butterfly | Thoughts on Harry Potter

The Stargate movie has arrived via netflix. Now, I, too, can see Daniel Save Jack From Suicide. I'm very excited. Plus, it's the Ultimate Edition. Ooo.

Since, hey, I've got new people, I decided that now would be a good time to do a reintroduction to butterfly's views on the Harry Potter group.

I love Harry. Totally. I don't talk about him much, but I completely adore him. I really love Hermione. She's bookish, she's smart, she's a lot like Willow without in any way being like her and I like that in a girl. I adore Remus, liked Sirius tolerably well, and enjoy Dumbledore despite thinking of him as manipulative and ruthless (in fact, maybe that should be 'because of').

Ron's okay. The second-best of the Weasleys, who really aren't my thing.

But since I'm there anyway...

Maybe it's because I didn't have a large family, but the Weasley family dynamic creeps me out. My favorite Weasley is definitely Percy, who's broken ranks. Molly scares me, because wow, my mom was nothing like that and whenever I read a Molly scene, I breathe a word of thanks that I have my mom, who let me have my privacy. Ginny was first a cipher and then suddenly had a personality. This is not normal. The twins are bullies and practical jokers and just the sort of boy that I didn't like at all in school. Arthur is... kinda disturbing, with that muggle obssession. He acts like muggles are fascinating creatures to be studied and if he were like that with me I would seriously have the urge to tell him to back the fuck off and treat me like a person.

The Wizarding World as a whole is really dark when you consider the implications of many of its social systems. This is a system that find the idea of a prison like Azkaban to be acceptable. That place is definitely 'cruel and unusual', as far as punishments go.

And y'all know how I feel about Draco. He's a petty brat. I love him.

Umbridge is probably the only character in the Potterverse that I hate. Horrid, horrid woman. It's really hard to take Voldemort seriously enough to hate him. I've tried, but... it's hard. He's just so... over the top.

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Umbridge is five times scarier than Voldemort ever has been. *shudders* I'm glad I had a group of people around when I was reading Book 5, because I think I would have been very distressed at what was happening to my familiar Hogwarts world if there hadn't been fandomers on hand to chat with. Mmmm, Oxford meetups. It's such a shame I'll never get to go to one again, as everyone seems to be graduating this year.

Umbridge is, indeed, hella scary.

*shivers*

First of all, I really enjoy reading your analysis. . . what is the plural of that? It's too early. I just had to say a word of defense for my Ginny, as I've loved her since CoS.

Ginny's always had a personality, we just never saw it because of the crush on Harry. We're told by members of the Weasley family how talkative and bright she usually is-- Hermione is good friends with her-- and Ginny is strong enough to not only return to school after the Tom Riddle debacle (which clearly affected her, see her reaction to the dementors in PoA) but to be mentally healthy after it. And after she loses the crush, she's just been revealed to have all those personality traits rather than suddenly growing a spine. Maybe it's just me being wanky, but I always want to stand up for my girl. xD

Another comment-- I agree with you about the wizarding world, and I don't think we're supposed to read it as an ideal society. You might find Arthur creepy, but at least he offers Muggles basic respect that the rest of the society doesn't (and, well, okay, I love the Weasleys, but I always thought Arthur's obsession was more with objects than things-- not to say he wouldn't be overenthusiastic with Muggles, but he'd chill if he saw he needed to). The wizarding world has an archaic government, an emphasis on purebloods, and Umbridge in a position of power. What more could go wrong? xD

I'm mostly just annoyed by how oblivious we're supposed to believe that Harry is -- not just with Ginny, but with tons of other characters that he 'just hadn't noticed'.

The wizarding world has an archaic government, an emphasis on purebloods, and Umbridge in a position of power. What more could go wrong?

Not just an emphasis on purebloods, but an accepted system of slavery (house elves). Plus, the fact that werewolves are classified as dark creatures (or whatever) means that some people are second-class citizens because of something that they can't control.

Arthur is... kinda disturbing, with that muggle obssession. He acts like muggles are fascinating creatures to be studied and if he were like that with me I would seriously have the urge to tell him to back the fuck off and treat me like a person.

Oh, like you wouldn't do the same thing if you met a vampire slayer. :-)

Oh, like you wouldn't do the same thing if you met a vampire slayer.

*grins*

I'd be too busy freaking over vampires actually existing, man.

Hmmm... I always thought that the Wizarding world was quite... nice.

It rather reminded me of a post-WWII era kind of place. There are all of these big, bad evils that have been defeated and there are a few big bads that are still in operation and haven't yet been caught. Azkaban? What else are you going to do with such powerful wizards? Admittedly it's a horrid place and you don't deserve it if you're innocent (I feel so badly for people like Hagrid and Sirius who were there for things they shouldn't have done), but I think that they have some of the right ideas for how prison ought to be. One shouldn't have to endure the mental tortures of the dementors, of course, but prison should be a punishment and today's prisons really are not (unless you're some kind of sex offender, then you get tortured sexually by the other inmates). Hell, I would live in today's prisons. Three square meals, a library, a place to work out, internet access, air conditioning, heat, a soft bed, clothing, and television. Don't sound that bad. Not to mention the free health care and a job to work at (might not be a great job, but it gives you something to do).
I think that we have so many people RETURN to prison because they can't get a better life outside the bars. Hell, I don't have some of those comforts outside. And face it, crime pays. So what if you get caught? You've still got cable.

It might be all right if they had a better justice system, but the one they have sucks. I mean, Hagrid was sent to Azkaban on suspicion. I mean, they have an actual truth potion and yet they don't seem to use it for anything useful, like finding out the truth.

*chuckles* A truth potion would be an excellent thing to use--both in the wizarding world and in our own.

I think that much of the time they don't--or haven't--used the truth potion because some of the people in power are, well, the aforementioned "big bads". It would never do to have people question Hagrid's imprisonment, would it? No, terribly inconvenient for Tom Riddle/Voldemort. He wouldn't have had a scape goat when he returned (should he need to return in this way, which he apparently did). The same with Sirius. People wanted someone to blame and it seemed obvious that rat guy (I really can't remember his name and I thought that Scabbers quite suited him) found his imprisonment quite to his own advantage--as well as to his master's, eventually.

Reading JK Rowling's books, I think I'm becoming rather a conspiracy theorist.

And y'all know how I feel about Draco. He's a petty brat. I love him.

Don't we all. :D And, oh, hi! I have been reading your posts on Draco and I'd like to comment more in depth when I have some time (I enjoyed them a great deal), but I was wondering... it's okay with you if I link to them on

trip_jinx?

Totally all right with me. I'm a bit flustered over getting attention, but it's a good flustered.

Thoughts on Harry Potter

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