Stereotypes - Goblins are to PS Movie as Jar Jar is to Episode 1?

[ftah3]

Heather wrote:
>   Hrm... I think it's fair enough to say the movie goblins are 
modeled on Shylock, though, and many people dislike that character 
because they take it as a slur on Jews. <snip> 
> By that token, you could accuse Snape of being Shylock, too <snip>

Right ~ and isn't it just possible that we don't trace the stereotype 
back far enough, to the idea that Shakespeare's description of 
Shylock is based on a stereotype that has nothing to do with Jews?  

Because the fact is that the whole sallow faced, hook-nosed, etc. 
etc. description is not relegated to Shylockian (i.e. cold money-
grubbing Jew) characters ~ rather, it's a combination of physical 
traits used to make a quick sketch of your basic detestable creep 
type character, and it's a descriptive stereotype that pre-dates 
Shakespeare and his Shylock.

On the other hand (let me talk myself in circles for just a moment, 
please, thanks) removing the *visual* stereotype does leave a 
relevent goblin-Jew stereotype comparison.  I.e., the whole money-
grub substandard human = Jew stereotype is something that shows up in 
Western literature partly as a result of the Christian literary 
tradition (wherein the money-lenders et al are nasty folks and also 
Jews in some of the parables etc).  And I suppose it's arguable that 
giving the same non-physical stereotypical attributes to the goblins 
shows a parallel prejudice.  

On yet the other hand (I need more hands), miserly non-
humans show up in a lot of ancient pagan literary traditions, too ~ 
in the form of, for example, dragons, demons, faeries, and even 
goblin-types who hoard treasure and guard it fiercely, coldly, and 
cruelly.  And the fact that JKR takes the Gringott's goblins and 
gives them a dragon to help guard their vaults (or so the rumor 
goes in the wizard world) to me indicates she might be following the 
pagan/fairy tale standard, rather than the Biblical/Shylockian 
standard.

Mahoney
off to ponder whether Madame Pomfrey's Skele-Gro could provide me 
with a few extra hands in the event of future tangential ramblings....