So while I love Silvia Kundera's argument that H/D is implicit-- or at least possible-- in canon because 'what would you think of Draco's behavior if Harry was a girl'-- most definitely, the interactions between boys/boys & boys/girls are different.
Whoa there! Well, in that case let's take another look at it because I love Silvia Kundera's argument too.:-D
And here's what it made me think about...that JKR is a woman. I don't mean to say this changes everything or that she's incompetent at writing male characters at all, but it's still kind of interesting to think about ways that one sex writing about the other sex might relate to gender stereotypes in a slightly different way. In the case of HP I think the way this mostly comes up is just a "vibe." None of the boys are usually "gross" teenaged boy, which is possibly just as much about the genre (kids books) as the author--but still Dudley sort of stands out when he makes a crack like, "Who's Cedric, your boyfriend?" because it's so...about sex and homophobia and all that!
Usually, though, it's more where people laugh about the fact that Harry seems to notice guys as being attractive far more than girls. Is it that Harry's gay? I don't think so. It doesn't come across that way to me--in fact, it's often couched in terms of Harry feeling awkward by contrast (like "pretty boy Diggory" who gets Cho). But still I think there might also be some subtle ways that Harry is not only reacting to characters his own way but his female authors.
So with Draco it's just that the character may come across in different ways than the author intends--I always remember Chief saying how there were boys in her library discussing how Draco obviously liked Hermione because of the way he acted towards her--yet the author was kind of horrified by that pairing. Draco acts similarly towards Harry, but most young boys probably wouldn't even think to consider that the same way because Harry's a boy. The other thing, though, is that in some ways Draco tends to have a lot in common with female bullies picking on other girls (as ajhalluk wrote about a while ago.
So that's my incredibly long-winded of saying well hey, maybe when it comes to Harry and Draco it's not so simple as gender roles because you never know which gender role they're playing.:-)
no subject
Whoa there! Well, in that case let's take another look at it because I love Silvia Kundera's argument too.:-D
And here's what it made me think about...that JKR is a woman. I don't mean to say this changes everything or that she's incompetent at writing male characters at all, but it's still kind of interesting to think about ways that one sex writing about the other sex might relate to gender stereotypes in a slightly different way. In the case of HP I think the way this mostly comes up is just a "vibe." None of the boys are usually "gross" teenaged boy, which is possibly just as much about the genre (kids books) as the author--but still Dudley sort of stands out when he makes a crack like, "Who's Cedric, your boyfriend?" because it's so...about sex and homophobia and all that!
Usually, though, it's more where people laugh about the fact that Harry seems to notice guys as being attractive far more than girls. Is it that Harry's gay? I don't think so. It doesn't come across that way to me--in fact, it's often couched in terms of Harry feeling awkward by contrast (like "pretty boy Diggory" who gets Cho). But still I think there might also be some subtle ways that Harry is not only reacting to characters his own way but his female authors.
So with Draco it's just that the character may come across in different ways than the author intends--I always remember Chief saying how there were boys in her library discussing how Draco obviously liked Hermione because of the way he acted towards her--yet the author was kind of horrified by that pairing. Draco acts similarly towards Harry, but most young boys probably wouldn't even think to consider that the same way because Harry's a boy. The other thing, though, is that in some ways Draco tends to have a lot in common with female bullies picking on other girls (as
So that's my incredibly long-winded of saying well hey, maybe when it comes to Harry and Draco it's not so simple as gender roles because you never know which gender role they're playing.:-)