Yeah, I remember assuming that the elf situation was going to be challenged at least narratively, and then re-evaluating what I thought of (pre-open TERF) Rowling once the story made it clear she thought that perpetual heritable racialized chattel slavery was fine so long as you're a "good master"
Chud-ass story arc, in addition to all the :LIB: ones
One of the very last lines of the last chapter of the last book is Harry wondering if his slave would make him a sandwich.
I wish I was kidding.
“That wand’s more trouble than it’s worth,” said Harry. “And quite honestly,” he turned away from the painted portraits, thinking now only of the four-poster bed lying waiting for him in Gryffindor Tower, and wondering whether Kreacher might bring him a sandwich there, “I’ve had enough trouble for a lifetime.”
I think about this post every time there's some ”the walls are closing in on Drumpf!” news. It really illustrates why libs love Harry Potter so much: the system is inherently good and if a bad person gets into power, that's just an aberration and the system will self-correct. And of course there's the whole thing about cops/the wizard cops being on the side of good, because libs don't want to accept that maybe it's not just a few bad apples.
There's also no reason to think about changing any issues within the system, like slavery in HP and (take your pick here) under capitalism, because things are so good for the average person and only some nosy activist would care. Look, maybe there's problems in this system, but think about how good you have it! Medieval kings didn't have iPhones :very-intelligent:
the system is inherently good and if a bad person gets into power, that’s just an aberration and the system will self-correct.
That's not even the arc of the first four books. Rowling's writing is genuinely good early on, at least from an ideological perspective. The theme of the novels is that you're coming up in a corrupt system with a ton of historical baggage. You can't trust your elders to take care of you. You can't trust the system to work in your favor. All you can trust are your comrades, many of whom may come from unexpected places.
Book 3 is borderline Revolutionary. The climax of the story is Harry coming to terms with his parents being gone. The past is immutable. There are no guardian angels. You are your only savior, and only if you are clear eyed and courageous enough to stand up for yourself. The book is overflowing with anti-racism, radicalization, and collective action.
Then the books begin to slide off a cliff into mass market glop, coincidentally just as Rowling is really hitting the big time and get novels start getting that ghostwritten feel.
Harry Potter is a liberalization pipeline. It slowly transforms from a childhood fantasy of kids versus evil into a Marvel-ized Establishment versus The Bad Guys. And it takes the readers along for the ride.
I mean, it was already pretty consumerist from the start. Like, how does every book begin, after the Dursleys but before Hogwarts? It begins with Harry going on a shopping spree, often seeing many products that he won't even buy (but have plenty of merchandising potential, nudge nudge, wink wink, publishers). It's also probably the only piece of fantasy outside of RPGs in which a wizard obtains their magical device by buying it, and that is completely played straight.
It begins with Harry going on a shopping spree, often seeing many products that he won’t even buy (but have plenty of merchandising potential, nudge nudge, wink wink, publishers).
The first book uses the Wizarding Marketplace as a device for world building, since its an excuse for Harry to interact with people he wouldn't meet at the school. It also sets up the class composition of the main characters and introduces antagonists.
The second book extends on the trope to introduce more new characters (Doby, most notably), to introduce the journal as a plot device, and to parallel the conclusion.
The consumerist angle, particularly early on, is all social parallels with existing English consumerism. Collectible cards and novelty chocolates are hardly a HP invention and the way they malfunction or disappoint is as much a critique of consumerism as a method of it. I particularly liked Book 4, at the stadium, when they get showered with Fool's Gold coins. The cynicism was nearly tangible.
It’s also probably the only piece of fantasy outside of RPGs in which a wizard obtains their magical device by buying it, and that is completely played straight.
It's a curious commentary on class. Powerful Wizards get their wands lovingly crafted and maintained by a premier wandmaker. Schlub wizards have to mend their hand me down wands with masking tape. Good sports teams get the best gear. Struggling teams get whatever is at the back of the bin.
Money Buys Success as a parallel to the real world makes this a useful leftist critique.
It isn't until Book 7 and the Deathly Hallows that you get magic items vested by Adventurous Questing rather than by birthright or by having the right friends.
It isn’t until Book 7 and the Deathly Hallows that you get magic items vested by Adventurous Questing rather than by birthright or by having the right friends.
That's when I turned off the movie. They found the secret platform, got on the train, arrived at the school and then "It's time to go shopping, Harry!" I was like, uh where's he getting the money from. "Why, you go to The Bank, of course!"
