A lovely thing, and then some ranting

[blamebrampton]

First, A LOVELY THING! Which is a rec.

Draco Malfoy and the Deathly Hallows is the final work in hd_holidays . A multi-panelled artwork with minimal additional text, it tells the story of book 7 with small, vital changes. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the story I hoped for when Mr Brammers brought the actual book home from the shop (I had influenza and was in bed). Beginning in the Malfoy dungeons (Luna in ankle-socks! Absolutely perfect), it tells the story of what would have unfolded had Draco been able to find the ability to make a different choice in his actions during the war.

Convincing and compelling, the narrative skips across the second half of the book, pausing at crucial moments. The Hufflepuff Cup, Fiendfyre, Snape's death ... these and more are addressed, but with the difference that a morally courageous Draco could have made. 

Not only is the central thesis captivating, the art that accompanies it is nothing short of gripping. Drawn in a spare almost-monochrome, it focusses attention down on the drama of each moment, showing story in the gesture of a hand, the hopelessness of a look. For all the drama, there are moments of humour, too, gently done and finely judged in tone.

The artist (because artists are very rarely the least bit anon, even if this artwork has an uncharacteristic lack of boy snoggin) is one of my faves, because she makes me look at canon and fanon in new ways each time. This piece is no different, save that instead of opening up new parts of the text for me, it reminded me again how sad I was when I reached he end of DH and Draco was still a feeble cypher.

Even Mr Brammers finished HP7 with a 'Hmph, I liked most of it, but I was convinced that Malfoy would come good by the end. What was the point of all that stuff in the other books if he wasn't going to learn anything from it?' Exactly right! And this piece helped immensely with that. In fact, I'm going to pull it up for him and see if I can break his fandom virginity.


To end, a spot of ranting:
Does watching television make people stupid? (Yes, obviously.)

Outside of America, a white person offering a black person fried chicken is nothing more than a friendly gesture of shared crap food, unless one of them is a cardiologist, in which case it is a neat piece of bastardry in either direction.

Also, Doctor Who has a long and proud history of supporting gingers!

On a final, political, note, Fuck me, Japanese whalers! Who do you think you are? French? Not cool!

Comments

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I am afraid that, while I am reasonably good at cultural explanations around the world, American is beyond me.

I stopped going there when I nearly got into a fight with a woman who was loudly telling me that people in Britain had no idea about terrorism, then shouted at me when I mentioned the IRA: 'They're not terrorists, you anti-Irish bigot!'

I exaggerate. She didn't call me a bigot.

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

*boggles*

*thinks about this*

*boggles more*

No, we have no idea about terrorism in Britain at all. Obviously.

America is, as they say, a foreign country. It's just a shame that they haven't worked that out yet.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

To be fair, several of her friends were hugely embarrassed by the whole thing. And it was at the end of 2001, she was probably still actively freaked out.

The funniest wacky conversation I had with an American involved her finding out I live in Australia and asking me what it was like when our government went around door to door and took all our guns, I had a lengthy chat in which I explained about the lack of guns to take, the lack of government personnel to take any, and the enormous size of Australia. She listened courteously, then said 'Well, that's not what it said in the NRA magazine.'

I love Americans, but America sometimes scares the bejesus out of me, and I live in a country full of deadly trees.

[shiv5468.livejournal.com]

With drop bears.

Having been next to harrods when view bombed it it felt like terrorism to me!

Dr who was clearly regretting not being ginger bye I'm fed up with all the whining from gingers who clearly failed at whatever the televisual equivalent of reading comprehension is.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

Ah, thank you. Despite my best efforts, I finally got into a racism argument on LJ for the first time (Americans and their view of DW), which is the biggest mistake to make. Which I knew. It was a moment of momentary insanity ie. I wasn't quite aware ... I got out quickly but kept gnawing on it day and night. Sadly there is no non-US-centric version of LJ (which is certainly not "Russian").

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

One of my besties from when I was little moved to America and then had to move back to England because if one more person told her she was African-American, she was going to cause an international incident.

I blame the media and education systems.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

Gahd, I can imagine. I'm smarting from the wank - and this was a wank, not an argument - about the person who said people should stop labelling black Hogwarts pupils as African-American (unless they are exchange students) and replacing the colour black, which supposedly had also happened, with some nonsensical euphemism.

Can we? Hm. True, so many slashers are teachers and librarians! ;)