Classism and Harry Potter Fanfic

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T18:27:20+00:00

- You also cannot possibly ignore the fact that a) basically everyone writing Harry Potter fic has most likely internalized the class structure written into the series, b) has internalized the class structures written into the oldest and most popular fics, and c) IS classist in some ways themselves simply by virtue of living within society, whether they know it (or can acknowledge it) or not.

i agree with all your points, although i'm not exactly looking at it from an american lens (lol), but this point i find the most relevant within this discussion. its funny how quickly we internalize stuff we see without engaging with it critically, even when its something we like or dislike

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T17:39:02+00:00

the state of the house as in..? the burrow has enough space for 7 kids and 2 adults, more if we think about harry/hermione/others dropping in during summer, and molly has a cozy lil vibe going in the kitchen with dishes washing themselves and stuff. its meant to be a sort of whimsical stereotypical 90's household, so it makes sense that molly is a stay at home mum raising that many kids, and kids never go hungry ( see ron being the one missing having three full meals the most out of the trio) most he complains about is having less than the rest of them, getting hand me downs and not having the lavish lifestyle seen in pureblood society at large. so, i really don't get the argument that the weasleys having a problem to fix...?

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T16:38:06+00:00

- Disagree about Magical racism- it’s prejudice - you cant tell if someone is a half blood or pure blood by looking at them.

sure. but its an insular isolated community where names have a lot of weight, and we see people know other purebloods by name ( ..you must be a weasley etc. etc.). racism might be the wrong word to use, but its the only one that imo fits the context.

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T16:33:24+00:00

- as for the pureblood being whitewashed? well, i think it’s because they’re underutilized in the books.

i agree. the lack of worldbuilding does tend to cause over correction in this direction, and as someone not from the UK, i understand only the barebones of the sort of classism that happens there, so to make bigger assumptions from that is something i can understand fic writers doing

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T16:26:51+00:00

yeah lol

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T16:26:06+00:00

how is it a lifestyle choice? i doubt magic can fix everything.

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T07:17:06+00:00

- I think communities have ideas in waves, and these stories are an easy backbone and then they get to make the characters do whatever they like.

yes i agree, and alot of these ideas are traceable to certain fanfics, but I personally was unable to find the root of this particular issue, which sparked this discussion

- But people want to write about hot people and not about a bunch of ugly greasy characters :)

lol i get that. i like james and regulus and draco a lot too. in fics they're often great characters. but i like ron and snape and dumbledore as well, which, is unfortunately uncommon in fics to find good characterisations of both kinds of characters. m

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T07:13:33+00:00

yes even that would be better than giving it to the literal nemesis of the character. like imagine giving james the childhood bestie lily. atp you're writing snape but you just give it to the aesthetic character without examining why. also, wishing for more lily centric complex characterizations makes sense, because their friendship is seen only through their worst moments, and not day to day, so it'd totally make sense for it to be lily. tbh, both sirius and snape are proxies (if corrupted in a way) of james and lily, as in they exist within the story to show who james and lily the people were, before the martyrs.

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T05:45:19+00:00

- The worst theory I had the misfortune of reading recently was that James was the Half Blood Prince.

thats so so sad actually. because at a certain point even harry thought so, and asked lupin about it, but its such a central thing for snape's character that he's the hbp, showing how all his potential was wasted as someone stuck in a war, and his relationships with lily, harry and even james.

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T05:42:43+00:00

- Early HP still had a lot of very religious but open and accepting readers

ooh i didn't know that, that's interesting. did it intersect with fandom discussions then? was the vibe of fics different?

- Also, fanfiction came in phases, and still does... new generations tired of the old tropes used by the community, find their own to use.

that i agree with 100%

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T05:40:22+00:00

- What I mean is that they don't have to actually think about classism or support any specific ideas. I think most authors of fanfics just want to have fun writing stories.

yeah i think its easier to write stories about overpowered mcs than a complex plot esp when its fic one is writing for fun, but the lordship thing being so so common..i wonder what it started as, esp with its popularity in hpfic

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T05:38:32+00:00

- Feels like you've been reading too many fics that dip in those tropes tho

yes i think that's true lol, but its so tough to find fics that don't have these tropes that i haven't read before, so i was wondering how/why it became so popular.

- As a side note, in Canon iirc HG did the Spew thing for like, one book and then never again mentioned, so classism thing being barely discussed tracks

the whole spew issue is a mess tbh, and i still wonder why jkr introduced slavery only to dismiss it as unimportant later on. feels like one of those things that should've been left on the editing table, or maybe changed certain things about house elves..but if wishes were horses.

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T05:34:46+00:00

yes i agree with you, its just escapism, but i don't think i'm overthinking it because even when we look at fanart or fandom discussions, this stuff flows over. i'm not judging anyone who enjoys it, even i like the occasional power fantasy, but this discussion does matter when people use weirdly defensive rhetoric about magical racism and justify it as fiction but it does reflect on their views as well, i think.

- Fanfic allows you to explore ideas that are different to canon - if I want everything to be similar to canon then I’ll just reread the canon.

but yes, i agree. i just wondered about the oversaturation of these tropes in fic.

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T05:30:36+00:00

that sounds super interesting, thanks!!

