[ SECRET POST #4446 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4446 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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07. [SPOILERS for The Umbrella Academy]



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08. [SPOILERS for The Umbrella Academy]



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09. [SPOILERS for The Promised Neverland]



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10. [SPOILERS for The Umbrella Academy]
[WARNING for character death]





















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #636.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

05. https://i.imgur.com/GP0KzeF.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think it's necessarily a good idea to make a fictional race that loves being enslaved. But that is what JKR did with the house elves, and I don't think it makes sense to collapse that fictional contrivance and pretend it's not there.

In other words - I think it's bad that JKR wrote house elves that way in the first place. But I also don't think you can really get mad at people for accurately reflecting the way that they were originally written.

[(Anonymous)]

I did like how Hermione's interest in the elves was patronizing and well-meaning at the same time, because that's a reality of activism, but the entire situation when you think about it...yeah, it's weirdly removed from the real world.

[(Anonymous)]

Agree. JKR set this up too messy. I read that it’s supposed to be an analogy for feminism and some women being happy with patriarchy but it was just badly done.

[(Anonymous)]

I thought it was pretty clear that the elves had been brainwashed for so long and that was why they wanted to stay slaves. Hermione's method of forcing freedom wouldn't work, but her heart was in the right place. But there is nothing in the books that said to me that the elves were naturally meant to be slaves and that the system in place was a good one.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think there's anything in the book that indicates that. Like, what are you basing that on?

[(Anonymous)]

I hope that's what she intended, because otherwise she actually was writing slavery=okay, and that's not cool regardless of what myths the house elves were supposed to represent.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think so. We can imagine a fictional, magical race that genuinely wants to be enslaved, while still knowing that the same is not true of human beings.

It's a pretty pointless thing to write, because it ends up being a totally hypothetical meaningless thing. So like I say, I don't think it's a super great creative choice. But it isn't the same as actually endorsing slavery.

[(Anonymous)]

tbh, but that might be a cultural thing, i always thought the house elves were based on those fairytales with little helping creatures? i remember a bunch of versions from when i was a kid, but common themes were "little elves/pixies who love to work come into your home at night to fix up the work you didn't manage to do that day", moral of the story often being that people took advantage of them/treated them badly and ruined it for everyone.

[(Anonymous)]

nayrt and yeah, I agree. Feels pretty Germanic folklorey to me. And I really doubt Rowling put that much thought into it. Sure, maybe she should've. But she likes quirky folkloric ideas and pseudo-examining it in a pseudo-modern setting. Hermoine trying to free the elves is a fantastical little plot line, especially since she's so out of touch with them. And in all fairness, the only House Elf who really matters is Dobby, who genuinely does want to be free.

[tabaqui]

Brownies, yes.

[(Anonymous)]

Brownies! Yes, I agree, and after Kreacher betrayed Sirius (and Dobby worked against Lucius), I thought she was going to go more into "respect magical creatures" but it didn't really go anywhere. Dobby was a weirdo as a happily house-less elf and Winky was a depressed alcoholic having been cast out of hers.

[(Anonymous)]

The major difference between Brownies and house elves is that brownies always chose the household that they helped and if you pissed them off, they'd wreck your house and leave. That's a far cry from the house elves who are happy to be voiceless chattel and offended by the idea of free will. Honestly, JKR could have easily avoided this mess by having the "you're bound to one family unless you're given clothing" thing be unique to Dobby's situation with the Malfoys (deceptive magical contract?)and most other house elves choosing their service with the option to leave if they feel mistreated. Then Hermione's cultural misunderstanding is a little more nuanced and Dobby showcases the difference between willing service and slavery instead of being that one weird elf who wasn't down with being a slave.

[(Anonymous)]

JKR has a bad habit of wanting to make A Point, and then kind of forgetting what the original point was partway through and making the whole situation very... unfortunate. In the case of House Elves, she couldn't decide between Slavery is Bad and Imposing Your Values on Other Cultures is Bad and wound up with Sometimes Slaves Enjoy Their Slavery And We Should All Mind Our Own Business.

See also: Werewolves Are Just Like Oppressed Minorities, and Also They're Mostly Serial Killer Pedophiles.

[11thmirror]

+100

[sabotabby]

This comment is good and you should feel good.

[(Anonymous)]

This.

The way werewolves were handled already made me uncomfortable, and then there's how vampires are described as close enough to humans that students can joke about Snape being a vampire, but they're just evil. That's it, not even a token 'not all vampires' like 'not all werewolves' Lupin and 'not all Slytherins' Slughorn. Okay...

[(Anonymous)]

Love this.

[(Anonymous)]

Yuuuup, I've always associated them with Brownies, so Hermione's quest to free them just came across as really ignorant and frustrating to me.

Though that was my whole take from Hermione's thing with the House Elves. She was never shown doing her research into what they, as a magical species, were. She looked for mention of them existing in Hogwarts, A History, and she based her reactions on her emotional first-response to slavery (which was the right one!) and was never shown to really do any research into House Elves themselves.

Nor did she seem to care about about the feelings of the House Elves themselves, which was clearly shown as them being not happy with it. And her attempts to trick them into freedom were just ugly.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes. This.

[rosehiptea]

I think it would have helped the situation a lot if JKR had written more about house-elves (besides Dobby) who wanted to be freed and also about witches and wizards who agreed with Hermione. Because it's kind of ridiculous to think she is the only one who ever looked at the situation and thought it was messed up. Not saying a whole bunch of people being in SPEW would make it more right but at least the whole thing would have seemed more balanced.

But oh well, JKR is never going to rewrite the HP series based on what I wanted to happen and I'm sure that's for the best.

[(Anonymous)]

She wasn't writing a balanced situation, she was writing a situation where Hermione was well-meaning but objectively wrong.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah. With the house elves still enslaved at the end of the books (but treated more nicely by their masters!) I can see how someone with poor reading comprehension might go away thinking that Hermione was silly for being so enthusiastic about SPEW. Harry did seem to be ok with keeping Kreacher on as a servant, and he’s a good guy.

[(Anonymous)]

Please explain exactly what I'm missing in the book and how, specifically, I have poor reading comprehension. Because from where I'm sitting, the book definitely portrays the enslavement of house elves as fine and Hermione as silly for being so enthusiastic about SPEW.

[rosehiptea]

I think it's pretty clear that Kreacher himself had no desire to go and be free, so I don't blame Harry for that choice. But the implication that every single other house elf wanted that too gets... weird.