Ethnic stereotyping, possible Xenophobia?

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 20621

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Tabouli" <tabouli at u...> wrote:

With regard to the second point, though, what are everyone's thoughts 
on her efforts with the portrayal of the French and Eastern Europeans 
in GoF?  I don't own this book yet (waiting for the paperback, read 
it from the library after a long wait!), but I seem to recall a whiff 
of francophobia and a touch of the ol' grim Iron Curtainism, though 
given the distance at which most Hogwarts students would have 
observed them, this isn't surprising.  As David said:
> 
> > a great many of the HP characters start off as stereotypes and 
then move out from that position.


I enjoyed your post - the only thing I don't particularly agree with 
is the possible Francophobia which creeps in.  I didn't find this at 
all.  Looking at the characters portrayed, Fleur is the only one who 
has excited any animosity - and I think this was due more to her part-
Veela influence of the boys, and her arrogance (which swiftly 
disapparates after the second task) which annoyed Hermione, not her 
Frenchness.  Harry is annoyed with her for being condescending, but 
is impressed with the way she handles herself before facing the 
dragon, and again, none of this is to do with nationality.  I much 
prefer the comment above that the characters start as stereotypes 
before they are fleshed out.  I was going to say that in this case, 
they may start off as National stereotypes, but I don't think this is 
the case - as far as I can see, the only distinguishing thing shown 
is accent and tastebuds.  Am a missing something?

The same applies to Madame Maxine.  She commands a great deal of 
respect from her students, (and from Dumbledore for that matter).  
The only criticism of her is that she does not want to admit to being 
part Giant, and considering the way Hagrid was treated, who can blame 
her?

I think JKR did point out the odd cultural differences, but pokes 
just as much fun at the English than the French.  A good example of 
this is Ron not being prepared to try Bouillabaise, but helping 
himself to Black pudding (one of my favourite comic moments).

I don't think JKR is being the slightest bit Xenophobic.  She had to 
put the other schools somewhere in Europe, afterall, and showing the 
odd difference between them provides for a lighter tone.  Also, 
regarding Durmstrang.  I never thought about any Iron Curtainisms 
here.  For one thing, we don't know where Durmstrang is (see recent 
thread).  Of course, Krum is Bulgarian, and Igor Karkaroff does sound 
Eastern European, but again it is too much of a generalisation to say 
that JKR put Durmstrang in Eastern Europe because it advocates the 
Dark Arts and most Wizards who are interested in their children being 
educated this way come from there.  In the context of GoF, we see one 
good character (Krum) and one bad character (Karkaroff) coming from 
there, which balances this out.  Also in the context of the books, 
the Darkest Wizard of the age comes from good old England, so go 
figure.  Finally, we don't actually know that the Dark Arts are 
taught there - only on Malfoy's say so, which I tend to take with 
pinch of salt.

Catherine