Oh, and also

[farla]

The book sucked.

I mean, at various points I kept stopping and thinking I'd made a mistake and fallen for one of those fanfics, because the stuff was like someone slavishly copying existing books mixed with fanon speculation, but it matched the lines I found mentioned from the original leak and was written in longwinded style and matched the reviews based on the original leak.

And I should point out that I speed read the book with my brain on complete hold, not thinking about anything. To put this in perspective, I picked up book three, ran into Remus Lupin, thought "lupin, lupus, remus founder of rome yeah I bet that's one of her fitting important names" and then did not figure out he was a werewolf until the announcement by dint of not processing anything in the book or making any effort to figure it out. (Even more precisely, it wasn't even "figure out" since I hadn't paid enough attention to think of it as a mystery) My hate for Harry Potter and the unending bad writing appears only when anyone tries to actually discuss it as being legitimate, at which point I will pull up the text from where it is buried in my brain and rage about how Fred and George's behavior is sociopathic, Slytherin are coded evil and she went halfway back on it when people bitched, the romance was thrown together to get back at her fans, Harry Potter's behavior in the fifth book is not "a great portrayal of typical teenager" and dismissing teenagers complaining about it as such is the height of insanity, there's no way wizards can be living embedded in muggle society with regular muggleborn wizards added yet remain unaware of everything, she's obviously making up half of this as she goes along, she treats magic like it's been around for five minutes and everyone else is incapable of seeing out of the glass box (because a bunch of DUMBASS SCHOOL KIDS are the only ones who ever thought that magic super luck might be useful before a battle). But only when it's brought up. I read at breakneck pace and process nothing and usually end with kind of an "eh".

So you can imagine just how absurd things have to be for me to notice them.

(Those of you who like the books may take this as a ringing endorsement. But understand I think you are insane and/or evil.)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Having a family with generations of Slytherins doesn't guarantee that someone will be in that house, it makes the chances of being in the house much greater, but not something that will happen no matter what. (I think I left the last bit out when I was writing my last comment, sorry.) Trolls are supposed to be ugly and violent by nature, so that would be the reason he was in Slytherin, though if you notice Hagrid is half giant and giants are also usually violent and he was in Gryffindor, JKR just made a half troll go to Slytherin most likely because they smell bad etc. and that would cause a few problems with Hagrid if he were half troll. So there's a bit of a choice there that doesn't have to do with blood completely.

Yes, some purebloods do look good, just like some kings and queens from centuries ago weren't all necessarily prone to birth defects all the time. Sirius is in Gryffindor, but his brother was in Slytherin and they look alike, Narcissa and Bellatrix are both cousins of Sirius and they both look good too. They are more closely related than some of the other purebloods and they have some common traits. JKR has Narcissa have a nasty look and Bellatrix looking haughty because Narcissa pure bloods are better than everyone else, and the place she was in at the time most likely had hundreds of nonpurebloods around and Bellatrix was in Azkaban for a few years so it's not a surprise if she looks odd after that experience(as even Sirius didn't look too good after Azkaban). And look at Wormtail he was in Gryffindor and he betrayed all his friends and he's not at all brave. It's because he chose his house to be with a group of popular kids just like Snape chose Slytherin because he planned to be a Death Eater.
And genes make it more likely that belief in certain things passes on. There was a study once that showed certain people were more likely to believe in God than others because of their genes, this happens in real life, so why shouldn't it happen in a book? And there is still a choice as to whether or not someone wants to believe in something, it's just less or more likely that they will believe it depending on certain genes they have or don't have, it isn't necessarily certain that "A" will happen if you have the "A" gene, it just becomes more likely.
There's a huge difference in being forced into a category and choosing to be in a category. Wormtail was in Gryffindor and he never had any of the traits of a Gryffindor suggesting that he went there by choice.
And JKR did write a story with a clear good and evil divider because she wrote a children's story. She wasn't writing something that could be taken apart piece by piece because she was thinking about what to feed her family the next day when the whole story was developing. The bad characters look ugly because it's a book for children and that's something children identify with evil.

