The Brattiness of Malfoy

[butterfly]

What's interesting is that I've seen people who aren't particular Draco fans think that Draco fans would be displeased with what we see in the movie.

Realistic Draco fans were expecting to see a whiny brat. Because Draco is a whiny brat. He really, really is. He's a brat in the books and he's a brat in the films. He's just a brat all around. Seeing Draco as a brat is not coming as a shock to any fan of his. We already knew he was a brat. Promise. I've noticed people dismayed at his whimpering and the reaction to Hermione, but not to his general attitude. Of course, I loved it all because he's my cowardly, whiny, melodramatic brat and I adore him beyond any words.

Though, honestly, Draco, honey? If you send someone a note disguised as an origami crane? It really won't be taken seriously as a threat. No. It really won't. Especially when the little 'threatening' drawings are so very adorable.

Draco is about my only tentative foray into the waters of the 'bad boy' and well... he isn't. He's a brat, but... I mean, the word redemption is silly when applied to him. He's never even seen a dead person. He's a brat, which means that it would be nice if he had... emotional growth or something, but you don't needed to be redeemed for brattiness. Now Spike needed to be redeemed. Killer, (at least attempted) rapist, feaster on human blood. Massive ickiness. Mucho redemption needed.

Draco? Says mean things to people. Will attempt to hurt people who insult his parents. Has been know to play practical jokes. Overplays his pain in order to get sympathy.

I wouldn't put Draco under the 'good' column or the 'nice' one, but 'petty' is different than 'evil', as Snape (who did need to be redeemed and was) amply shows.

Ah, and a comment from Tom Felton on his character (found on HPANA):
"Draco has some serious issues. But I find it is nice to be the snotty kid. As long as he has the comments to hit people on their sore spots as opposed to just being arrogant, then I am happy."


Also, I would like to display my obliviousness to the world around me by showing my initial reaction to news of Ronald Reagan's death, to wit, "Reagan died? He was still alive? Weird. I could have sworn he was already dead."

Honestly, the only thing that comes to mind when I think of Reagan is The Ladies Man, when Fraser mentions watching his movies back in the day. Fraser's so cute.

Well, and also that I really don't like the name Ronald much. Brings up bad clown thoughts.

And as a very brief aside, it really looks like the young man playing Goyle will grow up to be quite the hottie.

Comments

[queenofhell.livejournal.com]

I agree that Draco isn't evil, exactly, but he is a) the wizard equivalent of a racist, and b) openly supporting a mass murderer. For me, at least, he needs redemption for those reasons. He may not be committing evil acts, but his beliefs are certainly evil.

This is more of a reply to your last Draco post, re: Hermione punching him, but when I watch that scene, it reminds he of everytime in high school when some asshole would start spouting racist or homophobic bullshit. I never punched anybody, but I would've liked to. They might not have been beating up fags, and they might have fainted if they saw a dead body, but that didn't make their beliefs any less rancid.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I agree that Draco isn't evil, exactly, but he is a) the wizard equivalent of a racist, and b) openly supporting a mass murderer. For me, at least, he needs redemption for those reasons. He may not be committing evil acts, but his beliefs are certainly evil.

Which honestly makes me think of nothing so much as the doctrine of original sin. At what point does Draco's free will take over from how he was raised? Because, to me, redemption and... re-education, for lack of a better word, are two different things. Eleven is so young and eleven year olds are often cruel and unaware of the true nature of the world around them. And Draco isn't growing up. Harry's been allowed to, but it really seems like the most important parts of Draco are stuck at eleven. His background is evil, but he has no control over that. When does he start to have control and how much is he required to exercise to be considered 'not evil'? He warns the Trio of things about to happen, whether for good reasons or ill.

It just seems to be expecting so much for him to reject the beliefs of his parents when he is given no compelling or attractive reason for doing so. No one is telling him good things about Muggles. No one is trying to reach him. And they aren't obligated to, but the idea that he should just spontaneous realize what a huge deal it all is... he'd have to have something huge happen to him because of it first.

My employer at work said the word 'fag' once. I talked to him privately and asked him not to say it anymore. He hasn't in my hearing. But though I was angry at his use of the word, I didn't want to hit him.

