All about Lupin

[Renee]

No: HPFGUIDX 121800


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "festuco" <vuurdame at x> wrote:
> 
> Pippin wrote:
> 
> > I don't think that Lupin will display any explicit pedophilia, 
but I
> > do think the references are there on purpose. Most children have 
> > been told that  adults might try to win their trust by giving 
them 
> > candy and that adults should not touch them in inappropriate 
> > way. Suggesting that Lupin might do these things could be  a 
> > way of dropping a hint that like some real world adults who 
> > seem  to be helpful and friendly, he can't be trusted.
> 
Gerry:
> Having reread the scene I can't find anything even remotely 
hinting at
> pedophilia or inappropriate touching. Just touching, which in some
> parts of the world has become suspect by itself. 
> 

Renee:
No, I don't see it either - that is to say, not in the book; there, 
it struck me as typical behaviour for a traditional Northwestern 
European male teacher approaching middle age, especially as Lupin 
did *not* touch Harry, after all. No pedophilia there. But I have to 
admit I did see it in the movie the second time around, without any 
outside prompting. I even think the repeated "people like me" remark 
at the end, by many interpreted as reference to gays, is actually a 
hint at pedophilia. Like werewolves, and unlike gay people in 
general, pedophiles *are* a threat to children. 

If it was meant to be in the movie, though, it disturbs me a little, 
and not just because as a warning, it is a failure. (As it would be 
in the PoA book, because it had no immediate consequences there, and 
the message would be lost on children if it stretched over three or 
four books/six to eight years. But as I said, I don't see it there.) 

My main problem is that JKR said that she'd like Lupin to be her 
daughter's teacher. Now I know that Pippin believes JKR deliberately 
misleads us in her interviews at times. But if this is one of 
her "misleading statements", it wouldn't just be a tasteless joke, 
it would be disturbing. I wouldn't like to think JKR would mention 
her own child in such a context. So no, in the book Lupin is not 
meant to be a metaphor for pedophilia and his dealing chocolate is 
not a warning, not even an ineffective one. And if JKR was aware 
that he could be seen as such in the movie, she probably decided to 
ignore it.

Renee
who hopes she didn't talk too much about the Medium-That-Must-Not-Be-
Named