Oh, the module title was actually 'the changing language of literature', so there was a lot of going into the insult to the English language business. I didn't want to go much into that without my notes or at least a copy of the book to hand!
Yes: Harry Potter presents a society where everything is just so. J. K. Rowling doesn't as much put the values forward as just make them look true: this is the way life is/should be. It kind of bothered me when Hermione formed S.P.E.W. and it was just a running joke, too. I mean, here's something that essentially either an issue of slavery or at the very least cruelty to animals, and it's dismissed as a joke. But it's okay! House elves like to be enslaved!
I think the Snape part is from a book I haven't read -- Half Blood Prince? And yeah: she doesn't even give proper justification for people becoming evil, really. They just are. Like it's predisposed. Think especially Pettigrew (because he's weak), Quirrel (was there a reason at all?), Snape (? Not enough canon to know the whole of this).
Haha, I groaned aloud when my teacher told me we were studying Harry Potter. But it turned out to be quite fun, in that I learnt to articulate what I don't like about it.
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dancing_serpent
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Date: 2008-10-02 03:06 pm (UTC)Yes: Harry Potter presents a society where everything is just so. J. K. Rowling doesn't as much put the values forward as just make them look true: this is the way life is/should be. It kind of bothered me when Hermione formed S.P.E.W. and it was just a running joke, too. I mean, here's something that essentially either an issue of slavery or at the very least cruelty to animals, and it's dismissed as a joke. But it's okay! House elves like to be enslaved!
I think the Snape part is from a book I haven't read -- Half Blood Prince? And yeah: she doesn't even give proper justification for people becoming evil, really. They just are. Like it's predisposed. Think especially Pettigrew (because he's weak), Quirrel (was there a reason at all?), Snape (? Not enough canon to know the whole of this).
Haha, I groaned aloud when my teacher told me we were studying Harry Potter. But it turned out to be quite fun, in that I learnt to articulate what I don't like about it.