JKR, the female and facism (wasRe: WAS Slytherin as villains...

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 179126

> >>Kemper earlier:
> > I see Lily more as Mother Mary in this scene. It is what I imagine
> > she would say to her son as he carried his cross. (I'm not trying
> > to equate a Harry is Jesus thing)

> >> Betsy Hp:
> > Ooh, ick, really? She was there, wasn't she? In the end? And I
> > don't recall her cheering Jesus on.

> >>Kemper now:
> I don't read Lily's statement or gestures (the icky hair flip) as
> cheering on Harry to his death.

Betsy Hp:
The hungy look is what I found icky.  Though combining it with 
personal grooming did push things for me.  (What was JKR thinking 
there?)  And yeah, I'm going to say her "so brave" remark was meant 
to be encouraging.  Especially combined (heh) with all of her boys 
telling Harry how cool and easy death is.

> >>Kemper:
> <snip>
> I believe that Lily wants her son to live hence her sacrifice that 
> Halloween night.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Sure, Lily wants her baby to live.  Her full grown son?  I didn't see 
her trying to figure out another way, so I'm going to have to go 
with, positive about the death thing.

> >>Kemper now:
> Draco is different.  Draco and martyr are sent out to kill.  Draco
> recognizes his error and wants out.  He realizes his mom is right.
> Narcissa as Mother knows best.

Betsy Hp:
And this also condemns Draco.  It's tied in, I think, with him using 
her wand.  Draco has not become a man because he's too dependent on a 
woman is how I read it. (Another example of the danger of the female 
to the male.

> >>Kemper Now:
> Harry doesn't die /for/ Dumbledore. Harry dies for Hogwarts sans
> Slytherin <e-er g>

Betsy Hp:
Harry dies to kill Voldemort, which was what Dumbledore wanted.  

(And also?  Kudos for the <e-er>.  Took me a bit (just a bit!) to 
figure it out. <rbg>)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/179112
> >>Magpie:
> > I find the depiction of sex quite weird in the Potterverse. We   
> > get the stairs to the girl's dorm, which seems a nod to the      
> > obvious fact that boys are going to be trying to get into the
> > girl's beds. And yet based on what we see of our male heroes it's 
> > completely unnecessary and in fact ought to be the other         
> > staircase. 
> > <snip>

Betsy Hp:
There's something almost... repressed about it, isn't there.  And 
there's very much a sense that the boys are sweet and virginal and 
the girls are... not.  Even the girls who aren't as interested in sex 
(Hermione and I'd say even Ginny in that it's no big deal to her) 
seem to *know* all about it.  Their lack of interest seems of a more 
jaded sort (been there, done that, thought of England the whole 
time).  Whereas Harry seems genuinely innocent.  And Ron is, for the 
most part, quite ignorant (ignorant enough for little sister Ginny to 
give him a pat on the head).

> >>Carol:
> <snip>
> But it would be inconvenient for the plot if Hermione couldn't
> enter the boys' dormroom, and I suppose we need an explanation     
> (other than that Harry and Ron never thought of it) why they're    
> never in hers. (Also, Ginny has to get in Harry's room to steal    
> back the diary in Cos.)

Betsy Hp:
Yes, but JKR as author could figure such things out however she 
wished.  This is how she did it.  And so it's valid to see meaning 
beyond the point A to point B stuff, IMO.  Plus, it ain't just the 
stairs. <bg>

> >>Carol:
> <snip>
> Could it be, in part, because girls in the WW, like girls in the   
> RL, are programmed to look for *romance* whereas, for boys, a      
> relationship with a girl is a kind of sexual experimentation
> that, until OoP for Harry and HBP for Ron, the boys aren't really
> ready for?
> <snip>
> Or maybe they resemble girls of the 1950s, some (by no means all)   
> of whom went to college to obtain their MRS degree. 
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Hmm... I think this is the view JKR has.  That girls are mechanically 
looking for proper breeding mates and boys are rather innocently 
tripping along until the girl traps him.  Again, the sexual predator 
is the female out to get the more innocent male.  It's a very 
negative (and fearful) way I think, of looking at female sexuality.

Betsy Hp