Saturday, August 31, 2013

Lockhart and other Joys

love you too, Gilderoy ;)

 Gilderoy Lockhart is pure delight! Obviously, he fails on a human level..but he's supposed to fail. He's a self-absorbed monstrosity..and I think it's in caricatures like Gilderoy that Rowling's talent really shows itself. While I'm forever disappointed with her primary characters, her peripherals are delightful, cartoonish, and consistent. Lockhart is one of my favorites, he so unabashedly self-serving..and his office is full of his own signed photos!!! What could be better - especially wizarding photos that seem just like tiny little mockeries on the wall. We are supposed to laugh, shaking our heads at him, and we do, because really, there's no other way to respond. Hermione does break character though, in her little crush on him. I can't really believe that Hermione isn't one of the first to notice his shallowness and his weak magic. It's not really fair to Hermione's character that she giggles and blushes with the rest of the girls whenever Lockhart goes by. I feel like there's a confusion here - Hermione seems to be passionate about knowledge until it comes to Lockhart, and then she's sort of reduced to just being impressed that he's "written most of the booklist"..and while Laura's right in saying (back in the comments somewhere) that it's tough to be consistent when you're 12, I think Rowling makes Hermione a bit weaker of a character when she has her hold on to the illusory Lockhart months after meeting the real man.


Poster
We've been talking a lot about the attitude toward muggles in the wizarding world, and this book really does bring out the dark underside. The fact that the rights and protection of muggles is even under debate is a pretty sad commentary on the wizarding community, also, as Christie's mentioned, J.K. Rowling seems to be presenting common decency as exceptional goodness pretty often as it relates to any interaction between wizards and anyone else, be they elves or muggles. I'm not sure if it's to create in the reader an awareness of how deeply flawed the wizarding world is, or if it is supposed to be viewed by the reader as exemplary. Thoughts here??

Jenna brought up an interesting point about believability - Ron's wand is an obvious Plot Necessity. If it weren't, any decent school would have it replaced, because he really can't do anything with it. Right now, it's just for humor: Ron attempts a spell - Failure! The general disorder of the school though, makes Lockhart's careless release of freshly caught Cornish Pixies acceptable and fun, but at some point you'd expect one of the more aware teachers to catch on to Ron's troubles and loan him a dumpy sort of school wand for the year. All that said, this book is doing a great job so far of  bringing us back to Hogwarts without making us feel we're repeating anything.
Cornish Pixie, bored by Lockhart's chatter

4 comments:

  1. Seriously, though. Blustery, superficial Lockhart is the last Hogwarts professor I'd expect Hermione to fancy. I'd sooner believe she daydreams of a spiritual union with the late Professor Binns.

    As character writing, I can't get behind it. It's lazy and even a little insulting to my favorite brainiac: Girls Like Lockhart, Ergo, Hermione Likes Lockhart. But if I imagine Hermione as a real person, it makes perfect sense for her to have a crush on her dashing, multiple-book-authoring new teacher, and to make lots of excuses for his incompetency so that she doesn't feel stupid for liking him. I can simultaneously sympathize with Hermione while rolling my eyes at Rowling.

    I have thoughts on Muggles, but for now I just want to say that I love the Muggles Are Our Friends poster and want one for my home. :D

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    1. It's a great poster, isn't it!!! I want it too..I think you can buy it somewhere..or you could make your own!

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  2. Finally getting around to catching up on commenting!

    I love the Muggles Are Our Friends poster, too!!! And I'll second Laura on Hermione's interest in Lockhart as well... I think it makes reasonable character sense at the beginning, but as you point out, Masha, it seems out of character that it goes on so long.

    J.K. Rowling seems to be presenting common decency as exceptional goodness pretty often as it relates to any interaction between wizards and anyone else, be they elves or muggles. I'm not sure if it's to create in the reader an awareness of how deeply flawed the wizarding world is, or if it is supposed to be viewed by the reader as exemplary. Thoughts here??

    At least in the case of Dobby, who is moved to sobs of gratitude at being offered a seat in the presence of a young wizard, it seems obvious that the reader is supposed to see how messed up the relationship between wizards and house-elves really is. And that comes early enough in the story that, speaking for myself at least, it colors the whole rest of the way wizards' relationships to less-privileged races is shown. But while Dobby treats common decency as exceptional goodness, I'm not sure that's the standard. I'll have to pay closer attention in future interactions....

    It seems to me that Rowling set up a world in which common decency is uncommon in interracial communication, so common decency is what she's usually fighting for; but then, she's simultaneously trying to portray the exceptional goodness of self-sacrificial love, which, since both are exemplified by the same set of characters, possibly introduces confusion. But I'm still sort of thinking under jet lag, so pardon me if this isn't making any sense. ;)

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    1. Finally! I know what you mean!! I've been dead to the world these past few weeks!

      It seems to me that Rowling set up a world in which common decency is uncommon in interracial communication, so common decency is what she's usually fighting for; but then, she's simultaneously trying to portray the exceptional goodness of self-sacrificial love, which, since both are exemplified by the same set of characters, possibly introduces confusion.

      I think you're right here..and I'm not sure if she manages to pull it off in the series - in part because of the confusion - but then, I'm also spending my afternoon tomorrow brewing up a Pepperup Potion of my own for blogging and personal purposes..I can't really fault her much tonight ;) She's a weird combination of fantastic world-building and pathetic over-dramatizations..and it's kind of fun to just bathe in it for a while :D

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