I'm like, YOU HAVE TO WORK TO PUT THE FUCKING MONEY IN THERE MORON, BANKS AREN'T SOME QUEST LOCATION YOU VISIT AND THEY FILL UP YOUR BAG WITH CASH. But no, of course, it's his parents' money. Yes, because he is The Chosen One. Turned it off right there and never looked back to any Harry Potter media since. Never read a book, and 30 minutes in to the first movie.
A couple of books later he visits the bank with his best friends' family who have semi-adopted him and whose main defining trait is that they're always poor and struggling to make ends meet.
Harry watches as the mom visits the family's almost empty vault to scrounge up the few coins left in the corners, then they visit the Potter vault which he is the sole heir of and it looks like Scrooge McDuck's Money Bin
I know the vibe you're talking about, but I had always interpreted it as instead Rowling trying to portray childhood innocence and wonder versus how adults are stuck in their ways. I'd have to read them again to see what you're talking about.
The later books took that inevitable shift because Rowling tried to cater to an audience growing into their teenage and adult years. So there are more adult themes like romance, politics, violence, etc. And I'd argue those showcase Rowling's inherent ideology better, because they relate more to real world ideology. The earlier books do seem more progressively minded, for instance the Durselys are roundly mocked and are portrayed as stuffy Daily Mail readers. Some of the adult wizards are portrayed as stuffy, uptight and stubborn in the other direction.
There's definitely some kind of vibe that Hogwarts doesn't take the safety of the students seriously enough. And how many adult wizards, despite being supposedly educated and more enlightened than muggles, fall victim to superstition and paranoia like how they can't say Voldemort's name. So Harry often presents himself as audience surrogate who can see through the stuck ways of both the muggles and the wizards, since he exists in both realms. So there's where I could see what you mean, Harry exists initially as an innocent child slowly seeing the problems of both realities he's within, only finding comfort with his friends.
’d have to read them again to see what you’re talking about.
Christ, don't go that far.
So Harry often presents himself as audience surrogate who can see through the stuck ways of both the muggles and the wizards, since he exists in both realms.
He's as much a narrative framing device as a character. Hermione and Ron are far better written as characters, with Harry being more of a neutral observer.
That's also why the conclusions of each book seem so bland. Harry Wins is the foregone conclusion of each volume. The stories are far more about the journey than the destination.
There’s definitely some kind of vibe that Hogwarts doesn’t take the safety of the students seriously enough.
That's not part of any intended deeper message, the Wizarding World was just portrayed as a comically grim place and the wizards as kinda callous assholes early on
Then the series tried to develop some more serious drama and you were supposed to take the world more seriously
the Wizarding World was just portrayed as a comically grim place and the wizards as kinda callous assholes early on
I remember in the first or second book when the janitor complains he's not allowed to chain students to the ceiling as punishment anymore.
Yeah, sometimes there's this slightly edgy Tim Burton/Addams Family/etc permanent PG-13 Halloween mode going on, but then the wizards are also basically just Good Christians
I’d have to read them again to see what you’re talking about.
Or, hear me out - read absolutely anything else.
The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin is incredible, highly recommend.
The first three Red Rising books are also a complete trilogy story that's got all the heroics of Star Wars or Harry Potter but is actually really good and doesn't portray one loser wanna-be-cop as the savoir of a status quo, it's a story about an actual revolution and the actual overthrow of an evil society. And the audiobook narrator has the sexiest Irish accent.
The first three Red Rising books
Hell yeah always nice to meet a fellow Howler
I'll take your word on this, because admittedly I haven't read any of the books, my knowledge is all from second hand sources, especially Shaun's great video :shrug-outta-hecks:
”the walls are closing in on Drumpf!” news.
He's just been indicted. The DoJ isn't going to give up on this one, they're going to hold on to him like a bulldog and won't release those teeth.
:sleepi: yawn haven't heard that before
If they actually, successfully put Trump behind bars, you know what that would do? The floodgates would open. Republicans would go after any and every former Democrat to hold the presidency. Nobody wants to set that precedent. It's why they're going after him for convoluted silly things and not, say, failing to put his assets in a blind trust. It's just spectacle for liberals, the appearance of justice without any of the thorny consequences.
It's just spectacle for liberals, the appearance of justice without any of the thorny consequences.
