Delurk. Query as to why (in early 2002), the fandom seemed to prefer to believe that Snape never held his old Slytherin classmates in any regard or affection, followed by some speculation on Frank Longbottom.
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An attempt to soothe the ruffled feathers of a listmember who was offended by my characterization of Moody as a Law and Order Fascist. Some observations on the perils of Reader Response and a question: Where ARE the Bleeding Heart liberals of the Wizarding World?
Discussion of the Bleeding Heart liberals (or lack thereof) of the Wizarding World and the extent to which such attitudes might be considered a matter of Muggle influence. More on the character of Moody.
On the various ways in which it is possible for readers to state that they "like" a character (as a person, in terms of their narrative function, etc.), and the phenomenon of readers cutting more moral "slack" to characters for whom they feel affection than to those whom they dislike.
Reader response to various scenes of violence: the ferret-bouncing scene, Hagrid's slamming Karkaroff against a tree, and Arthur Weasley and Lucius Malfoy's fist fight at the beginning of CoS
Was there no one who was GENUINELY duped or tricked or Imperio'd into serving Voldemort during the last war? For heaven's sake, where are all the patsies and weaklings?
Suggestion that Arthur Weasley might have been an Imperius victim of the last war, followed by speculation about the role of non-DE "fellow travellers" during that period. Question of who those "loads of people" Karkaroff is supposed to have put in Azkaban were supposed to be, anyway. And my explanation of why it is so important to me as a reader to see more patsies and weaklings in canon
Reader response to the infamous "Prank" and an explanation of why Moody's use of degrading and dehumanizing language in the Pensieve scene should have made me think more ill of him than Sirius' use of similar language in the Shrieking Shack did
More on the various reasons readers might have for liking or disliking certain characters: character types ("stocks"), narrative function, personal identification, etc.
Some discussion of why I find Pettigrew a more sympathetic character than Karkaroff, followed by the proposal that the wizarding world is a warrior culture, and that the members of House Slytherin are disadvantaged by the fact that their House's values are not those privileged by their own culture
The "train stomp" at the end of GoF and my dislike of the Twins. Examples of farcical humor in the books. Affection for Crouch Jr. and a brief analysis of his father's behavior towards him.
Subversive readings and what drives them. "Fault lines" in the text which lead to reader anxiety. The question of why the fandom does not tend to subversion when contemplating the relationship between Snape and his old Slytherin housemates and DE colleagues. Part two of two.
Snape and his narrative function: his indeterminacy, his subverting role in the text. His character: the tension between his instincts and proclivites and his moral principles. His relationship to House Slytherin and specifically to the Malfoy family. Also contains some discussion of House Slytherin in general, and passing questions as to the nature of the Dark Arts.
The FEATHERBOAS post. Contains some joking around over Fourth Man Avery's backstory and bloody ambushes, and a good long wrangle over the timing of the Longbottom Incident. Also a bit on Memory Charmed (or, in this case, Reverse Memory Charmed) Neville.
Pranks, pranksters and the Twins. Charismatic bullies and Ex-Victims-Turned-Bully. Reader identification with these character types and how it affects interpretations of the Twins, Sirius and Snape.
Musings on Lucius Malfoy's motivations and his (and other DEs') likely feelings about Voldemort.
Snape as a principled sadist and sympathetic character. Analysis of both "The Egg and the Eye" and the end of PoA in terms of reader sympathy for Snape. Snape's divided loyalties in regard to House Slytherin.
Discussion of "Edge," followed by one of the Twins' harrassment of Percy.
Explanation of my reasons for believing that Neville may well feel resentful at others' condescension. While acknowledging the possibility that my reading could be unduly autobiographically influenced, I also give textual evidence for the supposition that What You See with Neville is not always All That's There, and suggest that there might indeed be conscious authorial misdirection going on with Neville's character in the series to date.
Grovelling Minion characters ("SYCOPHANTS") and why I like them so much. Sympathy for Pettigrew in the Shrieking Shack, and a defense of the notion that he does indeed evidence remorse for his crimes.
Reader response to Shrieking Shack, and a disquisition on the entire notion of "just deserts."
Neville as a literary double to Harry, and its ramifications for the series' thematic emphases on memory, history, legacy and power. Also touches on Voldemort's, Snape's, and Crouch Jr's roles within this schematic and on the leit-motifs of burial, exhumation and parricide in GoF.
More on Neville and Harry, and on the significance of themes of renunciation, memory and forgetfulness for the series as a whole.
Draco's inadequacies as Harry's peer rival, and other ways in which the text encourages a Redeemable!Draco reading, such as JKR's refusal to combat either Sympathy For the Devil or Hurt-Comfort when she writes the character of Draco Malfoy.
A bit more on Draco's narrative function, and further explanation of Hurt-Comfort
The "hurt-comfort" dynamic and reader crushes on male characters. Contains an explanation of why Ron does not benefit very much from hurt-comfort.
Sexual entendre in the HP books, with particular emphasis on depictions of Riddle/Voldemort and on the sexualized language of the graveyard scene in GoF.
