HP and Spectacles, Sorting Hat, housism, miscellaneous

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 23532

Michelle:
> If I look at the big picture ... I think Harry is helping us in ways we 
never really even think about.  By being a cool kid with glasses, he 
is helping the vision of the younger generations.
 
When I read this comment a couple of days ago, I hopped up and down like Pigwidgeon, because a few months ago I actually found an article on the web which actually documents evidence that Harry has single-handedly overturned the stigma of wearing glasses, and kids these days *beg* for glasses, and go into the frame shops demanding round ones like Harry, and... and...

And I can't find it!  AARG!  I did think that I copied and pasted it in my HP article collection somewhere, but alas.

Katrina:
> Yes, it's quite a bit too much.  The boy gets the letter of acceptance from 
Hogwarts, and they say he better be ready, so he gets all this Harry Potter 
stuff.  When Harry Potter got his acceptance letter, did he run out and get a 
Gryffindor backpack or a Hogwarts glue stick?  I think not.
 
All the same, I think there's a rich vein of comedy to be mined there.  Myself, I regard the explosion of HP merchandise with positive glee.  Never, in all ma born days, have I seen anything like the HP phenomenon.  Sure, the media have tried.  We've all seen the trumpeting billboards and saturation advertising and product placement for things like The Phantom Menace and Pokemon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and you name it, but it always seemed to me that the actual creation of the product was rolling to the beat of the marketing drum (and we should put in a pretty girl as a Love Interest, and advertise her wardrobe on all the commercial channels, and a cute monster so we can release fluffy toys, and...). Whereas in HP, *children* actually drummed up the interest themselves, from a mere *book*, through *word of mouth*!!  All those marketing executives (apart from those as Warner, sigh) must be crying themselves to sleep!

Amanda:
> Well, actually, Troll Booger Glue is an actual bottle of glue, with a
troll head festooned with Harry as the lid. The whole head rotates to
open the bottle, with a standard Elmer's-glue type mechanism, and the
glue comes out a nostril. It was so absolutely revolting that I bought one.

I chuckle evilly.  O well, at least those Warner marketing types must be having fun.  This is quite creative.  When the PoA film is released, I'm campaigning for a transformer-style Scabbers to Peter Pettigrove soft toy.  You know, have a toy rat with a slit in his stomach, out of which you can pull/invert a Peter Pettigrove glove puppet!  Yeah...  We could do a whole series of animagi.  A cat to McGonagall, a Sirius to black dog... though Rita to beetle could be tricky.  I also note that I wasn't the first to come up with the HP tarot idea from a link someone sent on OT.  Never mind.

Catherine:
> As Harry is the only person who should be there who is magical, they probably assumed that 
it was him - either that or Dobby grassed on him.
 
Actually, in Australian schoolyard slang, we say to "dob" on someone, or "dob" someone in, making his name terribly appropriate if this is what happened!

 
David:
>I hesitate to add this one, but what is the nature of the sorting process at Hogwarts?  We have had endless discussions about why Hermione isn't in Ravenclaw, and whether Slytherins have to be evil, but I don't feel the interplay between characteristics (I am brave), aspirations (I want to be brave), priorities (I think bravery is the most important thing), morality (bravery is good) and choice (I want to be with the brave) has really been explored.  How does the pesky thing work?  Does the range of four possibilities say anything about the nature of humanity as a whole?<
 
Great post, David... I've always argued that the Sorting Hat (a stroke of genius, to my mind) identifies people's VALUES, not their actual qualities.  It's entirely possible to be a coward and yet value bravery above ambition, diligence, and intellect.  For example, I have the greatest admiration for assertiveness, mostly *because* I dearly wish I were more assertive!  In terms of the various options David lists above, I think a lot of these can neatly be encapsulated in the values argument: you aspire to the things you value, believe them to be important, place a high priority on them, choose in accordance with them and so on.
 
The subject of why Hermione is in Gryffindor not Ravenclaw has no doubt been plumbed in excessive depth, but I think the following line from SS/PS is an illustration of my argument in lurid neon lights: "Me!" said Hermione.  "Books!  And cleverness!  There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry - be *careful*!" (p208 - haha, I have the books on hand this time).  The whole SPEW thing is another illustration of her courage in fighting injustice in the face of ridicule and disinterest.  Very principled, our Hermione.  As for Harry being in Slytherin, sure he's a bit free 'n' easy about rules and speaks Parseltongue, but what exactly is he so ambitious about?  Give him a task and he's determined, sure, but to my mind ambition suggests something a bit more abstract: the desire to achieve greatness in general, not succeed at something particular which has come up and needs doing.  What is Harry's ambition?  Avenging his parents?  Becoming Seeker for the English Quidditch team??

