What are your thoughts on "The Dolores Umbridge Paradox"? - Also known as the Umbridge Effect

[Takodachi]

read a different fucking book. That trope has existed in media and literature before rowling was even conceived.

 

[FemalePresident]

This thread is autistic

 

[Tim Buckley]

@Judge Holden
OP is calling you a sweetheart, do something about it.

 

[Pomniman]

Winners don't do YA fiction.

 

[Shoggoth]

So as not to beat the dead horse and to be a contrarian, consider the following:
could this paradox be a construct by real shitheads to legitimize their own being wolves in sheep's clothing? The same way Napoleon Dynamite wins the day and Chad (and Biff) are stupid meatheads who the viewer is conditioned to disdain, could it be a subtle form of propaganda, to display the wholesome as sickly, excessive and pathological and the perverse as "actually the good guys"?
Because usually, from my limited experience, this happens only with literary characters as a narrative device, not with irl people.

 

[Pomniman]

So as not to beat the dead horse and to be a contrarian, consider the following:
could this paradox be a construct by real shitheads to legitimize their own being wolves in sheep's clothing? The same way Napoleon Dynamite wins the day and Chad (and Biff) are stupid meatheads who the viewer is conditioned to disdain, could it be a subtle form of propaganda, to display the wholesome as sickly, excessive and pathological and the perverse as "actually the good guys"?
Because usually, from my limited experience, this happens only with literary characters as a narrative device, not with irl people.

There may be some propagandistic intent involved depending on who's writing a given story, but a lot of it can just be chalked up to artistic laziness because this is an extremely old trope in fiction.

 

[Big Nasty]

Harry Potter is shit

 

[Basil II]

This thread would've been far more interesting and less autistic if it was talking about how Umbridge is basically a puritan who hates everything resembling fun and is seen as a villain yet all the SJWs that fetishize Harry Potter do the exact same shit.

 

[Pissmaster]

Real humans are a hell of a lot more complex than fictional characters. People like all kinds of random shit for all kinds of random reasons from happenings throughout their lives. If someone has a macabre sense of humor, maybe they grew up watching macabre movies with their parents. Maybe macabre movies were forbidden and they seeked them out later in life. Maybe their first love got them into macabre movies, and they now forever have that attachment.

But there's interests, and then there's stuff people actually say, that presents who they are. If someone makes a dead baby joke, then they're the kind of person who makes dead baby jokes. I don't think anyone expects Mr. Dead Baby Jokes to go rescue someone who's drowning.

Having one character portrayed a certain way and then the twist is that they're actually the opposite is like the easiest twist ever to write. They were a stereotype in the first place for that reason, because stereotypes are like pre-made characters you can easily adapt into whatever the plot needs. Plus, it's always satisfying to see someone who seems villainous turn out to have a heart of gold. I'm sure TV Tropes has an autistic list of a billion examples.

 

[Jarolleon]

It's a bit like those parents who name their kids after virtues who then turn out to be the opposite, or ex-cons who become extremely religious, you become slightly obsessed with the things out of your reach. Either that or "The more he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons".

 

[Next Task]

Harry Potter is the worst thing to happen to society.

Eh, I never blame the media. The people who can't see the world except through the lens of a popular fantasy series - they're the worst thing to happen to society. Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings - all the people who regard it as their bible are the problem, not the bibles themselves.

It's that joke about saying I like Jesus, it's his fans I can't stand.

 

[Midlife Sperglord]

Umbridge is a cunt, so is JK Rowling.

Unironic discussions about Harry Potter should never be conducted by those over the age of 12.

 

[Haramburger]

“That is, the people who’re obsessed with sick, gross, dark humour tend to be the biggest sweethearts in real life.

We all miss @emspex, okay? but we have to move on.

 

[AprilRains]

Andrew Dobson is one example in favor of this idea.

 

[Monika H.]

Well, the Nazis had a cospicuous talent in mixing sweet and atrocious stuff together...
well, the Germans overall are like that

Real deal, those people are really that ignorant they don't know about Hannah Arendt's definition of the "banality of evil"?
Do they need to fucking pick up Harry Potter (that took inspiration exactly by WW2 for many things) to process the concept?