[farla.livejournal.com]

GAH. If she is making the half-troll go to Slytherin because half-troll is something negative, then no, there is no choice and it all revolves around blood. BECAUSE GOING TO SLYTHERIN BECAUSE YOU ARE HALF TROLL IS ABOUT EXACTLY MY GODDAMN POINT. Trolls are supposed to be ugly and violent by nature, so that would be the reason he was in Slytherin THAT MEANS IT'S PREDETERMINED BY BLOOD AND NOT HIS CHOICE. HOW IS THIS SO COMPLEX?

If you're defending her writing Slytherin as ugly because they're all inbred, then the fact that plenty of the ugly people are not pureblood, and plenty of the pureblood are not ugly DISPROVES IT. End. I do not give a damn about WHY so-and-so looks haughty because it is TOTALLY IRRELEVANT as well as FUCKING OBVIOUS IN THE BOOK, seriously why do you think I want you to explain?

If you're defending her making the entire house evil because they made a choice, then the fact that their choice amounts to doing what Mommy wants means they did not, actually, CHOOSE JACK SHIT. If you then start saying it's because they're inbred, you are DISPROVING YOUR OWN DAMN POINT AND SHOULD SHUT UP.

As to the whole "it's a kids' book"

1) NO FUCKING DUH. I BELIEVE MY ARGUMENT ABOUT IT SUCKING AS ACTUAL LITERATURE MAY RELATE TO THIS.

2) Hey kids, anybody who looks ugly, especially fat people, are evil! Also, it's GREAT to judge people by their bloodline. Yeah, that is an awesome message that should totally be in a kids' book. I don't imagine why anyone would complain about incredibly fucked up morals in a kids' book. I mean, we're totally capable of making our own decisions, it's not like we're, y'know, kids or something.

3) Aw she was rushed on the first book. Because it's not like the Slytherin=evil bit got steadily more pronounced in later books, except how it totally did and all Slytherin were Death Eater sympathizers except for the ones that were actual death eaters.

[(Anonymous)]

He's half troll, Hagrid is half giant. My point in bringing that up is that they are similar and one went in either house, so blood doesn't completely determine it, but it plays a role.

Mommy happens to play a big role in everything in a child's life, even if there is no mother in their life. Your whole life starts with parents giving you lessons. If one person has a mother that is racist and the other has a mother that is a humanist then a child is going to make all their decisions based on their mother's actions, whether they decide to rebel or follow in their mother's footsteps is the choice that is made. The same goes with any adult role models in a child's life, which is usually the parents.

Children are prone to make judgments on looks, it's a fact. Adults do the same, stereotypes happen. Fat people aren't ugly and I never said that so don't assume. Although it's not a good morale in a story to use physical ugliness it arises in several stories, which doesn't make JKR's story any worse or any better than classic fairytales and folklore. It's mainly there to scare people into doing good things.

The whole point of the book is not to judge people on their bloodline, if you didn't notice that then you shouldn't be arguing about the book. Voldemort is the equivalent of Hitler and he ends up dieing in the end.

Slytherin does equal evil, because that's the choice that was made when they went into that house.

And please don't swear, it clutters your writing and is completely pointless.

[farla.livejournal.com]

Actually, she makes it very clear that fat people are ugly, which is why I said it. Or did you miss Dudley, Crabbe and Goyle, and how all the Slytherin girls have fat pug faces?

It's mainly there to scare people into doing good things.
What?

No, but seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you? Do you even listen to what you're saying or are you just spewing mindless crap?


The whole point of the book is not to judge people on their bloodline, if you didn't notice that then you shouldn't be arguing about the book. Voldemort is the equivalent of Hitler and he ends up dieing in the end.
Voldemort is the FUCKING DESCENDANT OF SLYTHERIN.

Descendant of Gryffindor = pure perfect selfless Jesus savior. Descendant of Slytherin = evil sociopathic mass murderer.

If you make the one meaningful decision in your life at age eleven, based on Mom saying one house is cooler than the other, then it's not a fucking choice. If you're born good or evil because of who your ancestor was hundreds of years ago, it's not a choice. If you're saying that choices are made based on life experiences and genetics - CONGRATULATIONS, THAT'S NOT CHOICE. THAT'S NOT EQUALITY. THAT COMPLETELY CONTRADICTS EVERYTHING YOU STARTED OFF SAYING. THAT'S FUCKING PREDESTINATION.

For the love of god, SHUT UP.