This longing for "what you value" reminds me of the Wizard of Oz (if I only had the nerve/brains/heart) contrast with HP articles I read on Salon (?) a while ago... apparently WoO is palatable to many HP detractors because it's sanitised family entertainment, despite its magical fraternity.  Fff.  
 
Lord Eadric (!):
> Those of you with Quaker ancestors will know that they didn't name the months but always called them "the First
Month" and so on. Therefore, prior to 1752 "the First Month" in Quaker records means March and after 1752 it became "the Third Month".
 
Obligatory Chinese culture insert: the Chinese, numerical bunch that they are, number not only their months, but their days... Monday is Day 1, and so on up to Sunday, which is Day Sky/Heaven/Sun (depending on your dialect and era and preference).  Which leads me to an OT musing: why is it that in so many languages we have a seven day week with Sunday marked out, e.g. Dimanche after six days ending in -di, etc.?  I can only assume that people wanted to signpost their lunar cycles into quarters a bit more pointedly.

>From: "Sofie Campbell" <sofie_elisabeth at yahoo.co.uk>
>I'm considering starting a petition for an important character to be
>in a house besides Gryffindor (who isn't evil and who doesn't die).
>Does anyone else feel like that?
>Sofie

Yes, yes, yes!  I'll be the first to sign!  I had a bit of a housism rant a month ago or so, which prompted a detailed explanation of why JKR is demonstrating to us that Hufflepuffs are actually fine people.  Good explanation, point taken, but responding to a somewhat different point to the one I was making, which is, roughly, the same as yours: why do practically all the significant characters have to be in Gryffindor???  The "Harry's in Gryffindor" argument only washes so much laundry for me.

Amanda:
> Because if Harry had to stay still, and Mama Dragon saw her egg zooming toward this
easy target, he'd have been toast before it got there. *She* can fly, too....
 
Good point, and one that uses a metaphor I'm fond of but eternally confused by... where does this "toast" = dead, defeated, etc. saying come from?  Sounds vaguely 80s American teen cult movie or something.  Though there was once a rather amusing peanut butter ad in Australia where a piece of bread was sneering at all the inferior brands this man was trying to spread on it (No, not that one!  It's too oily, you'll ruin my complexion!), and towards the end, when it had licked off the right brand with relish, asks the man what he's having for dinner.  He picks up the insulting slice of bread and glowers at it.  "TOAST", he says ominously...
 
But I digress.

Amber:
> I must say that after reading the books, I wondered if the color of magic is green.

Actually, Terry Pratchett argues that it's a sort of fluorescent greenish-purple.  Must say, I envy Harry and Lily their eyes: I've always wanted green eyes myself.  As a child I used to sit staring at green things hoping the colour would permeate my eyes by osmosis, but alas (they're sort of hazel, greenish at best).  I suppose I could buy tinted contacts, but it's not the same.  Ah well.  Nowadays I just sit scouring human eye colour inheritance texts trying to figure out how to maximise my chance of green-eyed offspring, should I ever sprout any.

Speaking of US/UK/Australia differences, there's a website celebrating green eyes where I posted a message along the lines of the above, albeit in more strident terms: how deeply I was grieved by my defiantly hazel eyes, etc., with what I thought was UNMISTAKEABLE irony.  To my dismay, I started getting all these worried Americans sending me messages telling me that I had serious self-esteem issues and did I want to talk about it, and I shouldn't let perceived failings in my appearance undermine my life!  One was particularly persistent, said he was shocked to see what I had written, had I sought counselling, etc.!  I wrote back and pointed out that I was *joking*, and he kept at me, saying that he'd reread what I'd written and was truly concerned, maybe you claim you're joking but it's so obvious that you're trying to cover up serious feelings of inadequacy with a frantic attempt at self-ridicule, etc.etc... yeeeeurch! said my inner Australian cynic.  I blocked his address to get rid of him!
 
Wonder what colour James Potter's eyes were (she says, hastily returning to the topic of HP).  If they were blue, I know just the man for the part (he's even a children's fantasy novel author who likes HP!).  Friend of mine, lives in Adelaide.  Here's his website: I think there's even a photo of him on it so you can see for yourself.  Thin, unruly black hair, glasses, about the right age...

www.users.bigpond.com/andrew.chapman
 

 


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