Racism, power, sexuality (1/2)
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Oh yes! Thanks for hitting right on the mark of what disturbs me the most in this whole issue. James *is* potentially readable as a completely repugnant racist by the very standards that says bloodism is racism. And I think his very relationship with Lily may be one of the symptoms of his "oh but I'm color-blind" type racism... Since it starts out, develops, *and* ends, as far as we see, as that of a privileged-race guy somehow assuming that him falling in love with the inferior-race girl is an unquestionable sign of his generosity and righteousness, thinking she would *of course* choose him over any less worthy boy, and feeling entitled to (as other commenters have pointed out) tear her away completely from her world, including her blood-relatives, and to revel in having a wife that happily endorses his friends and cheerfully badmouths her own sister to them, estranging herself from her original race completely. I mean, come on, if we're supposed to see the Evil Slytherins as committing the crime of racism, then by all means, let's assume their obsession with blood *is* an obsession with actual "race" and look at what that particular metaphor says about our golden hero and heroine:
Sunny playground, middle of the day, a rich White boy decides it's time (yet again) to grab the attention of a pretty (and moderately wealthy) Black girl that he has wanted to shag for a while. So he decides to show her how manly and powerful he is -- by grabbing a working-class biracial kid that grew up in her neighborhood, who just happened to be walking by, and attacking him with a White friend of his, completely out of the blue. The kid is beaten and tied up, with foaming soap water poured down his throat, by the time the pretty princess shows up at the scene... Whereupon Rich White Boy tells her his action is entirely justified because the very existence of this ugly boy in the midst of his vision is grounds enough for his righteous punishment. For some unfathomable reason, Pretty Black Girl doesn't retort in fury (indeed according to JKR she's getting slightly turned on by the whole scene) but just chastises him with "you think you're funny" and "you're just a common bully." She continues to bicker with Rich Boy while not making a single move to help the boy on the ground out of his ropes -- which would only take a flick of her wrist, seeing as she's got a knife in her pocket. Then White Boy tells Black Girl to go on a date with him if she wants him to stop hurting her biracial friend, which she refuses, and then he and his White Friend hang Biracial Boy upside down, revealing his skinny legs and graying underwear. Middle-class Black Girl suppresses a smile. She and Rich Boy bicker some more, and finally he lets Biracial Boy go, telling him it's only thanks to the prettiness of his neighborhood friend that he didn't get lynched into a bloody mess. Biracial Kid snaps back, calling White Boy out on his racial kink, and in doing so uses the N word to describe Lily. At Privileged White Boy's indignant accusation of racism, Lily rightfully says he himself is just as bad... Which at this point in time she seems to understand, yet for some reason she forgets this side of James somewhere down the line, and decides to marry Rich White Boy to live Happily Ever After in a totally White society. Oh, but not for the money, of course! Nor for her fear of more of her neighborhood friends getting lynched by the boy and his righteous gang if she refused. She just came to her senses, you see, and realized that that was the Right Thing To Do, to chose the Side of the Light over the Cult of Darkness.
Sunny playground, middle of the day, a rich White boy decides it's time (yet again) to grab the attention of a pretty (and moderately wealthy) Black girl that he has wanted to shag for a while. So he decides to show her how manly and powerful he is -- by grabbing a working-class biracial kid that grew up in her neighborhood, who just happened to be walking by, and attacking him with a White friend of his, completely out of the blue. The kid is beaten and tied up, with foaming soap water poured down his throat, by the time the pretty princess shows up at the scene... Whereupon Rich White Boy tells her his action is entirely justified because the very existence of this ugly boy in the midst of his vision is grounds enough for his righteous punishment. For some unfathomable reason, Pretty Black Girl doesn't retort in fury (indeed according to JKR she's getting slightly turned on by the whole scene) but just chastises him with "you think you're funny" and "you're just a common bully." She continues to bicker with Rich Boy while not making a single move to help the boy on the ground out of his ropes -- which would only take a flick of her wrist, seeing as she's got a knife in her pocket. Then White Boy tells Black Girl to go on a date with him if she wants him to stop hurting her biracial friend, which she refuses, and then he and his White Friend hang Biracial Boy upside down, revealing his skinny legs and graying underwear. Middle-class Black Girl suppresses a smile. She and Rich Boy bicker some more, and finally he lets Biracial Boy go, telling him it's only thanks to the prettiness of his neighborhood friend that he didn't get lynched into a bloody mess. Biracial Kid snaps back, calling White Boy out on his racial kink, and in doing so uses the N word to describe Lily. At Privileged White Boy's indignant accusation of racism, Lily rightfully says he himself is just as bad... Which at this point in time she seems to understand, yet for some reason she forgets this side of James somewhere down the line, and decides to marry Rich White Boy to live Happily Ever After in a totally White society. Oh, but not for the money, of course! Nor for her fear of more of her neighborhood friends getting lynched by the boy and his righteous gang if she refused. She just came to her senses, you see, and realized that that was the Right Thing To Do, to chose the Side of the Light over the Cult of Darkness.