Fascinating article

[icarus]

Harry Potter and the Banality of Evil

(Hey Brodie, does this sound familiar? Didn't we have this conversation back in March? *grins*)

Harry's punishment from Umbridge is similar to a scene in Kafka's The Penal Colony? Hmm.

'Beg Me For It' news. Well, I promised the next installment to my Beta today, but I've hit a snag in one scene. Almost there though.

Comments

[tinderblast.livejournal.com]

Once it was made clear that Sirius was an outcast in his family (I think it was Pogrebin who called him 'the Black sheep,' lol) I started to see parallels between him and Percy. It's funny that Sirius is feted for his decision (if it was a conscious decision) to symbolically remove himself from his family, yet Percy is villified for the same set of actions. Both choices were ethical decisions, in a sense,

'I'm going to be Minister of Magic and don't argue with me about the morals of those I admire! You're just standing in my way! You've always been in my way.'

I wonder how Percy will cope with knowing that he's been used by the Ministry? While it's not absolutely clear that Fudge is deliberately targeting Percy as a Weasley with information, or if someone else is maniplating Percy via Fudge, it seems clear that Percy will probably have to choose to stick with the Ministry's revamped party line, or admit that he was wrong to place so much trust in it. I see him being more like Fudge and trying to live in a state of fetoshistic disavowal ('Voldemort might be back, but we still need those cauldron bottom reports'). But I can also imagine a scene of reconciliation with the Weasleys (well, maybe not with the kids, for a long time).

I'm going to go look at the contest links, now.

brodie

[tinderblast.livejournal.com]

I just looked at the definitions, and they're pretty concise and good. I guess genres are like pornography, that old standby --- 'I know what it is when I see it ...'

If the stories are all post-June 21, then we could actually give examples of stories from within the fandom that fit the criteria.

But the post-June 21 thing is actually the part that most bothers me. While I definitely see the merit in finding and feting new stories, I also think that the old stories and authors haven't really been given their due. Not properly. So I feel conflicted about that, as I just wonder if having this date as a cut off point will create a lot of ambiguity (first date of posting on a lj as opposed to at an archive, ongoing WIP's and series, etc.).

brodie

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I agree. I was thinking about that, too. Also, not every site lists when a story was written so I'm afraid people won't nominate those stories that don't have a date on them. Plus we'd have to check... it would be a big mess. The thought is to prevent the 'heavy hitter' stories from dominating as usual.

Icarus

[tinderblast.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can totally see what you mean there, as that thought about the heavyweights occurred to me, too.

I was wondering whether we could ask people to say *why* they were nominating a story - for interest's sake, and to create a little more self-consciousness about the nomination process.

We could either send an e-mail to the author asking for the date of initial online publication, or else go by the story's archiving on a major site ... but this seems like unnecessary work.

brodie