext_6866: (Boo.)

[identity profile] sistermagpie.livejournal.com 2005-12-13 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
LOL! OMG, that's classic. That's exactly the kind of thing I've been thinking since writing this. I can remember times when I was totally Ginny just like that. Of course, in my world I would get called on it and people would sort of stare at me and say, "Dude--that's harsh," or whatever.

I would have mocked them behind their backs. (See? Oh, man. I'm Ginny! No!)

Absolutely--me too! Wouldn't so many people? It just cracks me up when Harry's all happy that everyone's talking about him and Ginny going out. I always think yeah Harry, you wish that was big news for everyone that the two biggest pills in the school had finally found each other after deciding no one else was worthy. Are you sure they weren't talking about how the two of you are so violent you might be now becoming a team to avoid or something?