Hogwarts: Real or Cartoon? (was:Scene with likeable James WAS: Re: Eileen Pince

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 156353

Betsy wrote:

> 
> I don't know, I think maybe the inclination to color the Potterverse 
> as a cartoon is ducking the big questions.  If it was bad for a 
> teacher to make Harry carve words into his hand,  might it not have 
> been equally bad for a teacher to slam Draco repeatedly into the 
> floor?  And what does it say about us that we were amused at first?

Or those of us who still find that scene incredibly amusing.  Karmic
justice usually is.  It is one thing that JKR does do quite well, when
she chooses to.  Which is why I'm hoping dearly that good old abusive
Snapey-poo is next on the list.  Along with Umbridge and the Dursleys,
of course.

Is it revenge?  Sure.  But justice inevitably has a component of
revenge.  Indeed, a trial lawyer I know once told me that the justice
system serves many purposes -- protection of society, rehabilitation,
etc.  But one purpose it serves is a limited and legitimated mechanism
of revenge, and there is nothing wrong with that.  It's natural human
behavior.


> 
> A lot of this depends on the outcome of book 7, of course.  Are the 
> Slytherins as real as the Gryffindors?  Is Draco just as much a 
> human being as Harry is?  I think JKR will take the real rather than 
> the cartoon path.  I think.  Though I'm betting the Voldemort bits 
> are going to be pure fantasy.
> 

Human?  Sure.  Deserving of sympathy?  Mostly not.  Neither of course
is Snapey-poo.  Simply because someone is human does not release them
from paying for their actions, such as letting DEs into Hogwarts,
abusing Harry and Neville, etc.  Indeed, because they are human
necessitates that they receive the hand of justice, because their
humanity places a special burden on them.  Animals are not the subject
of justice, only pragmatic disposition.  Killing a mean dog is an act
of practical problem management.  Punishing a child abuser or someone
whose actions have led directly to murder, that is justice.


Lupinlore, who like Pinhead from the Hellraiser movies, will find
suffering very sweet, as long as it's the well deserved suffering of
abusers such as Snapey-poo, Umbridge, and the Dursleys -- or of the
treacherous little ferret