Oh, I loathed that. I respect Neville's bravery, even though I think his portrayal is unsubtle and I don't put anywhere near the amount of faith in bravery that JKR obviously does; (I love that with all the fantastic characteristics of four houses - brains, bravery, ambition, loyalty; there's no mention of compassion whatsoever. WW is a scary place!) because he doesn't pity himself (*coughs in Harry's direction*) and because he's capable of admitting his mistakes (*coughs even louder at the Trio*) but he's just being an ass in that particular scene. There's nothing particularly brave in being willing to fight physically, although from PS it's been presented as such (not just with Neville vs Crabbe and Goyle, but Ron and Harry being 'bravely' willing to fight the same boys on the train.) Neville's form of emotional courage wasn't valued in Gryffindor; hence he changes for them, and lo and behold in OotP, once he masters hexing and fighting and laughing at others; everyone's happy to pair up with him and be his buddy. *vomits* Neville/Harry reminds me of nothing more than Harry/Ginny - he has this more prominent role (although Neville's was foreshadowed a helluva lot better than Miss Weasley's) and so now he's 'worthy' in a way he presumably wasn't before. Harry wasn't impressed with Ginny's personality before, so she changed it and now he pays more attention. How romantic. What a beautiful lesson.
And yeah, in that scene, Draco has no idea about Neville's parents, so fighting him over it is lame. And I'm sorry, but wildly over-sensitive. I mean, I can understand how one would think deorgatory comments about the mentally ill are in bad taste; but really, are you gonna fight everyone in the world who's ever made a stupid remark about say, 'looney bins'? Cause that includes an awful lot of people. And again, the joke was aimed at Harry, and there's something repellent about how quickly all the Gryffindors 'rise as one' to defend each other. I mean, Crabbe and Goyle are treated with contempt for being 'bodyguards' and the rare instances we've seen of physical violence from them (twice, just like Neville ;) - fighting back when Neville starts in PS and throwing a bludger, which is no worse than Fred throwing a bat, albeit in a game, at Flint's face, imho) leads to them being described as bullies. Same old, same old; I guess - defending a friend by accusing enemies of anything you feel like, then attacking them physically (while outnumbered, or while unawares - I love that people justify the OotP train hexings with 'OMG, teh Slytherin trio totally outnumbered Harry, hence it's perfectly fine for six people to attack them at once!) is the mark of true loyalty; whereas cracking your knuckles means that a) you're an evil tormentor of everyone around you and b) you sekritly loathe said friend and resent them.
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Oh, I loathed that.
I respect Neville's bravery, even though I think his portrayal is unsubtle and I don't put anywhere near the amount of faith in bravery that JKR obviously does; (I love that with all the fantastic characteristics of four houses - brains, bravery, ambition, loyalty; there's no mention of compassion whatsoever. WW is a scary place!) because he doesn't pity himself (*coughs in Harry's direction*) and because he's capable of admitting his mistakes (*coughs even louder at the Trio*) but he's just being an ass in that particular scene.
There's nothing particularly brave in being willing to fight physically, although from PS it's been presented as such (not just with Neville vs Crabbe and Goyle, but Ron and Harry being 'bravely' willing to fight the same boys on the train.)
Neville's form of emotional courage wasn't valued in Gryffindor; hence he changes for them, and lo and behold in OotP, once he masters hexing and fighting and laughing at others; everyone's happy to pair up with him and be his buddy. *vomits*
Neville/Harry reminds me of nothing more than Harry/Ginny - he has this more prominent role (although Neville's was foreshadowed a helluva lot better than Miss Weasley's) and so now he's 'worthy' in a way he presumably wasn't before.
Harry wasn't impressed with Ginny's personality before, so she changed it and now he pays more attention. How romantic. What a beautiful lesson.
And yeah, in that scene, Draco has no idea about Neville's parents, so fighting him over it is lame. And I'm sorry, but wildly over-sensitive.
I mean, I can understand how one would think deorgatory comments about the mentally ill are in bad taste; but really, are you gonna fight everyone in the world who's ever made a stupid remark about say, 'looney bins'?
Cause that includes an awful lot of people.
And again, the joke was aimed at Harry, and there's something repellent about how quickly all the Gryffindors 'rise as one' to defend each other.
I mean, Crabbe and Goyle are treated with contempt for being 'bodyguards' and the rare instances we've seen of physical violence from them (twice, just like Neville ;) - fighting back when Neville starts in PS and throwing a bludger, which is no worse than Fred throwing a bat, albeit in a game, at Flint's face, imho) leads to them being described as bullies.
Same old, same old; I guess - defending a friend by accusing enemies of anything you feel like, then attacking them physically (while outnumbered, or while unawares - I love that people justify the OotP train hexings with 'OMG, teh Slytherin trio totally outnumbered Harry, hence it's perfectly fine for six people to attack them at once!) is the mark of true loyalty; whereas cracking your knuckles means that a) you're an evil tormentor of everyone around you and b) you sekritly loathe said friend and resent them.