Personality Test - Animagi Filk - Japanese Fan Art - James and Lily - Amulets

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 10841

Catlady wrote:
 
> Someone already commented that James was Chaser, not Seeker. I have 
a
> problem with JKR having said that.  She firmly established how much
> Harry resembles James physically, and she had Wood state that Harry 
is
> the right build for a Seeker, so therefore James would also have 
been
> the right build for a Seeker. 

That was me, and I continue to maintain that there are lots of "right 
builds," not to mention lots of people who excel at a sport or a 
position despite having a very atypical build for that sport or 
position.  I won't bore you with a list; if you're a fan of any sport 
you can think of half a dozen examples.

Also, there is a problem with the syllogism:

James has the right build for a Seeker
Therefore James does not have the right build for a Chaser.

And a problem also with the syllogism:

Harry and James are very alike physically
Therefore James was also small and skinny during his school years.

Also, women apparently make fine Chasers, so why not men who are on 
the short side?

Did I say all this in an earlier post or did I just plan to?

>The fans were all sure that James was a
> Seeker and were all wrong. The fans are all sure that James was a 
big
> star at Quidditch: could we be wrong about that, too? Was he good 
enough
> to get on the House team (and thus further excite Snape's envious
> hostility) but not good enough to turn pro, not even good enough to 
be

Good point.  We do know that Lupin guesses Snape was jealous of 
James's Quidditch talents (PA, US ed. 357), which suggests that James 
was probably on the house team and probably pretty good.  McGonagall 
says "he was an excellent Quidditch player" (SS 152) which suggests 
the same.  And we know that Harry "flies as well as his father"--but 
if I'm going to pay attention to logic I have to say that that leaves 
a lot of room for Harry to play BETTER than James.

We don't even know how good Harry is, though it seems likely he is one 
of the best players Hogwarts has seen for a long time.  That doesn't 
mean he can go pro, but the wizarding world is small so I'd say he has 
a much better shot at it than the equivalent U.S. high school athlete 
(of whom even the extremely talented have a thousands-to-one chance of 
making it into the pros, and a smaller chance still of staying there 
more than a season).

Fans tend to be a little more cliched in their assumptions than JKR 
herself.  If Harry's very good at Quidditch, he must be THE NEXT 
SEEKER FOR ENGLAND!  If Harry resembles his father, he must look and 
act JUST LIKE HIM!  If two people like each other in 4th year/9th 
grade, they must GET MARRIED!  Uh-oh, getting into dangerous territory 
there, and possibly doing hull damage to my own R/H ship . . .

But siriusly, I really appreciate JKR for all the completely 
believable monkey wrenches she likes to throw into our assumptions.  
Just look at James himself.  Head boy, excellent wizard--uh oh, sounds 
like Percy, doesn't he?  But his regard for rules is a little, ah, 
rusty, so there goes that stereotype.

Amy Z

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If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt 
a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.
                      --HP and the Philosopher's Stone 
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