I think about this a lot as someone who was abused as a kid. It's always the evil characters who have a tragic backstory, and they are never shown compassion for it - it's just presented as an explanation for why they are awful, and never touched again. It sucks to feel that the only path for someone with a past like yours is to be further ostracized.
This is why She-Ra is probably my favorite show. The handling of parental abuse and its effects is actually really good.
It’s always the evil characters who have a tragic backstory
Unless it's Harry Potter, where a decade of abusive neglect having zero psychological impact whatsoever on him is brushed off with "he's a very special boy."
Which is fitting, given that he also casually dismisses Hermione wanting to end chattel slavery, acts like a total asshole to all the girls he dates and immmediately starts to bully Draco when he wants to become his friend, but that's how the character acts when you do a close reading, not how he was most likely intended. He's supposed to be super altruistic, always likeable best friend Wizard Jesus. I don't think making him a sadist jerk with avoidance issues was a conscious effort on Rowling's part, but something unconscious that was completely overlooked by both Rowling and the overwhelming majority of the readers. Because while Harry acts like that, he isn't coded like that at all. And it's not just how he's coded, he is explicitly referred to as a morally superior person within the text itself, it's just that Rowling really struggles to write a morally superior character.
immmediately starts to bully Draco when he wants to become his friend
It's been a real long time since I've read the books and I have no real desire to revisit them, but I don't remember this happening at all and now I'm confused
yeah, i mean in his introduction Draco called Hagrid a half breed and was more interested whether Harry's parents were "the good types" than the fact that they were dead and he was an orphan
The whole house system was kind of dumb and didn't make much sense the way she made it. Like everyone is basically placed into one of 4 categories: smart people, brave people, nazis, and everyone else
I think about this a lot as someone who was abused as a kid. It's always the evil characters who have a tragic backstory, and they are never shown compassion for it - it's just presented as an explanation for why they are awful, and never touched again. It sucks to feel that the only path for someone with a past like yours is to be further ostracized.
This is why She-Ra is probably my favorite show. The handling of parental abuse and its effects is actually really good.
Unless it's Harry Potter, where a decade of abusive neglect having zero psychological impact whatsoever on him is brushed off with "he's a very special boy."
Zero psychological impact? he's a fucking cop now
Which is fitting, given that he also casually dismisses Hermione wanting to end chattel slavery, acts like a total asshole to all the girls he dates and immmediately starts to bully Draco when he wants to become his friend, but that's how the character acts when you do a close reading, not how he was most likely intended. He's supposed to be super altruistic, always likeable best friend Wizard Jesus. I don't think making him a sadist jerk with avoidance issues was a conscious effort on Rowling's part, but something unconscious that was completely overlooked by both Rowling and the overwhelming majority of the readers. Because while Harry acts like that, he isn't coded like that at all. And it's not just how he's coded, he is explicitly referred to as a morally superior person within the text itself, it's just that Rowling really struggles to write a morally superior character.
It's been a real long time since I've read the books and I have no real desire to revisit them, but I don't remember this happening at all and now I'm confused
yeah, i mean in his introduction Draco called Hagrid a half breed and was more interested whether Harry's parents were "the good types" than the fact that they were dead and he was an orphan
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The whole house system was kind of dumb and didn't make much sense the way she made it. Like everyone is basically placed into one of 4 categories: smart people, brave people, nazis, and everyone else
The shriekcast is discussing this, and it's pretty great