Untitled

25 / non binary / she/her / kindness and optimism 🔛🔝 but fuck jkr

[strangetrashqueen]

Harry Potter

Уже вышел трейлер нового Гарри Поттера. Возвращение легендарных персонажей.

[deathdaydungeon]

Two up, two down

We talk about Potter as a timeless series, as quills and parchment will never date, but there are a few key elements which are of their time, and I sometimes suspect that eventually, their original meaning may be lost.

Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is one of these.  If you visit Surrey, a house akin to Number 4 on Privet Drive can be found on hundreds of identical estates.  Indeed, the three-bedroom house with a garage, and both front and back gardens, situated on a private housing estate in leafy surburbia is one that most British people will have strolled through at some point.

But Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is the opposite of the Dursleys’ aspirational abode, and is somewhere that few modern readers will have seen in its original form with their own eyes.  Snape’s house in Spinner’s End is a traditional two up, two down through terraced house, mired deep in a maze of identical cobbled streets, overlooked by a looming mill chimney, and seemingly – by the 90s – entirely abandoned.

The difficulty that some may have in accurately picturing this scene is because these houses, in this state, no longer exist.  A large percentage of two up, two down terraces were demolished as part of slum clearance, which should tell you all that you need to know about the state of the houses.  

Those which remained have been extensively modified – usually knocking down the privy (outside toilet), and then building a two storey extension across the bulk of the yard to create a third room downstairs, and a bathroom upstairs.  Some houses only have a single extension; it is rather common in some areas of the Midlands to have a bathroom that leads off the kitchen downstairs – because the bathroom was the missing room, and it was cheaper to build one storey than two.

Pottermore had an article earlier in the year which explained how the filmmakers originally wanted to film on location, but could not, because the houses simply did not exist in their traditional state.

The houses were typically constructed with two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs with a tiny backyard entry leading to the outhouse. Craig actually considered shooting on location, but even though the buildings were intact, they had been brought into the modern era, with up-to-date kitchens and plastic extensions, so the set was built at the studio.

Throughout the 20th century, cobbled streets were routinely replaced by various other road surfaces, namely tarmac and asphalt – and, of course, the scarcity of cobblestones now means that such streets are aesthetically desirable.  However, the cobblestones in Spinner’s End are not an indication of affluence, but an indication of an area left behind. This is further illustrated by the rusted railings, the broken streetlights, and the boarded up windows.

These were workers houses, often funded by the owners of the mill, and therefore tied – meaning that rent was deducted from your wage before you received it.  There were benefits to being in tied accommodation, including being close to work and having a guaranteed landlord – but that was as much benefit to the mill owner as the worker.  Seeing great competition, some mill owners invested in their properties to entice workers – but Spinner’s End is not an example of this; Spinner’s End would’ve been regarded as little better than a slum even when fully occupied.

The narrow streets are indicative of when these houses were built, presumably in the late 1800s – cars were not a concern, and the attitude was to build as many houses on as small a piece of land as possible.

By the time the 90s roll around, and we see Narcissa and Bellatrix descend upon the street, Spinner’s End appears to be mostly deserted.  With the closure of traditional manual industries, families would be keen to relocate to where work could be found.  Estates which hadn’t already been cleared by the 60s would find themselves left to rack and ruin, their former occupants long gone – whether seeking a new life elsewhere, or having died.

For once, Bellatrix is not being anti-Muggle when she sneers at the Muggle dunghill; she is unnervingly accurate. It is a slum by her standards, but most importantly, it was a slum by everyone else’s standards as well.  By the time Severus was born, work should’ve been well under way to clear the area, or to renovate it.  This evidently did not occur – which itself explains how undesirable the area is; nobody wanted to spruce it up - they wanted to leave.  There were no jobs, no amenities, no services – and eventually, no people.

We often ponder why Snape remains at Spinner’s End, but perhaps there lies the answer; he wasn’t just hiding from the magical world, but he was also hiding from the Muggle world as well…

[equna-deactivated20180414]

It always fucks me up when people and fanfictions ignore the fact that Snape was CANONICALLY born in a slum and lived his childhood in a slum. It is a part of his character that is so rarely explored in fics. Because from young Snapes’s point of view, even the Weasleys would have looked rich. And then he had to share dorms with people like Malfoys and Blacks. It just fucks me up.

