~~ ye olde HBP Draco rant
Jul. 28th, 2005 07:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaIt's barely been 2 weeks and I'm already getting scared of fandom's new and disturbing twists on canon!Draco (soon to be new-and-not-so-improved fanon!Draco, I'm sure).
Mostly, I'm kind of twitchy at most icons and references to him I see being entirely about crying, and the label emo!Draco and the suchlike... as if sensitive!Draco was basically the only relevant 'message' of the characterization of him this book. This... disturbs me.
Not that his vulnerability isn't important, because obviously that's what makes him sympathetic as a character in the first place. It's just that... I feel like seeing him as some fanon-type stereotypical 'sensitive boy' is missing the point entirely, which upsets me. Because it's not like he wasted away from his Angest And Pane like some overreactive consumptive 'angel'-- he really was under tons of stress. And he dealt well enough to follow through with his plan. And he stood up to Dumbledore-- as well as Snape-- as well as Harry. Rebellious!Draco is so much more interesting than defeated-and-weepy!Draco, but having both at once is just such beautiful ambiguity that I shouldn't be surprised fandom immediately jumped to one or the other conclusion. (He's Black! He's White! No, he's still pink!!)
I haven't been writing anything about him because while I was happy (and really friggin' smug) about his characterization and overall role in HBP, I don't know what there was to -say-; the book just... seemed to say it. It was right there, on the page. I didn't think there was any way to confuse this new deluge of information! Oh, I'm so naive.
Naturally, what I took away wasn't H/D was more obvious than ever on the surface level (not quite that delusional, kthnxbi... though it was more possible in that still-pretty-impossible sort of way), it's that we saw post-OoTP!Draco still mattered, at least to Harry. It's that Draco could get something done right under Harry's nose and Harry wasn't even surprised. It's that Draco may have been a pathetic emo loser just like always(!), but I could sense the rage and determination and that stubborn bravado (like around Dumbledore) that passes for self-confidence with him. Why aren't people remembering that?
Why aren't they remembering how he kept insisting he would do it (kill Dumbledore), not as a sign that he's an evil little cockroach but as a sign that he hadn't crumpled at that point, that he isn't actually just a weepy little wimp? At least he still talks big, even at the end. He never stops hoping. When Harry finds him crying, Draco doesn't crumple further-- he tries to Crucio him; Draco doesn't want your pity, reader, and he doesn't want Harry's. Draco wants you to believe he could fucking own your ass even if he couldn't. Draco wants respect, not pity. So it kind of upsets me that I see this focus on his weakness this book. Finally, I think, this book proved Draco's own sort of strength.
It's not a strength that depends on imperturbability or brute power-- obviously, Draco suffers and fails and flails and has plenty of insecurities about fulfilling a daunting, scary responsibility. He really wants to play with the big boys, but he still just wants to be good enough; he wants to have Snape and Dumbledore and his father (doubt about the Dark Lord, but sure why not) acknowledge his skillz, I think. He was excited about this, according to Narcissa. Draco wanted his chance, his day to shine, and of course he has performance anxiety. Of course. He's never really won before. Some part of him probably thinks he -can't-, but he won't stop trying. He's a resilient little fucker; he has all the strength of his (Slytherin!) ambition to prove himself. He has all the power of his need to be Somebody. Somebody who matters, who chose to follow of his own free will. And of course, unlike Harry, the necessity to grow up and face the music he faced in this book hit him much, much harder than it did Harry. Harry was a -lot- more ready for it. Draco likely could barely keep his neurosis in check long enough to get to the privacy of the bathroom, but his intense desire not to be seen, especially not by Potter, speaks volumes about him not wanting Potter's pity, thank god. That's what I really wanted for Draco post-OoTP, and I got it-- oh, I got it.
This Draco Malfoy may be weak and ultimately ineffectual, but he's not going down easy. His desire to be taken seriously by Potter & Dumbledore & Snape-- by anyone he respects-- is ultimately stronger than his insecurity & fear, I feel, though not stronger than his actual humanity. That voice inside him that is bloody terrified of werewolves, yeah, but also doesn't want his friends-- or even stupid Gryffindors-- to get torn apart by one because of him.