I don’t think it is just spectacle. If the charges are true (and it seems watertight) then Trump did exactly the things you’d do if you wanted the US Government to throw you in a black site prison forever. Yeah it’s a problem that the liberals don’t challenge the grifting Trump did in office, but the charges they did bring are still a clear scandal and not mere technicalities. It’s also a lot easier to prove this kind of crime which has little ambiguity versus other crimes which Trump could argue intent, executive power, etc. Class privilege in itself doesn’t explain the whole story.
Voldemort and the Death Eaters are the big instigators of change and Harry never quite gets to Voldy's level
This was a part of the post that resonated with me when I first saw this years ago. It explains the attraction of right wing movements to people who intuitively understand that Things Need To Change. Going down the fascist rabbit hole will at least give you glimpses of dynamism and vision about a different world. The liberal alternative is... Starmer's Labour Party.
Matt said something similar about the liberal media's reaction to the Joker movie - "If this resonates with you - if you feel alienated and confused and alone and think the system needs a complete overhaul - you're a Nazi. You can either accept things as they are, or you can be a reactionary, those are your only two options. But tons of young men are seeing the movie and realizing it does resonate with them, and going 'okay then I guess I'm a Nazi, cus what the Liberals are selling is absolutely horseshit."
The far right is the only game is town offering an alternative. That's the whole point of Fascism - to pervert that revolutionary desire for change and to point the anger away from the top and toward the bottom.
David graber the antropologist has an essay about how in superhero stories the villian is the onlyone exibhiting creativity. And the heroes are almost always reactonary. And how this contrast makes the audience falsley see facism aztbe only alternative to the status quo. I think its one of the chapters at the end of utopia of rules but it also should be posted elswere on the internet.
Average lib media story: villain rightfully points out systemic problems, protagonists think they're too extreme, villain is revealed to be some cliched cartoonishly evil strawman (or does some out-of-character deranged acts), villain is disposed of, the only potential change is a relatively minor shakeup in leadership of the setting (if at all), everyone pretends systemic problems no longer exist though the status quo is basically preserved at the end
Na, The ending of that Captain America Disney plus show that had Anthony Mackie (a black man who's now captain America) saving some politicians and then having the cringiest almost parody scene of lecturing them about how their actions and corruption hurt people and it's all tied up nicely. Played off like the evil career politicians learned their lesson and because of a strong America inspired speech they will stop doing racism. I don't think ill ever experience a more liberal story in my life.
I dunno, Black Panther's story literally revolves around a legitimately deposed hereditary monarch couping the government with the help of the CIA played off as heroic
That was the most lib-brained ending of all time but it did have newcap saying "we should listen to the terrorists" on disney plus and I thought that was funny
then Ambulances arrive putting everybody into medical debt..
Le Fin.
'scuse me, you can't just steal the writers' personal notes from Legend of Korra from their homes and just post them on the internet for all to see like that.
This is also why liberals will always be on the backfoot compared to conservatives, and why there are inevitable lurches to the right. Liberals can't actually follow through. At best they can try to maintain what status quo exists now.
Liberals have to believe the system works as intended and that replacing cogs within it will lead to better outcomes. Conservatives instead see the system as a weapon to wield against their enemies and embrace the cruelty of the system in place. Liberals also embrace the cruelty, but pretend it's just a few aberrations that will correct over time.
It makes liberals always seem seedy and dishonest when they call for things like welfare or curtailing racism.
It's funny that no liberal ever makes the connection between the political "machine" and real machines. We're not still using mechanical adding machines with human "computers". Old machines are superseded by new and better ones. The American "machine" is at its core unchanged from 1776, just with a bunch of shit slapped on and duct-taped to it. It's like a Sega Mega Drive with a Mega CD, Mega CD Karaoke, 32X, and Sonic & Knuckles with Sonic 3 attached while China and Cuba are like DIY PCs with brand new components (running Arch btw). The Mega Drive monstrosity is limited by the core system and unable to progress beyond weird add-ons that don't do very much. Those add-ons are extremely costly in terms of wasted time and effort but the libs feel really good when they make a new one. No matter how many modifications are made to the Mega Drive, it's still functionally limited to the status quo but with discs and other weird cartridges that only with with the 32X.
Meanwhile, China is building 1x10^3578 km of high speed rail and Cuba makes it legal to disown your parents if they don't support your gender identity.
