[HPforGrownups] Re: The secrecy motif/magic & muggles

[Kathryn Lambert]

No: HPFGUIDX 179988

<<<HUGE SNIP>>>
   
  Katie:
> As far as the relationship between Gryffs and Slyths - it's another 
regrettable decision that I think was rushed and not considered properly. 
I wish that had turned out differently. I think the books would have been 
infinitely more powerful and would have come out with 
a profoundly different message if Slytherin and Gryffindor had
reconciled and become allies. Alas. 

Pippin:

Talk about soppy! And what use would it be for the real world? 
Hey kids, all differences between cultures are just superficial and
none of the issues that people have been fighting about for thousands
of years really matter.

In that case, why not let Voldemort win?

Pippin
   
   
   
  ***Katie: Well, first of all, I have to say that I think all cultural differences, while worthy and valuable, are actually superficial. My belief is that whether we are Christian or Muslim or athiest, whether we are European or Mexican or American...etc...we all are human and basically the same. And I *don't* think that the issues people have been fighting about for thousands of years matter -- at least if you're referring to bloodshed over religion, race, and homelands. I think it's tragic that we fight each other over those issues and I wish that people could learn to see each other's similarities instead of their differences.
   
   
  And, frankly, I thought that's what the HP books were about. And, IMO, she sent a really mixed message by saying on the one hand that prejudice is bad...unless it's prejudice against Slytherins. That's perfectly ok. I have to also mention that I did not used to feel this way. It's only upon reflection after DH that I see things this way. But I see now how contradictory the place of the Slytherins is in terms of the messages she promoted. 
   
   
  The Slytherins care about power, true. But it is never actually stated that they are in league with Voldemort. It is *assumed* that they support him, and it's never allowed that they might not. They are never given a shot at redemption, never given a moment to decide for themselves, either idividually, or as a group, who they are and what they believe. It was a missed opportunity, IMO, for a really powerful moment of redemption for Slytherin, and of epiphany for Gryffindor -- that things and people are not always what they seem. Instead, the sterotypes about Slytherin is reinforced and the Gryffndors are just reinforced in their feelings of superiority. It's an ugly message to end a great series...and it disappoints me. 
   
   
  Katie



       
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