Those moments where Draco tries to be more assertive would come off as hokey except that the Harry-filter (and, well, maybe the Deatheater part, too) makes it seem kind of sinister. And then of course there's a related kind of breakdown he experiences when things really are implicitly sinister. If you compare the ways he insults Ron and Hermione, he's much more imaginative and verbally playful when he's getting to Ron, and much cruder and grosser with Hermione: "Is your mother really that porky or is it just the photograph?" vs. "If you're wondering what that smell is . . . " So is the Mudblood issue a focus of some anxiety for him? As Elkins points out, in "Draco the Nutter," when anything having to do with Voldemort and Pureblood rule comes up Draco actually starts getting flushed and shrill, a little bit shaky, and that signals the very opposite of the confidence he's trying to convey.
So just like in the discussion about Snape where we both flagged some abrupt departures from Draco's normal behavior as signs of a daddy-button being pressed, I wonder if we can also see some of his more socially gross moments as flagging anxiety-buttons that would normally be hidden. There may be a pattern to this, to those moments where he makes an ass of himself in one of these ways, where he comes off as a too-obvious poseur, so that they represent an authorial marker indicating areas where Draco a bit divided within himself. Issues of status, dominance, feelings of superiority or inferiority, and their reflections in WW high politics seem to be the areas of obsessive interest, areas where he's least comfortable in his own skin.
I don't know. Again, I could be massively overreading. And hypothesis-testing is ever so much more time-consuming than hypothesis-generating. :) But another application of this idea, he says, quickly changing the subject, is to the question of Draco's friendships. I said in the other thread that some of his behavior ought to get his head flushed in the toilet; you said somewhat more humanely that his friends may just be on to his B.S. and love him anyway. If his more obnoxious and awkward behavior is bounded in this way, linked to specific situations and hot buttons, then you're probably on to something -- his friends can just see it as "oh well, Draco's off on one of his hobbyhorses again" and roll their eyes and find plenty of other things to like about him.
Hmmmm. I'm not sure that's as strong a case as I hoped it would be. But what the hell, it's a warmup. :) Nice to be back in the thread with you, and I hope you haven't got thoroughly sick of it in the interim. :)
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Re: (Corrected version of comment)
Date: 2006-12-16 11:53 am (UTC)Those moments where Draco tries to be more assertive would come off as hokey except that the Harry-filter (and, well, maybe the Deatheater part, too) makes it seem kind of sinister. And then of course there's a related kind of breakdown he experiences when things really are implicitly sinister. If you compare the ways he insults Ron and Hermione, he's much more imaginative and verbally playful when he's getting to Ron, and much cruder and grosser with Hermione: "Is your mother really that porky or is it just the photograph?" vs. "If you're wondering what that smell is . . . " So is the Mudblood issue a focus of some anxiety for him? As Elkins points out, in "Draco the Nutter," when anything having to do with Voldemort and Pureblood rule comes up Draco actually starts getting flushed and shrill, a little bit shaky, and that signals the very opposite of the confidence he's trying to convey.
So just like in the discussion about Snape where we both flagged some abrupt departures from Draco's normal behavior as signs of a daddy-button being pressed, I wonder if we can also see some of his more socially gross moments as flagging anxiety-buttons that would normally be hidden. There may be a pattern to this, to those moments where he makes an ass of himself in one of these ways, where he comes off as a too-obvious poseur, so that they represent an authorial marker indicating areas where Draco a bit divided within himself. Issues of status, dominance, feelings of superiority or inferiority, and their reflections in WW high politics seem to be the areas of obsessive interest, areas where he's least comfortable in his own skin.
I don't know. Again, I could be massively overreading. And hypothesis-testing is ever so much more time-consuming than hypothesis-generating. :) But another application of this idea, he says, quickly changing the subject, is to the question of Draco's friendships. I said in the other thread that some of his behavior ought to get his head flushed in the toilet; you said somewhat more humanely that his friends may just be on to his B.S. and love him anyway. If his more obnoxious and awkward behavior is bounded in this way, linked to specific situations and hot buttons, then you're probably on to something -- his friends can just see it as "oh well, Draco's off on one of his hobbyhorses again" and roll their eyes and find plenty of other things to like about him.
Hmmmm. I'm not sure that's as strong a case as I hoped it would be. But what the hell, it's a warmup. :) Nice to be back in the thread with you, and I hope you haven't got thoroughly sick of it in the interim. :)