The Mega Drive is awesome though, why are you insulting it like this? :angery:
I apologize to the Mega Drive for using it as an example in this manner :blob-on-fire:
for the longest time i thought this screenshot was from 4chan /lit/ but then i learned it was from /leftypol/ and it all started to make sense
Yeah, I assume 4chan would like Harry Potter because of the antisemitic goblins and transphobia.
I think this post probably set me on the path to becoming a communist
For too long we have told them, read another book without giving them a book to read.
Tell them to read Wee Free Men. Tell them to read The Amazing Maurice & His Educated Rodents. Tell them to read Equal Rites. Tell them to read Small Gods
They won't jump from children's fiction directly into non-fiction, so give them some good fiction at least. Give them Terry Pratchett.
and for the love of god, don't attack them in the same breath you give the rec
*"Oh, you like Harry Potter? You'd love Wee Free Men"
*"Oh, you like Percy Jackson? You'd love Small Gods"
Do you have the historical materialism greentext? I haven't seen that classic in a while and I'd we are bringing em back that I'd a good one.
The one where the the anon is talking about how they studied a bunch of stuff but nothing made sense then they found out about historical materialism and it made everything fit and he was mad about all the time he had to waste on everything else.
Whaddaya know, I still have this bookmarked.
Harry Potter is a great allegory that subconsciously primed a generation of kids that like reading that our side is the correct one. The fact that it was created unwittingly by the tremendously liberal Rowling only furthers the beauty of the work. Just as Fake News is an example of using the power of their own words against the bastion of liberalism, so too can the works of Harry Potter draw powerful parallels to our cause. Here are a number of similarities between this clear work of fiction and the actual political environment. In spite of the author's hopes, she wrote a prescient description of the political environment that provides a blueprint of faith to be followed by the individual in the overwhelming face of bureaucratic oppression.
The Faith in the individual to overcome a corrupt System
Perhaps the biggest and central message of the Harry Potter series is the power of the individual over the collective. In this way, the series is a modern day recreation of the Fountainhead only told in the genre of childhood fiction. The story is largely about the the willingness of a traditional family group and an extraordinary white male to give their lives for an ordinary child. Because of the heroic efforts, a child without any extraordinary abilities can overcome the entirety of the government, main stream media, and the most powerful dark wizards of all time by having an unwavering faith in the goodness of himself, his friends, and his hero. The heroes of the series at one point have to disguise their true selves using the Project Veritaserum (Polyjuice) potion order to infiltrate the central government's halls of power only to be horrified that it is being used to disseminate information about "undesirables (deplorables)" to the general public, create new teaching materials to be distributed to Hogwarts in order to indoctrinate children, and the corrupt government is so far removed from the populace that they have built monuments displaying the government's power over the helpless. If you were to distill the central difference between conservative ideology and liberal ideology, it is that it is not the power of the group in which western society draws its strength, but rather the power of the singular individual to enact great change. A group doesn't make a meme, an individual does that is shared by the group. The entirety of the set of books is a widespread display of the worst aspects of communist/socialist ideologies and their applications in government; and the ability of individuals to successfully defeat these ideologies through faith and determination.
The ministry of magic interferes at Hogwarts in order to indoctrinate children and teach nothing
The central government attempts to usurp the role of educators by installing a teacher who hates kids and is solely motivated by increasing the ministry's power over education. This is first achieved by installing a centrally planned (common core) curriculum that is immediately derided by the students as being designed to prevent the students from learning how to think as well as learning how to defend themselves. Eventually, the Ministry decides to take over the entirety of the administration of the school and institute a number of questionable rulings designed to increase the ability of the central government to institute behavioral compliance on the population at a young age, with particular emphasis on physical contact and self expression. The evil students of the story are given medals and participation awards for their willingness to accept and enforce the new policies, while the heroes of our story create a rebel underground that cling to the moral code of the previous generations despite heavy and constant censorship and persecution. The message is clear, that common core is evil that it prevents the teaching of independent thought, and that the Federal government is consistently acting in the direct disinterest of the children of the country. The best type of education is left to people that have devoted their lives to teaching kids, rather than government bureaucrats. One of the kids even chooses a toad as a pet.
