~~ how lame is -this-. heh.
Sep. 29th, 2003 03:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaI'm rather embarrassed to think that one day... or now... someone non-fandom could read this stuff and think, "oh my, is this all she thinks about?" and... er... the answer would sort of be "yes and no", but it's close enough to yes that I get wibbly. I spent the weekend talking to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
addictedkitten about mostly fandom things (at least I'm not alone). I indulged my skills as a traveling beta. We talked about everyone behind their backs (hehehe). It's all good :D
Well, no, I lie. Mostly, we just talked about porn. *laughs* Partly loitering on the steps of a comic store at like, some ungodly hour like 1:30 or something. Dude. We are so cool it hurts.
So Sara tells me (well, not in so many words) it would be cool if I mixed things up and mentioned my "real life" (not that I have any) more. Because then I would be a real person, just like... everyone else? Heh. Yeah. And this would be part of my not-so-sekrit plan to... er... bore everyone to death. Exciting. And yet sad at the same time.
Mostly, I was remembering how Sara insisted that she's Slytherin, and I was like, Dude! You are so not! And she kept saying she was, so eventually I said I supported her choice. But she let me be Ravenclaw 'cause I have issues with being a Hufflepuff (I told you! We are so cool it's hurting me still.) So anyway... this led to my so-called revelation..... *coughs*
There is a number of people who say they're Slytherin in this fandom (you all know who you are), who are so... not. And then there are the myriad quizzes who tell you who you are and people point to them and almost actually believe they've been sorted. And then there's all the confusion about whether the HP characters were correctly sorted (but no! Hermione's a Ravenclaw! Harry's a Slytherin! Neville's a Hufflepuff! etc). So, being brilliantly fascinating as I am, I thought about this on the way home.
It seems almost painfully obvious that you are Sorted into whatever House you want to be Sorted into. I mean, I know the Hat makes a show of picking the House for the student, but in reality, Ron and Harry and Draco were all Sorted specifically according to their desires and/or expectations. I think the case could easily be made that the Hat looks at what motivates them on the conscious preferences level as much or more than at the subconscious aptitudes level.
This would explain why some students don't seem to be "smart enough" or "brave enough" or "cunning enough" (hello, Crabbe) for their House. It would also explain everyone's favorite question of Why Was Tom Riddle In Slytherin Though He's A Halfblood. Clearly, even though the Houses were founded on certain principles, those principles don't count for as much as they did initially, and really the directions one takes in life (and in Hogwarts) are controlled by -choice-. This would make sense with JKR's overall theme better, too. This would also tie in with some sort of "redemption" of Slytherin-as-a-House, simply because it proves that no one's intrinsically -different-, no matter where they are, and it's only their conscious desire to segregate themselves that really influences the resulting separation.
There are no "good" exceptions in Slytherin, but Crabbe or Goyle aren't cunning or all that ambitious, and really, how cunning is Draco. They're shown as sucking anyway, but not because they're so -Slytherin-. Hey, it could be important. Also, maybe this inspires someone to no longer torture themselves over whether Slytherin can accept non-purebloods. I don't think Dumbledore would -allow- a House that didn't, too. This is a matter of publicity keeping the population stable more than anything, it seems to me.
addictedkitten about mostly fandom things (at least I'm not alone). I indulged my skills as a traveling beta. We talked about everyone behind their backs (hehehe). It's all good :DWell, no, I lie. Mostly, we just talked about porn. *laughs* Partly loitering on the steps of a comic store at like, some ungodly hour like 1:30 or something. Dude. We are so cool it hurts.
So Sara tells me (well, not in so many words) it would be cool if I mixed things up and mentioned my "real life" (not that I have any) more. Because then I would be a real person, just like... everyone else? Heh. Yeah. And this would be part of my not-so-sekrit plan to... er... bore everyone to death. Exciting. And yet sad at the same time.
