Beauty in HP (WAS: THEORY: Hogwarts curriculum)

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 112605

Kneasy wrote:
>>> Oh - has anyone come across anything described as 'beautiful' 
in the books? Can't recall it myself. A society with no 
concept of beauty - how primitive can you get?<<<

<snipping several posts>

SSSusan wrote:
>> Finding Beauty in works of art or music, seeing Beauty in the 
form or function of the architectural structure of a building, being 
moved by the Beauty of nature or by the Beauty of the word in a 
well- crafted poem.  It's *these* kinds of references to beauty that 
are  apparently lacking within the Hogwarts curriculum and to which 
I  believe Kneasy referred.<<
 
Potioncat:
> Well, time has passed since I read Kneasy's original post, and I 
> may be missing the mark too. But...this is Harry's point of view 
> we're seeing.  Have you ever gone on a field trip to a museum with 
> a group of boys in this age range?   
> 
> You can lead a boy to beautiful art but you can't make him think. 
> (Particularly after the first nude statue.)
> 
> There could be all sorts of attempts being made and it would most 
> likely go over Harry's head.  (Dean Thomas might get it.)


SSSusan:
Not yet, though I have taught them social studies. :-)  And I'm 
definitely not arguing the EFFICACY or SUCCESSFULNESS of teaching 
aesthetics, just questioning its presence at all within the Hogwarts 
curriculum.  [Field trip to the opera house, anyone?]

Actually, the major thrust of that discussion as I understand it had 
to do w/ the classroom discussion or attempt to introduce morality & 
ethics within the curriculum, with the point being, there isn't much 
of it happening.  In this offshoot of that discussion, concerning 
aesthetics or beauty, the point (for me, anyway) is in whether it's  
ATTEMPTED.  That is:  Are aesthics a part of the curriculum? do 
teachers make the attempt to introduce the concept? 

Here's what Nora wrote at the start:
>>> I'm trying to figure out how to functionally work in a 
discussion, a serious and non-trivial discussion, into any of these 
classes so far as they've been presented, and I just can't come up 
with any good concrete specifics on how this would be done. For 
example, methinks that Hagrid as CoMC teacher is not exactly going 
to be imparting a discussion of perspective, even if he asks the 
kids to draw one of the animals. That class is overwhelmingly hands-
on. Potions is hands-on. Transfiguration is all about making things 
change so McGonagall won't yell at you. DADA is the one place I can 
see ethics coming up--Lupin is a good teacher, in part, because he 
actually makes them think through the process of dealing with a 
Boggart, and why it works to laugh at it, and what it means.

But it still seems important that the all-magic wizarding world is
lacking a hell of a lot of things--a serious concept of human rights
is a good one, amongst other things.<<<

To which Kneasy replied:
>>>Apparently, it takes a long time and intensive study to become 
magically 'literate'; so much so that there seems to be insufficient 
time for the study of ethics or aesthetics.  Of course we may have 
doubts whether or no the denizens of the WW have any aesthetic sense 
at all. In which case who is going to teach it? 
Art - doesn't seem to exist as we know it. A picture that moves as 
*it* wills - and demonstrates self-awareness and independent thought 
can hardly be considered a statement by the artist.
Literature - none, unless you regard "how to" manuals as literature.
Theatre - non-existent so far as we know.
... 
Oh - has anyone come across anything described as 'beautiful' in the
books? Can't recall it myself. A society with no concept of beauty -
how primitive can you get?

It's a very pragmatic society, probably deliberately so, seemingly
concerned with the business of everyday affairs, totally uninterested
in what might loosely be described as cultural matters.<<<


SSSusan again:
So hopefully that helps explain my take on the search for a 
reference to Beauty in the books.  I'll grant Potioncat's point that 
we get Harry's perspective, primarily, so it could be that it's at 
Hogwarts, fully established in the curriculum, along w/ routine 
discussions of morality & ethics but that it's simply not noted by 
our Harry.  After all, we don't hear about brushing teeth or taking 
showers, either, and presumably that's happening. :-)  In this case, 
though, as opposed to the tooth-brushing, I think these "non-
pragmatic" parts of education just really AREN'T dealt with much at 
Hogwarts.  Being a liberal arts kinda gal, I think that's a bit sad. 

Siriusly Snapey Susan