Perversion In the Graveyard (WAS: Sexuality in HP)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 40443

Elkins mentioned the religious connotations in the graveyard 
scene but there was something she didn't talk about, perhaps 
out of delicacy. I hesitate for that reason, but I think something 
should be pointed out. There is, I think, an even bigger elephant 
than Rochelle's metaphoric rape.

There are some very gruesome old anti-Semitic traditions from 
England about young boys who were kidnapped, bled and 
tortured to death -- do a search on Hugh of Lincoln or William of 
Norwich. (warning: much of this material is very offensive) It was 
obvious to me that Rowling was drawing on these traditions for 
her dark wizards, making them guilty of these crimes.

To tell you the truth, I was so horrified by the echoes of ritual 
murder  that I thought the sexual suggestiveness  was just  
campy by comparison--a touch of Hollywood macabre that I 
didn't take seriously. It came as a relief.

I didn't think Voldemort's laugh in the ear or dilated nostrils 
posed any additional threat to Harry. Instead they reminded me 
of the scene in Return of the Jedi where the Emperor strokes 
Luke's lightsabre and murmurs, "You want this." Scenes like that 
project a  curious innocence onto the characters, as if the 
storyteller is excluding them from  a private joke with the part of 
the audience that "gets it."

Pippin