Cool

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 182729

> Carol responds:
> Excellent example of what Harry at fourteen regards as "cool." The
> question is, why does Harry view him this way? Is the twenty-something
> Bill the sole representative of WW youth culture? He seems to be
> imitating Muggle rock singers rather than anything in the WW,
> including the Weird Sisters. 

Magpie:
That always cracks me up in GoF, because Bill sounds like he just 
stepped out of a hair band video from the 80s--iow, he doesn't quite 
make the right impression on me! I assume Tonks is also supposed to be 
cool, particularly with her Weird Sisters tee-shirt, but they're all 
handicapped by the lack of pop culture in the WW (nobody else even 
wears band tee-shirts). There seems to be only one band that we only 
hear about so that Dumbledore can somehow get them to play the Yule 
Ball to prove how cool he is (it's not like music or anything like that 
actually plays a part in the teenaged culture that we see), though that 
in itself undermines their status as a band.

I think in general JKR uses "cool" the way most people do, to both 
describe people who are socially smooth and to describe people who are, 
for lack of a better word, mensches. Neville and Luna are the latter--
though in an interview I believe JKR encouraged us to see Neville as 
the former as well because he lived over a pub.

-m