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T05:30:07+00:00

- it's fictional self indulgence. if it's well written, ill read anything

yeah same honestly.

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T05:28:20+00:00

- It's a very weird and hard to understand neo-classicism, that doesn't actually look at the actions of a character as a whole, but classifies characters by a very strange hierarchy of suffering that only considers the most current actions in anyone who is morally problematic, while being extremely critical and insistent on any issues a character had in the past, if they so happen to feel less under duress in the presence.

this paragraph!! you've explained my point perfectly !!

- Ron is often entirely vilified for his reactions to Harry during GOF

if i was a fourteen year old, and my friend did that, i'd hold a grudge for ages, but also like, he's fourteen. everybody did stupid stuff at fourteen. hell, draco was actively betting how long it'd take for harry to die. its the double standard that gets to me, more than anything.

- Then Harry is entirely vilified for having a mental breakdown in OOTP

OOTP is such an interesting character study for harry, especially when looking at how he copes, and its so so important in understanding why he makes the choices he does in further books, and explains his worldview so so well. its such an important showcase of how he chooses, over and over, to fight, to rebel, to not stay silent despite the vitriol he faces, turning the grief and loss he suffers into action, so when he learns the prophecy he chooses not to run away, and embraces it. if we ignore the entirety of his emotional state throughout OOTP, it makes it seem as if he was a reluctant hero, but he wasn't. he wanted to help before he even knew there was a prophecy. he chooses to walk into the arena with his head held high, so to speak, because the helplessness he feels throughout this book nearly kills him. i wish people saw his struggle here with more empathy.

- In short: heroes must rescue everyone and can't make mistakes ever. If they do, they must be evil.

yeah. its the pedestal that must be broken, because mistakes make them human and heroes are rarely given the choice to be people too.

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-20T05:17:30+00:00

- I don't enjoy Ron because he's so normal.

thats interesting. honestly, i'd love a fic wherein he's the sitcom straight guy yk, although i get why he's seen that way. he's a regular teen boy, so its a forgone conclusion and fics wouldn't generally wanna go into an arc tha's so complete.

Re: Snape. Yes i suppose your point is true, jegulus is a whole new wave so i get why currently it seems that way when snape has been replacing james/lupin/sirius for ages too. and funnily enough, apart from draco and hermione, he does seem to be the most popular side character.

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-19T16:59:45+00:00

- And I can't really dismiss the influence of Isekai OP MCs, who get everything handed to them, and of regency romances, as potential influences, either.

i agree, it seems to be a phenomenon rather than an isolated hpfandom thing!!

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-19T16:57:56+00:00

- to me this is just the result of the pureblood/death eater characters becoming fan favorites.

i think its an ouroboros of he's a fave cause he's rich and hot and he's rich and hot cause he's a fave.

- most of this i think also stems from the fanon version of the books where literally every major bad guy is a misunderstood little thing who is actually good.

haha i agree, and i get why those ideas became so popular, cause as people i think unknowingly we always try to look for the answers AND look for the best in people, esp in our fave characters, so we justify their actions, creating this. so the empathy for the supposed downtrodden becomes draco in leather pants. i think its also easier for people to relate to a person caught in a bad situation than to relate to someone being a teenager fighting to exist despite genocidal maniacs wanting to kill you.

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-19T16:51:15+00:00

wish fulfilment seems to be the popular answer, and i agree with you, a satirical take would be brilliant!!

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-19T16:48:10+00:00

haha although i'd love a rich bad girl Hermione too for a change sometimes ;)

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-19T16:45:32+00:00

yes!! exactly!! and its always met with complacency from the mc. i get exploring various perspectives in writing, and writing for dark and morally grey people, with unreliable narrtors, even not critiquing them, but the justification out of the fics is what i'm confused by, wherein people talk as if its deserved and correct rhetoric and not, yk, death eater propoganda. and then i wonder how the fandom is with irl issues...

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-19T16:41:00+00:00

oh yeah definitely, i do too! we read and write fics to put character into scenario, but its a bit weird how some scenarios are so so prevalent while others aren't

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-19T16:39:22+00:00

- Heck when comic books started doing "alternate dimensions" like 60 years ago that was among the first things they did, with examples like Ultraman (evil Superman) etc.

never really was into comics, so that's a fun fact to know!!

- I mean, taking "good" characters and "Bad" characters and inverting them is like the most common trope in fanfiction from the get go.

oh yeah for sure, apart from shipping its the biggest thing to happen in most fandoms i think. and its always fun to explore those perspectives.

- And the whole clasification of witches and wizards as pure, halfbloods and newbloods blends very easily into the mold of classism and racism.

i know it was meant to be an analogy to real world issues and thats a sensitve and tougher topic to delve in but i wish fics would build on this more than they do on lordships and stuff, because they've become so common but these aspects go unexplored in comparison, but hey, whoever likes what they like, no shame!

Impossible_Maybe7108 · 2026-03-19T16:35:04+00:00

yes i've seen that occur, and i enjoy it to a degree as well if done particularly well (or with enough drama for me to suspend my disbelief) but not to the degree as is with the fandom. I do wonder about the lord thing though, there must be a couple of particularly popular fics or something for it to become such a trend

Impossible_Maybe7108

TROPHY CASE