The MSM-Daily Prophet being a mouthpiece of the entrenched bureaucracy
Throughout the series the main news source of the magical world is known as "the Daily Prophet" and is used as a mouthpiece of the elites and the entrenched bureaucracy to prevent challenges to the status quo. This begins with the overwhelming negative press that is consistently thrown at Dumbledore. Beginning in the second movie, the MSM besmirch Dumbledore's reputation in an effort to install a headmaster that is more malleable to the wishes of the "elites" (who happened to be siding with the dark lord) despite no evidence of his involvement in the Chamber of Secrets Plot and no reasonable solution regarding his replacement. Regardless, "help will always be given in America who those who ask for it" is an enduring message for those faced with the oppressive power of the bureaucracy. As the series progressed, the threat to the MSM and lifelong politicians' power becomes more obvious, and they begin using every ounce of their influence in order to sway public opinion against the hero of our story. The MSM begins by repeatedly and falsely accusing him of lying and dishonesty, and eventually devolve into just calling people that disagree with them "undesirables/ Deplorables". Once the evil forces that are threatening the magical world come to power, the MSM and entrenched government do nothing but become an extension of the new administration that completely dispenses with the notion of investigative journalism and actively advocates for the administration's policies.
Additionally, any alternate news sources are immediately dismissed as the lunatic fringe conspiracy theorists that need to be actively ignored. They kidnap the daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood and murder Andrew Breitbart in order to suppress the horrific truths about the entrenched bureaucracy. Upon the realization that these "alternate" news sources still are maintaining a loyal following, they begin to use thugs to intimidate and disrupt their ability to produce a coherent message of resistance. (We got you Milo)
The Elites are evil and trying to push an agenda- and those that oppose them are destroyed
The physical manifestation of the Elites of the magical society are embodied in the families Malfoy and Black. Their juxtaposition throughout the story are extremely apparent throughout the series. The first time Harry arrives at Hogwarts and rejects Draco's assessment that "some wizarding families are better than others"; fully displaying that the hero of the story rejects the notion of elites and their ability to control society. Despite having been proven to be in league with HRC prior to his demise, Malfoy is allowed to continuing to influencing multiple institutions including Hogwarts in movie 2 and the ministry of magic courts in movie 5. In contrast, the Black family had the generation Regulus and Sirius fight against the side of HRC, which led to the ruin and collapse of their family dynasty. Regulus Seth Rich Black was originally on the side of the Democrats, was killed when he switch sides by attempting to act upon timely information that he possessed that could be used against the Dark Lord, in the form of some emails (lets assume a usb "Locket") that contained a part of her soul. Despite the best efforts of the Dark Lord, the information persisted and was ultimately a central tool that our heroes used to vanquish the Dark Lord. Sirius was unfortunately branded a traitor and thrown in jail despite his unwavering support of good against the side of evil. Even after extensive evidence to the contrary, the government and MSM used his personality as a catch all for all of the negative issues and trends that they were withholding from society. With Seth Rich's death and Sirius' banishment, the entire lineage was destroyed and the dynasty of house Black, which had existed since the founding of the magical world, was ended. George Soros Malfoy's support of an evil losing cause was more profitable than the Black Family's successful defense of the correct side of history.
The unfair use of the court systems to prevent challenges to the status quo
In Harry Potter (5-OP), Harry is unfairly dragged before a full scale inquiry in court at the Ministry of Magic because of his use of the patronus charm to save himself and his adopted brother from the horrible fate of having their soul sucked from their body. In spite of the full legality to use of the magic of firearms in self defense, the Ministry of Magic uses the incident to perpetrate a serious miscarriage of justice. Because the evil Elite - in the form of George Soros Malfoy- have required the courts, which he has purchased by means of his political contributions to people that appoint people to high level government positions, to hold this inquiry despite its obvious illegality. During the case in question, the judges display a complete unwillingness to address the facts of the specific case, instead they rely on the tactics of quickly and without notice changing the parliamentary procedure as to when an the proceedings occur and the jurisdiction over which the rulings can impact. Eventually the head justice describes how the laws need to be changed if necessary. The established government, realizing that their power was being indirectly challenged, attempts to use the court systems to purposely obfuscate a clear precedent and written rule of law. Only after the entirety of the highest court in the land met to discuss the issue, was the correct verdict achieved.
Harry Potter is President Trump, the bravest person to go against the media and all of government with little help.
I've never given a shit about Harry Potter but Daniel Radcliffe on MDMA in the back of a car is a vibe tbh
The part that says these types of characters choose a political orientation once they are fleshed out would seem to explain why harry poter became more reactionary as the story progressed.
