This is the place where time reverses/And dead men talk to all the pretty nurses

[pearwaldorf]

More HP thoughts (well, mostly things I forgot), and something that has nothing to do with HP really that I thought of this morning:


I love how the publishers dispensed altogether with the copy on the front inside jacket. "We know you're going to read it no matter what we say, so fuck the copy. Here's book 7." I am also deeply amused by the epigraphs. They are appropriate, but Aeschylus? William Penn? I think that was when I realized it wasn't going to be a children's book. Not that they've really been since OotP.

The more I think about it, the more the whole I impose my fascist heteronormative vision of how everything ends epilogue bugs me. As countless people smarter and more articulate than I have said before, it's so profoundly disrespectful to every single instance where JKR has basically said there are more types of family than nuclear. I mean, what's our first glimpse of a nuclear family in the entire series? The Dursleys. Hardly an example of the ideal. I'd go on, but it's just so GNNAGHHH and makes me v. rageful.

How on earth did I forget to mention Molly being "BITCH DO NOT TOUCH MY CHILDREN"? So terribly remiss! And while that was truly made of awesome, was anybody really surprised she'd step up at some point? Because in JKR's world, a woman can only be fierce and fight in circumstances deemed acceptable to her image of femininity.

The Ravenclaw gatekeeper asking a question instead of a password--HART. Forget Gryffindor, I always wanted to be a Ravenclaw.

I was disappointed with how Draco was handled. I really wanted JKR to do something awesome with him, instead of make him an uncomfortable pawn of Voldemort and Lucius, forgotten for the most part at the end. But Scorpius!!!! That almost redeemed the epilogue, but not really.

I also had this thing about Elliott Smith's song "King's Crossing" and how it relates to the King's Cross chapter, but after I typed it all out it I thought it was stupid and I deleted it. (If you're really that interested, IM me or comment.) I will throw this out there though: When I was trying to figure out if there was some common connection between the two, I did come across something on the Wikipedia page about King's Cross Station. Apparently the site it's built on was rumored to be where Boudica's final battle was, or that she's buried under one of the platforms. I wonder if this was supposed to be significant, but considering JKR couldn't even remember which station had platforms 9 and 10 next to each other, I doubt it. I just thought it was curious.

Comments

[some-stars.livejournal.com]

dude. AESCHYLUS. I mean...daaaaaaaaang, JK. I LOLD.

the epilogue was SO RIDICULOUS--the world is exactly the same! so fifty-four people died, basically, so harry could have a family and no more angst! WHY DO THEY STILL HAVE HOUSES, WTFWTFWTF

i want a rewrite D: i liked everything with the trio--LOVED all that, actually--but i want MORE LUNA and MORE NEVILLE and REMUS NOT BEING A RETARDO OOC JERK and SOMEBODY MAKING AN ACTUAL DECISION ABOUT DRACO. basically.

OH, AND NO MORE FUCKING HOUSES, WTFFFFF

[starstealingirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, my lord. The universal plunge into heteronormative suburban nuclear familydom drove me motherfucking NUTS. Even the stupid KIDS in the epilogue are getting into it. I hate how apparently all the witches in Britain just go to Hogwarts to get their MRS degrees. At least Remus and Tonks didn't end up in that vortex, and Remus got to be with Sirius in the end. (Yes, I'm a shameless rabid R/S shipper. I have no shame.)

If you can bring yourself to read fic, sam_storyteller wrote the first part of this amazing post-DH fic, featuring Teddy Lupin as the main character, which manages to integrate Remus' relationships with Tonks and Sirius, and actually makes sense of that stupid epilogue. It's called The Rules of Being a Godson (http://sam-storyteller.livejournal.com/117432.html#cutid1), and it's fantastic. I have decided that, from now on, I'm going to regard HP canon as just a massive piece of sam_storyteller fanfic.

[sonatine.livejournal.com]

...You know, I think I'm going to as well. Boo on pastede on epilogues, hail better fanfic canon. With all respect to Ms. Rowling, at some point, the books and the characters aren't yours anymore. They're everybody's. I like Sam's better.