So yeah... it really frikkin' bothers me thinking that fandom is about to concentrate most on Draco's little break-down without the caveat of his immediate flip-flop when Harry entered the scene. That cut-off Crucio wasn't an accident, I think. He didn't hate Potter enough to try torturing him after he Stupefied him, but he hated Potter seeing him like that-- thinking he was weak-- enough to attempt desperate measures of a whole 'nother sort. This... this really makes me happy. Because even if Draco -isn't- hardcore, obviously, and is ultimately a failed bully, the fact that he -tries- is just as important as the reason he fails.
The other thing that seems blatant to me is that the attempt at the Unforgivable isn't an instance of 'bullying' anyway, and it's also vastly different than his waffling around Dumbledore. Even though Harry's much more unstable & likely to hurt him than Dumbledore, Draco's not scared of him, is he. Even with the fight so deeply uneven, Draco still tries; I'm tempted to say that getting back at Potter for humiliating him is still much more of an emotional trigger than his promise about Dumbledore. Draco hates and is completely unreasonable about Harry, not Dumbledore, after all.
Draco wants you to acknowledge he's good enough, and that's so obviously why he stomped on Harry's face in the train and left it at that. Because it was so important to him that he & Potter both knew he could have done more, and didn't. It's that 'could' that made him happy, I think.
Draco could do a lot of things if he threw himself into it. He may drive himself into a nervous frenzy, but he wouldn't stop until the end. And at that point-- well, that was a choice, wasn't it. Small and ultimately of questionable relevance to the final outcome of things, but a choice all the same, and it's all Draco's.
~~
Disclaimer of sorts: I know I um, wrote this of my own free will, because I couldn't help it (and no, I haven't actually been reading Draco meta lately), but man. I'm scared this all sounded largely like rhetoric and projection, and I am really, really burnt out on this subject, and a huge part of me doesn't wanna talk about this at all. Mostly, it's only here as an attempt to organize my thoughts with the purposes of my own fic-writing, if anything. Just sayin'.
Mostly, I'm kind of twitchy at most icons and references to him I see being entirely about crying, and the label emo!Draco and the suchlike... as if sensitive!Draco was basically the only relevant 'message' of the characterization of him this book. This... disturbs me.
Not that his vulnerability isn't important, because obviously that's what makes him sympathetic as a character in the first place. It's just that... I feel like seeing him as some fanon-type stereotypical 'sensitive boy' is missing the point entirely, which upsets me. Because it's not like he wasted away from his Angest And Pane like some overreactive consumptive 'angel'-- he really was under tons of stress. And he dealt well enough to follow through with his plan. And he stood up to Dumbledore-- as well as Snape-- as well as Harry. Rebellious!Draco is so much more interesting than defeated-and-weepy!Draco, but having both at once is just such beautiful ambiguity that I shouldn't be surprised fandom immediately jumped to one or the other conclusion. (He's Black! He's White! No, he's still pink!!)
I haven't been writing anything about him because while I was happy (and really friggin' smug) about his characterization and overall role in HBP, I don't know what there was to -say-; the book just... seemed to say it. It was right there, on the page. I didn't think there was any way to confuse this new deluge of information! Oh, I'm so naive.
Naturally, what I took away wasn't H/D was more obvious than ever on the surface level (not quite that delusional, kthnxbi... though it was more possible in that still-pretty-impossible sort of way), it's that we saw post-OoTP!Draco still mattered, at least to Harry. It's that Draco could get something done right under Harry's nose and Harry wasn't even surprised. It's that Draco may have been a pathetic emo loser just like always(!), but I could sense the rage and determination and that stubborn bravado (like around Dumbledore) that passes for self-confidence with him. Why aren't people remembering that?
