Fleur: the jury's still out

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 28511

jenny from ravenclaw:
>> Two sickles from me, too, Dave.  John, your FLOPSIE is a flop with me.  
I see a double standard and a bit of feminist backlash here.  Draco is 
a nasty git, yet many seem to just adore his hideous ways.  Then there 
is Snape, with his greasy hair, unfair House point giving and clear 
favorites playing and *everyone* thinks he is just peachy.  Give me a 
break!  I wonder if it is Fleur's looks that make everyone judge her 
so harshly.  She is not a character we know very well, but she is very 
pretty and not so comfy in England - big deal.  Are we expecting Fleur 
to be super nice because of her looks?  I honestly don't have a 
problem with her being a little frosty; I don't think she owes anyone 
any special behavior.  Remember, she was quite nice to Harry after he 
pulled her sister out of the lake, and, IIRC, she was nice to Ron at 
some point as well.<<

My feelings on this debate are mixed.  On one hand, as I've often ranted on OT-Chatter, I detest persecution of the beautiful, the gifted, the brilliant, the rich, etc. stemming from jealousy and resentment and a desire to "even up" their unfair advantage, which often means that the wonderful lives these people are presumed to have and are being punished for don't actually materialise.

On the other, Fleur doesn't appeal to me much as a character.  I confess that I do find her a little annoying and snooty.  In real life I sympathise a lot with beautiful women crippled by other people's objectification and jealousy, and agree with jenny, but alas, I felt no great sympathy for the Fleur in GoF.  Perhaps she'll redeem herself in later books - I'm open to this, and won't join either society as yet.

In respect for jenny's points, though, I'll offer up an acronym for Fleur defenders...

FOLDEROL = Fleur's Our Lady: Discerning (about food, dress, etc.), Exceptional (at magic, at least within Beauxbatons), Reserved (as well she might be after all the ogling and jealousy she must get), Ornamental (well, OK, I needed a word that meant beautiful, and O was left over!) and Loving (towards her sister and people she genuinely trusts).

For the record, I think canon Draco is a good fictional character, but would dislike him as a real person (snobbish, self-satisfied, bigoted, vengeful), and as I've said all too many times, Snape is fascinating, but not very nice (intolerant, insensitive, humourless, etc.).  Neither of them would be up on my personal bedroom wall...

Tabouli.


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