[HPforGrownups] Bigotry in the Potterverse

[Rick H. Kennerly]

No: HPFGUIDX 188046


> Rick H. Kennerly wrote:
>   
>> In truth, though, JKR deals with complicated racial issues and 
>> discrimination through interactions in the WW: werewolfs, giants, 
>> muggle-born, goblins, centaurs even ghosts, with Nearly Headless Nick 
>> being denied a spot in the headless hunt. 
>>     
> Bart:
>
>     There is a subtle form of bigotry which is present in the "real 
> world". In 19th century Europe and America, it was referred to as "the 
> white man's burden". 
>   
Cranky Elf is going to put me back on supervision because we're straying 
off topic, but... 

An author has to make a choice between describing how things are and how 
things ought to be.  There is always a tension between the two, and I 
think JKR hits the mark pretty well.  It's interesting that the nations 
most weighed down in that 19th century snobbishness--the White Man's 
Burden--have ended up being generally the most open and accepting of 
newcomers--The British Empire, Canada (I repeat myself) the US, really 
most of Western Europe.  The nations most in trouble in the world--by 
any measure--seem also to be the most inward looking countries. 

No doubt there are divisions between people in the west, but they tend 
to be more along lines of intelligence, talent, and money, not origin or 
skin color.  I think the movies do a better job of showing the 
multinational absorption of the UK than the books because they are a 
visual medium, but that's mostly a failure of careful reading and 
knowledge of dialect (I'm informed by native British speakers, that 
particularly in the UK editions, there are subtle regional dialect clues 
that are hard for us in the US to pick out (as a native born son of the 
south, I've studied English as a Second Language all my life, so I'm 
lost at UK dialect). 

One of the things I love about the movies is the disorientation I feel 
every time Cho speaks--The King's English (maybe with a bit of Welsh 
intonation) coming out of an oriental face.  I have the same feeling 
when ever I swing through Hong Kong or Sydney. 

In the end, people tend to find a way to distinguish among themselves no 
matter how level the playing field: boss/worker, police/citizen, 
parent/teacher, jock/nerd. 

My philosophy is that everyone is an expert in his or her own life. 

-- 

Rick Kennerly
Virginia Beach, VA
www.mouseherder.com 
<http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1213141578&ref=name>



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