Why aren't they remembering how he kept insisting he would do it (kill Dumbledore), not as a sign that he's an evil little cockroach but as a sign that he hadn't crumpled at that point, that he isn't actually just a weepy little wimp? At least he still talks big, even at the end. He never stops hoping. When Harry finds him crying, Draco doesn't crumple further-- he tries to Crucio him; Draco doesn't want your pity, reader, and he doesn't want Harry's. Draco wants you to believe he could fucking own your ass even if he couldn't. Draco wants respect, not pity. So it kind of upsets me that I see this focus on his weakness this book. Finally, I think, this book proved Draco's own sort of strength.
It's not a strength that depends on imperturbability or brute power-- obviously, Draco suffers and fails and flails and has plenty of insecurities about fulfilling a daunting, scary responsibility. He really wants to play with the big boys, but he still just wants to be good enough; he wants to have Snape and Dumbledore and his father (doubt about the Dark Lord, but sure why not) acknowledge his skillz, I think. He was excited about this, according to Narcissa. Draco wanted his chance, his day to shine, and of course he has performance anxiety. Of course. He's never really won before. Some part of him probably thinks he -can't-, but he won't stop trying. He's a resilient little fucker; he has all the strength of his (Slytherin!) ambition to prove himself. He has all the power of his need to be Somebody. Somebody who matters, who chose to follow of his own free will. And of course, unlike Harry, the necessity to grow up and face the music he faced in this book hit him much, much harder than it did Harry. Harry was a -lot- more ready for it. Draco likely could barely keep his neurosis in check long enough to get to the privacy of the bathroom, but his intense desire not to be seen, especially not by Potter, speaks volumes about him not wanting Potter's pity, thank god. That's what I really wanted for Draco post-OoTP, and I got it-- oh, I got it.
This Draco Malfoy may be weak and ultimately ineffectual, but he's not going down easy. His desire to be taken seriously by Potter & Dumbledore & Snape-- by anyone he respects-- is ultimately stronger than his insecurity & fear, I feel, though not stronger than his actual humanity. That voice inside him that is bloody terrified of werewolves, yeah, but also doesn't want his friends-- or even stupid Gryffindors-- to get torn apart by one because of him.
So yeah... it really frikkin' bothers me thinking that fandom is about to concentrate most on Draco's little break-down without the caveat of his immediate flip-flop when Harry entered the scene. That cut-off Crucio wasn't an accident, I think. He didn't hate Potter enough to try torturing him after he Stupefied him, but he hated Potter seeing him like that-- thinking he was weak-- enough to attempt desperate measures of a whole 'nother sort. This... this really makes me happy. Because even if Draco -isn't- hardcore, obviously, and is ultimately a failed bully, the fact that he -tries- is just as important as the reason he fails.
The other thing that seems blatant to me is that the attempt at the Unforgivable isn't an instance of 'bullying' anyway, and it's also vastly different than his waffling around Dumbledore. Even though Harry's much more unstable & likely to hurt him than Dumbledore, Draco's not scared of him, is he. Even with the fight so deeply uneven, Draco still tries; I'm tempted to say that getting back at Potter for humiliating him is still much more of an emotional trigger than his promise about Dumbledore. Draco hates and is completely unreasonable about Harry, not Dumbledore, after all.
Draco wants you to acknowledge he's good enough, and that's so obviously why he stomped on Harry's face in the train and left it at that. Because it was so important to him that he & Potter both knew he could have done more, and didn't. It's that 'could' that made him happy, I think.
Draco could do a lot of things if he threw himself into it. He may drive himself into a nervous frenzy, but he wouldn't stop until the end. And at that point-- well, that was a choice, wasn't it. Small and ultimately of questionable relevance to the final outcome of things, but a choice all the same, and it's all Draco's.
~~
Disclaimer of sorts: I know I um, wrote this of my own free will, because I couldn't help it (and no, I haven't actually been reading Draco meta lately), but man. I'm scared this all sounded largely like rhetoric and projection, and I am really, really burnt out on this subject, and a huge part of me doesn't wanna talk about this at all. Mostly, it's only here as an attempt to organize my thoughts with the purposes of my own fic-writing, if anything. Just sayin'.
