i-sauntered-vaguely-downwards:

schala:

annieelainey:

rabblevolunteer:

Because it addresses SO MANY THINGS and attempts to explore them:

• Gender roles (in which this book series destroys them)- In this series you have a HUGE burly man (Hagrid) who treats animals like they are his children, cries publicly, shows his emotions, KNITS IN PUBLIC, and gardens. You have Mrs. Weasley who is the major mother-figure for Harry but who fights just as hard in the final book as the men even though she’s “just” a housewife. She kills Bellatrix for crying out loud!
• Racism and privilege- The full-blood, half-blood, muggle-born aspect runs throughout the whole series and is meant to be seen as a type of racism. Hermione is a muggle-born but her abilities far surpass her peers’ and Neville, who is a full-blooded wizard is expected to be a better wizard simply from his ancestors, is one of the worst in his classes.
• Classism- The Malfoys vs. the Weasleys.
• Ageism- Harry isn’t taken seriously because of his age (in fact it actually helps him obtain the fake locket with Dumbledore because he isn’t seen as a “real” wizard due to his age) and neither is Dumbledore. Dumbledore’s age becomes an issue for the news and people start to question whether or not he’s gone senile when he and Harry claim that Voldemort has returned.
• Speciesism- The treatment of House-elves, centaurs, giants, and other magical populations are seen as beneath wizards and Hermione tries to take steps to fix that with S.P.E.W.
• Education- Hagrid was expelled and so he’s seen as uneducated and Malfoy calls him a servant, a savage, etc. But he’s able to earn a position as a teacher at Hogwarts and overcome his lack of an education. Fred and George are the same way, they drop out of Hogwarts and become successful joke shop owners, the implication being that they were not ever really suited for a traditional education (they were not traditional learners and that’s okay). Or when Harry becomes the DADA teacher during Order of the Phoenix, he chooses to teach it hands-on while Umbridge has them write lines all class period. This book explores different learning styles and shows that there are many different ways to learn a subject.
• Ableism- Neville’s parents live in a hospital because they experienced severe brain damage after being tortured by Voldemort for information. We see them in Order of the Phoenix and it’s through those chapters that we not only understand Neville better but we find out that he isn’t ashamed of them nor does he feel he should be.
• Sexuality- This book portrays a gay relationship, (even though it is not brought up within the canon ever): Grindelwald and Dumbledore. JK Rowling stated this shortly after the final book came out, that’s how we know this.

Harry Potter is far from perfect, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t awesome.  <3

The problem I have is the books dosen’t do many of those things listed very well… in like a positive way. Not consistently.

I don’t even know why sexuality is even on the list. Knowing that a major character is gay, word of God, is fucking awesome, it’s great, but that’s not the same thing as a portrayal in a book. It’s not the same as brush off, brush away characters. It’s not the same as random walk on, not straight roles. It’s not the same as having a not hetero relationship explored. I still have to go to fanfiction for that. So… no she did not do a good job of exploring sexuality.

I don’t think she handled racism very well either I mean she did in one aspect and then totally fucked it up in another (fuck that whole shit with the Goblins, especially when you know the history, and we’re supposed to be taking the Wizard’s side and mistrust the Goblins even though the Goblins have all the reasons in the world and then some to not trust harry a damn bit… because the Wizards are the ones fucking the Goblins over, not understand the way ownership works and shit, insisting that the Wizards are better etc. etc. etc. And we are obviously supposed to be taking the Wizard’s side, going by the way it was written…. yeah)

The ageism and the way she handled it is way to cliche and trope-y and stuff for me to really admire that. She did okay but… she didn’t handle the topic in a different way from any other book with an angsty teenage protagonist and a wise old mentor type…. which is fine it’s just not… amazingly and utterly impressive.

Speciesism: well yeah except for the fact that the way all the SPEW stuff is written (not to mention the fucking name) I’m pretty sure the intention was to not let the reader take Hermione seriously. To kind of treat that as a joke. Plus the house elf stuff speaks way more to racism to me personally and she gets super creepy white savior a LOT! And super creepy privileged douche who just goes ‘let me help you my way you clearly have no idea what you want’. Point being… I don’t think she handles this positively as well, not super positively. Seriously, fucking no one takes Hermione seriously, her club has a ridiculous name, sometimes I feel the stereotypical radical thing gets played for laughed…. it seems like it’s getting used for comedic relief not as a serious topic.

And very briefly on the subject of Molly Weasley: I had no fucking problem with her being a house wife. I had a massive problem with her killing Bellatrix. Not because she stepped out of her role as a housewife (my mom was a housewife and she was a fucking warrior…) but because it made no fucking sense. Bellatrix was a fucking incredible wizard. She was Voldemort right hand and probably one of the best wizards on Voldemort’s side. She killed Sirius… she gave majorly good wizards in the Order runs for their money. Where the fucking fuck did Molly Weasley get the juice to kill her? Plus Rowling did an interview and said she basically set that scene for symbolic purposes…. she tossed realistic-ness out the window I guess. But I just wanted to point that out, it bugged me.

Actually on the subject of gender roles… I would have been a whole lot happier if the standard of female beauty wasn’t so present (Ron choosing a date to the Yule ball… Hermione actually altering her physical self… her teeth, to be prettier, shit like that) … so

I mean I fucking loved those books. I still do. But… yeah I had problems with parts of this list.

- Leon

Harry potter is a great series but yeah, that^.