Bi-annual meta rave!

[hackthis_archive]

ethrosdemon and I are very happy in our new sandbox. Check out what she wrote: Between Snowdonia and Cardiff, Genius and Madness . It's Bevan/Oliver, with a side order of Nine. Not that I watch Dr Who, but I have heard that this is v good thing. Mostly I just say 'Yay for Wales!'

Recommendation: A Place to Be by hesychasm. People are saying this is Harry/Neville, but I prefer to think of it as Neville gen, with some Harry business thrown in. Mostly I just say "read it, because it's absolutely gorgeous."

In the run up to the HBP business I've been trying to get my ducks in a row regarding this Montague business and whether or not I really want to kill Harry with my bare hands or if I just have not-so-latent Slytherin rage.



I'm not really sure these days if I hate Harry the character or I loathe what he's come to represent in canon and fanon. What does he represent to me, you ask?

Incessant whinging.

I've always been a great believer in the 'Shut the fuck up, and get on with it' school of thought, and Harry dwells and moans and bitches, like, well, a little bitch. I understand that this is the way of teenagers, to moan and whinge and skulk around the house because they are so misunderstood. I wasn't a teen that long ago; I know the drill.

What's missing from Harry now, for me, is that empathy. And the sympathy.

The thing is -- I used to like Harry, a lot, but the longer I spend in fandom they less I like him, and the more I find him a snivelling little shit. And really. I don't want that. I don't feel required to like him, but I want to be able to write him, or at least read about him, without thinking 'die!die!die' or 'Neville could do it so much better.'*

*I think that anyway, but that's not the point just now.

I think if JKR were more balanced in her characterisation, I'd be happier. If Harry seemed to be held accountable (besides to that fruitcake, Umbridge) for being a drama queen and irrational, and so in need of anger management classes, I'd be really happy.

I understand that Harry's having a tough time, but guess what? So is the fucking person next door! Chances are they just found out that their dad's a Death Eater, or that their mum's got an incurable disease or that all the money's gone.

Bad shit happens to people every day.

You are born; you live; one day, you grow old and die. It sucks, but that's the way of the fucking world.

The only difference is what you do with the time you've got. I am so tired of Harry acting like he's fucking entitled to anything more than the person next door just because he's got some fucking scar on his forehead.

I don't like the imbalance of feeling like I should love him just because he's got more, or less, than anybody else. Make me like him for himself and not because his name's all over the cover of the book.

While we're on imbalance and unbalanced though, can I just get this hate-crime business off my chest for a moment?

I know there's been talk of seeing the Montague-in-the-Vanishing-Cupboard as a hate-crime and while I think it was malicious, I don't know if was a hate crime. Montague provoked the twins. He's not blameless.

I don’t want to diminish the impact of what they did, because that shit was fucking serious; and I'm having issues here, because I've always liked the twins. I always thought they belonged in Slytherin too, but that's not the point. Someone explain to me what kind of message JKR is trying to send, because she never fucking addresses it!

I don't think that when you stick someone in a cupboard, and they reemerge in a toilet, you should ignore it. Call me old-fashioned.

So maybe, my real issue is JKR's lack of balance. I mean the twins lock a Slytherin in a cupboard, the poor boy shows up six days later in a fucking toilet and there's no fucking retribution?! There's no nothing? Regardless of what they intended, that was wrong.

If a Slytherin had done something like that, they would've been strung up by their gonads! But because they're Gryffindors it's excusable, and that, to me, is fucked up.

No sodding balance.

If you do something wrong, you should be called to the mat, regardless, but apparently, in the wizarding world, like the real world, if you have a little fame or are on 'the side of right' then you're not held accountable for your actions.

That's just fucked up -- but I guess that's the way of JKR's world too.

Okay, I had to get that off my chest, even if it didn't make any sense. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programme, which is trying to rub two words together and form a story.

Comments

[bozaloshtsh.livejournal.com]

I think if JKR were more balanced in her characterisation, I'd be happier. If Harry seemed to be held accountable (besides to that fruitcake, Umbridge) for being a drama queen and irrational, and so in need of anger management classes, I'd be really happy.

*coughs* Hmm. Give him a lightsaber and place the scar a little differently... *grins* Except I totally empathize with Mr. Skywalker, so the points a bit moot.

The only difference is what you do with the time you've got. I am so tired of Harry acting like he's fucking entitled to anything more than the person next door just because he's got some fucking scar on his forehead.

I hate to be redundant (because I think someone already mentioned it in one of the comments above), but what gets me is that from day 1 in Philosopher's Stone, is that Harry is a little bashful and completely insistant on everyone treating him like he's nothing special, I mean, that's the entire justification for the manner in which he was raised, right?

Dumbledore thought putting him in the harshest, most cruel inviroment possible would help him become humble, which, while an interesting idea, rides a lot on the person subjected to such conditioning's personality. All that does is create this huge buffer space fortified by resentment and hatred to fill up with all the could've beens and everything Harry thinks he's deserved because he wasn't treated kindly or equally or even bloody normally. Serves them fucking right if they thought that would make Harry humble and responsible.

Draco's resentment of Harry because of his special treatment at Hogwarts allowed for Harry to become truly and fully aware of his "supposed" role and at the same time allowed his hate to become redirected at someone that he recognized loathed him because of "special" treatment, not because they didn't understand him or that he was unwanted. As a reverse effect, Harry likely ate up the fact that Malfoy's dislike of him (plus coddling from various other sources and of course, his own actual power) meant he was, in fact, significant, and helped make him just angrier.

Especially in the moments where someone tells him to sit down and shut the fuck up, or in moments where he doesn't get a position or an honor because he's not really a beacon of self-controll and responsability. I don't hate him by a long shot, because I know what it feels like to be that frustrated, but even I don't fucking whine that much, and there always comes a point where you seriously need to slap a bitch, and Harry's point has happened several times already.

So maybe, my real issue is JKR's lack of balance. I mean the twins lock a Slytherin in a cupboard, the poor boy shows up six days later in a fucking toilet and there's no fucking retribution?! There's no nothing? Regardless of what they intended, that was wrong.

And do the Gryffindors ever get punished for shit like that? NO. You have NO IDEA how angry that makes me. Because everyone in that bloody book always assumes its benign juvenille pranking when it's Gryffindor and if it's Slytherin, that it's malicious, and why someone can't seem to get it into their bloody heads that Gryffindors are capable of malice just like the next person is completely beyond me in such a way that makes me want to send a fucking rant to JKR specifically on the nature of justice and fairness and why the hell someone on the staff doesn't get in just as much of a hissy fit over the imbalance as we do. I mean God, not Dumbledore, please, but at times I wonder why McGonagle doesn't say something, because I at least had some respect for her. *growls*

If you do something wrong, you should be called to the mat, regardless, but apparently, in the wizarding world, like the real world, if you have a little fame or are on 'the side of right' then you're not held accountable for your actions.

*gets off soapbox*

Oh, sweetheart, it doesn't always work like that in the real world either. *sighs* But I understand the rage, I do.

I must sadly go and vomit into a toilet now, as I'm sick, but I'm so happy someone else got as pissed off as I did about the twins' prank. And spot on with the Harry needs anger management assesment too.