I think they seem to have been more spectacularly abused, heh-- and Regulus just fought back in a cathartic manner, but I feel like this was because of a more personal sense of betrayal, 'cause he was a True Believer and caught at an early age. Bella's just insane, but at the same time she's fixated on someone who uses/abuses her devotion. I think the 'personal' part is what I was thinking of-- both their relationships with Voldy's power seemed more personally destructive and meaningful to them. Whereas the Malfoys were only terrorized without, it seems, a real personal devotion or emotional investment-- I guess Malfoys' reaction is less about Voldy and more about 'the System' (the hierarchy) they'd invested in, so they couldn't break free of that sense that they need to respect the channels of their recognized authority to survive in a general sense. I just don't feel the same personal investment I associate with the work of an abusive individual... I feel there's something beyond fear or being cowed with blunt force, when it's a 'relatioship' of some sort, like you're supposed to get more out of it, but who knows. :>
Movie!Lucius, of course, was outright campy (I thought), with his pimp-cane and long hair and acting 'cool' in an over-the-top way, heh. It's hard for me personally to see what potential/intelligence anyone ever saw in Lucius, but I see how theoretically it -makes sense- that he would be, in terms of his role in the narrative. The thing is, I feel like JKR goes for mocking people she doesn't like most of the time, and this mockery involves making them grotesque or laughable/ineffectual in some way-- even one of her better villains, Umbridge, is laughable (frog-faced, kitten-obsessed, pink-wearing, obsessed with totally silly rules, etc). The only thing that made me take Umbridge seriously for awhile is basically that she had lots of power over Hogwarts. But I think one of the things JKR is generally going for is how hard it is to respect these people in power or take them seriously (and to some degree I see echoes of this with Moody's over-the-top paranoia and Scrimgeour, though now I'm stretching it. Anyway, that's a tangent.
I feel like the Malfoys do have some sway because they're rich and flashy and aristocratic/Pureblooded-- I don't think they're uniformly despised, to their face anyway, though there's probably no love lost between them & the Wizarding world. My point was more, how much did people know what really went on? In a way, Lucius is a 'bad guy', or at least an annoying rich guy, whether or not he's with Voldemort. Maybe it wasn't that hard to manipulate the Ministry back then anymore than it proved difficult with Scrimgeour and Fudge-- they've always been corrupt, right? And the people were confused, and everyone wanted the whole war over with, I imagine, plus they were just wrong about some big things like what happened at Godric's Hollow. So it couldn't have been that difficult to grease the wheels. Of course, I have much mental resistance to thinking well of Lucius :>
But letting out the basilisk to hurt Arthur? It isn't that much better, though it's true I forgot he couldn't have known about the horcruxes (I believe at one point people thought maybe he knew). It's sneaky to a similar degree that Draco's sneaky-- I mean, they -are- sneaky and scheming, I just don't know how much real cunning and forward thinking I see. I remember when people thought maybe Lucius told Draco not to antagonize Potter (did he say that?) because it's politically incorrect, but I dunno how far removed Lucius is from that himself. But who knows. I probably can discuss Fudge more lucidly than Lucius, haha, 'cause at least there's no fandom baggage to fight against in my head. ^^;;
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Movie!Lucius, of course, was outright campy (I thought), with his pimp-cane and long hair and acting 'cool' in an over-the-top way, heh. It's hard for me personally to see what potential/intelligence anyone ever saw in Lucius, but I see how theoretically it -makes sense- that he would be, in terms of his role in the narrative. The thing is, I feel like JKR goes for mocking people she doesn't like most of the time, and this mockery involves making them grotesque or laughable/ineffectual in some way-- even one of her better villains, Umbridge, is laughable (frog-faced, kitten-obsessed, pink-wearing, obsessed with totally silly rules, etc). The only thing that made me take Umbridge seriously for awhile is basically that she had lots of power over Hogwarts. But I think one of the things JKR is generally going for is how hard it is to respect these people in power or take them seriously (and to some degree I see echoes of this with Moody's over-the-top paranoia and Scrimgeour, though now I'm stretching it. Anyway, that's a tangent.
I feel like the Malfoys do have some sway because they're rich and flashy and aristocratic/Pureblooded-- I don't think they're uniformly despised, to their face anyway, though there's probably no love lost between them & the Wizarding world. My point was more, how much did people know what really went on? In a way, Lucius is a 'bad guy', or at least an annoying rich guy, whether or not he's with Voldemort. Maybe it wasn't that hard to manipulate the Ministry back then anymore than it proved difficult with Scrimgeour and Fudge-- they've always been corrupt, right? And the people were confused, and everyone wanted the whole war over with, I imagine, plus they were just wrong about some big things like what happened at Godric's Hollow. So it couldn't have been that difficult to grease the wheels. Of course, I have much mental resistance to thinking well of Lucius :>
But letting out the basilisk to hurt Arthur? It isn't that much better, though it's true I forgot he couldn't have known about the horcruxes (I believe at one point people thought maybe he knew). It's sneaky to a similar degree that Draco's sneaky-- I mean, they -are- sneaky and scheming, I just don't know how much real cunning and forward thinking I see. I remember when people thought maybe Lucius told Draco not to antagonize Potter (did he say that?) because it's politically incorrect, but I dunno how far removed Lucius is from that himself. But who knows. I probably can discuss Fudge more lucidly than Lucius, haha, 'cause at least there's no fandom baggage to fight against in my head. ^^;;