[professormcguire]

The cycle of poverty that informs Snape’s behaviour and the classism inherent in the bullying that Snape experiences at Hogwarts are endlessly fascinating to me, and something that fandom as a whole does not take into account nearly enough.  I wrote once about the potential psychology behind Snape’s decision to remain in Spinner’s End, but this visceral – and historical – reminder of exactly how desperately poor the Snapes were is important.

Americans especially don’t have a native understanding of this – for Americans, these kinds of industrial slums were largely already a thing of the past by the 1950s, when America was experiencing a post-WWII economic boom.  This is not to say that no American in the 1950s was trapped in poverty, but overall American society was made richer by the war.  British society, on the other hand, was still recovering from wartime scarcity, rationing, and destruction, and industrial slums were still very much a part of its makeup.

The Snapes were poor in a way from which it was virtually impossible to escape.  The Snapes were not poor like the Weasleys, who are poor by wizarding standards but never go hungry and never live in literal filth.  The Snapes are poor by Muggles standards, by post-WWII Britain standards, by anyone’s standards.  The Snapes were the kind of poor that seeps into your pores at the earliest age and never leaves.  The kind of poor that informs almost everything about Snape, from his idolization of magical society, to the way he deals with social humiliation, to his arrogant rage masking a deep-seated self-hatred, and especially to his resentment of popular, loved, pampered, wealthy James Potter.

[solenyasasquatch]

I saw a post a few months ago that talked about how Snape going to Hogwarts was almost analogous to a poor kid in the UK getting a scholarship in a really fancy public school (like Eton) due to his intelligence but then gets bullied by the richer kids because he’s not one of them. It is a comparison that I found very interesting because of course in some of these private schools kids can get scholarships and stuff but they never truly belong in that same social circle, i.e. they would never go on nice fancy holidays or school trips etc. It is certainly an interesting mirror of Snape always seemed to struggle fitting in Hogwarts due to his poverty and I feel like its something thats very specific to the British social class system

[mollymcgiftens-deactivated20200]

This is very true. My partner was one. He was sufficiently impressive at primary school to be scholarshiped into the posh private school. He was even moved up a year as he was truly gifted. And it was unmitigated hell for him. Kids he grew up with shunned him as a class traitor, for putting on airs, for trying to advance out of a fairly shabby area. The kids at his school? Shunned him for being a jumped up oik reaching above his station. He was never one of them in their eyes. Despite his intelligence he did not go on the tertiary education. He was so beaten down by the expectations foisted on him and the social exclusion it entailed he went straight off to get a job as soon as he could. These are the ways that the classist segregation in the UK in the 1970s and 80s worked. I imagine they still work like that now. Severus would very much be in the same state of “crab bucket” but even worse because he cannot talk about his school, or his achievements. Middle class Lily going to a school for the gifted? Wouldn’t raise an eyebrow with the neighborhood gossips. Snape the gutter snipe going to a boarding school? The curtains wouldn’t stop twitching over it. And most of the people on his street would actively want him to fail. That lie about St Brutus secure school for the incorrigible would have been far more feasible and acceptable to the residents of Spinner’s End. It would satisfy their resentment of him “rising above” his natural station and confirm their prejudice that he’d come to a bad end. There is still a huge prejudice around poverty, the very concept of worthy and unworthy poor still permeates the media, any articles about poverty and the benefits system will be riddled with these underlying assumptions that the really poor, the most desperate and least likely to ever get out of the grinding poverty, have brought it upon themselves. They are often painted as deserving their misery. Severus position straddling both worlds but belonging to neither, not being welcomed on either side of the divide is truly one of the most resonant aspects of his character to me.

[deathdaydungeon]

You only have to look at George Osborne being given the nickname ‘oik’ in his days in the Bullingdon Club at Oxford University, for the crime of going to the third poshest school in the country (St Paul’s, rather than Eton or Harrow) and for his father being ‘in trade’.  His father, of course, founded Osborne & Little - and as the wikipedia article cites, Osborne holds a 15% stake in it, worth between £15m - £30m.