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part II
Date: 2005-07-31 07:59 pm (UTC)No, he isn't, and I loved that. I loved the contrast between the bathroom scene, where Draco really is holding his own with Harry (go back and re-read it and you'll see what I mean: they're both successfully casting non-verbally, and Harry isn't any more able to hit Draco with his spells - in fact, Harry even notes Draco's successful block of one of them - than Draco is able to hit Harry with his) and their confrontation in OotP on the stairs, where Harry notes that Draco's voice quavers at one point after Harry's drawn his wand.
I don't get calling the bathroom fight scene "bullying" on Draco's part. It's definitely an overreaction of sorts - even if it's an overreaction that's completely understandable within the context of their relationship and history - but it's hardly *bullying*. At this point in the series, Draco knows he doesn't have any power over Harry. He's probably just as surprised as any of us at his (1) triumph over Harry on the train, and (2) his holding of his own during their bathroom duel until Harry uses Dark Magic Draco's probably never heard of; you can't bully someone you have reason to believe is more powerful than you are *and* capable of using that power against you.
Even with the fight so deeply uneven
I've already articulated why I actually don't think the bathroom fight is uneven. Really, if it had been, then Harry wouldn't have needed to resort to Sectumsempra/a potentially dangerous spell he knew was meant "for enemies." I think the very fact that it gets that far shows both Harry and us that he and we are dealing with a much different, much-more-worth-being-taken-seriously Draco than we ever have before.
Draco still tries
I totally agree with the point that one of the best things about Draco and one of the keys to who he is as a character is his resiliency. For all that people go on about his being a coward, and for all that that criticism is appropriate in *some contexts* (although not in every instance where it's been used against the character), Draco's got a certain degree of ... inner toughness and steeliness that *is* appealing, at least to me. It takes a certain inner hardness to keep getting up and to keep trying even when every time you have in the past, you've gotten smacked down/humiliated/punished in some way. Also, as Maya pointed out on her great review, that Draco managed to keep himself more or less together all year despite the daunting task before him, despite the frustration of trying to fix a magical dark artefact without the benefit of any of the witches and wizards around him, despite being sick with worry for himself and his family, says a *lot* about Draco's capacity to Deal With Shit even though he's only 16. As much as I call bullshit on JKR's claim that he's been able to compartmentalize his emotions since, like, birth, I do think she's got a point that he's developed it into a pretty effective defense mechanism, and compartmentalizing *is*, IMO, a form of willful toughness.
Anyway, I've rambled, but I really enjoyed this post. You've said a lot that makes sense to me.
Re: part II
Date: 2005-08-02 12:12 pm (UTC)But yeah, I think it's a great point to say that Draco -himself- probably didn't expect himself to win those times-- he seemed to be suffering from a whole lot of insecurity and fear of failure issues (the anxiety shows a lack of real cockiness if nothing else, no matter what he tries to project), and thusly I'm glad he did get those moments of 'glory'. Draco needed to prove to himself as much as Harry or anyone (the readers?) that he could do it-- could start a difficult, intimidating project & follow through & ignore his need to show off to Potter, which has always held him back in the past.
As much as I call bullshit on JKR's claim that he's been able to compartmentalize his emotions since, like, birth, I do think she's got a point that he's developed it into a pretty effective defense mechanism, and compartmentalizing *is*, IMO, a form of willful toughness.
I totally agree about the odd kind of toughness (resilience? something like it, though he's a whiny bugger and doesn't hold up that well physically, ehehe). I've been thinking about the 'compartmentalizing'-- which at first seems too much like bad fanon!Draco fic, though it makes sense if you use it to explain why he didn't appear to dwell on his more serious humiliating defeats or even take them into account, why he never seems to know when to quit, and why he only seems to show a narrow range of emotion to Harry previously (ie, anger, disdain, semi-faked amusement, etc). As long as it's instinctive (an unconscious defense mechanism) and not some sort of conscious self-control, I can live with it. If anything, it allows Draco to be more psychologically messed up, and I'm all for that :>