I’m thankful for 2 things:
- Never getting any tattoos
- Never getting into Harry Potter
Any time I think of a tattoo idea, I ask myself if I’d want to see it on my body 20 years from now. The answer is always a resounding no.
I never got into HP, but I could see having a tattoo I’m happy with in 20 years. I’m leaning towards some sort of cute critter on my wrist, right where I bite when I get overwhelmed. I’ve tried temporary tattoos there and they help break that cycle: I don’t want to bite a tiny dino or whatever. (Obligatory Yes, I have a therapist, no, this doesn’t come up that often. )
ayyy, someone else who bites when overwhelmed! I usually bite my knuckle on my right index finger, so maybe I should find a cute lil tattoo to put there
I’ve seen some cute temporary tattoos meant for fingers. You could also get a silicone ring and see if you could transfer to chewing that. (I tried a silicone bracelet, but hated typing while wearing it)
My ex wife has a slytherin tattoo.
They don’t even have a real story arch in the books. Slytherin house is only “we are bad”. Grifendore is literally “everything slytherin has but we aren’t dicks about it”
My exwife is a fan of the concept of being a shitty person. Thats the side she chooses.
Not brave, not humble, she saw “bad guy” and picked her house.
That’s like your favorite food being listeria and your favorite color being tears.
So, I don’t know your ex, and I’m not commenting on her. I don’t know your circumstances.
I do know old fandom people who chose Slytherin as their house.
The choice of Slytherin in fandom is more complicated than it sounds, esp. since when the books were at their height of popularity, the wizard/white supremacy undertones of the books were taken more in a “oh, here’s yet another basic black and white symbol from the author of why the bag guys are extra bad” rather than the actual problem we have on our hands 25 years later. (And fuck the assholes who decided to make it a problem relevant to current events. Fuck them with a rusty saw.)
People who actually have a pretty strong moral compass that’s compassionate and inclusive often ended up self-catagorizing as Slytherin back in the day, because in real life what happens is that if you’re gay/bi/trans/whatever growing up in a conservative household, or an intellectual, or dealing with ADHD or autism or the like, and living in a conservative household, you’re basically turned into the black sheep of the family through family presure.
Like, you’re pressured to not be a smarty pants, pressured to be neurotypical, pressured to not be a “sinner” that is “choosing” to be gay or trans or whatever. And in that era (late 90s, early 2000s) you’d often also be bullied at school for the same things, by the local popular/jock type people. And that type in the books is Gryffindor. And Rowling even has Harry’s parent’s generation bullying Snape as canon.
(Rowling is actually a pretty good MIMIC of human behavior, but from her words and actions recently I can see she doesn’t actually understand much of what she writes about. She’s like a lyrebird, adeptly matching a sound she heard without being able to understand what’s going on on the human side of things. So she writes characters that are vivid, but she sucks donkey balls when trying to get the psychology underneath and the morality beneath right.)
Anyway. So Snape (or Draco) and Slytherin was sometimes more comfortable for people actually already being outcast in real life. Because growing up poor in a shit home with an abusive dad and being bullied in school too was something a number of fans lived themselves.
The thing is, conservative households happily persecute the smarter/more empathic members in their family and drive them away. And thus some of those people end up as goths or punks or involved in similar communities, and Slytherin is closest to that. So you end up with people dressing in black, but still being more accepting of people who are different or strange than the people trotting around with crosses on their chest or wearing more traditional styles.
Interestingly, I’ve recently had some experiences which had me mingling with a different social class than I usually do, and I realized there’s two types of tatted up people. There’s the nerdy, arty intellectual types–band kids, librarians, writers, etc–and there’s folks with criminal or addiction histories. But “normal” people see tats or whatever and throw both types into the same bucket.
But because Harry Potter was a nerd fandom, I always assumed any fan I interacted with was probably an intellectual (because why would people not into books get into a book fandom?) and thus them picking Slytherin probably meant they went through some sort of shit at home.
But maybe the fandom got big enough to break boundaries and get enough non-book fans that that’s no longer a great assumption. I haven’t been in the fandom for at least 15 years, closer to 20, so ::shrug:: I would be suspicious of a NEW fan selecting Slytherin, but not an old-school fan unless they had other behavior that was off.
Just gonna add to your point but with a slightly different factor. Fanfiction, the Harry Potter fandom had a massive chunk that was almost entirely devoted to fanfiction from smut to viscous deconstruction it existed. This means that folks may have legit grown to respect fanfiction Slytherin and to a degree forgotten about the book/movie version because they were exposed to an entirely different interpretation.
Also for those who don’t believe me go to A03, Fanfiction dot net, or fuck even space battle forums and look at the sheer numbers. It’s right fucken absurd to a degree, ain’t judging I’m a bitch for star wars fanfics but still it’s easy to forget just how big that section of the Harry Potter fandom was.
I should also say I grew up in a very progressive household. Both parents were amazing teachers.
So credit where it’s due.
Yes I was asexual and neurodivergent with my adhd. I had amazing parents which is why I’m so bold with my “fuck that I’ll fight you!” Griffendor mentality. I’ll shove my adhd right down someone’s throat and be disgusted at their bodily fluids the whole time! Tell me I won’t! GRIFENDOR!