And honestly, I think that Hermione did give Draco what he wanted in that scene -- he really, really mattered to the point of her crossing over the line into violence and cruelty. Plus, he now has a valid reason to try to seek veneagance against her.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Also, the entire WW is racist. This is why this parallel just seems so facile to me. I mean, they actually have *races* first of all, that are characterized by having different personalities and values. The good guys are friends with people from other races, but they all act like wizards. Hagrid hides being a giant, Remus hides being a werewolf, Dobby isn't like other house elves. It's just really not that simple to point at one kid and say, "Oooh, he's like the kid who says the N word," as if that explains everything. (And of course, that kid has his own story too...)

Of course that doesn't change the fact that it is WRONG for him to call people Mudblood. His response to Hermione humiliating him with her comment about the brooms isn't a surprise but that doesn't make it any more okay. And the thing about wanting to punch someone is it's just wanting to punch someone. I'm sure Draco wanted to punch Hermione at times. Hermione doesn't slap him in the book or punch him in the movie because she's a good person doing what must be done, she's just an angry girl getting pleasure out of hurting the kid that bugs her. There's nothing noble about it. In the movie that's stated outright: that felt good. Well, yeah, I'm sure it did. It probably felt good for Moody to bounce that ferret around and for Harry to taunt Dudley in OotP and punch Draco. It doesn't make it self-defense, nor does it do anything about his racism.

Changing his behavior, which would require caring about him, taking an actual interest in him for his own sake, putting up with his nastiness to see if there was something underneath--tons of things--would be a lot harder. Right now he's just the punching bag. We can feel happy when he gets hurt while still feeling superior because, you know, he was a racist so that means we're good people for targetting him rather than somebody like Hagrid.

[queenofhell.livejournal.com]

And Draco isn't growing up. Harry's been allowed to, but it really seems like the most important parts of Draco are stuck at eleven. His background is evil, but he has no control over that. When does he start to have control and how much is he required to exercise to be considered 'not evil'?

I completely see your point about this, and the answer to that is: I don't know. But I do know that, when he's still spouting pureblood rhetoric at fifteen, thats about the time when I stop rationalizing his actions as a bad upbringing. At fifteen, you don't take everything your parents tell you as fact. You start forming your own opinions (or at least you should) and maybe they match those of your parents, and maybe they don't. Draco's, at least so far, apparently do. For a large part of the year, he's away from home. He's still under the influence of his parents, yeah, but he at least has the opportunity to try and figure things out for himself.

As for him not being allowed to grow up, do you mean Rowling's not allowing him to grow up, or do you mean his parents or his own mindset or what? Cause either way, yeah, I can see that. But again, once you're at about fifteen (or sixteen, which is when he'll come of age), you're responsible for your own actions and beliefs. The 'he's just a child, he doesn't understand whats going on' argument doesn't apply anymore, for me, especially when Draco's seen the type of things people who share his beliefs can and will do. When he's observed Cedric's death (and he's obviously aware that it was Voldemort who did it) and he's still supporting Voldemort's actions, thats when it goes from 'he doesn't know whats going on' to 'he knows, he just doesn't care.' When he's laughing at the screams of Muggles being tormented by Death Eaters, he's not just parroting his daddy. He's actively taking pleasure in other people's pain and humiliation. Thats my answer to the "how much control is he required to exercise to be considered 'not evil'" question. I don't think he's evil. But when he condones or even encourages actions that are evil, he crosses a line.

And yeah, no one's trying to reach him, so he's given no compelling reasons to change. But he's given no one compelling reasons to try to reach him, either. And even if someone did try, I don't think it would work. The only thing that could change him is some huge event, like you said. But again, once he sees that the people he supports cause actual deaths, and that doesn't make him re-examine those beliefs, thats when I stop giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Whew. I haven't done so much character analysis in awhile--its particularly exhausting when you haven't read the books recently. I kept having to run to my room to get the books. This, right after my English final. I think my brain hurts. *g*

[ataniell93.livejournal.com]

No, he is NOT the equivalent of a racist. He is the equivalent of a homophobe. Mudbloods and squibs show up in families that they're not supposed to show up in. You can't tell them from ordinary wizards or Muggles by looking. They are not a different colour, they are not a different culture from the people who raised them.

