How do the books affect children? (was: Why down on all the characters?)

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 179613

> > Magpie:
> > The whole reason those times stand out for Harry is because 
they're 
> > not normal. If he was actually just an unpopular kid his whole 
> > school experience would just be one grey haze of loneliness, not 
> > isolated painful memories when he did something bad or was 
thought 
> > to do something bad and lots of people got mad at him for it 
> (though 
> > luckily in every single one of those times he still actually had 
> > friends standing by him).
> 
> Alla:
> 
> So, wait, only if kid disliked all the time, kid is deemed worthy 
to 
> be called unpopular? Is that what you are saying?

Magpie:
Not disliked all the time by everyone, but he his regular social 
standing has to at least warrant being called unpopular. It's a 
recognizable stereotype--Neville, Luna and Snape all pretty much 
glow with it when they're young. If you say "Harry was unpopular 
with the Hufflepuffs when his name came out of the Goblet" then 
yeah, I'll agree with the use of the word. But to say Harry is 
unpopular as a general description of his social position at school? 
No. He never is. Except at the Dursleys where JKR is sure to tell us 
that his unpopularity is artificial and not due to his own social 
skills at all.

At Hogwarts, Harry achieves the social standing a kid like him 
would. He's likable, socially adept, athletic, attractive. He also 
has this bizarre celebrity thing going that causes worship and 
resentment in people who don't know him. That's the fame part. 

When I say Harry isn't unpopular I'm talking about his general 
social level, not claiming he's worshipped and loved by everyone all 
the time--nobody's ever had that. That's impossible. There are 
specific contexts I could use the word in Harry's case: "Harry was 
very unpopular with the Hufflepuffs when his name came out of the 
Goblet" for instance. But if somebody told me Harry was an unpopular 
boy and then I read this series I'd ask why they gave me a false 
impression of who Harry was. If he's supposed to be an unpopular kid 
give me a kid who's actually unpopular like Luna, Snape and Neville 
(none of whom are disliked all the time by everyone, but are 
obviously unpopular). Not perfectly likable sports hero kid and his 
plucky friends.

-m (who wouldn't consider herself unpopular in high school, and yet 
still never reached Harry's heights)