photos, oil paintings, ghosts, mortality, consciousness, etc.

[corinthum]

No: HPFGUIDX 71718

madeyemood pondered:

> Does anyone care to flesh out these various levels consciousness?

<snip examples and questions regarding photographs, paintings, and the
Mirror of Erised>

Here are my thoughts...

Photographs:

I think these are semi-programmed reflections of a person's
personality.  We don't see much interaction between photographs and
people in the real world.  They are able to respond to certain events;
several exaples: the Gilderoy Lockhart photos nod in agreement when
their living counterpart is speaking, and hide from others when they
are busy curling their hair;  guests at Harry's parents' wedding smile
and wave; people in posed photos often wave at any observers.  We also
know that photos can change behavior depending on the current mindset
of the person they represent; for example, Percy's photo walks out of
the frame on Arthur's desk when the real Percy cuts ties with his
family.  However, all these actions seem very one-dimensional to me. 
In my opinion, photographs, depite their movement, do not have
thoughts and feelings, only stimulus-response behavior.

Paintings:  

I believe that the subjects of paintings border on alive.  They are
obviously able to interact with the surrounding world.  They show
intelligence, self-awareness, and emotion.  I believe a painting
creates something of a clone of the person at the time the painting is
made.  Following this point in time, the personalities of the actual
person and the painted person may, and probably will, diverge, based
on their different experiences.  For example, the real Phineas
Nigellus may have grown into an angry, bitter old man (much like
Sirius' mother) who hated his nephew.  But the painting Phineas,
despite having started life with the same feelings, had observed the
changing House of Black from a very different viewpoint, and had also
spent a good amount of time in the company of Dumbledore and the other
headmasters.  The result is that this character seems to have some
shred of decency beneath the indifferent exterior he tries to project.

Regarding characters with more than one portrait, I believe they can
only be physically present in one at a time, although they can be
heard in both at the same time.  As far as other characters being able
to visit their neighbors, that is probably set whenever a painting is
moved to a new place.  For example, most of the paintings in Hogwarts
seem to be connected (wonder if the Headmasters are able to wander
about or if they are confined to the office?).

Mirror of Erised:

I think the actions taken by these characters are governed solely by
the person looking into the mirror.  Subconciously, Harry wanted to
see not just his family but them standing around him happily.  Hence,
he saw this.  Obviously, the mirror is able to simulate certain
details (for example, what his family actually looked like, what Ron
would look like in a few years), but the actions are controlled by the
viewer's mind.

Ghosts:

Ghosts aren't so much a reflection of a person; they are actually the
person, although in a new form.  I think, like paintings, they start
with the personality of the now dead person, but are able to grow and
change in personality based on their new experiences.  

So those are my thoughts.  Obviously, this is all just conjecture, but
it seems to go along with the little canon we are given.

-Corinth