Indeed, you don’t have to go as far as public school for this to be true; Snape is of the grammar school era.  Snape is the kid who comes from the sink estate who passes his 11+ entrance exam against all odds.  When he reaches the school, where he’s fairly earned his place on intellectual merit (or in Hogwarts’ case, magical ability), he sticks out like a sore thumb.  He has the aptitude, but not the social background.

It’s why the depiction of James is equally important.  He’s similar to Snape in his magical ability - but he’s got the background that Snape hasn’t.  He’s wealthy, pampered, entitled.  James meets Snape and simply can’t comprehend why such a boy is also at the same school - remember, he meets Sirius at the same time, who also states that he’s from a Slytherin background and James’ reaction isn’t quite the same as it is with Snape.  “Blimey, and I thought you were all right.”  (or similar)  James had already made that value judgement; he’d already recognised that Sirius is from a similar sort of background.

When their journeys start, both boys are brimming with confidence (remember how Harry saw Snape by the river as cutting an impressive figure), but it doesn’t take long for James to be the boy who is regarded as popular, sporty, talented etc whilst Snape visibly wilts.  He’s twitchy, anxious, an oddball…as the text says, it’s as if he’s a plant kept in the dark.

Indeed, it’s no mistake that James - and in the modern era, Draco - is talented on a broom.  It’s no mistake that Harry, as a toddler, is given a broom.  It’s no mistake that the Weasley family are all talented with broom in hand, their prowess at Quidditch undeniable.  It’s no mistake then, that Snape picks up a broom and fails - some will claim it’s talent, but we see him mastering flight as an adult…it feels to me that this is a very clear indication that Snape wasn’t given the same opportunities.  He got to the school, but he didn’t have the extra-curricular assistance that others had the benefit of.  

There is a very important parallel that James and Sirius don’t accept Severus because Severus’ background makes him other - just as the Death Eaters and their ilk don’t accept Lily because Lily’s bloodline makes her other.

Snape succeeds against the odds - and what’s wholly tragic about the entire thing is that he succeeds against the odds because he’s a tool in the war.  He doesn’t become a professor, or a housemaster, or headmaster on merit.  He succeeds because he’s being used.  

[deathdaydungeon]

Saw this article on Moss Side in Manchester on BBC News, which feels pertinent to this discussion:

There was a rise in poverty in the whole of the North West in the 1970s, as a lot of jobs moved to London and old industries began to disappear.

A programme of “slum clearance” took place, where lots of working class people’s houses in the area were demolished.

“This forces people who are very happy to be in a place like Moss Side into different suburbs, away from their networks, churches, extended families and friends.

“So you see a very sudden rupture of strong communities,” says Dr Wildman.

I think a lot about the Cokeworth that Eileen Prince moved to when she first encountered the Muggle world, and the one her son was left with when he had sole occupancy of the family home in the 90s.  

[punkneeter]

This is why it is important to focus on the fact that James never hated Snape because he came from a muggle background or to a certain extent that Snape was more intellectually and magically gifted than James. James Potter didn’t like Snape because he was dirt poor. The same prejudice that other pureblood families like the Malfoys have is the exact same prejudice that James has. It is simply just another facet to the same problem.

James has this certain ideology to how his life should be: great at quidditch, smart, handsome, and popular. This was created by how he was raised, the privilege that surrounds him, and the intake of all social media that’s been fed to him (while he might not believe that muggles or muggleborns are bad or should be seen as lesser than purebloods, he must have been exposed to people who did.) This of course depends on how it effected his morality- which in some cases may seem questionable- which in returns effects how he perceives the world. This little exposure is all it takes for a seed to grow and James then directs it towards Snape which is easy enough because everyone else joins in for the fun and to laugh at the poor, slimy Slytherin getting pranked. Here, James is systematically putting Snape in his place. By using the school’s prejudice about houses allows, justifies, and can sometimes amplify James to continue with his bullying.

Additionally, while he might not think so, James is inherently an elitist. You can argue that he wasn’t, but by simply being raised as he was, regardless of how he is percreived or how he percieved himself, he was born into privilege. He might have been friends with a werewolf (a dark creature that suffers from social stratification; i.e. the high cost of wolfsbane potion), a fellow Gryffindor (who comes from a dark family and is constantly used to justify that all Slytherins are bad regardless if they were given a choice to be in Slytherin because Black chose not to be), and might have married a muggleborn (who is systematically below other wizards simply because they don’t have pure blood- they have dirty blood), but the way he interacts and bullies Snape supports the fact that he is as prejudice as other pureblood families.

