~~ 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: 2003-09-30 09:15 am (UTC)Also, I just realized my idea doesn't quite work because some first-years don't have enough information about the Houses-- like Harry did only by the accident of immediately making friends with Ron and meeting Draco, and Hermione knew because she's read all about it, but I'm sure that's not the norm. So for a clueless students, what preferences could they have either way?
I can't see the Slytherins wanting their House because it's evil -or- because it's "the pureblood House" -in those terms-. There are no worthwhile Slytherins that we've seen so far except er... Phineas(?) so it's hard to say-- it seems maybe personality -does- seem to have a heavy influence there. Like, you can -choose- to be "good" but unless you actively do, "evil" is a default? I dunno.
I think the Slytherin Question is basically needing to be addressed by JKR rather than me at this point ;)
no subject
Date: 2003-10-06 03:30 am (UTC)I think it has a lot to do with family - the exception being the Patil sisters - and choice probably factors into it, because, hey, if you want to be brave, is the Hat going to say, No, settle down, be a Hufflepuff?
Ooh! Ooh! Theory: JKR is moving towards eventual house unity by slowly subverting our assumptions about Houses. Slytherins are evil, except Snape - Harry might be a Slytherin, temptation ideas there - Hufflepuffs are incompetant, Ravenclaws are aloof. But Gryffindors are not all perfect: see flaws of Peter, Sirius, even Dumbledore. Hufflepuffs perhaps not so loyal: see Zacherias. So we have Harry the pseudo-Slytherin; Hermione who should have been Ravenclaw; Neville who is not brave, but Hufflepuffianly loyal; Ron, also loyal. Together they represent all the houses, within Gryffindor. Therefore: they unite in friendship to overcome obstacles, as symbols of eventual House reunification!
no subject
Date: 2003-10-06 11:35 am (UTC)Aahahah if they kill off all the other students, I guess you have the seeds of all the rest in their own House...? :/
Though I doubt she'd do that. Though I really liked
Hmm. I think it's perhaps unfair to focus on this one House quality to define the House, considering the Hat keeps saying different things. I dunno if bravery is really the sum of "what it takes" to be Gryffindor. You quite obviously don't have that many brave people, and most Gryffindors aren't that brave. It seems to be more about recklessness, adventurous/mischievous spirit, selfishness combined with protectiveness, the desire to -do- rather than -be-, thick-headedness, stubborn determination, self-righteousness (hello, Hermione). Bravery is like... too simple and too complex a word at the same time, I think, and it can only really apply during times of high conflict. I dunno if Ron is defined by his loyalty, btw.
I think maybe Ron's... too selfish and ambitious and impulsive to be the Hufflepuff sort of loyal-- he's like... recklessly self-sacrificing, but not in any sort of stable manner. He seems led by his instincts and whatever emotional force of attachment is mainly driving him at the time. Hmmm. Wish I had a better grasp on Ron, man.
*ponders*
no subject
Date: 2003-10-07 06:10 am (UTC)I'm sure you could theorize how everyone has the inherent qualities of their house. I'm confused over JKRs messages anyway, at the moment, what with the subversion. The Slytherins seems to be ambition=bad. Yet bravery=recklessness=Harry in lots of trouble. And if love is the key? I'd imagine Hufflepuffs were more about the love. I don't know.
I often wonder if the whole 'Hat' thing is just a strange tradition, like pureblood families and house elves, kept in place by the Board of Governors, and Dumbledore would really rather be rid of it, since all it does is divide people and force them into exclusive societies, and all the other messages Dumbledore and the Hat itself give us are about unity and standing together.
On the other hand, I say this, but if I was going to a fancy wizarding school, I would probably be most comfortable among people of my own kind, er, people who thought about things the same way I did.