Muggles v wizards redux

[lizzyben04]

No: HPFGUIDX 183229

> a_svirn:
> Exactly my feeling. By the only definition of Muggles we were given 
> in the books is that they are non-magical people. It is a definition 
> that applies to me. And in the Potterverse people who are "just like 
> me" are universally patronised often despised and routinely 
> abused "for their own good". Well, it does make me uneasy.
>

lizzyben:

Even that one little story released today has a good dose of
Muggle-taunting. IMO people don't identify w/the Muggles of the books
because the narrative so clearly asks us NOT to identify w/them, but
w/the superior wizards instead. So we view Muggles from a patronizing
wizarding POV (aren't they sweet & stupid?) & don't make the
connection that these Muggles are, well, us. 

In the postcard story, the Muggle policeman is characterized as a fat
doltish oaf, in contrast to the cool, dashing, handsome James
& Sirius. Who would you rather identify with there? And then we are
invited to laugh as the fat Muggle can't get down the alley, and
breaks the mirror off the car door as he tries to squeeze through.
LOL. There's the humiliation & pain as humor theme again. It's sort of
funny to me that this one 800-word story also encapsulates so many of
the things that were disturbing in the original series. 


lizzyben