coifs and alignment

[alshainofthenorth]

No: HPFGUIDX 82741

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "barbara_mbowen"
<Barbara_Bowen at h...> wrote:

> As for McGonagle and her tidy bun, I think she puts it in a bun to 
> get it out of her way and never thinks about it again.  She is clean 
> and well-organized but far from vain.  People who are well coifed 
> (Malfoys, Umbridge with her "large black velvet bow", Rita 
> Skeeter in her GoF days, Lockhart, the Dursleys) are vain as well 
> as tidy about their hair.  For the Dursleys it's a sign of their 
> respectability.  For Rita Skeeter it's a sign of her persona, like 
> her long fingernails and makeup.  When she finally gets 
> cornered into doing something good in Oop, her hair is no 
> longer well coifed, but a mess.  p 565 OoP:  "The hair that had 
> once been set in elaborate curls now hung lank and unkempt 
> around her face."  

You'll get no arguments from me about Rita, Lockhart and the Dursleys.
McGonagall's and Maxime's bun hairstyle is the proverbial elderly,
strict, competent, fair, no-nonsense schoolmarm. Good characters, but
definitely not persons you'd like to cross.

One of my pals is still reading my copy of OOP, but I recall
Umbridge's hairstyle as a mousy, curly pagecut held in place with an
Alice band (referring to Alice in Wonderland) or a bow, the kind of
style that looks misplaced on anyone but a little girl. There was an
interesting thread about Umbridge and her maiden aunt appearance
during the summer and of course I can't find it on Yahoo when I need
it, but as I recall the main argument was that by infantilising
herself she makes herself out to be less of a danger to the patriarchy
than "grown-up" women.

Alshain