American musings, gay Karkarov

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 27270

Rowena:
> I would guess the American Wizarding
population rivals that of all Europe and is probably
considerably less frowsty and medieval.<

Ah, the US comes in for a bit of the ol' "New Nation with No Culture!" sneering!  We Australians get that from Europeans (well, usually the English) all the time.  I do think that the general level of interest in and knowledge of intellectual, political and "high" culture issues (art, literature, "classical" music, etc.) is higher in Europe, especially continental Europe, than it is in the US and Australia.  Which is not to say that there *aren't* Americans and Australians who are into these things, it's just a much smaller percentage. As an illustration, I believe that in Italy, opera is considered part of popular culture and attended by the "masses", whereas in Australia this is the preserve of a small, educated elite.  When researching my thesis, I read accounts of American exchange students going to Germany at 16 and getting asked for their opinion on US foreign policies by their fellow school students, who were appalled to realise that a lot of the American teenagers didn't even know what these policies were.  Another German example: a German friend of mine watched Australia's Big Brother and was amazed to see that the main, and almost only topic of conversation seemed to be sex and relationships.  In Germany, he told me, the Big Brother people discussed politics and literature!  I was particularly amused and intrigued by this comment...


Cindy:
> In the U.S., there are unfortunately large numbers of people who are 
openly hostile to anything gay, and there are really huge numbers of 
people who are "tolerant", meaning they are willing to live and let 
live, but they don't want gay issues presented to them<

Yes, I've observed this.  Why do people think this is the case?  Is it the Puritan influence?  Is it the famed "Bible belt" I've heard about?  Any thoughts from American listmembers, whatever their position on the subject?  (OT if necessary)

Heidi (re homosexual issues in HP)
> > I somehow don't think that would even occur to her.  
>
> But it already has, sort of.
> And no, I am not speaking of subtext here. But if m/m relationships 
> never crossed her mind in any way, she wouldn't've had ron say, "(...)
> He's obsessed.  Just don't get him onto the subject of his boss.  According to Mr. 
Crouch ... as I was saying to Mr. Crouch ... Mr. Crouch is of the opinion ... Mr. Crouch was telling me ... They'll be announcing their engagement any day now."<

Ahh yes, a good opportunity to re-raise an issue I mentioned a while ago... which is that there's a much more likely gay candidate than Percy in GoF.  Ron was just giving his own sarcastic opinion of Percy, but we have the limited omniscient narrator (? not sure I'm using this term correctly, but I'm sure Luke or someone will correct me if not) on our side if we look at Karkarov.  OK, so his extreme attentiveness to Krum's needs could initially be attributed to prize student pampering, but Karkarov's behaviour at the Ball is definitely worth examining closely.  Ron, as JKR makes pretty clear, has feelings for Hermione, and jealousy is plain in his expression as he watches Krum with her at the Ball.  However, note that "Karkarov" wears exactly the *same* expression as he watches the couple!  OK, so without the Ron comparison this could be put down to suspicion of the rival school's students, but...

As I mentioned before, I reckon Karkarov turned to the Dark Side in a desperate attempt to find some acceptance after persecution from the conservative elements in Russian society (or wherever: can anyone identify the origin of the name Karkarov?), only to flee when he realised they were even more prejudiced and twisted to seek haven as headmaster of Durmstrang, where he could ogle young male Quidditch players in peace...

Tabouli


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