The post OotP reactions stunned me. A lot of people saying 'OMG the Inquisitorial Squad were so evil! They deserved everything they got (including brain damaged, presumably!) They actively aligned themselves with Umbridge!'
It really baffled me how many people said that Draco was pretty much irredeemable after OotP. (Though not as much as those people who said that Percy was on his way to becoming a Death Eater.) In fact, the "Inquisitorial Squad" was so completely harmless when compared to the things the supposed "good guys" did...
Frankly I have more sympathy for characters which are punished by and in the text, and loathed by the majority of characters and readers than the one's who commit precisely the same actions (and worse) but are rewarded and adored.
That's exactly it. In addition, I wouldn't resent the supposed heroes nearly as much if the text punished their faults, too. A bit of bias for the good guys I can deal with, but JKR has taken it to such extremes that I'm really not comfortable reading it any more.
The only time Harry's faults had serious consequences was his godfather's death - and I have this sneaking suspicion that Sirius's death, for which Harry is more than half responsible, will not lead to Harry (or the text) examining those flaws either. No one will learn a thing from it, Harry will remain as reckless and dense and self-righteous as ever, go on happily blaming Snape, and his own "character growth" will consist of him becoming even more of OMG Our Leader of the DA.
And I loathe the idea that we're not only supposed to see the above actions as completely acceptable, but actually funny. For instance, it's supposed to be hilarious that the Twins feed a sweet to a Muggle that makes him choke. Ho ho, good one! He probably thought he was going to die, what a laugh!
JKR's "humour," just like her morals, really makes me queasy at times. The Twins and the ferret scene are the worst of it - what the hell is supposed to be funny about physical abuse?
But then it's shown that the Trio/the Order/the DA feel they're right pretty much all the time
Funny, isn't it, how Slytherin is presented as the House of those who'll "use any means to achieve their ends" when what we actually see is the Gryffindors using their "but I'm the good guy, so I can do anything" attitude to justify means not all that much better than those we've seen the bad guys use.
I mean, the worst case of "Muggle-baiting" we've seen canonically isn't that scene at the World cup - it's the Twins giving Dudley Ton-Tongue Toffee. And it's worse precisely because it's presented as funny and harmless and deserved, and no one seems to see anything wrong with it. The worst kind of wrong isn't that which immediately is opposed, but that which no one sees reason to oppose at all.
'It's more important that people see me as in the right (and I play right into her hands!) than it is to not have a scarred hand.'
Harry has a martyr complex, I think. In addition to a superiority complex.
It's okay to kill people if you're a Scooby, silly!
Oh, I forgot. Just like it's okay to beat up your boyfriend, or to treat your girlfriend like crap. Once you're part of that "in" group you get forgiven for everything, right down to trying to end the world, whereas minor things are unforgivable when you're not. And people wonder why we don't like the Scoobies anymore?! - Really just like HP, isn't it, except without as much of the "disagreeing with Our Hero is a capital offence!" vibe. At least in some seasons...
no subject
The post OotP reactions stunned me. A lot of people saying 'OMG the Inquisitorial Squad were so evil! They deserved everything they got (including brain damaged, presumably!) They actively aligned themselves with Umbridge!'
It really baffled me how many people said that Draco was pretty much irredeemable after OotP. (Though not as much as those people who said that Percy was on his way to becoming a Death Eater.) In fact, the "Inquisitorial Squad" was so completely harmless when compared to the things the supposed "good guys" did...
Frankly I have more sympathy for characters which are punished by and in the text, and loathed by the majority of characters and readers than the one's who commit precisely the same actions (and worse) but are rewarded and adored.
That's exactly it. In addition, I wouldn't resent the supposed heroes nearly as much if the text punished their faults, too. A bit of bias for the good guys I can deal with, but JKR has taken it to such extremes that I'm really not comfortable reading it any more.
The only time Harry's faults had serious consequences was his godfather's death - and I have this sneaking suspicion that Sirius's death, for which Harry is more than half responsible, will not lead to Harry (or the text) examining those flaws either. No one will learn a thing from it, Harry will remain as reckless and dense and self-righteous as ever, go on happily blaming Snape, and his own "character growth" will consist of him becoming even more of OMG Our Leader of the DA.
And I loathe the idea that we're not only supposed to see the above actions as completely acceptable, but actually funny. For instance, it's supposed to be hilarious that the Twins feed a sweet to a Muggle that makes him choke. Ho ho, good one! He probably thought he was going to die, what a laugh!
JKR's "humour," just like her morals, really makes me queasy at times. The Twins and the ferret scene are the worst of it - what the hell is supposed to be funny about physical abuse?
But then it's shown that the Trio/the Order/the DA feel they're right pretty much all the time
Funny, isn't it, how Slytherin is presented as the House of those who'll "use any means to achieve their ends" when what we actually see is the Gryffindors using their "but I'm the good guy, so I can do anything" attitude to justify means not all that much better than those we've seen the bad guys use.
I mean, the worst case of "Muggle-baiting" we've seen canonically isn't that scene at the World cup - it's the Twins giving Dudley Ton-Tongue Toffee. And it's worse precisely because it's presented as funny and harmless and deserved, and no one seems to see anything wrong with it. The worst kind of wrong isn't that which immediately is opposed, but that which no one sees reason to oppose at all.
'It's more important that people see me as in the right (and I play right into her hands!) than it is to not have a scarred hand.'
Harry has a martyr complex, I think. In addition to a superiority complex.
It's okay to kill people if you're a Scooby, silly!
Oh, I forgot. Just like it's okay to beat up your boyfriend, or to treat your girlfriend like crap. Once you're part of that "in" group you get forgiven for everything, right down to trying to end the world, whereas minor things are unforgivable when you're not. And people wonder why we don't like the Scoobies anymore?! - Really just like HP, isn't it, except without as much of the "disagreeing with Our Hero is a capital offence!" vibe. At least in some seasons...