Compassionate hero (WAS Re: Appeal of the story to the reader)

[lizzyben04]

No: HPFGUIDX 176040

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nrenka" <nrenka at ...> wrote:

> This reminded me of one of my favorite of Pippin's posts, so I'll 
link
> to it here, and bring up the bit that Yahoo's (mercifully new and
> improved--I remember when I couldn't have done this, and relied on
> memory and hazy lists of post numbers) search function found me:
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/100012
> 
> 
> Re: JKR's dismay at favourite fansite Slytherins 

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "textualsphinx2003"
<textualsphinx2003 at y...> wrote:

>>JKR's website has a 'fansite of the month' slot where she
praises various HP fansites she likes. The funny thing is, both
the ones she'd admired so far are moderated and/or created by
people how identify as Slytherins. She confesses herself
disturbed - indeed 'shocked' by this. She likes these
site-moderators - even calls them 'my kind of people' for their
thoroughness - but claims not to understand why they are
interested in Slytherin House.

lizzyben:

That quote is sort of unintentionally funny to me. JKR thought they 
were "her kind of people" & "her kind of people" can't be Slytherins!
It's like 11-year-old James Potter telling Sirius, "Slytherin? 
Blimey, I thought you were alright!" Yeah, had I read that quote 
back in 2004, I'd have had a better idea where things were heading 
for this series.

Pippin:
> > I'm not sure it's a question of JKR not understanding fans, or 
> > seeing only black-and-white versus seeing something good about 
> > Slytherin. Fan fiction and fanon often treat Slytherin House as 
not 
> > only redeemable but already redeemed or simply misunderstood. 
Racism 
> > gets downgraded (upgraded?) to pardonable ethnic pride, and Dark 
> > Arts fanatics are merely people who look good in black.


lizzyben:

Well, where I think JKR went wrong is in underestimating how much 
readers tend to root for the underdog, & resist being told what to 
think. The books keep beating us over the head w/they're so awful, 
horrible!, troll-like!, don't be like them!, don't even talk to 
them!, they're no good!, etc. Around about four books of this, 
people are going to start resisting that simplicity & thinking hey, 
maybe there's more complexity than that (nope). Plus, readers start 
noticing the blatant double standards - why is it bad for Harry to 
get hurt, but cool & funny when Draco is? Why is it bad when Snape 
shows favoritism, but cool when Dumbledore does it? etc. 

And the dynamics are all wrong - Slytherins are supposed to be the 
bulling powerful bad guy, but you can't help noticing that they lose 
every encounter w/Gryffindors. Slytherins are the underdogs of 
Hogwarts society; they're at the bottom of the barrel of the social 
hierarchy. They're hated & despised by three-fourths of the other 
students, and the Headmaster himself. Draco is characterized as a 
bully, but Harry really has all the power in all their interactions, 
pwns Draco easily, & leaves Draco looking humiliated & embarrassed 
every time. IMO, readers are going to naturally feel some sympathy 
for these kids that get beat up all the time, hated by everyone, 
looked down on & kicked around by more powerful groups. The text 
wants us to think that the Slytherins are the ones in power, but the 
real power dynamics are actually the opposite.

Personally, I *love* that readers adopted Snape & Draco, identified 
themselves as Slytherins, searched for any stray clue that maybe 
there's something positive to be found in this group of people. Even 
before DH, I think people felt uncomfortable on some level w/some of 
the underlying themes of the series. IMO, it shows a profound 
resistance to the black & white, Manichean worldview that JKR is 
selling.  

Nora:
> (By the way, Pippin, cheers on pegging so many of the issues so 
early)

lizzyben:

But Pippin has also posted about some of the positive qualities of 
Slytherin as the "water" house - how Snape & Fleur are healers, and 
Slytherins can be gracious & compassionate, 12 Grimmauld Place is 
warm & hospitable once restored, how even Pansy might have had her 
classmates' interests at heart - are we not supposed to do that? 

Nora:
> At least from my reading of the books, the problem is that 
Slytherin
> House, particularly as epitomized by Draco and his crew--although
> Draco does turn at least partially away from it, to his credit--is 
not
> simply a difference of opinion, it's an ideology out to get rid of
> everything that doesn't live up to its own standards, and thus
> excludes itself from being considerable as one choice equal among
> many.  But then we get into classic problems of liberalism, etc. 
etc. etc.

lizzyben:

Yeah, but it's actually not an ideology to get rid of, but an 
ideology to maintain & sort new children into its' indoctrination 
each year. If we're going w/Slytherin=evil racism, there's NO reason 
that ideology should still be supported by the school. If we're 
going w/Slytherin as "water" house, an essential part of the whole, 
there's NO way that they should be segregated & stigmatized the way 
that they are. JKR wants to have it both ways.

Nora:
> I would have liked to have seen more in canon of the reckoning that
> needed to finally come on with Slytherin ideology, but JKR chose to
> focus more on the personal story than the larger social one, alas.
> 
> -Nora sighs with nostalgia for those far-off listie days
>

lizzyben:

Perhaps leading to the conclusion that "all is well" in the 
wizarding world? That's a pretty final note for a supposedly 
ambiguous ending. 


lizzyben