[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry and Cedric (was Envy/Respect)

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 13205

Amy Z wrote:

> One more point in *support* of the homoerotic interpretation:  we hear
> a few times that Cedric is extremely good-looking, not from others,
> but from our Harry-oriented narrator.  So we are getting that opinion
> from Harry's POV.

Could someone define "homoerotic" for me, then? I'm perfectly capable of
appreciating that another woman is beautiful, without any erotic content
in the observation.

To expand in rambling fashion--I think it's a mark of a great work, that
it can be validly interpreted any number of ways. [Best example: the
Bible.] So I'm certain the homoerotic reading of this scene has some
validity, but this discussion seems to be edging the way of the theories
of Marja Gambutas (cultural anthropologist, I think), a big proponent of
the goddess theory (women had all the power and most deities were female
before men figured out they had something to do with kids--as in Jean
Auel's stuff). Gambutas has some good points, but her theories carry a
rational hypothesis to the point where any prehistoric depiction
involving a circle with a dot in it is a "breast." Yeesh.Thus I'm asking
for a definition, for clarity's sake.

--Amanda


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