I could definitely imagine her being sarcastic about it, myself, but even if she is being sarcastic she's shut down anyway--as often happens with McGonagall. Because she says it's gallant but is really going on to say that it was bad because it was stupid. I forget what she says exactly, but it's something like "Do you realize..." and he says "Yeah, I do." And that shuts the woman up. Hero saving the world here, don't presume to teach him anything about ethics or good battle strategy. (Even though McGonagall's not the one who's been sitting on her butt for 9 months.)
I think what you're saying about UVs is true--I wasn't so bothered by Harry's Crucio, but I think peoples' objections to it are totally true--it's more like I just gave up by that point. It's another instance of magic just changing to suit whatever storyline's going on. If Harry had never used a UV I've no doubt that would be considered proof of his goodness. It's just that when he uses it it has to be reimagined as something that's cool. That's why I always find JKR's "he's never been a saint" funny, because she *is* setting him up as a saint--or as a Christ figure, at least. Usually saints have to live up to the title. (That is, when the title is being used the way it is here--I'm sure at least some actual saints could be jerks when they got impatient with people for not listening to God's word, but that's a different thing.)
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Re: Wandering freely away from the topic at hand
Date: 2008-03-12 02:00 pm (UTC)I think what you're saying about UVs is true--I wasn't so bothered by Harry's Crucio, but I think peoples' objections to it are totally true--it's more like I just gave up by that point. It's another instance of magic just changing to suit whatever storyline's going on. If Harry had never used a UV I've no doubt that would be considered proof of his goodness. It's just that when he uses it it has to be reimagined as something that's cool. That's why I always find JKR's "he's never been a saint" funny, because she *is* setting him up as a saint--or as a Christ figure, at least. Usually saints have to live up to the title. (That is, when the title is being used the way it is here--I'm sure at least some actual saints could be jerks when they got impatient with people for not listening to God's word, but that's a different thing.)