'Why do nice girls hate me...?' 'I now call upon the leader of the Opposition to test me on my Latin grammar.' *g*
Slytherin really does have the makings of individualism along with their DE heritage. It's one of those times when fandom conventions offer great insight, imo. There's a reason Slytherin is often imagined as seeming like the 18th century French Court.
Yes, and that's why I'd contest 'DE heritage', there. The point is 'DE-ism' as a system is *not* a heritage - it's a perversion of an idea of separatism that has its merits (I'd argue), in trying to protect wizardkind from the ignorant Muggle lynch-mobs of history.
The court: I can certainly see Voldemort as the ultimate Wacked-Out Queen :) whose machinations make it politic to tread carefully around him and make damn sure you're first in the line with the results...all brittle politeness and courtesy on the surface ("Come, the niceties must be observed. . . . Dumbledore would like you to show manners. . . . Bow to death, Harry. ...", GoF graveyard). With teenagers I think it'd be more brutal, short and swift, but still a training for adult games, perhaps. (I have a tendancy to credit Slytherin's teenagers with a lot more maturity than canon shows them to have, simply because they're more interesting that way and then I can write what I want. :)
At times the "equality" (which sometimes isn't really) of the Trio makes them less stable while the Slytherin's hierarchy makes them more stable. That's not to say the Slytherins are better, just that we shouldn't pretend that there's one model of friendship to strive for.
True. I've also thought about the DA, that if Slytherins organised it, it might be a lot less back-biting and bickering, and more just getting on with it, since Slytherins could be more focused on seeing the hierarchy and responding to it. OTOH, it's hard to judge with a bunch of contentious teenagers! It feels like some of the boys could just be trying out their argumentative weight against the great Harry Potter, 'I'm as good as you anyday', etc.
people might instinctively just explain how that didn't happen because Harry being a leader is different than a Slytherin being a leader etc.
Yeah! :) Cos Draco is Teh Ebil, whatever he does... One of the best things I've found said about Draco is from ajhalluk:
'...rehabilitating Draco, whose only canonical crimes to date are making remarks in atrocious taste about Cedric Diggory, using bad language, and sneering in an unpleasant way, ought to be a shoo-in.'
no subject
Slytherin really does have the makings of individualism along with their DE heritage. It's one of those times when fandom conventions offer great insight, imo. There's a reason Slytherin is often imagined as seeming like the 18th century French Court.
Yes, and that's why I'd contest 'DE heritage', there. The point is 'DE-ism' as a system is *not* a heritage - it's a perversion of an idea of separatism that has its merits (I'd argue), in trying to protect wizardkind from the ignorant Muggle lynch-mobs of history.
The court: I can certainly see Voldemort as the ultimate Wacked-Out Queen :) whose machinations make it politic to tread carefully around him and make damn sure you're first in the line with the results...all brittle politeness and courtesy on the surface ("Come, the niceties must be observed. . . . Dumbledore would like you to show manners. . . . Bow to death, Harry. ...", GoF graveyard). With teenagers I think it'd be more brutal, short and swift, but still a training for adult games, perhaps. (I have a tendancy to credit Slytherin's teenagers with a lot more maturity than canon shows them to have, simply because they're more interesting that way and then I can write what I want. :)
At times the "equality" (which sometimes isn't really) of the Trio makes them less stable while the Slytherin's hierarchy makes them more stable. That's not to say the Slytherins are better, just that we shouldn't pretend that there's one model of friendship to strive for.
True. I've also thought about the DA, that if Slytherins organised it, it might be a lot less back-biting and bickering, and more just getting on with it, since Slytherins could be more focused on seeing the hierarchy and responding to it. OTOH, it's hard to judge with a bunch of contentious teenagers! It feels like some of the boys could just be trying out their argumentative weight against the great Harry Potter, 'I'm as good as you anyday', etc.
people might instinctively just explain how that didn't happen because Harry being a leader is different than a Slytherin being a leader etc.
Yeah! :) Cos Draco is Teh Ebil, whatever he does... One of the best things I've found said about Draco is from
'...rehabilitating Draco, whose only canonical crimes to date are making remarks in atrocious taste about Cedric Diggory, using bad language, and sneering in an unpleasant way, ought to be a shoo-in.'