But the thing is, this fic (on its surface) doesn’t value kindness and morality nearly as much as suave, articulate word-poker and beautifully intricate schemes and counter-schemes
Harry says:
“Don’t worry, Headmaster,” said the boy. “I haven’t gotten my wires
crossed. I know that I’m supposed to learn goodness from Hermione and
Fawkes, not from Professor Quirrell and you.
You learn goodness from Hermione, and how to kill things efficiently from Quirrell. Who do you think is being valued here?
What the fic values above all else is a love and respect for life. Even the child who wants a sparkly throne and minions feels that way. Especially that child. All the various high powered smarty pantsing is entertainment and eye candy, not the core values of the fan fic. Not by a wide margin.
These “I’m offended” isms seem to be a very effective way to entirely miss the point of what someone else is saying, as you root about for the offensive kernel. It’s a fine hobby. You need never fail; find a difference and spin it negatively. Ta da! I’m offended! Whee! What fun!
Maybe I should try it. I suppose I could get my undies in a bunch over the misandrism in HPMOR, since as even you say
the female characters are honest, and levelheaded, and moral,
Huff huff huff. Stomp stomp stomp. I’m so offended.
Hmmm, just didn’t work for me. I’m not offended, and don’t want to be. Instead of getting huffy about how wonderful Hermione is portrayed relative to males in the story, I’d rather just love the Hermione character even though she doesn’t have the same genitalia that I do. Imagine that.
I think it’s sad that people are trapped in this ideology, looking for ways to be offended, casting a pall over everything they see.
I think you misunderstood. I wasn’t claiming to be offended myself, I was trying to get at the cause of people’s emotional reactions. Whether or not you believe those emotions are justified, they are almost always triggered by something.
I also specified that HPMOR values wit and scheming on its surface—that is, the scheming is what provides almost all the entertainment value and keeps people in their chairs long enough to hear the deeper ideology. What do we want from characters in a story at their most basic level? We want to have fun watching them. That’s why most people read stories, and it’s why most people read HPMOR. And the ones who are the most fun to watch are the male characters.
I didn’t claim this was intentional, nor that it was wrong, just that it was probably the cause of feminist complaints. It was in part an answer to “But the female characters are good people”. Being a good person is not always the same as being good in the story. In Disney movies, you have to be a wide-eyed dreamer. In Tarantino movies you have to be a stone-cold killing machine. In HPMOR (and Death Note) you have to be a hyperintelligent byzantine plotter. And then comes the ideology.
This may not have been put in the most diplomatic way possible, but I think the last sentence has merit. My first reaction upon reading the chapter was “wow, Harry did a masterful job of manipulating the hell out of the Malfoys” (not that the manipulation will be to the Malfoy’s detriment, but that’s beside the point). Then I find out that people are impressed with the competence of Lucius Malfoy and therefore sexism? I suppose it was good that Lucius wasn’t blinded by irrational hatred or greed, but that’s an awfully low bar to be setting for characters that impress you. He walked in with one plan that Harry saw through in a second.
I anticipate a few possibly short scenes where Harry does basically the same thing and manipulates Bones and Madam Longbottom into supporting him as well. If this scene is being held as evidence of sexism, the laws of evidence tell me those scenes should be held as evidence against, but somehow I don’t see it happening that way.
That said, if other people can see what they’re looking for then so can I, but that’s my take.
I anticipate a few possibly short scenes where Harry does basically the same thing and manipulates Bones and Madam Longbottom into supporting him as well. If this scene is being held as evidence of sexism, the laws of evidence tell me those scenes should be held as evidence against, but somehow I don’t see it happening that way.
Actually, the law is that the average scene that isn’t Harry manipulating Lucius must be evidence against sexism, not that any such scene is evidence against sexism. Many of the possible scenes in the set {Harry doesn’t manipulate Lucius} are sexist.
If this scene is being held as evidence of sexism, the laws of evidence tell me those scenes should be held as evidence against, but somehow I don’t see it happening that way.
Heads I’m offended. Tails I’m offended. As we used to say at the college poker game “Muahahahaha, I can’t lose!”
Harry says:
You learn goodness from Hermione, and how to kill things efficiently from Quirrell. Who do you think is being valued here?
What the fic values above all else is a love and respect for life. Even the child who wants a sparkly throne and minions feels that way. Especially that child. All the various high powered smarty pantsing is entertainment and eye candy, not the core values of the fan fic. Not by a wide margin.
These “I’m offended” isms seem to be a very effective way to entirely miss the point of what someone else is saying, as you root about for the offensive kernel. It’s a fine hobby. You need never fail; find a difference and spin it negatively. Ta da! I’m offended! Whee! What fun!
Maybe I should try it. I suppose I could get my undies in a bunch over the misandrism in HPMOR, since as even you say
Huff huff huff. Stomp stomp stomp. I’m so offended.
Hmmm, just didn’t work for me. I’m not offended, and don’t want to be. Instead of getting huffy about how wonderful Hermione is portrayed relative to males in the story, I’d rather just love the Hermione character even though she doesn’t have the same genitalia that I do. Imagine that.
I think it’s sad that people are trapped in this ideology, looking for ways to be offended, casting a pall over everything they see.
I think you misunderstood. I wasn’t claiming to be offended myself, I was trying to get at the cause of people’s emotional reactions. Whether or not you believe those emotions are justified, they are almost always triggered by something.
I also specified that HPMOR values wit and scheming on its surface—that is, the scheming is what provides almost all the entertainment value and keeps people in their chairs long enough to hear the deeper ideology. What do we want from characters in a story at their most basic level? We want to have fun watching them. That’s why most people read stories, and it’s why most people read HPMOR. And the ones who are the most fun to watch are the male characters.
I didn’t claim this was intentional, nor that it was wrong, just that it was probably the cause of feminist complaints. It was in part an answer to “But the female characters are good people”. Being a good person is not always the same as being good in the story. In Disney movies, you have to be a wide-eyed dreamer. In Tarantino movies you have to be a stone-cold killing machine. In HPMOR (and Death Note) you have to be a hyperintelligent byzantine plotter. And then comes the ideology.
This may not have been put in the most diplomatic way possible, but I think the last sentence has merit. My first reaction upon reading the chapter was “wow, Harry did a masterful job of manipulating the hell out of the Malfoys” (not that the manipulation will be to the Malfoy’s detriment, but that’s beside the point). Then I find out that people are impressed with the competence of Lucius Malfoy and therefore sexism? I suppose it was good that Lucius wasn’t blinded by irrational hatred or greed, but that’s an awfully low bar to be setting for characters that impress you. He walked in with one plan that Harry saw through in a second.
I anticipate a few possibly short scenes where Harry does basically the same thing and manipulates Bones and Madam Longbottom into supporting him as well. If this scene is being held as evidence of sexism, the laws of evidence tell me those scenes should be held as evidence against, but somehow I don’t see it happening that way.
That said, if other people can see what they’re looking for then so can I, but that’s my take.
Actually, the law is that the average scene that isn’t Harry manipulating Lucius must be evidence against sexism, not that any such scene is evidence against sexism. Many of the possible scenes in the set {Harry doesn’t manipulate Lucius} are sexist.
Heads I’m offended. Tails I’m offended. As we used to say at the college poker game “Muahahahaha, I can’t lose!”
This tends to be my default preference...
Misandrist!