More on Neville's behavior in PS/SS, and the extent to which it reveals not his courage, but his weakness.
In which I offend nearly everyone by tackling the issue of class (and of real world politics) in HP. Had the moderators not been so overwhelmingly American, I suspect that this post would not have been allowed on the list, as it is not only provocatively political, but also really quite insulting towards English conservatives. Argues that JKR's overt progressive message is subverted by the unconscious conservativism of the world-view underlying her novels, a la Richard Adams' essay, "Harry Potter and the Closet Conservative."
On the "double-nostalgia" of JKR's world, the way in which not only the wizarding world, but the universe as a whole seems (in spite of the contemporary social markers of the Dursleys) to be faintly archaic. Suggests that Aunt Marge's connection with the Dursleys implies a link between the older English conservativism her archetype represents and the more recent Thatcherite conservativism represented by the Dursleys.
More on social class as one of the HP series' "fault lines," those areas of ambiguity or inconsisstency which fuel reader anxiety with the text as a whole.
Argues that the particular nostalgic tradition in which JKR has chosen to write sits uneasily with her own progressive values, and that this may be largely responsible for the ambiguities and inconsistencies evident in the series' approach to social class.
Calvinism in HP: the extent to which Harry is portrayed not only as a member of the "elite," but even perhaps as a member of the *Elect,* and the extent to which this aspect of the books may stand at the epicenter of reader anxiety with the series as a whole.
More on class distinctions in the wizarding world, with a few asides regarding the designation of canon and other theoretical subjects.
Polemic on those mean nasty bullies, Fred and George. A post that caused a good deal of trouble, really.
An attempt to clear up misapprehensions (some of them downright *weird*) about bullying and bullies on route to defending my belief that the twins are depicted as bullying types.
Objection to the prevalence of "my instinctive reading is spontaneous and natural ...but *your* instinctive reading is over-analyzing the text!" sentiment floating about on the Twins thread. Emphasis on the subjectivity of humour and a challenge to the notion that comedic or "toonish" scenes do not reveal character or have deeper significance, using as an example GoF's Ton Tongue Toffee scene and its role as a precursor to both the QWC and Pensieve scenes.
A bit of a reprise of "What does it mean to 'like' a character?" this, itemizing factors contributing to my strongly negative reader response to the Twins. Also raises the issue of the double-standard in list etiquette, according to which it is acceptable to abuse unpopular characters in the harshest of imaginable terms, while polemic directed at popular characters raises objections of unkind behavior and "vituperative language."
Defense of the (now canonically-established) theory that MWPP really *did* bully Snape back in their school days, followed by a thematic analysis of Snape's Grudge, the Train Stomp, and the end game of PoA.
More on the extent to which characters' canonical behavior is revelatory of character, regardless of whether or not they are portrayed as "Toons," and a disussion of the thematic significance of the Ton Tongue Toffee scene.
A bit more on the Twins as bullies and the Twins' relationship to Percy, followed by a discussion of humor and its relationship to character analysis: aren't the characters' actions revelatory of their character regardless of whether or not said actions are *funny?* And why on earth would someone cease to find something funny merely because they have come to believe that it is cruel? Have none of these people ever heard of black humour?!
A rather complicated TBAY post, mainly about the Wizarding World under Crouch and the extent to which it might have resembled Stalinist Soviet Russia, but also touching on the debate over whether or not the Twins are bullies, on the issues of netiquette, reader response and humour that had been raised in the course of that debate, on the various ad hominem arguments that had been circulating nastily around the list that entire summer, on an old SYCOPHANTS/Evil Overlords discussion, and--oh yes--incorporating a tiny bit from the Snape's Grudge thread as well. Apparently it was a bit *too* complicated for HPfGU, though, as very few people seemed to get the subsidiary points I was trying to make with it at all.
Some thoughts about the possibility of a Weasley vulnerability to mental domination (To what extent would it violate the series' thematic emphasis on choice? Could it have been the reason that Lucius Malfoy targetted Ginny as the victim of Riddle's Diary? Could it have been the reason that Crouch/Moody did not think that Ron would make a good Auror?) Also, speculation that Harry was actually the intended recipient of Riddle's Diary, and some commentary on Crouch Jr. and Sr's respective degrees of Imperius-resistance (as well as on their physical dissimilarities).
Part one of the nine-part Crouch monstrosity. Is Crouch portrayed by the text as Dead Sexy? Was Mrs. Crouch Tough, or Weak? Where did Barty Jr. learn his skills of interpersonal manipulation? And just why *is* Elkins so resistant to a reading of Crouch Sr. as Dead Sexy, anyway?
Part two of nine. Examines Crouch's political situation in the wake of Voldemort's fall and his motives in regard to the trial of the Longbottoms' assailants. Contains an analysis of the Penseive scene and the QwC exchange with Winky as parallel scenes. Also proposes that Crouch's relationship to his son replicates in microcosm his relationship to the wizarding world as a whole.