Poshness; Lucius Malfoy

[Susan McGee]

No: HPFGUIDX 5972

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Jim Flanagan" <jamesf at a...> wrote:
> I guess that as an American, I was unprepared for Ian Hart's 
comment 
> about the other cast members being "posh."  Perhaps as a result of 
> our civil rights movement, it's somewhat unfashionable over here to 
> make public comments that are class-aware.

I would suggest that there are still many who think the U.S.A. is 
a "classless" society -- not that there aren't poor people, but that 
anyone can make it if they work hard enough, that there aren't many 
distinctions among classes, etc. Many were astonished to learn that 
there is a quota system among Ivy League universities to allow a 
percentage of children of alumni to attend -- at the University of 
Michigan they boast that "only" half of those who attend are the 
children or grandchildren of physicians.

One of the interesting features of the film "Titanic" is that it 
actually addressed some of the class issues clearly. That's unusual.


 I can't imagine Billy Bob 
> Thornton making a comment about how "posh" or upper-class his co-
> stars might be. Over here, a journeyman actor might say how in awe 
he 
> was of working with the likes of Harris and Smith, but his 
admiration 
> would be on the basis of their accomplishments, not their social 
> class.
> 
> Thinking back on some of the material in Rowling's books, I'm 
> wondering if I might not have missed some points that British 
readers 
> picked up on. For example, making Justin, the kid who was "down for 
> Eton," a Hufflepuff. Was this a classist put-down, like M. 
> Python's "Upper-class Twit of the Year" sketch?  
> 
> Lucius Malfoy is a puzzle to me:  If he is so class-conscious why 
> would he associate himself with lunkheads like Crabbe and Goyle, 
and 
> with McNair, who would be working in a slaughterhouse if he hadn't 
> been born a wizard? Why also would Malfoy participate in adolescent 
> behavior like tossing the muggle family around at the World Cup? 
> Maybe he's just a psychopath, no matter his social class.
> 
> <End of free association on "poshness.">
> 
> -Jim Flanagan