~~ 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.
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no subject
Date: 2003-09-29 04:31 pm (UTC)Also.
MWAHAHAHAHA!! DIE, SLYTHERIN!HARRY FICS, DIIIIIEEEEE~!!
sorry, had to get that out of my system. they really annoy me by now, the way everyone seems to mistake newly-slytherin!Harry for deep-and-dark!Harry. BASTARDS. hee.
Also... mmmmm, vengeful!Harry. He so is. Avenging his parents... that's what he's been -doing-. And Sirius. And like... if he thinks that someone's done him wrong, he definitely wants to -punish- them, without even -wondering- if it's -him- who should do the punishing. It's like... you're evil?! YOU HAVE TO DIE. ehehehe. omg, I'm totally way too hyper right now -.-
Well, the people who -I- know who say they're Slytherin just sort of have an anti-Gryffindor, anti-goody-twoshoes, I'm-only-out-for-myself and I'm-a-bitch-hear-me-rant sort of thing going on. Like Phineas, it's all about being smart & not thinking you're a nice person and not being sentimental, I think, for most people. Also, a lot of those with darker preferences or outlooks on life (jaded, pessimistic, cynical, etc) think that makes them Slytherin.
I think there's most definitely a lot of romanticization of Slytherin going on there-- just as the people who want to be Gryffindor (not that I know many) romanticize -that- House. (It's so cool! Of -course- we're Gryffindor! It's where -Harry- and all the -cool- people are! Yeay Gryffindor! etc.... So yeah, admiration and the desire to be part of the "team" maybe?)
Strangely enough, I've never seen much enthusiasm or romanticization of Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw-- those are like the "oh yeah, I guess I am" Houses. It's the other two that are all gung-ho and insistent. I mean, in a way, I want to be a Gryffindor even though I'm not brave or righteous, just because I think it's cool to be brave and righteous. I'd never want to be a Slytherin not because I'm not cunning or elitist (though I'm not), but because I think those qualities are nothing I'd want to cultivate even if I had them.
People who -are- somewhat snarky or misanthropic or disillusioned kind of seem to enjoy pimping the "darker side" which I guess is Slytherin in this context. Whereas I always thought that Dark For The Sake Of Dark was silly.
Also, being jaded and snarky and unsentimental are -not- requirements or attributes of anything but the -fanon- version of Slytherin, which is I think what most fans think of. I mean, I also think some people self-judge as being heartless and out-for-number-one and amoral or whatever, but most people overestimate that in themselves simply because almost -all- of them (that I know) are kind to their friends and only mildly bitchy to everyone else, in a -cute- way. My -god-, Slytherins are NOT bitchy in a cute way. Gar.
Anyway, mini-rant, sorry, I know I'm not having to convince you or anything. People who overestimate their own "darkness" seem as common as people who overestimate their righteousness. Siiiiiigh.
no subject
Date: 2003-09-30 08:19 pm (UTC)I loved Phineas and I did think he was proof that at least a few of the ideas of fanon!Slytherins were true--he was wonderfully snarky and to the point but was obviously not "evil" in any sense of the word. He made a show of not caring about things but really did have things he cared about. It was refreshing to see he was basically a person. That's not the way Slytherins have been characterized so far, of course, but I think there are some signs of it. For instance, it always strikes me as odd that we don't see any signs of Slytherins being this constant cut-throat place--you'd expect that in a house all about ambition. Instead they seem to easily sort themselves into hierarchies and keep themselves there. I love the fact that Millicent Bulstrode appeared again in OotP, for instance. In CoS she seems described as a hulking girl, yet there she is as one of them. The Gryff girls, by contrast, seem to all be traditionally pretty.