Ron Weasley’s character is consciously written as somewhat racist. Not as racist as Malfoy, of course - he doesn’t scoff at mudbloods and halfbloods, and he doesn’t see himself as superior at all. Still, he unquestionably accepts the inferior position of house elves (they love serving), when he finds out that Lupin’s werewolf his reaction is not only scared but also disgusted (Don’t touch me!) and he is clearly very uncomfortable finding out that Hagrid is half-giant (giants are wild and savage).
And this is brilliant. Because it demonstrates that racism isn’t only present in clearly malicious and evil people, in the Malfoys and Blacks - it’s also there in warm, kind, funny people who just happened to learn some pretty toxic things growing up in a pretty toxic society. And they can unlearn them too, with some time and effort. Ron eventually accepts Hagrid’s parentage, lets Lupin bandage his leg and in the final battle, he worries about the safety of the house elves.
Some people are prejudiced because they are evil, and some people are prejudiced because they don’t know better yet. And those people can learn better, and become better people. And that’s an important lesson. The lesson taught about discrimination shouldn’t be “only evil people do it”, because then all readers will assume it doesn’t apply to them. Instead old JK teaches us “you too are probably doing it, and you should do stop ASAP”.
You know, just because Tumblr is overzealous doesn't mean they're always wrong when they notice a progressive moral in a work.
It is not so much that they are wrong, more that they seem incapable of grasping the concept of "reading into" something, and thus assume that anything they see is there by authorial intent and that alone.
You know, just because Tumblr is overzealous doesn't mean they're always wrong when they notice a progressive moral in a work.
It is not so much that they are wrong, more that they seem incapable of grasping the concept of "reading into" something, and thus assume that anything they see is there by authorial intent and that alone.
I don't think you're giving JK Rowling enough credit.
Not to contribute to any negativity and whatnot, but I've seen the opposite way more (but that's just my experience): Only they are the authority (collectively or otherwise) on a certain subject, no matter what anyone else says. Of course, this isn't every Tumblr blog within the social justice sphere.
on tumblr a there seems to be a near unanimous rejection of literary analysis as taught in school, but then many people turn around and attempt to analyse things in a much more slipshod fashion than any english teacher ever would
on tvtropes there seems to be a near unanimous rejection of literary analysis as taught in school, but then many people turn around and attempt to analyse things in a much more slipshod fashion than any english teacher ever would
on tvtropes there seems to be a near unanimous rejection of literary analysis as taught in school, but then many people turn around and attempt to analyse things in a much more slipshod fashion than any english teacher ever would
Still true.
heh
also having read that whole article you linked, the fact that the author was able to back up what he/she was saying with mrs rowling's own words made his/her points seem fairly convincing, at least to me that is.
on tumblr a there seems to be a near unanimous rejection of literary analysis as taught in school, but then many people turn around and attempt to analyse things in a much more slipshod fashion than any english teacher ever would
"analysis" is the wrong word.
if you liked it when you were ten, it's socially progressive, end of thought train.
But yeah, deep analysis of a three second Rise of the Guardians GIF? Probably a bit silly. Analysis of a major character's arc in a series where the author has been known to sketch out extensive backstories for the most minor of characters? I wouldn't doubt authorial intent plays a part there.
on tumblr a there seems to be a near unanimous rejection of literary analysis as taught in school, but then many people turn around and attempt to analyse things in a much more slipshod fashion than any english teacher ever would
"analysis" is the wrong word.
if you liked it when you were ten, it's socially progressive, end of thought train.
but the avengers was not out when anybody on tumblr was 10
(*i am thinking back to some text post + gif where the author claimed that some facial tic on Loki's part in one scene proved conclusively that he was a woobie antihero type guy which i feel is really representative of this sort of thing*)
on tumblr a there seems to be a near unanimous rejection of literary analysis as taught in school, but then many people turn around and attempt to analyse things in a much more slipshod fashion than any english teacher ever would
"analysis" is the wrong word.
if you liked it when you were ten, it's socially progressive, end of thought train.
That's really not accurate. Like, at all. Unless you're talking about Tumblr users who are, like, fourteen.
on tumblr a there seems to be a near unanimous rejection of literary analysis as taught in school, but then many people turn around and attempt to analyse things in a much more slipshod fashion than any english teacher ever would
"analysis" is the wrong word.
if you liked it when you were ten, it's socially progressive, end of thought train.
but the avengers was not out when anybody on tumblr was 10
(*i am thinking back to some text post + gif where the author claimed that some facial tic on Loki's part in one scene proved conclusively that he was a woobie antihero type guy which i feel is really representative of this sort of thing*)
I speak more of "let me tell you why this character from Avatar The Last Airbender is the paragon of all socially liberal values".
speaking of Avatar, that blind earthbender girl (Toph I think?) gets this treatment a lot.
od i have no idea what you are trying to get at now u_u
It is an interesting take, but unlike the Ender Wiggin Hitler thing, it is doomed to obscurity because JK Rowling is not an exceedingly horrible person.
Read a bit of Odradek's article. Again, I feel like it's not giving JK Rowling enough credit.
For one thing, its statement that the Houses are representative of the Elect is a pretty weak analogy. While Rowling only pays lip service to the idea of a good Slytherin, there is a lot of good that comes out of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and it is very obvious stuff too.
on tumblr a there seems to be a near unanimous rejection of literary analysis as taught in school, but then many people turn around and attempt to analyse things in a much more slipshod fashion than any english teacher ever would
"analysis" is the wrong word.
if you liked it when you were ten, it's socially progressive, end of thought train.
but the avengers was not out when anybody on tumblr was 10
(*i am thinking back to some text post + gif where the author claimed that some facial tic on Loki's part in one scene proved conclusively that he was a woobie antihero type guy which i feel is really representative of this sort of thing*)
I speak more of "let me tell you why this character from Avatar The Last Airbender is the paragon of all socially liberal values".
speaking of Avatar, that blind earthbender girl (Toph I think?) gets this treatment a lot.
honestly, I'm not much of a reader, but time spent on the internet has lead me to believe that many, many authors are, at best, depression-exuding stereotypical cynics, and are often far worse than that (eg. O.S. Card and his "I actually hate every single gay person").
Comments
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Prejudice tends to be treated as a 'evil only' thing, and it would be better if we recognized that we all have it to some degree.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
It's like the contrapositive version of Occam's Razor
if you liked it when you were ten, it's socially progressive, end of thought train.
speaking of Avatar, that blind earthbender girl (Toph I think?) gets this treatment a lot.
For one thing, its statement that the Houses are representative of the Elect is a pretty weak analogy. While Rowling only pays lip service to the idea of a good Slytherin, there is a lot of good that comes out of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and it is very obvious stuff too.
Toph is just the example that comes to mind most easily, but she's far from the only one.
shhh
shh
meanwhile, on the subject of things about tumblr that I actually like.
It attributes what are inevitably minor, nitpicky things to deep inherent flaws in the author rather than slip ups in an otherwise good series.