in which i reveal my amazing grasp on and understanding of harry potter canon

[iceinyourmusic]

A: mirror of erised

1. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. ... It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts.

1a. How does that work with the Buddhist notion of desire?
1b. How does that work with the psychoanalytical notion of desire?
1c. What's with Buddhism and psychoanalysis, anyway? Discuss.

2. Does the Mirror of Erised lie to your face? Why wouldn't it? I mean, doesn't everybody?

B: polyjuice

Uh, who were Crabbe and Goyle changing into? American exchange students?

Comments

RE: ANSWER B.

[moireach.livejournal.com]

I have totally thought about this a bunch because the implications are fascinatingly squicky. Obviously they couldn't be Hogwarts students because they'd be recognized by professors or friends or could even run into themselves, etc. They can't be wizarding children from Hogsmeade because they'd be too young to blend in. (One of the girls is described as a first year but the rest are older, if memory serves.) So either Draco is going into the Muggle world and TOTALLY STEALING bits of hair, etc, from Muggle children, or there's a black market for this.

The real issue here is that OBVIOUSLY Draco would make girl!Crabbe and girl!Goyle have sex with him. I mean, honestly.

[leksa.livejournal.com]

So either Draco is going into the Muggle world and TOTALLY STEALING bits of hair, etc, from Muggle children, or there's a black market for this.

Ooh, black market, I actually didn't think of that. Thought about Cissy and Bella owling in locks of hair, or whatever, but not so much about a black market, although it's obvious there must be one. There usually is.

The real issue here is that OBVIOUSLY Draco would make girl!Crabbe and girl!Goyle have sex with him. I mean, honestly.

Well, obviously. And then he'd complain about them not having turned into someone more attractive and/or ruining the effect. SHOW SOME EFFORT, BOYS.

[walkingshadow.livejournal.com]

omg i am in so far over my head with a discussion pitting buddhism against psychoanalysis (as am lamentably completely unfamiliar with buddhist notions of desire, woe woe). HOWEVER. this: Does the Mirror of Erised lie to your face? Why wouldn't it? I mean, doesn't everybody? makes my head hurt just a little bit. i suppose i would want to know, if it were going to lie, which lie would it tell? because maybe you only have one deepest, most desperate desire of your heart, but technically there are an infinite number of things you don't desire: which to choose? though, you know, this goes back to the psychoanalytic notion of desire, because the mirror is basically a year's worth of psychoanalysis in one glance, skips right to the good stuff. it's actually what everybody wants in a therapist, for someone to reach into their brain and pull out what's in there. it makes me uneasy in the same way, to think that an outside agent (and is the mirror even sentient? would that be better or worse? where does it keep its brain?) knows my deepest, most desperate desires better than i do—and something in me always rebels at that, at having to take their word for it. if the mirror were lying, 1) what would be the purpose—other than that i think everything in the wizarding world is out to eat you, which is purpose enough for me; and 2) the effect of it would just be pure and total psych-out: you don't even get the chance to show it to anyone else, or hide it, it's revealed only to you, to you, to you alone.

so: the mirror of erised could lie to your face, i would not put it past it; has the mirror of erised lied to anyone's face thus far in the harry potter books as we know them?

[leksa.livejournal.com]

technically there are an infinite number of things you don't desire: which to choose?

The one that serves Dumbledore's wacky schemes best?

- heh, I hadn't actually given the whole thing this much thought, but. You have an excellent point about the psych-out, and also how creepy would that be? gaaah. - and, yes, everything and everyone in the HP-land lying to you anyway was sort of my only reason of wondering in the first place. Not that it's how I read the Mirror in the books (can't think of any examples of it lying per se, but then the HP canon really isn't my forte) - but I wonder about the possibility.

On the other hand, first, yes to the skipping over years of therapy (okay, now even that sounds really skeevy to me) - but also, you know, the psychoanalytical notion (to simplify and distort the matter like whoa, I suppose) that 1) desire can't (mustn't) cease and 2) that the object of desire is never-obtainable sort of by definition - and then that bit about the "happiest man on earth" - and also is what the Mirror shows really the deepest desire, as opposed to what it can catch hold of the easiest? I don't know, the whole thing just confuses my little brain a lot. :)