Dear Pottermore

[mothwing]

Elizabeth I is perfectly capable of making her own decisions regaring matrimony. 

Without magic of any sort, thank you ever so much. 

Comments

[lordhellebore]

What happened?

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Needless to say there are Pottermore spoilers below.

From the information on the Malfoys here (http://www.pottermore.com/en/book2/chapter4/moment4/the-malfoy-family):

"Historically, the Malfoys drew a sharp distinction between poor Muggles and those with wealth and authority. Until the imposition of the Statute of Secrecy in 1692, the Malfoy family was active within high-born Muggle circles, and it is said that their fervent opposition to the imposition of the Statute was due, in part, to the fact that they would have to withdraw from this enjoyable sphere of social life. Though hotly denied by subsequent generations, there is ample evidence to suggest that the first Lucius Malfoy was an unsuccessful aspirant to the hand of Elizabeth I, and some wizarding historians allege that the Queen's subsequent opposition to marriage was due to a jinx placed upon her by the thwarted Malfoy."

I don't like that insinuation. She was a very badass lady in a very difficult situation, and any suggestion of magical interference bugs me.

[lordhellebore]

Errrr. I'm about as die-hard an Elizabeth I fan as they come outside of Britain, but really? This is fiction. I don't see any problem here.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

It's a way JKR has her fictional world interact with the real world that curls my toenails. No one has to cringe along with me. I don't see why you're pointing out it's fiction, of course it is. That does not mean that I have to like this particular bit of it, does it?

[lordhellebore]

It's supposed to take place in the "real" Great Britain, so obviously it will have to do with Great Britain's real history.

Of course you don't have to like it - I don't see myself writing it anywhere - but it puzzles me what's terrible about it, mostly because it sounds to me (I am sending an "I message" here) as if this were a feminism issue, which I can't make myself believe.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

The author takes this issue and in her text chooses to explain away a real, difficult choice made by a real woman by making it a wizard's decision instead. For me, this decision to put the most powerful women of the time so intimately under the influence of a barely named male character within the apocrypha her series does not seem to send the right signals when it comes to agency.

The fact that the story is set in RL Britain does not make it mandatory for the characters to interact with historic figures to that exten, thought. If I recall correctly, JKR usually stays fairly vague when it comes to historic events in muggle Britain and their effect on the wizarding world, I can't remember anything of this detail. There is no day when Dumbledore stopped the German air raids on London or Rolanda Hooch coming to the aid of the female players in the muggle football world cup.

Though maybe it's just because I like free-spirited RL and fictional Elizabeth I and haven't read the book in a while, who knows.

[lordhellebore]

The author takes this issue and in her text chooses to explain away a real, difficult choice made by a real woman by making it a wizard's decision instead. For me, this decision to put the most powerful women of the time so intimately under the influence of a barely named male character within the apocrypha her series does not seem to send the right signals when it comes to agency.

You know, I think there is no way we could truly have a discussion about this subject, because I can't make myself take this as seriously as you deserve to be treated. I'm sorry about that and that I can't share your passion about the importance of such things :/

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Uh, I am griping about this on LJ. I am not petitioning to have it removed from Pottermore or consider it the end of the world. It rubbed me the wrong way, I posted about it on LJ because you can't gripe about this on Pottermore without the Modmonster eating your comments. That's about all there is to it, really.

But I think that there are plenty of other things we can talk about, so let's just give this a miss. :)

[lordhellebore]

I am not petitioning to have it removed from Pottermore or consider it the end of the world.

I hadn't thought so. I actually only wanted to make it clear in my last comment that I don't mean to attack you, because it seems like somehow each and every conversation about things like this turns sour.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought so. I actually only wanted to make it clear in my last comment that I don't mean to attack you
That is how I took it. :) Everything's good on my end. Let's just avoid the topic in future.

[tetleythesecond]

This makes me want to write RP fic in which Rowling gets stung by an insect whose otherwise benign and wholesome and vitamin-B-rich venom permanently erases the word "marriage" from one's vocabulary.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

That would be SO awesome.

[krakelwok.livejournal.com]

Heh, dear JK rather has no talent at all when it comes to satirizing specific historic events and circumstances rather than everyday life and its systems, does she? Like when in PoA (I think it was PoA) she chose to divulge that witch burnings in her world were just a merry old lark for 'real' witches?

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Oh god, that part. I had forgotten that part! Why did you remind me of that part?

Her otherwise enjoyable blend between real world and fantasy really came crashing down for me in that part and that other part when the downfalls of muggle- and wizarding world Europe's least favourite politicans coincided so coincidentally.

[lisaquestions.livejournal.com]

I either missed this or scrubbed it from memory. What was it?

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

This happens at the very beginning of PoA when Harry is doing his History of Magic homework at Florean Fortescue's. JKR didn't go into explicit detail, but she did say that for wizarding world witches and wizards who could fireproof themselves it was not too bad to get burned at the stake, and that one witch in particular developed quite a taste for being burnt and therefore had herself be burned at the stake several times.

Which, considering the RL effects of witch hunts especially in continental Europe does not really make this the best joke she ever made.

[krakelwok.livejournal.com]

And a not too well researched one, too. Witch burnings took primarily place in Scotland, the standard practice in most of the rest of Europe at that time was hanging. (Although I'm sure there was some kind of noose-loosening charm or whatever that made hanging a quite agreeable experience, too. Hm, Potter-humour is easy!)

I've never bothered looking at Pottermore which to me seems like just a means to keep the fans' interest in the franchise up with new material now that the books and movies are done and over. Does Rowling really contribute to the site or is it maintained by an army of faceless WB/Bloomsbury writing drones?

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Maybe Wendolyn's a medieval expat residing in central Europe, who knows. Or maybe she moved to satisfy her strange urges? This is actually quite interesting.

JKR's contributions are text snippets hidden throughout the site and can be "discovered" through flipping through the point-and-click, content of the website.

There is a comment section underneath each bit which allows fans of the series to share their impressions to their heart's content, as long as they don't use arabic numerals, the word "mod", name-sounding things, swearwords, obvious sexual terms, places, verbs denoting origin or age description. And probably a couple more. This, being the internet, has obviously resulted in people writing creative porn avoiding verbal clichés in the comment sections until the mods catch them at it and delete those segments.

[krakelwok.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity I signed up. Is there an HTML-only version of that site? I abhor websites which hide their content under layers of cross-links, banners, slow-loading Flash animation and hotspots one has to tediously search for all over the screen. Sure, it's for kids but there should be a version for people who don't fancy playing unlock-the-boring-footnote just so that a website can generate clicks ...

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Not as far as I know, no, you really do have to click through everything. I still enjoyed it for the graphics, though.