Cultural values and beauty

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 20532

Ooo, lots of replies to my post!  Let me see.

Ebony wrote:

> Another issue that's been bothering me:  I don't think it's valid to say 
that JKR is being intentionally PC by sprinkling in so-called "ethnic" 
characters.  I'm sure the books would have sold just as well if all the 
characters had been white, just like a lot of children's books with an 
all-white cast sell well.  (Which is why I laugh at those who bemoan the 
tide of multiculturalism in kidlit and education in general--they must not 
have been to the children's section in their local Borders lately.)

I wasn't implying that JKR was doing the "ethnic sprinkle" for commercial reasons, nor do I deny that an all-white cast would have sold just as well.  However, I do think she's being "intentionally PC", or rather, being tokenistic, a well-meaning "white majority" writer trying to do the representative thing, but (so far) nervous of tackling the subject in any depth or developing these characters to any significant degree.

Notice that in GoF she's been quite happy to take on issues of prejudice and stereotyping with regard to other species, such as giants and house elves, so it's not that she's oblivious to these issues.  Perhaps she's hinting that cultural and racial differences are irrelevant in the magic world, because everyone identifies as magic in contrast to the muggles and other magical species.  Or that Cho and the Patils and Angelina and co are completely assimilated to British culture.  Or maybe, considering how involved the books are already, she's decided to make a token gesture in the right direction and put it in the too hard basket...

> I really like the way Rowling handles ethnicity--she mentions it, then lets 
the kids act like all the other kids instead of venturing into dangerous 
ethnic stereotypes like too many writers do. 

Perhaps for HP's target age group this is a reasonable approach.  All the same, I believe that pretending that cultural differences don't exist at all (or are purely cosmetic, e.g. they look different and eat different food but we're really All The Same) can actually end up causing more problems.  The most important thing about different cultures is not the cosmetic stuff, but the fact that they operate by *different values and norms* (different priorities, different ideas about what consistutes appropriate behaviour, different standards for judging people, etc.).  Individuals within each culture may well reject some of these values, depending on their personality, experiences, choices, level of exposure to other cultures, etc., but the cultural framework in which they were raised will inevitably have shaped who they are.

By saying that "everyone's the same", one is effectively imposing one's own cultural rules on people who do not share them and are hence likely to break them, causing offence or confusion at first (when the "all the same" advocate attributes the rule violation to personality) and ultimately prejudice and stereotyping (when the advocate can't help noticing that almost *all* people from that cultural group violate that rule).  I'd prefer the option of teaching people that their own cultural rules are not universal, that there are other valid sets of rules out there which should be respected, and to remember that rules are not prescriptive (i.e. the fact that a culture has a particular rule does not mean all individuals in that culture will follow it).

On my own part, I'm sure that parents' reactions to having a different, "magical" child would be very closely related to their cultural values.  And what about religion?  Imagine a fundamentalist Christian family who believe that magic is evil discovering that Junior is a wizard!

The mind boggles...

> And yes, it's just a work of fiction.  But reading too much into this particular work of fiction is what this
group is all about. ;)

Hear, hear!  (or is it hear, here?)  Hey, JKR can write whatever she wants, but that doesn't mean we can't dissect what it actually *is* that she wants, and *why* she wants it, and *how* she expresses it, and so on, and so on (poor woman).

Julie said:
> The appearance issues definitely cut both ways. When in the books 
have we met a very attractive person who was worthwhile? Lockheart is 
rubbish, Narcissa Malfoy is (we assume) snotty and horrible and Cho 
Chang is little more than a plot device, to name a few.

> It just struck me as odd, Fleur being the only female - and a bit dangerous in a
story so peopled with male characters already.

I agree.  I thought Fleur was one of the weaknesses in GoF, to be frank.  Gah.

As for beauty, this raises an issue on which I've long speculated... beauty, especially in a woman, is a double-edged sword.  OK, sure, so the media tells us that the thin pretty girls have it all, and that girls who aren't are invisible or worthless, but from my observation of beautiful women it's not so simple in real life.  Being ugly is a lot worse, sure, but beauty doesn't guarantee happiness by any means.  For a start, a large proportion of plainer women can get very nasty and jealous, and try to redress the balance by finding other flaws to prove she's unworthy of her looks (she's just a total bimbo, she's so arrogant, etc.) and rejoicing in the beleagured beauty's misfortune.  For another thing, being the target of constant sexual attention from heterosexual men is not all beer and skittles... as a teenager it can be very frightening, and can set up a pattern of her entire self-esteem hanging on her looks, leading to extreme self-consciousness, insecurity if a man *doesn't* show interest, obsession about her looks, despair at the ageing process, etc.  Moreover, in the men department, I suspect there may be a quantity vs quality issue here... a lot will be intimidated, a lot who aren't will be shallow trophy hunters who'll probably recycle her at 35, and so on.  One thing I particularly liked about "American Beauty" was its portrayal of the darker side of being a beautiful teenage girl.  I'd say the best place on the scale to be is somewhere between average and beautiful...

Returning to HP, from the books and interviews with JKR, I'd say Ron and Hermione is a foregone conclusion.  Someone asked JKR during a chat if Harry and Hermione would get together and she replied "Do you think they're suited?".  In another, someone asked if something was going on between Ron and Hermione and she laughed and said yes, but Ron hasn't quite twigged yet.  Harry is more open to speculation.  Remember that JKR said that in GoF the trio all fall in love with the wrong people, so I'd say Cho's unlikely.  My guess is that Harry will find out in OoP that it isn't to be.  Ginny's always seemed to me to be sweet and earnest, but a bit lacking in oomph and zing... all that mooning after Harry and embarrassing him!  Maybe as she grows up she'll develop a bit more gumption and make more of an impression on him.  Speaking of which, Hermione must have done a lot of extra ageing in PoA... maybe that's why she's so much more mature and politically aware in GoF!

Vicki said:
> I think the Asian thing is a reason Harry likes her, all the asians 
I've met (that's quite a few) all tend to have an easier passage 
through the grease stage than the rest of us... *mutters* it's so 
unfair...

Alex said:
> And we Asians do *not* have an easier time through high school, especially if one's from the
traditional East Asian family.  It's ridiculously difficult, in fact.

I'm with Alex on this one.  My mother is Malaysian Chinese, with strident traditional values (my father is Anglo-Australian), and my adolescence was a war zone.  The majority of my friends at this time were also Chinese-Australian, and nearly all of  them had the same sorts of problems, mostly revolving around the areas where the values of the wider Australian society clashed most seriously with the values they'd imported from Asia (independence, relationships, study, deference to elders, etc.).  In my case, this clash also overflowed into my parents' bicultural marriage, with my brother and I getting very different messages about what was appropriate behaviour, how a parent should relate to a child, etc. etc. from either parent.  Yes, my rantings earlier in this post on cultural values do have some basis in personal experience...

As for "the Asian thing", I assume Vicki means the exotic alluring inscrutable factor.  I can't speak for Harry (!), and I know some Asians see such ideas as objectification, but I do know that looking different but palatable to local tastes is a winner in a lot of societies.  Blondes and redheads who visit Asia and Southern Europe will get just as much if not more attention than Asians in predominantly Caucasian populations.


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