Crouch - Dead Sexy? or Borderline Personality

[wynnde1 at aol.com]

Eileen asked:


> I can't leave well enough alone. I'm now morbidly curious to know what
> people thought of the Crouch Trilogy Squared, and in general, the
> whole Crouch fight that's been going on for months now. 
> 
> And has it ever occured to ANYONE other than myself that Barty Crouch
> Sr. was dead sexy?
> 
> Eileen
> 

First of all - I thought the trilogy squared was FANTASTIC! And I am prepared 
to hop on board with Elkins, right down to the Crouch/Winky ship. I have some 
other thoughts on those messages, but will save those for a TBAY I plan to 
write in the next day or two. 

As for your other question - is Crouch Sr. Dead Sexy? I must say that I've 
never found him so. On my first reading, the image that came to my mind of 
Crouch was David Niven. Very straight, thin, impeccably groomed. Handsome, 
yes, perhaps. But I personally don't find that sort of look to be sexy. 
That's just personal preference based on physical appearance. And he seems 
fussy in the extreme, which is definitely a turn-off for me. 

The somewhat more interesting question to me comes in with someone's comment 
(I'm sorry - I deleted the message so can't say who made it) equating evil 
with sexy. I won't go so far as to say that evil=sexy. But evil characters 
can certainly be incredibly sexy. Lucius Malfoy comes to mind. (And I thought 
he was sexy based on the books alone. Jason Isaacs portrayal of him <swoon> 
is merely the icing on what was already a very yummy cake. <G>). I'm also 
prepared to say that Augustus Rookwood is Dead Sexy, as well, and we know 
NOTHING substantive about him. So why them and not Crouch?

Well, for me, I think it's a matter of self-awareness. Lucius is evil, and 
knows it. Oh, I don't think if asked he would say "yes, I'm evil." Or even 
use *evil* as a word with which he would privately describe himself. Maybe 
thinking about evil isn't the right way to approach this - instead, I think 
he's *honest* about his motivations. When he is doing dodgy things (planting 
the diary in Ginny's cauldron, for example), I don't think he has any 
pretense of an altruistic motive. He doesn't think he's trying to "save the 
Wizarding World" - at least not in the same sense that Crouch claimed to be. 
It could perhaps be argued that Malfoy really belives that ridding the WW of 
muggleborns would be a "good" thing - but I believe he knows it is *wrong* to 
create mayhem and murder people, and yet doesn't balk at it at all. He makes 
a conscious choice to do these things, and is honest (to himself) about his 
motives. This is the way I read him, anyway. 

Same with Rookwood. Oh. Wait a minute. Nevermind. Really can't say much about 
Rookwood at all. I really think he's dead sexy just because I'm very 
susceptible to suggestion about these sorts of things. And I am really 
thrilled with my new thong. (Thanks, Cindy). <G>

Crouch, on the other hand, claims to be fighting evil, while (as Elkins 
showed admirably in her posts), his actions are doing just the opposite. And 
I don't believe he is Ever So Evil. I think he really believes that what he's 
doing is *right*. Or at least is trying desperately to convince himself of 
it. I think all the fabulous acting his does (bulging eyes and all), is 
probably an attempt to convince not only the public of his stance against 
evil, but also to convince *himself.* He really doesn't get that his actions 
are NOT consistent with his professed motives - to protect the WW. He's got 
either a serious case of denial, or he is just too self-absorbed to see it 
clearly. I think it's the latter. I'm sure we've all known people like this - 
the example that springs to mind for me is my sister-in-law. She's done truly 
awful things to me (to the point where there have been times I actually 
thought of her as being literally evil). But when I step back from the 
situation I can see that she probably really belives her motives are pure and 
she is doing what she knows to do to strengthen her position (within the 
family). She's no Lucius Malfoy, deciding that she's going to destroy me just 
because she doesn't like me and just being up front about that, even with 
herself. She's more of a Crouch - she really believes that I'm horrible and 
should be put in my place, but it's only because she doesn't have enough 
empathy, or awareness outside of herself to see things in any other way. I 
think this is called Borderline Personality Disorder (someone please correct 
me if I'm wrong), and I think it fits right in with the idea that Crouch 
objectifies people and doesn't see them as being individuals in their own 
right. And, both Lisa and Crouch are capable of getting others into agreement 
with their viewpoints - but only to a point, because after the initial 
assault, people who do have normal levels of empathy and awareness start to 
realise that something is very wrong with the bill of goods they've been 
sold. (As in the WW when the public railed against Crouch at Bagman's trial).

In a way, this may almost sound like a Crouch Apology - that he doesn't know 
what he's doing is wrong - but it's NOT. I generally despise people who 
aren't able to see things from any viewpoint outside their own. Although it 
may act as a reasonable explanation for their behavior, it doesn't *excuse* 
such behavior. Not at all. And it's why I really doubt that Crouch's 
redemption scene was really a true redemption. He may, with hindsight, be 
able to see that some of the things he did were mistakes. But I don't think 
he really understands *why* they were wrong, or what flaws or weaknesses in 
his own character brought them about.

And this, for me, is DEFINITELY not Dead Sexy. I prefer honesty to this total 
disconnect from reality. Which is why I think Lucius is WAY sexier than 
Crouch. As for Rookwood, well, he did get great Quidditch tickets, after all 
(forgot who thought of that one, but I thought it was a superb point). 

:-)
Wendy
(Whose biggest flaw might very well be the opposite of Crouch's - a *surplus* 
of self-awareness and empathy, which gets her into different kinds of trouble 
<g> And who thinks that STAN is simply brilliant!)


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