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JosephineParticipant
Can we JUST SHIP ARCHIE WITH SOMEONE!!!!!
I was about to start shipping him with Prince Eric back in the day. They were gonna meet when Archie was out walking Pongo and Eric was out walking Max. I wanted Eric to have someone too, because Hookriel was totally gonna happen. Stupid canon, sinking my crackships before they ever had a chance. *sigh*
I’d only we wrote the show, Phee. 😉
[adrotate group="5"]Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
August 5, 2015 at 9:01 pm in reply to: Harry Potter Reread: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone #306855JosephineParticipantHarry is quite cheeky in this chapter and so is JKR. I love the way she wrote Vernon slowly going mad each day, tiny little moments that show him coming unhinged.
Like his mustache being half ripped out. 😉
I also like how Harry isn’t afraid to talk back. He’s not cowering in fear of his relatives but actually shouts back and demands his letters. This passage always gives me the giggles:
With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry’s letter clutched in his hand.
–Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J. K. Rowling. US edition, pp. 38
Just imagining this scene is quite funny. Like a cartoon fight between a cat and dog. The whole chapter has that Tom and Jerry feel about it.
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
August 5, 2015 at 3:32 pm in reply to: Harry Potter Reread: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone #306845JosephineParticipant*snorts at “When Harry met Sassy” 😆
It’s very fun to go back to an almost eleven year old Harry and see his sense of humor. Others in the series are often more known for their wisecracks or jokes, so it’s easy to forget how funny Harry is himself. I laughed a good bit at him and his snarky comments.
-Who do you think is sending the letters, and how do they know where Henry is at all times?
I think like RG, I thought it was Dumbledore at the time. In chapter one, he seemed to be the major figure in this other world. So I figured it was him finally returning to Harry, once again.
–Why do you think the Dursleys won’t let Harry read the letters?
The Dursleys were absolutely terrified that that “world” would infiltrate their lives once again. We have no idea of their interaction with it in the past and so far the only thing we have to go on is that they consider it deviant and unnatural. But you have to wonder what else happened. Where are Petunia’s parents? Evidently she not only lost her sister, but her parents aren’t around, either? Could this other world be a reason they’re gone and that is why they’re so adamant to stay away from it? Or are they just horrible people?
What’s interesting is that they also don’t let Dudley see the letters’ contents, either. This is a boy who had probably never been denied anything in his life. Yet, for the first time, he’s in the dark, too, and he doesn’t like it. No amount of fussing, complaining or crying is going to sway his parents’ minds. This is big. If they’re even chastising Dudley about his behavior over this, just what exactly is going on?
The Dursely’s are trying to keep him ignorant as well. They don’t want him learning or exploring the world. General education is enough and then they’ll throw him to the wolves/world. But let his imagination go, and who knows what sort of “perversity” he could undertake. This is a fairly common tactic with oppressive majority groups, by the way. There’s a reason you don’t let the slaves learn to read…
Hmmm….where have we seen this technique recently, I wonder? 😕 Could it be Regina in Season One? 😉 Remember how she shuttered the library. Keeping it closed was literally and figuratively cutting the citizens off from knowledge that she hoped nobody discovered. And only after the curse was broken and through the machinations of Rumple (who himself was the holder of knowledge she didn’t possess) was it restored and open to the public. *whispers quietly* Is Rumple Once’s Dumbledore? *runs away for bringing Once into HP talk*
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
August 3, 2015 at 4:46 pm in reply to: Harry Potter Reread: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone #306817JosephineParticipantThe glasses issue was actually addressed by JKR. I don’t have the exact quote, but I remember her saying they were patterned after the standard glasses the NHS used to issue and she, herself, had a pair much the same style at that age. I would assume U.K. schools are similar to American schools where kids are given yearly vision screenings.
As for them not picking up on his abuse, as a teacher I’ve seen a number of kids come to school dirty, in wrinkly or ill fitting clothes, no coat, etc. The systems are so overtaxed that these aren’t given a high priority for neglect and abuse by Social Services. Sad, but true.
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
August 2, 2015 at 7:30 pm in reply to: Harry Potter Reread: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone #306801JosephineParticipantI mentioned Dahl in Chapter one. His influence is one of the reasons I read JKR. She has that morbid cheekiness of Roald Dahl, one of my favorite all time authors. His books do not talk down to children. In James and the Giant Peach, James’s parents are killed by a rhinoceros at the London zoo in the first chapter. Charlie lives in abject poverty in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Harry fits right in with his characters. Ironically, Dahl’s widow put down Harry Potter once in an interview.
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
August 2, 2015 at 7:09 pm in reply to: New Disney TV Movie: "Descendants", about the kids of Disney characters #306797JosephineParticipantThis is actually relevant to what we’ve been discussing in the HP thread, nature vs. nurture. How much does each affect a person’s outcome? I do think the “good guys” children acting the way they do is not rational. These characters were used traditionally through the ages for morality tales. They taught proper behavior, served as warnings, etc. So to have these iconic characters who embodied morals to be instilled in others raising brats is pretty jarring.
