#harry potter.

[artemisia-black]

House elf speech patterns and the ‘happy slave’ trope

The way house-elves speak with their exaggerated, broken syntax, subject verb disagreements, and deferential tone bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the way enslaved people have been depicted in film, particularly in movies that glorify the antebellum south.

Take Winky’s syntax :

“But I knows Dobby too, sir!” squeaked the elf. She was shielding her face, as though blinded by light, though the Top Box was not brightly lit. “My name is Winky, sir — and you, sir — ” Her dark brown eyes widened to the size of side plates as they rested upon Harry’s scar. “You is surely Harry Potter!”

Then there’s Dobby:

“Dobby has traveled the country for two whole years, sir, trying to find work!” Dobby squeaked. “But Dobby hasn’t found work, sir, because Dobby wants paying now!”

Even Kreacher, who has a slightly different speech pattern still broadly speaks in the similar affected way.

“Kreacher did not see Young Master,” he said, turning around and bowing to Fred. Still facing the carpet, he added, perfectly audibly, “Nasty little brat of a blood traitor it is.”

This linguistic pattern is not unfamiliar. Compare it to:

Mammy from Gone with the Wind: Miss Melly, this here's done broke her heart. But I didn't fetch you on Miss Scarlett's account. What that child got to stand, the good Lord give her strength to stand. It's Mr. Rhett I's worried about. He done lost his mind these last couple of days

Or Uncle Remus in Song of the South. “Oh, I knows. I knows. I’m just a worn-out ol’ man what don’t do nothin’ but tell stories. But they ain’t never done no harm to nobody.”

The same tropes are at play. Stilted, infantilising speech. These films, particularly Gone with the Wind and Song of the South, glorify the antebellum South by presenting enslaved characters as devoted, content, even protective of their oppressors.

This is where the argument that house-elves aren’t slaves but brownies falls down. If house-elves were truly just magical beings with their own culture, their speech wouldn’t so closely mimic the linguistic markers of servitude used in films that softened the horrors of slavery.

Also intended or not this is a racialised coding that was once used to uphold and justify the absolute abomination of slavery and we should be critical of it.

[ladyimaginarium]

[dhylync]

Harmless Intrusive Thought:

Imagine HP and the Order of the Phoenix, but instead of Umbridge, it's Ms. Rachel from Youtube.

[my-castles-crumbling]

Me at age 13, exhausted at school after staying up all night to read fanfic: I can’t wait until I’m an adult and I can stay up reading without any consequences!

Me, an adult, exhausted at work after staying up all night reading fanfic: Fuck.

[senoraconstelacionesdeinvierno]

I haven't purchased a HP item in close to a decade - I use the books I already had as doorstops or to prop a laptop up for meetings nowadays.

There is NO "death of the author" with JK Rowling - she controls and continues to profit from her IP, and uses that money to fund hate groups.

[rincewind87]

[saintfire]

[animentality]

[colmiillo]

When y/n does something so cringe that i have to look at the invisible camera for a sec.

[artemisia-black]

Yeah he had some flaws (like being a tad murderous) but Barty Crouch Jnr is both a great actor and teacher.

And defo the second best defence teacher after Lupin. You could even argue that they are tied for first because they taught the subject from different angles (Lupin focused on dark creatures, while Crouch taught defensive and offensive spells).

[ladyimaginarium]

Happy Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

Keep in mind that while this isn't canon, these are both headcanons and our& introjects' identities ( which oftentimes are but aren't always interchangeable ) — this is who they& are and we'd& appreciate if you respected their& identities as you would with a singlet's. This was made for our& constellation / system in mind — as plural people. Please don't treat them& like rp muses. Singlets can reblog but don't clown. Okay to reblog as fandom. Do not reblog this as headcanons, roleplay, aesthetics, kins, F/Os, IRL/Me or D/A's. We& are a mixed, multigenic DID system and we& are not your aesthetic.

[duchessripper]

“why do you still use tumblr?”

listen— i have to keep track of my hyper fixations somehow

[applebugg]

Three young barn owls standing in the stone quatrefoil of Christ Church, Fulmodeston.

[is-therefreefood]

Dude I should have known my old roommate was on some fuck shit when she was a Percy apologist

[theswampghost]

do you tthink it was the. the d. do you think it was the. the dow. the down wi