Mostly, I was remembering how Sara insisted that she's Slytherin, and I was like, Dude! You are so not! And she kept saying she was, so eventually I said I supported her choice. But she let me be Ravenclaw 'cause I have issues with being a Hufflepuff (I told you! We are so cool it's hurting me still.) So anyway... this led to my so-called revelation..... *coughs*
There is a number of people who say they're Slytherin in this fandom (you all know who you are), who are so... not. And then there are the myriad quizzes who tell you who you are and people point to them and almost actually believe they've been sorted. And then there's all the confusion about whether the HP characters were correctly sorted (but no! Hermione's a Ravenclaw! Harry's a Slytherin! Neville's a Hufflepuff! etc). So, being brilliantly fascinating as I am, I thought about this on the way home.
It seems almost painfully obvious that you are Sorted into whatever House you want to be Sorted into. I mean, I know the Hat makes a show of picking the House for the student, but in reality, Ron and Harry and Draco were all Sorted specifically according to their desires and/or expectations. I think the case could easily be made that the Hat looks at what motivates them on the conscious preferences level as much or more than at the subconscious aptitudes level.
This would explain why some students don't seem to be "smart enough" or "brave enough" or "cunning enough" (hello, Crabbe) for their House. It would also explain everyone's favorite question of Why Was Tom Riddle In Slytherin Though He's A Halfblood. Clearly, even though the Houses were founded on certain principles, those principles don't count for as much as they did initially, and really the directions one takes in life (and in Hogwarts) are controlled by -choice-. This would make sense with JKR's overall theme better, too. This would also tie in with some sort of "redemption" of Slytherin-as-a-House, simply because it proves that no one's intrinsically -different-, no matter where they are, and it's only their conscious desire to segregate themselves that really influences the resulting separation.
There are no "good" exceptions in Slytherin, but Crabbe or Goyle aren't cunning or all that ambitious, and really, how cunning is Draco. They're shown as sucking anyway, but not because they're so -Slytherin-. Hey, it could be important. Also, maybe this inspires someone to no longer torture themselves over whether Slytherin can accept non-purebloods. I don't think Dumbledore would -allow- a House that didn't, too. This is a matter of publicity keeping the population stable more than anything, it seems to me.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-09-29 10:06 am (UTC)I am going to say I fully agree, about the "you get sorted into where you want to be" theory. Doesn't make much sense any other way, and as you have shown, it makes everything fall into place. I think the hat has some say init all, with it trying to convince harry to go slytherin, but ultimately it's what the person wants that puts it in it's house. Perhaps the hat only has true power over where the student is placed when they are completely unsure of where they wish to be...which I'm sure doesn't happen all that often.
Makes me think though, if students just basically got to choose where they'd want to be, wouldn't you imagine there being an oddly large number of gryffindors? just a thought...I'm sure theres an easy way to do away with that worry. I myself...have no idea what I'd be...I'd love to say Gryffindor...if I could choose that would be my house...who knows...I never trust those quizzes anyhow...
-Nikki
no subject
Date: 2003-09-29 04:05 pm (UTC)Yeah, you're right, the Hat does seem to have some influence. I'm not sure how much, and really I'm not sure of anything (even though I may have sounded like it), mostly it's just that it's definitely not like your House placement is defined by your "Slytherinness" or "Gryffindorishness" or whatever, the way so many fans like to label each other's personalities.
Like, "I'm so Slytherin 'cause I'm a bitch and I know it"-- that doesn't quite work for me.
As for everyone wanting to me Gryffindor... hmm. Actually, age probably has something to do with it as well-- what we all want to be -now- is probably different than what we wanted at 11. But regardless, most people -I- know don't want/claim to be Gryffindors-- in fact, that's the rarest House, after Hufflepuff. Heh. Mostly people say they're Ravenclaw or Slytherin (like, either "I'm a smartie" or "I'm a bitch", eheheheh).
I think there's probably a section of fandom who's all "Yeay Gryffindor", but I imagine that's more... er... younger people and non-slashers. Like, the Ron/Hermione shippers & so on, y'know? The ones who think that Draco sucks, except not er.... that way. *laughs*
Okay, stopping now ^^;
~reena
no subject
Date: 2003-09-29 04:36 pm (UTC)