Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Searching for Disaster
Reviews
Searching for Disaster
(#) cpg468 2008-08-06
Interesting story so far. I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops.
Pitch Black reference: Richard B. (Riddick), Johns the merc.
On the subject of the Prophet, I would guess Rowling based it on the British tabloid, The Sun. Look it up in Wikipedia - sadly, The Sun apparently has the highest circulation of any English-language newspaper in the world.Searching for Disaster
(#) whatareyouevensaying 2008-08-06
Interesting update. I wish we'd seen more of a few other characters, but I'm glad Daphne was introduced.
Looking forward to more.Searching for Disaster
(#) userid 2008-08-06
Yah only having one major paper in a group of a few thousand is a dumb idea. just like in the books it is soon taken over and used to put out only the info you want it to. at that point it gets split into 2 types of articals the facts your told to print and stories to sell papers.
When harry survives this the reporter he is giving info to will love the story. even from a 3rd person pov it will make the school look bad that they sent out the 11 year old hero with a half giant that got expelled to track down something so evil it is drinking the blood of unicorns. wow think of the fun umbitch would have when she reads about harry being sent into the forest that has centaurs by a half giant.
Searching for Disaster
(#) selenepotter 2008-08-06
I'm having problems with fanfiction.net too! It would accept my password so I can log in. If I try to have my password sent to me it tells me that adress doesn't exist and my plea to the mods was ignored. Still . . . the formating is closer to my original WORD documents that any other site, including this one. This is especially important in my Clanluna fic, where, signs are in itallics and spoken word are not.
But I have complains abou this site too. Ficwad refuses to remember me, so I have to log in every time. And there's a chicken who takes the time to rate every single chapter of every single fic of mine "-1 Trainwreck", but this chicken never reviews! (I suspect he's one of those idiots at darklordpotter)It he'd tell me what he doesn't like, I could change my writing. Then there's the fact that the rates for stories seem to bear little relationship, at all, to the average rating they've gotten.
Anyway, I really like this chapter! I think Rowling is trying to use the Prophet to show the dangers of a media monopoly. . . or it could be a parady of Fox news.
It seems to me that the paparatzi would treat Harry the same way they treat Prince Charles. That he be constantly followed by reporters in public and that more than one student would carry a camera around hoping to catch a picture of him doing something embarissing that they could sell to the press.
Searching for Disaster
(#) Vanir 2008-08-07
Most sites are really bad at something. Ficwad has the glitching code and FF has the almighty admins. I'm not too fond of the rating system at ficwad either. the ratings should be made dependant on a review, right?
Oh, and to the story. I love your introduction of the press here, and the invention of a reporting resource for Harry. After all, the Prophet is the kind of paper that would report new elvis-recordings found inside cropcircles among mutilated cows, right?
All in all, do remember that Harry Potter is found among Children's Fiction, not Social Science. It's not supposed to make sense. That's why we, the intelligent, gifted and goodlooking crew of fanfic-creators are here. Your Harry makes perfect sense, and i greatly anticipate the mayhem this contact will create.
On Daph, wouldn't Harry be interested in a fake relationship designed to annoy people? He would get rid of the starstruck girls and as i can see Daphne offer such a thing without any effort on his side, all he would have to do would be to say embarrassing things in public a few times, and he wouldn't mind that now, would he?
I'll be here for the next one. Have fun.
VanirSearching for Disaster
(#) kaerion 2008-08-07
Excellent story so far! I'm enjoying your Harry very much, and I can only imagine the chaos he'll create later on. So far, I think your story title is spot on! :D
You threw me a little at the end of this last chapter though, with the hints that Harry actually followed Hagrid into the forest, instead of turning around and going straight to Professor Sprout with a complaint against McGonagall, Filch, and possibly Hagrid, for being completely insane. I have a feeling that whatever you've got planned will still be entertaining though, so I'm looking forward to your next chapter.
As far as the Prophet goes, I think you have to keep in mind the nature of the Wizarding World's government, and also what happened during OotP. The Ministry of Magic is basically an oligarchy, and I think you'd have to look fairly hard to find a more totalitarian one. The reason why I mentioned OotP, is that it shows very clearly that the Prophet is really nothing more than a government propaganda tool, which means that nothing about it would really surprise me much, especially not misuse of power, and a complete disregard for anyone's individual rights. It also seems that the Wizarding World is more or less conditioned into believing everything they're told, especially rumors that are completely unrealistic and out there, so that would explain why no one has really bothered to do anything about it. Unless someone becomes a target themselves, they see nothing wrong, and if someone does become a target, they're not among the tiny group of people in power who could do something about it (since those people are the ones who have the Prophet in their pocket), so the status quo endures.
So yeah, while it really pisses me off too (I've done some copy-editing in the past, myself), it's really not all that surprising that it's a POS rag, and nothing like a real newspaper.Searching for Disaster
(#) DrT 2008-08-07
Actually, the Prophet strikes me as a fairly typical 19th century popular newspaper (New York Sun, Hearst, etc) Read the deliberate slant in newspapers covering the Spanish Civil War, or the indirect control the British government had over many papers during the 1930s. For that matter, read the newspapers of modern authoritatian countries (and magical Britain is certainly authoritarian) Add in that the magical population has to be pretty small, and one gov't influenced rag is about rightSearching for Disaster
(#) michae1ange1o 2008-08-07
A fine story that is starting to get realy interesting.
I agree with you about the prophet but also understand that modern laws don't seem to stretch to the Wizarding world. To me they seem to run on a medieval system of 'Those in power, have it' and 'as long as it benefits and does not harm us, it's ok'.
If anything, the Wizarding World reminds me of a corrupt, isolated, south american dictatorship. The atrium at the ministry in the movie seemed to hint at that with the huge banners of Fudge everywhere, very 'Big Brother'.Searching for Disaster
(#) banner 2008-08-07
I'm enjoying every part of this story. The Prophet is disgusting, and I see no reason for Harry to stay in the country when he is going to be slandered without any method of defense or restitution.
Good job.Searching for Disaster
(#) hjpngmw 2008-08-07
I am enjoying your story. Please keep writing. I like your inclusion of a non-biased newspaper. Why someone never at least sued the Prophet has always bothered me!
I would like to point out, however, that lies in print are libel and spoken lies are slander. My HS English teacher told those who did not study Latin to remember it as if you say it, it is slander (both have a's), but if you write it, it is libel (both have e's).
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