A racist equivalent would be Umbridge, who is not only concerned with purity of blood but whether or not you are human.

There are things that are *analogous* to racism about the blood prejudice, such as the way it's transmitted from parent to child and the fact that people who believe in it truly believe that the destruction of the pureblood/white race is at hand.

But Muggleborns are not a race.

Also, the history is a bit different. The whole business, for instance, of muggles killing witches. JKR makes light of it by saying that most of the women who died weren't really witches (which is true) but the intent was the same, they WANTED to kill witches, and eventually the Muggle and Wizarding worlds did separate. There's habitat destruction and competition; it's so much more complex than 'they r the Nazis OMG".

[queenofhell.livejournal.com]

There are things that are *analogous* to racism about the blood prejudice, such as the way it's transmitted from parent to child and the fact that people who believe in it truly believe that the destruction of the pureblood/white race is at hand.

But Muggleborns are not a race.

Neither are blacks or jews or anybody else. They're an ethnicity. (At least, thats what I was taught in my biology class.) But the phrase still stands. I called it the wizard equivalent to racism because of the fixation with pure blood and the fear of mixed blood, and because "mudblood" is obviously a reference to the "mud people" theory that racist and yes, Nazis, like to use. I wasn't even thinking of squibs, really. I think the squib thing could be likened to homophobia (can't pass on the bloodline, blah blah) but even that still ties into the whole "keep the white race going" thing.

Also, muggleborn are a different culture from wizard-born, as Draco points out in the first book. "I don't even think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways."

But my point is, whatever his beliefs are the RL equivalent of, they're repellent. Muggles trying to kill wizards? Also repellent. Umbridge and most of the wizarding world's attitudes towards werewolves and other creatures? Also repellent.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

Don't shut up. Don't *ever.*
Even though, you know, you made me cry with all these parts about Draco. It never even *occurred* to me that Draco could've had a bad experience with a wand before.
and hey, it needn't have even been with his parents... who's prepared to bet that the Weasley twins mightn't have done something really terrible/painful/humiliating to the Slytherin brat.
As for your eloquently rendered fears about the Ferret Incident, I must concur again. It's going to *shatter* me. I may weep openly. Seeing it with some of my friends may finally convince them of my psychosis.
One thing I was rather grateful for was the lack of the Slytherin/Gryffindor Cup Match in PoA. Because there's this bit at breakfast, and Harry's feeling sick with nerves, and *everyone from the other three houses* is cheering him, and he's the Quidditch Prodigy, and nobody thinks his dad bought his way onto the team. And he glances over at Draco and sees Draco looking very pale, and my heart breaks in half like a biscuit someone stepped on, just imagining what this poor kid is feeling.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Even though, you know, you made me cry with all these parts about Draco. It never even *occurred* to me that Draco could've had a bad experience with a wand before.
and hey, it needn't have even been with his parents... who's prepared to bet that the Weasley twins mightn't have done something really terrible/painful/humiliating to the Slytherin brat.

Good point. *is hopeful*

Oh, the Weasley twins. I really don't like bullies who expect their victims to smile afterwards. They're worse than the regular sort.

As for your eloquently rendered fears about the Ferret Incident, I must concur again. It's going to *shatter* me. I may weep openly. Seeing it with some of my friends may finally convince them of my psychosis.

Yeah, I haven't cried in the Potter movies, but if anything could do it, it would be that.

One thing I was rather grateful for was the lack of the Slytherin/Gryffindor Cup Match in PoA. Because there's this bit at breakfast, and Harry's feeling sick with nerves, and *everyone from the other three houses* is cheering him, and he's the Quidditch Prodigy, and nobody thinks his dad bought his way onto the team. And he glances over at Draco and sees Draco looking very pale, and my heart breaks in half like a biscuit someone stepped on, just imagining what this poor kid is feeling.

God, yes. It must be such a horrible feeling, knowing just how many people are against you.

[icarusinwax.livejournal.com]

hello *waves* i've been reading your last few entries and would like to friend you if you don't mind :)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Hi! Glad to have you.