batmansymbol:

one of the most important things to me about harry potter is its portrayal of happiness. in the harry potter world, happiness isn’t just a feeling—it’s a weapon. look at how harry and his friends fight: with riddikulus, laughter stymies a creature made of fear; with expecto patronum, the very memory of happiness beats back the grim forces of depression.

the weaponization of positivity stretches beyond that. fred and george weasley’s inventions, meant for laughter, turn into arms against umbridge’s regime. and after their departure from hogwarts, their joke shop becomes not only the single bright spot in diagon alley (literally & figuratively) but a hub of defensive magic. the whole weasleys’ wizard wheezes narrative serves as maybe the clearest example in the series that happiness can act as both shield and sword.

there is something deeply empowering in a depiction of happiness as something so tangible and usable. as a profoundly depressed person, i often feel myself scrounging for happy memories and clutching them close; i find myself grasping for laughter in the dark. the physicalization of expecto patronum is not a quantum leap from reality. the boggart’s laughter as combat fuel, the weasleys’ levity as not just a choice but a difficult and defiant one—it’s all familiar.

the series has its share of darkness, but it revels most in the light. it lets us believe that the act of joy is not small, trivial, or inconsequential. happiness is something not just to be lived—it is to be wielded, on your own behalf and the behalves of the people around you, to battle against the world’s heavier elements. harry potter teaches us this.

stem-cell:

deonte-s:

the idea of harry potter not only straddling two worlds between him (the british wizarding world and the british muggle world) but also being met at each end by two entirely different systems of historical dehumanization/subjugation (with harry on one hand being a half-blood in a society built on blood pedigree and on the other hand being black mixed-race in a society built on white supremacy) is at once extremely tragic and extremely compelling narratively

it’s also interesting that either status has a completely negligible effect within the opposite world (i.e. harry’s blood status means nothing in muggle britain and his race means nothing in wizarding britain)

mixed-race harry continues to rise to the top as the most narratively compelling interpretation of the text

#HarryAsMixedRace2kAlways

uncontinuous:

ratherbeafangirlanyday:

elizzabethdarcy:

Tbh because there’s no good reason not to.

All the blood status in the hp universe is a metaphor for racism but you know what’s boring? Metaphors for racism that only involve white people. Harry is often described as “dark” and like if James Potter’s family was desi and Lily Evans’s was white, that would enhance Harry’s feelings of otherness while growing up with the Dursleys because lbr Vernon was probs a flaming racist.

“Potter” could easily be an anglicized version of a south Asian last name like Potdar or Potluri, and you could make an argument for a pure blood family like the Potters engaging in and profiting from cultural exchange through the British colonization of India so there was an opportunity to establish generational wealth there.

Also on the night he died, James was making pretty-colored lights for Harry. That was October 31st. In 1981, Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, started on October 27th. It lasts five days.

SHIT I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE DIWALI THING OMG. (though Potdar or Potluri aren’t any Indian names that I’ve ever heard of) BUT BUT BUT DIWALI! desiprongspotter do you know about this?

Potdar seemed like a weird anglicisation of Podar which is a Gujrati family name (a rich one too); but apparently it’s Maharastrian. Potluri is an old caste associated surname that I’m pretty sure is Andhra Pradeshi/Telanga.

TBH I’m pretty sure desi Potters would’ve chosen a new English last name to blend into the English wizarding community rather than anglicise their own last names because of the effects of Racism + the Raj

drarrypirateking:

drarry-queen:

itchymercutio:

bisspateralligator:

darlinghogwarts:

There were only few people in the books that Harry Potter ever said were attractive. Tom Riddle, Cedric, Fleur, and Sirius. Harry repeatedly said they were attractive 

I’m not saying that harry potter might be bisexual..  but harry is bisexual lets not forget his obsession with draco and that he was immune to fleur’s veela charms after the first time

Harry thought Blaise was handsome, too.

#everyone thinks Blaise is handsome

Charlie Weasley.

I’m not sure he ever said Charlie was handsome but we all know Charlie is handsome