Harry Potter (mostly Draco Malfoy, really... and then I go off about violence in media)

[butterfly]

There were, of course, many things about the movie that I adored that do not go by the initials D.M.

Snape was just as good as always. Emma Thompson was wonderful as Trelawney. Buckbeak was amazing. Sirius and Lupin had wonderful chemistry -- you could feel the sheer weight of their history together.

Harry was terrific. I was very impressed with Daniel this time around.

But, in the end, it does come back to Malfoy. Yearning, bratty Malfoy, who is sadly reminding me of Lindsey from Angel ("...he's still the center of your universe.").

He tries so hard to get Harry's attention, to make Harry care as much about him as he cares about Harry. 'One way or another'. Positive, negative, it doesn't matter as long as it's attention.

Draco wants to matter to Harry. And it's so achingly obvious in this film. He's so incredibly aware of Harry -- I'm reminded of the wineglass scene in OotP, when Harry's mere presence distracts him from a test.

Theirloveissohorriblyone-sided.

It's at times like these that I wonder if I have issues.

Also, anyone who cringes the way that Draco did when Hermione pointed her wand at him and who is always the freaking losing side of a confrontation? Is not a bully. Bullies actually have a position of power, which they exploit. Draco is consistently shown as having not having pretty much any power. And it's more the losing part that makes him not a bully than the fear -- most people who are violent have a lot of fear.

Draco is an obnoxious brat. He's melodramatic and he... 'improves the truth' and he's not the least bit brave.

I don't have much of a tolerance for violence. At least, for one-sided violence. If the other person isn't willing or able to hit back, then it's wrong to hit them. Which is why Hermione's punch bugged me. Yes, that's the way to deal with someone insulting you -- punch them. What a wonderful example for anyone watching the movie. The fact that it's set-up as... a hero move, as a good thing, twists my stomach.

For someone who watches shows with so much violence in them, that may sound odd. But violence with a purpose doesn't bother me. Buffy slays vampires, yes, they kill people. It's only when the violence is unnecessary that it bothers me -- hell, I'm still pissed that all three of Buffy's long-term guys punched Xander. Though at least he got to hit Spike back. But the punch that Angel lays on Xander in Enemies always makes my blood boil. And I despise how easily Riley turns to violence to take Xander out of the equation in Buffy vs Dracula.

The violence in Mountie on the Bounty works for me because Ray makes Fraser hit him back. And then, after that, we get an affirmation of the fact that not only did it never happen again, but that Ray would never ever allow it to happen again -- in Good for the Soul:
Ray: "Ah, look, I don't want to be forced to use force upon you."
Fraser: "No, you won't."
Ray: "You're right."
(brief aside -- I love the way they shoot that scene, distanced from the actors. One day, I will explain why I love it so.)

Draco Malfoy attacks with words. To escalate that to the level of physical force is... crude. It lowers Hermione not to Draco's level but below it. I've known the hurt that words can bring -- words have almost destroyed my life a time or two and that isn't an exaggeration. But physical pain... to violate the physical boundaries that we set, to force marks that can be seen by others...

She already had him cringing before her and that wasn't enough. She had to lay a hand on his body to prove her power over him. And worse, she got a rush from that power. Which I personally found disturbing. It only encourages her to escalate to that level of action again in the future, now that she's discovered that it feels good.

Of course, this makes her character in the movie all the more interesting to me, because she has this huge flaw. She got off the moral superiority thing, and then got off on 'might makes right'.

Yeah, she's a lot like Willow, when I think about it.