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
August 2, 2015 at 6:49 pm in reply to: Harry Potter Reread: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone #306793JosephineParticipantI think biweekly would be more feasible, too. 😉 So it’s okay with me.
Got it, that makes perfect sense. I couldn’t remember how far ahead or how much we could reference but I think within reason is good. Could you tell that to miss jumps ahead all the time, aka Josephine, aka future-mrs-percy-weasley
*hangs head in shame* I shall remember my spoiler tags. 😉
In short : is the author dead or not? (yeah, that’s right. I just dropped some Derrida and Barthes on y’all)
This is actually pretty relevant with some information. With JKR saying she thought it was a mistake looking back putting Ron and Hermione together and that they would have problems in their marriage, should we take her word for it, or dismiss it completely. The books are done, they have children and to me, she’s letting the actors and movies interfere with what she actually wrote. So how do we reconcile her change of heart? Me, I ignore it and think she needs to reread her own work.
Look! Spoiler tags used 😛
Back to the present day of the story, it’s just heartbreaking how strong Petunia’s prejudices are. Yes, we get more of Vernon’s viewpoint on it more than her, but Petunia is quietly in the background, the linchpin in this absurd family. It’s her family, her blood, she prejudices, too. It’s just unfathomable.
And yes, I like Percy. So what. *blows raspberries at Macy*
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
August 2, 2015 at 5:56 pm in reply to: Harry Potter Reread: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone #306783JosephineParticipantPetunia…Petunia I loathe. She knows what her sister is, she knows how her sister died (the letter Dumbledore left back in Chapter 1) and yet she keeps her sister’s son in a closet.
I totallly agree with this. In the first chapter, it’s Petunia that Vernon doesn’t want to upset with whispers of “the Potters” going around. He doesn’t want to alert her to anything. This is her actual flesh and blood she’s abusing. I can’t imagine the level of blind hatred she must have toward her sister and it always made me wonder what happened to their parents. I don’t think it was ever mentioned really, or I’m forgetting things.
I always wondered if the people Harry randomly met on the street weren’t so random after all. Flashing forward for a second, we know the Order were tasked with things in the past and future, so what I could imagine that they periodically checked that up on him and some just couldn’t help themselves by coming up to him. They could be ordered not to interfere by Dumbledore but assure he’s well to a certain degree. To once again talk about the future, we know that Mrs. Figg will come back into play, but are there others, too.
Rereading this book, it breaks my heart even more to see about Harry knowing nothing about his parents. My parents are gone, but I have pictures, memories, and I can reminisce with my sister about them. Harry knows nothing and yet he knows his Aunt could provide the information he seeks but refuses to do so. That is another sin to pile onto the many of Petunia Dursley.
For those who track social media, JKR has become quite the outspoken advocate for LBGTQ rights and I think a lot of her social justice views can be found in her work
To add to that, she’s also said that she wrote the treatment of lycanthropy as a parallel to the AIDS epidemic. There are so many issues that can be drawn from this story and that’s why the series will stand the test of time, despite what naysayers believe. Whether it’s learning about the rise of fascism or Nazism, or the the Women’s rights, discrimination, stories like this are needed to make it relevant and accessible on many levels. It’s like how we talk about “rape culture” and the need for media to start portraying positive images and break out of the mold. There is a saying in teaching that goes “We parent as we have been parented, we teach as we have been taught.” It means unless something changes, we’re going to keep going with the status quo. We need stories like Harry Potter to show how ridiculous prejudices are and just how much the media influences our beliefs and views.
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
August 2, 2015 at 4:36 pm in reply to: New Disney TV Movie: "Descendants", about the kids of Disney characters #306776JosephineParticipantRg, oh how I wish we had watched it together. I kept saying through the whole thing, “Why are they crowning a 16 year old king?” Teenage boys have no reason to have any type of power. They’re barely legal enough to drive. Their brains have only a few things in there and rational thought needed to be a good ruler isn’t one if them
And are teenage girls so superficial that having short hair means you’re ugly with no friends. I was in high school in the 90s when the fashion was plaid flannel, jeans, and Doc Martins. Have times changed that much?
I will add that throughout the movie it was pointed out repeatedly that I wasn’t in the target demographic.
I think it would have been more palatable as an animated movie than what it turned into. I agree with KP that they could have gone up in production value. The concept could have been like Enchanted but in reality came across as a sophomoric attempt.
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
JosephineParticipantI didn’t watch Wedding dress night without RG (it’s our thing we do). But I did watch “The Descendants”. Lots is commenting. All I can say is, wow.
Okay, if you’ve read HP come to our thread. We’re rereading slowly. Only on chapter 2. Even if you’re not rereading come and talk about where we are at. Lots of good analyzing going on.
Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.
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