Dark Book - Blood and Cruelty/ Draco

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No: HPFGUIDX 177334


> Magpie:
> Harry, otoh, seems to be the WW's main celebrity. He's an ordinary 
> guy the way Brad Pitt is ordinary--iow, not at all, which is why 
he's 
> got personal relationships with all the MoMs. Draco is actually far 
> more ordinary--albeit wealthy. He's a good student, but not the 
best, 
> a good Quidditch player, but no the best. He gets attention because 
> he dances on tables and screams for it. If he shut his mouth he 
might 
> have been one of the nameless hoards who know Harry's name without 
> Harry knowing his. He does get himself a certain social status 
within 
> his house, but he certainly seems to work for it. In terms of being 
> popular in general, well, he can't be popular the way Harry is, can 
> he? Or even Ron is? Because he's a Slytherin and they seem to be in 
> their own world there. He does seem to get attention from other 
> students when he makes loud comments, but that's it.
> 
> And yes, of course I agree that being "popular" has nothing to do 
> with being liked. Popular people are often resented terribly and 
can 
> have as many "frenemies" as friends. I can't imagine anybody going 
> through high school and knowing who the popular people were 
thinking 
> these were people who were universally liked or never turned on by 
> the school. They're turned on due to pent-up resentment of jealousy 
> half the time--which is pretty much what happens to Harry. <snip>

Amy:

I think I might need to clarify my position. Yes, Harry is (as 
portrayed by the books), more well known, and probably more well-
liked than Draco. (Except by the Slytherins, which is half my point.) 
I don't think I personally was actually arguing that Draco was 
more "popular" than Harry, or if I was, I got really off-track. Yes, 
Draco by comparison would be more the "every-man" of the two, but I 
was more protesting against the idea that Draco's confrontations with 
Harry give off the tone of "the Lesser Everyman" against the "Bigshot 
on Campus". Quite honestly, I don't think they do, because while you 
are right about the "popular" people with as many frenemies as 
friends, the fact is that to launch a laughing/smear campaign against 
one of the "popular" people in high school would be the equivalent of 
social suicide. 

Maybe this is how it should happen between Harry and Draco, being who 
they are in the eyes of the wizarding world -- but even if you argue 
that Draco is just taking advantage of the fact that "the popular 
king has fallen off his pedestal" during their public confrontations, 
and that technically, they still keep their positions of "Everyman" 
and "BMOC" ... um, after this same thing has happened about three or 
four times? I really can't agree.

However many times we have seen the students cheer for Harry, we have 
never ONCE seen them stand up for him (or his friends, who by 
definition should be the popular clique) in the face of "Potter 
Stinks", "Weasley is Our King", or the fainting dramatics of PoA 
(during all of which, Draco is actually the one who got students on a 
grand scale to laugh at Harry). Draco is confident enough to shout 
catty comments to Harry and his friends in the corridors and across 
the Entrance Hall, and no one even blinks an eye. The one time we've 
seen Draco publically humiliated directly by Harry, in front of the 
whole school, we only see Harry and Ron laughing (this is when Draco 
gets hit with Harry's Patronus in PoA, and we have to assume the rest 
of the school might also be laughing). And during the times that 
Draco is beaten up by Harry and/or his friends, it's usually private, 
and never seems to affect Draco's social standing in any way.  

Yes, popular people can be equally well-liked and well-hated, but 
there is a reason that others just want so badly to be a member of 
the group, and that even more may just want to stay out of their way -
- there's this whole power thing that comes with them, even if it is 
just an idea. They don't get laughed at, by whole crowds of 
people...not continuously, anyway, or else there's no reason to call 
them popular. And I just don't see this "power thing" at Hogwarts -- 
and if I have to say I do, then I'd also have to say that I see Draco 
carrying it more than I actually see Harry doing so, if that makes 
sense. Harry may have a wide cheerleading base, but if Draco *never* 
has to be afraid of angering said base when he takes things up with 
Harry on a school-wide level... if he can actually count on a larger 
group of people to be following him than be opposing him, then no, he 
can't be said to have the lesser amount of power on a schoolyard 
level. 

Amy