Snape with his greasy hair, lanky frame, and second hand used robes and books fits a certain class. Snape’s not just lower class. As shown up above by other users, he lives in a state of poverty that is different than the working class that most people mistake him and his family with. Given where he stands both in the muggle world and in the wizarding one, someone like him shouldn’t be allowed in a posh boarding school like Hogwarts. But he is, and he is gifted.

This goes against James ideology of how socioeconomic works. To simply put it, it is a matter of mathematics. James has a great deal more money than Snape; therefore, he should be better than him in everyway. People should flock to James simply because he’s rich and handsome and overall talented. But then the status quo is challenged by Snape ( who despite his lesser up bringing is a powerful and gifted student) and (where it really hurts) Lily who doesn’t find him all that great. We can see this clearly with Draco and with Harry. Simply being wealthier and probably more knowledgeable about magic, Draco seems from an outsider perspective like a more ideal friend than Ron, but Harry still refuses his hand in friendship, and Draco cannot possibly understand why. Ron is beneath him (which is demonstrated by how he mocks and ridicules Ron upon first meeting him). While Harry is muggle raised and didn’t know that he had money until a few days ago, he is Harry Potter- the boy who lived. There is a certain entitlement to it as there isn’t a wizarding child who doesn’t know his name. As such, it would make sense for him to be friends with Draco, but he doesn’t. He effectively breaks this ideology that the rich have made. This is why Draco acts so hostile to all of them, not just to Ron or to Harry, but even Hermione. This is the exact same reason that James has such a problem with Snape. Had Lily not been beautiful and if he didn’t have his heart set on her, he might even have treated her the same way.

[maxinedreamss]

does anyone have some snily fic recommendations that kinda fit this vibe? i'm open to wip and complete and platonic and romantic and everything in between. i just need some good ass writing!

[ieatbreadz]

And the broken glass said, kill or be killed

[maxinedreamss]

Illustrations by Pyotr Pinkisevich for Leo Tolstoy books

[hail-dondus]

It looks like they’re dropping a teaser trailer for the new Harry Potter reboot tomorrow

Just a few important and gentle reminders:

🫶🏻 DO NOT WATCH THIS FUCKING SHOW 🫶🏻

If you claim you support human rights - not just trans rights but human rights in general - yet still plan to watch this show, unfollow me. You’re a fucking hypocrite and I don’t want you following me.

Do not watch it even if you’re hate watching it, it still contributes to streaming revenue and views!

The adults in this reboot of the franchise are FULLY accountable for choosing to do this show and accepting a pay cheque over supporting a minority group. Even if they claim they support trans rights, they’re cowards and don’t actually support them at all.

The kids do NOT deserve abuse or hate, whether it’s because you’re comparing them to Dan/Rupert/Emma or because you’re boycotting due to the author’s views. They are literal CHILDREN.

Your nostalgia over a children’s series about kids going to school is NOT more important than trans people being respected and having rights. As long as JKR is still alive, she profits off of this.

[hiancii]

“All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you.

But first they must catch you—"

[Richard Adams' Watership Down]

[maxinedreamss]

Art by Thomas Blackshear II

[maxinedreamss]

Art by Thomas Blackshear II

[maxinedreamss]

Art by Thomas Blackshear II

[maxinedreamss]

Art by Thomas Blackshear II

[maxinedreamss]

Art by Thomas Blackshear II

[maxinedreamss]

John William Godward - Dolce Far Niente (1904)

A Pompeian Fishpond - Sweet Idleness

[frederick-the-great]

Why do we love Snape, or the character who was unkindly written

Claire Jordan in one of her Quora essays said that she’s been in fandom for decades and has never seen a character so loved as Snape. I concur. Excluding some recent trends that purposefully misinterpret Snape by projecting onto him a set of stereotypes he was never supposed to embody, Snape remains one of the most loved characters in the Harry Potter universe. Every poll on Harry Potter’s favourite characters confirm that Snape is always on the top 3, sometimes reaching first place.