We are actually good friends. We hate each other but we got a kid. When I was having a mental health crisis i called her. We she had one she called me.
I’m currently angry at her but she’s not a demon. I’m just venting. She’s a wonderful mother and a crappy wife. I’m also a crappy husband.
Child support is always on time and we’ve never needed to go to court about anything. We just handled it her and I.
I’m dunking on a good friend who temporarily has me annoyed.
On to the wizarding world.
I’m asexual (probably why marriage was hard for me lol) and have adhd so severe I was in training videos.
I was also right in the age range when the books came out. I loved them.
You still pick griffendor. Obviously! They are everything slytherin has but by choice and they are nice about it!
Griffendor is essentially “I’m a slytherin but I want more. Life should matter. I should fight”
Did other people not get the same message from the books?
I got that slytherin were clever, self centered, morally deficient, but effective. Whereas griffendor were brave, selfless, strong of character. Ravenclaw had the brains. And hufflepuff were the stupid tools.
Did you get that slytherin was effective? The seem to completely and always fail.
I suppose. Just like the ravenclaws are supposed to be super smart but they don’t seem to contribute much on figuring important things out. It was always just a setup to make the gryfendors win every fucking time.
I was fourteen and wanted to be a slytherin because i was edgy lol. eventually settled on hufflepuff before jk went ballistic
They’re technically supposed to be the “cunning” house, and while that attracts all the villains it also has some normal people. Tbough in that same vain I want to see a Khorne Berserker taking a house placement test and getting Griffyndor, ya know? Anyway, all of Slytherin’s nuance seems to have come from the fans, which makes sense because JKR is not exactly capable of that on her own. I feel like people like the world because it’s such a blank canvas, but JKR acts like printing the paper makes her the artist and she’s not even the first to do it.
I have an attachment because my mom and I read them together as I grew up but I’m totally fine throwing the books in the garbage and keeping the memory. We also read Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, so I can hang onto those, too.
You make a good point about her writing. My favorite author is hp lovecraft.
Lovecraft is a terrible writer. He had good ideas for stories but the writing itself was just flat out bad.
I love the Harry Potter books. Jkr is also kind of a garbage writer. Sorry, it’s just the way it is lol.
The story is good tho.
As for the cunning part I think maybe she was trying to imply that… but even the founders of the houses it’s like “hufflepuff was a powerful witch and Salazar slytherin was a dick and nobody really like him”
There isn’t much subtly in it. He was just an asshole who was there.
Why do you say Lovecraft was a bad writer?
I’ve read all his work. Including old bugs.
Reading his work is a task. Brilliant idea guy but “ the portrait which stared back at him like a year-adding and century-recalling mirror.” Yeah we all have one of those year adding century recalling mirrors laying around to compare this idea to.
Thanks for explaining the complex concept of “painting looks kinda like that dude” into something I (a lay person) can understand.
He’s describing it’s like looking into one those bazar and specific magic mirrors we all have. So we can follow the story now that we understand the difficult concept of painting looking like a dude. Thanks lovecraft!
I love lovecraft. He’s not a great writer.
To be clear lovecraft is also very good at suspense in a new way (edit: new at the time) You know the monster is a monster but the character hasn’t figured it out yet. So you’re waiting and for them to figure it out.
Chef kiss. Brilliant. However that’s also an idea. The actual writing is like a hyper-hyphenated pit of radioactive snakes who have daddy issues with the snake god yig who wants to protect snakes but also uses snakes as punishment in situations where they snakes will absolutely die but shows a dramatic point about protecting snakes I guess kinda.
That’s lovecraft.
I’m his biggest fan. I spent $1000 to have a custome mistkatonic university ring made. Love his work. Not a great writer and also racist in the phobia sense not the “I’m better” sense. He legitimately fears Irish people and their witchcraft.
Dude had flaws and I akeowledge that.
It also doesn’t help that Lovecraft was at the tail end of an old style of writing while in many ways being a forerunner of a newer style. Makes his works kinda clunky if that makes sense, like I get the same feeling from Mark Twain for example. So the tedium probably comes from being not quite old not quite modern where it just ends up awkward, also tack on the fact he was revolutionizing suspense in a lot of ways and yeah… Not fun.
I lovve lovecraft but that’s his fault to. He was antiquated even for the time.
It’s like if I said “that thine would harketh onto me this fortnight”
Yeah my weird talking is holding me back. That’s my fault no one asked me to do that.
He was old fashioned even for his day. That was his choice.
I was under the impression that Slytherin was about ambition, not just cunning. You have to not only be cunning, but also be ambitious enough to want to use that cunning to get one over on everyone else. Even Horace Slughorn used his cunning to further his own position, and he was considered the ‘best’ Slytherin in the book, so that’s their best foot forward!
Oh well, could be worse, you could be in Hufflepuff, which consists almost entirely of the ‘boring’ students. The rejects, the terminally useless, the basic bitches.
to be fair, that house is also the place of all the kids that want to be edgy or mysterious (and the ones that like green). but yeah in the books they’re just the evil guys with little to nuance
Griffendore is bold.
