Elkins' Draco Malfoy Is Ever So Lame. Yet Sympathetic. And Dead, Too.

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 124530


Renee:
It's his own bullying and his filthy mouth that do him in. Also, JKR 
depicts him as a a coward - and courage is the quality she values 
most in people.<
 
Betsy:
Draco doesn't give up, even when the odds are against him.  That does 
do him in.  Time and time again.  But has he ever succeeded in 
harming Harry?  I don't think JKR is setting him up to be the hero.  
But she's doing a really bad job of setting him up as a villian.  
Which is why I don't think we've seen the last of him, and why I hope 
his ultimate role has yet to be revealed.

Alla:

Big YES to Renee. All beating up of Draco nicely falls under categroy 
of "just desserts" for me. I still cannot figure out why the same 
does not work with Snape though. I mean I was just as repulsed when 
he called Lily a "mudblood" in Pensieve scene and still the sympathy 
for him did not dissappear completely.

Whether Draco is a weak villain? Certainly he is not a match for 
Harry in general, but I thought that for example "dressing up as 
Dementor" was pretty bad - because he knew how badly Harry reacted to 
Dementors.

I thought that methodical campaign to get rid of Buckbeak and Hagrid 
was also pretty bad.

  
Renee: 
As far as I'm concerned, Draco doesn't qualify for Elkins's hurt-
comfort scenario because of his utter lack of dignity...<
<snip>

Alla: True, I just don't see it at all.
 
Susanne:

Draco as a candidate for h/c? Not for me! I actually have to
like the guy in general and that's not an option with Draco.
 
I also don't remember him being brave and stoic when being
hurt, and usually he brought whatever hurt he suffered onto
himself by being nasty to someone else.
That's not the way to garner much sympathy from most people,
especially if he is only hurt a little, and embarrasses
himself by pretending it's something major.



Alla:

As I said in my earlier post, hurt/comfort ( fictional, fo 
course :o)) does tend to work on me in general, but it absolutely 
does not work for me on Draco.

I mean,it can be easily explained that I have no love for Draco in 
general, but then again here I have Snape, whose behaviour to Harry   
and Neville I passionately despise and nevertheless cannot bring 
myself to hate this character as a whole, because of some pain and 
guilt I can suspect buried deep inside. :)


Magda:

For me, "Draco" is spelled W-U-S-S.  And that's why I really don't
like his character.  I'm amazed at the posts I see from people on
other sites who think he's funny and witty.  He's a kid whose mental
age is about 7 or 8, his method of getting what he wants is to moan
and whimper, which probably still works with his mother but drives
his father to distraction, wondering if the kid is ever going to grow
up and why didn't we have a second child just for back-up?
 
I prefer characters who have some backbone; I never liked hurt-males
because even as a teenager I knew those guys were high maintenance. 
The world was all about THEM and their needs, and unless you had a
full-blown crush on one of them, it was pretty easy to spot as an
observer.  (And frankly my junior high and high schools had the
fewest attractive guys per square foot than any others in North
America, so that helped too.)



Alla: 

OK, too funny. I have a linguistic question. What does "wuss" mean? I 
suspect that it is something not very kind to call dear Draco, but 
can you tell me what exactly does it mean? Thanks!

I don't know if I would like hurt/comfort male in RL. My suspicion is 
that I would be a bit scared to get involved because of many 
potential implications, but in fiction - sure, why not? :)


I am thinking now that maybe Lupinlore is right :o) I don't see any 
potential for change in Draco's character and that is why he evokes 
no response from me on the emotional level at all.

Just my opinion,

Alla