This is not some “bad boy syndrome”. There are two main reasons for readers to have latched onto Snape so furiously, for Snape to have been so ardently discussed and defended after HBP – and these feelings only intensified after the 7th book. The reasons, I would posit, are:

1.      Snape is a character that the narrative portrays as ambiguous.

2.      Despite this, the narrative is often, objectively, unfair to Snape especially in favour of other characters.

Let’s address the first point. Snape is ambiguous because he has to be. There are two big plot-twists in Harry Potter: Harry is a horcrux and Snape’s loyalties. These two end up closely connected because it is through the knowledge of Snape’s loyalties that Harry discovers he must die to kill the part of Voldemort that is inside him. Snape is therefore largely written as a suspect in a murder mystery. Several commentators have argued that the structure of a Harry Potter book resembles a crime novel, and I agree. Snape has to appear guilty, but the books have to give enough clues to the reader as to his true loyalties. Independently of authorial intent, this is what makes Snape so compelling. Because:

a.      Snape is cruel to his students but he constantly protects them (Harry, Draco, Katie Bell, Luna and Hermione, Neville and Ginny).

b.      Snape is described as ugly but his use of language is the most sophisticated of the series to the point it becomes sensual. Just consider his first speech in class about the beauty of potions and how they “ensnare the senses” and “bewitch the mind”.

c.      Snape is mean and petty but these characteristics are often accompanied by sarcasm and irony which make some of his most awful comments quite funny, such as him telling Crabbe not to suffocate Neville because he would have to mention it in a reference letter if ever Crabbe applied to a job. There is also a lot of incongruent humour in play with Snape. For example, him reading about Harry’s love life is hilarious because Snape and teenage drama are two irreconcilable dimensions.

d.      Snape is cruel and bullying but the narrative offers several reasons for this. While Dumbledore’s past is revealed mostly through conversation, Snape’s past is slowly revealed in images which make it much more vivid. Snape getting a glimpse of a werewolf at the end of a tunnel. Snape’s father yelling at his cowering mother. Snape upside down and petrified by Sirius and James. Petunia calling him “an awful boy”. More than any other character, Snape is rooted in a social context that brings with it inescapable references: poverty, domestic abuse, neglect, bullying.

e.      Snape is often ridiculed (by Neville’s Boggart and by the map) but he is also given the title of “Prince”, a character with whom Harry sympathizes. He is also one of the characters who carries a sword, and whose love is presented as “the best part” of him. These are characteristics that ennoble Snape.

f.       Snape is dismissive of people’s feelings but he is also the character who is defending children because of their mothers. Lily because of his guilt, and Narcissa whom he allows to trap him in an unbreakable vow to protect her son.  

g.      Snape is taken as evil but the character whom the narrator uses as a morality mouthpiece – Hermione – often defends him.

h.      Snape kills a man but the narrative is quick to add that his soul would likely remain intact as it would be an act of mercy, arranged between the victim and the perpetrator as Harry reinforces. Harry goes as far saying that Snape “finished him” instead of using the verb kill or murder. Furthermore, we know remorse is something that mends the soul and Snape’s whole arc is about guilt and remorse – immortalized in the scene where Snape weeps at 13 Grimmauld Palace.

i.       Snape is apparently a murderer but the narrative goes to some lengths to show that just like Harry Snape has a thing for saving people. “Lately, only those I could not save” and him risking his cover to save Lupin.

j.       Snape’s trauma is often discredited but the narrative allows part of his tragedy to come at the expense of the hero’s father whom Harry spent years admiring. A relevant part of James’s goodness is sacrificed in favour of Snape’s own character construction.

k.      Snape’s trauma in relation to having been bullied is more often discredited by the narrative, although Fudge’s comment “the man is quite unbalanced” and the comparison established between James and Sirius’s use of Levicorpus and the Death Eaters using it on a muggle woman shows that it is something to be taken serious, although never acknowledged.