What’s bold except “edgy but not a dick about it”
bold is about challenging societal norms, for better or for worse. gryffindor is the in world favorite
Edgy is also pushing societal norms.
I’m so glad I never got into Harry Potter this woman is so riddled with hate
Can they get refunds from her of their book purchases, too? Asking for a friend…
It doesn’t hurt to ask… hundreds of times!
And don’t forget to misgender JK Rowling when you’re asking him for a refund. Misgendering is perfectly acceptable if you disagree with someone’s self-identified gender! /s
I don’t go that far.
What I mean is I recently had a boss who was an asshole. His name was rob. I got him fired because he kept making my employees cry. Which if you know anything about being a manger you don’t make your employees cry. Even if the employees did something wrong attacking them isn’t the solution a good manager explains things sinmply.
My point is when my employees would say “I hate that f*ggot” I would correct them. Rob is gay but that isn’t the issue. Let’s not bring the whole gay community into this! Rob sucks, not gay people. Well gay people probably suck if they want provider there partner with enjoyment… not my point.
My point is: no I won’t misgender jkr. She wouldn’t care and it would only hurt more trans people. Don’t misgender jkr. It isn’t trans people’s fault she’s an insufferable bitch. Don’t bring that argument to their door. Trans people have a har enough time as it is. The whole point we are making is “let them be a girl/guy if they want to be a girl/guy! Let people be themselves” we don’t get there by saying well then I’ll misgender you right back!”
I under it scratched that revenge itch but it makes things worse for everyone. Don’t do that.
It’s like torturing someone until they admit torture is pointless. Your kinda pissing on your own argument at that point.
honestly don’t even joke about that, you would literally just be shooting yourself in the foot
I saw a more detailed instagram post about this a while back which I saved:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C_doH66prms/
I apologise for sending yall to Instagram, i wish the post had an actual source on it.
I just realized she looks like the 99p store manager from Hunter: The Parenting, quick throw The Great and Mighty Kevin at her!
she’s just a sad miserable person, but it doesn’t mean i hate harry potter
Yeah, but if you continue to engage with it and give money to it then you’re funding Joanne’s continuing attacks.
It’s like saying “he’s a sad and miserable dictator, but it doesn’t mean I hate paintings with bad perspective lines”
Well…🏴☠️
I am so done with other people telling me I’m not allowed to enjoy something because they have moral issues with the artist. I’m still going to watch movies produces by the Weinstein company, and probably Kevin Spacey’s work too and not feel the least bit bad about it.
The issue isnt whether or not you like it, its around whether or not you continue to give her money, which she then uses toattack pepple.
In the case of JKR that talking point kind of sailed on. Nobody really cares if you enjoy something second hand or where the money and interest played out years ago. The books, the old movies, the merch you picked up at a garage sale…
Problem is when you support the latest and greatest newly licenced thing that lines her pockets with cash because she is USING that cash to do direct damage to the community. She’s been financially backing anti-trans groups and lobbying in the UK. Just ONE of her little go fund mes was chipping in a 700,000"£ donation to the lawyers who got gender recognition certificates made worthless in the Supreme Court. Ticket sales to events, merch deals, video game titles, remakes… It propells demand which means a nice big chunk of that coin passes right through her pockets and right into directly funding her hate and her fans go on to brigade trans support spaces which often are necessary emergency mental health support for weeks after a big release online. More than one suicide can be laid at the feet of these mobs.
The difference between that and Kevin Spacey is at least he’s moldering quietly.
This is probably a hot take.
I understand the anger directed against Rowling. I won’t be buying anything remotely Harry Potter (or have for a long while).
But for people who really connected with the books enough to get tattoos, are you really doing yourself a favor by getting it removed? The books obviously meant a lot, and the characters, events, and story meant a lot.
It seems a lot like self-inflicting pain because someone else hurt you.
not everyone can disconnect the author from their work, if looking at your tatto makes you think about your favourite book that keeps reminding you of how the author actively keeps making your life more miserable and considers you either a predator or a broken little girl - then yeah, maybe that tattoo is not the best thing to keep around
Pretty much. But i have a nitpick with the “death of the author” critique in relation to boycotts and moral positions.
I disconnect the author from their work in a judgment and appreciation sense: I’d never say Harry Potter isn’t bad because Rowling wrote it. But promoting or purchasing their work provides tangible support to a shithead, so that’s where I draw the line. If Ben-Gvir opened a kickass breakfast joint with the best waffles in the world, I could agree it has good food, but I’d hope people would understand as to why I’d refuse to eat there and shame anyone who did.
Quick note: Death of the Author is is not the same as separating the art from the artist. One’s about literary analysis, the other is about morals.
That said I completely agree.Thanks
oh yeah of course! i didn’t go into that because that wasn’t what i wanted to convey but absolutely. it’s one thing to be able to disconnect the author from their work, and another thing to
disconnect your brain from your decision makingkeep supporting their work financially or by spreading the word about it
