this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2024
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[–] [email protected] 58 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Some comments complaining about the house elves status don't see how well it spills into real life.

Society didn't care in the books, society doesn't care in real life. Change was slow in the books, change is slow in real life.
Rowling was accurate as fuck in this regard.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That isn't how real life works and the fact that Rowling contributed that perception to millions of children is unironically worse than the TERF shit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Do you think it's because more people seem to defend or put stock in the elf slave stuff as being ok?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

What is "It" in the question?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

oh whoops, the audience or readers of harry potter. slavery is sorta a normal thing (as in, people are aware it is and was a thing) where as nose-less magic villain is more novel

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This might be true, but Rowling also makes choices in regards to how she thinks we should perceive individuals who do want to change the world for the better. Hermione wants to free the house elves and is depicted as being a busybody and white knight more interested in her own sense of self-righteousness than actually improving the world. In art, just as in real life, the particular contains the universal, and we can make the logical conclusion that this is how Rowling broadly perceives people in the real world that advocate for social change.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 9 months ago

Now you're reminding me of those literary analysis classes. "The author used the colour blue to express their hidden and deep sadness over the loss of a burrito to a seagull..."

While we might be able to extract her point of view at the time of writing and we might assume its evolution based on her later public interactions, logic only suggests a probable conclusion based on those components, not a definite one.

Rowling also integrated parts of her own experiences into her stories. How do we know Hermione wasn't a jab at herself or some other girl she knew? Must it absolutely be a broad perception of real life? Why can't it be a particular and individual event to have given it inspiration to grow into something bigger?

Logic is only sound when it covers all the angles, not just the ones favorable to a set conclusion.