This last point leads me to my second assertion that the narrative is fundamentally unfair and cruel to Snape. For two main reasons:

a.      Snape’s trauma in relation to the Mauraders is discredited by everyone that counts, namely, Lily and Dumbledore. Only Harry comes closer to understand its dimensions. We can argue as to why this is, and as to whether there was authorial intent or it is simply that JKR didn’t realise how it would sound. Lily nearly smiles when Snape is being bullied which puts in question Lily’s character as well as her friendship with Snape. Both in Snape’s Worst Memory and in the conversation about the prank, she also fails to show concern that her friend was being bullied by the boy she liked.

b.      The second instance of unfairness is more serious because it is far more insidious. A careful reading of text will tell us that Snape was set up for death by Dumbledore. That Dumbledore planted the Elder Wand on Snape while thinking its power had died with him and while knowing that Voldemort would eventually reach conclusions about the Elder Wand and wish to possess it, thus killing its current owner. Not only Dumbledore never tells Snape, but he plans it beforehand. This is why he “admits” to Harry that the intention was to let Snape have the wand. Harry understands exactly what this means, and in the Final Battle tells Voldemort that Dumbledore intended the power of the wand to die with him.

This is so insidious – and cruel – that it is never openly acknowledged. Dumbledore betrays Snape, showing an impressive disregard for his life – far more than he showed for Harry’s because he knew Harry had a good chance of survival. But Snape is never given the satisfaction of having this acknowledged in the text. Snape yearned for Dumbledore’s affection but not only Dumbledore denied him that, he also denied him the truth of what he really wanted of him. Snape is betrayed by both his masters at the end. But we are never explicitly told this. This happens because the narrative is unwilling to portray Dumbledore in a truly badly light. His apparent sorrow (“poor Severus”) and his “admission” of guilt are not enough to show him remorseful because the narrative cannot bring itself to say: “I set Snape to die by planting the wand on him so Voldemort would come to possess a useless weapon”. This would change the readers’ view of Dumbledore, especially after Prince’s Tale. Remark on how cruel it is: Snape had to agree to kill Dumbledore in “good faith” so the power of the wand died with him, but all the while Dumbledore knows that Snape would get a target on his back and die from it. Dumbledore manipulates Snape into – possibly – ripping his soul and tricks Snape into his own demise. Snape thought Dumbledore was raising Harry as a pig for slaughter, but he is wrong. It is him whom Dumbledore is raising to die. The fact that this is never openly stated, and is purposefully obfuscated by the language, is somewhat cowardly. Dumbledore barely apologises, he barely recognizes it. If he did, the readers would be horrified. As in the case of Lily, Snape is sacrificed in favour of apparently “better” characters whom the narrative wants the readers to like more.

However, the flaw in the plan is that…readers aren’t stupid. I caught on to this when I was a teenager, and it has only intensified as I grew older.

Even at the end, Snape understands from the moment Voldemort mentions the wand that he is going to die. JKR said in a tweet that Snape could’ve saved himself, presumably by setting Voldemort straight, and so his silence ensured Harry’s victory. It is a possible interpretation. More possible still is that Snape accepted death after giving Harry his memories. The fact that he stops trying to staunch the bleeding once Harry appears shows it. His “look at me” is the request of a man who knows he’s going to die and just wants to do so by looking at the eyes of the woman he loves. In this sense, following Dumbledore’s words that “there are things far worse than death” and that for an organized mind death is “the next big adventure”, Snape showed far more courage than both Dumbledore and Voldemort who on several occasions tried to fight the inevitability of death.

It is true the narrative offers some vindication for Snape. Harry tells Tom Riddle of Snape’s true loyalties. Riddle is not allowed to die before knowing that Snape had betrayed him and colluded with Dumbledore, all because of a power Riddle doesn’t understand – love. Harry also names the son with his – and his mother’s – green eyes Severus. Finally, Harry tells him that Snape was probably the bravest man he knew.

But still, Snape is not kindly written. There is an underlying cruelty in how Snape is treated throughout the books. Because he is so profoundly unloved, because he is barely shown kindness and because no one ever takes responsibility for what happened to him, the readers feel compelled to do so. That, I think, explains why Snape is so widely loved, and why people are so ready to defend him in unprecedented ways.

[merryhaze]

I’ve recently countered this idea and defended Jo’s clear love of Severus but this is interesting.

[augustuscaesarsalad]

[madocasmagic]

Sev and Lily exploring the world… Muggle.

[madocasmagic]

Drinking a butterbeer.