trippingontheescalator

[trippingontheescalator]

I think I need a hearing test because I misheard someone saying their name "Ezekiel" as "Easy to kill," and I was like, "Damn, you were just a baby when they named you, of course you would be easy to kill." :/

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I am huge lover of architecture, and one of my dream destinations to visit is Bucharest, Romania.

Romanian Revival architecture is, in my humble opinion, the best looking ever made. Just look at this--

THIS IS WHAT I WANT MY HOUSE TO LOOK LIKE. If I ever win the lottery I am building a house like this. Alas, the closest I will get to is building it in the Sims 4.

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You know, almost every snirius fic I've read involves Sirius negging Snape and then is completely baffled that his master plan of hurting Snape's feelings didn't result in a date. Now I can't stop thinking about Sirius following manosphere influencers and dating coaches, wondering why their advice isn't working for him.

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My friend, I cannot care about every thing that happens in this world. I don't have that capacity. If this is the hill you want to plant your flag on and fight until the bitter end, then godspeed. I didn't like the original Harry Potter films, I saw the first one and I didn't like it. I am not a big fan of movies or tv shows in general. I watch maybe one movie every couple of years, someone will mention a tv show they like and I will watch it for an episode or two before I end up dropping it. It's not something that I, as an individual person with likes and dislikes completely separate from yours, am interested in. That does not mean I am either nihilistic or cynical. It means I have different priorities. Neither worse nor better than your own.

My post was targeted to Americans who are misusing the word "DEI" and are using it in a racist way when they protest Essiedu's casting. There are ways for people to disagree with his casting without resorting to racist terminology; you say you don't hate the man, and I accept that, I believe you. But there are people on this website who DO hate him specifically because they are racist and he is black, and some of them are Americans who are using the new favorite, American buzzword to replace all the slurs they can longer say out loud. I don't expect everyone in this world to understand the ins-and-outs of American policy, I believe you stated you were not American, so I would not expect you in particular to understand what people mean when they say this is "DEI casting." That is what I care about. This is the hill that I have chosen to fight my last battle on. I can't fight all the battles, but I can fight some, and me posting about DEI is mine.

I honestly do not care that Paapa Essiedu is the new Snape; I did not like the first movies with Alan Rickman (and I usually love Alan Rickman, but not even he could make me like those movies), I don't plan on watching the new show simply because I don't want to contribute to JKR's anti-trans campaign but I don't resent any of the cast or crew for their role in it. We all have to do what we do to put food on the table, I'm not going to judge. I've got no horse in this race. Paapa Essiedu is a new Snape for a new generation, everything changes and everything must change, and I am unbothered by the continuing march of time or my own inevitable impending old age and death. What I am bothered by is some of the racist things I've been seeing.

So, I recently saw a racist post deriding Paapa Essiedu's casting as Snape as "DEI." This post, like so many Trump-Toe-Sucking Conservative thought-pieces on DEI, clearly has no idea what DEI is. So, let me explain!

First off, I am an American. Secondly, I am an American from the Deep South, specifically in an area where the population is about 60% African American, 30% white, and 10% Asian, Native, and mixed, and yet the majority of our government, school board administration, managers, etc etc are white. Now, logic states that if everyone has the same equal opportunities and 60% of our population is African American then 60% of leadership positions should be filled by Africans Americans! Except this is an area where the Good Ol' Boy system is alive and well in the year of our Lord 2025. DEI is very important for areas of the US where I'm from.

For those who don't know, DEI stands for "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" and sort of arose from Affirmative Action that began in the 70s. Now, let's have an example of what DEI is that I can actually pull from my own experiences: if, say, you have a business where about 50% of your employees are black women and your HR department consists of nothing but white men, there are going to be some problems simply because these white men are not going to know or understand some of the difficulties that their black female employees are going through. And I'm not even referring just to the racism, sexism, and micro-aggressions (like only asking the women to wash your coffee cups, ERIC) they have to put up (though that as well), I'm also talking about the health of your employees that may affect their jobs, like sickle cell anemia and the higher rate of maternal death in childbirth for black women. They're going to need to be supported when they're symptoms flare up or when they get pregnant. Doesn't it make sense to hire a black woman on the HR department to help bridge the gap between management and a significant portion (half!) of your employees? And just because an HR department might have a preference for hiring a black woman in this case does not mean she would be any less qualified than a white man who applies. Qualifications always come first, regardless. If she got hired, she got hired because she was qualified for the job.

The times I saw where this was not the case and the person was unqualified? Either management just didn't have any clue what they were doing and hardly anybody was qualified, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, whatever, OR they were hired specifically because they were unqualified so that management could fire them and go, "See! See! DEI didn't work, now I can hire a white man." Kind of like how major companies only hire a woman CEO when they company is on the brink of disaster.

None of this applies to actors because the nature of the business is so directly tied to looks. In fact, Disney can get away with dictating the way their employees look more than any other company because they don't call them employees; they are cast members. The fact that HBO hired Paapa Essiedu means that they wanted to hire him, not because they were forced to by some shadowy leftist conspiracy of pink-haired lesbian feminists forcing "DEI" on them, or whatever conservatives think DEI is. It is their production company, they have the freedom and right to hire whoever they want.

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I am very confused by this response. I, as an American, am talking about the American concept of "DEI" and how this very American policy is not something that can be applied to Paapa Essiedu's casting. I am not talking about whether or not you agree with the casting. That's not the point of my post. My point is why people should not call this "DEI hiring" when they cry about Essiedu being hired. I literally do not care that he is Snape. Good for him, I hope he does great in it and he makes a lot of money. I didn't watch the movies the first time around and I'm not going to watch the show. It's just not my thing.

Did you even fucking read this? Like, I don't even know if you're for or against Essiedu, I don't know what your stance even is. All I'm doing is explaining what this very specific American policy is so that they don't sling it around and sound like an idiot because they clearly don't know what DEI is.

I honestly do not care that Paapa Essiedu is the new Snape; I did not like the first movies with Alan Rickman (and I usually love Alan Rickman, but not even he could make me like those movies), I don't plan on watching the new show simply because I don't want to contribute to JKR's anti-trans campaign but I don't resent any of the cast or crew for their role in it. We all have to do what we do to put food on the table, I'm not going to judge. I've got no horse in this race. Paapa Essiedu is a new Snape for a new generation, everything changes and everything must change, and I am unbothered by the continuing march of time or my own inevitable impending old age and death. What I am bothered by is some of the racist things I've been seeing.

So, I recently saw a racist post deriding Paapa Essiedu's casting as Snape as "DEI." This post, like so many Trump-Toe-Sucking Conservative thought-pieces on DEI, clearly has no idea what DEI is. So, let me explain!

First off, I am an American. Secondly, I am an American from the Deep South, specifically in an area where the population is about 60% African American, 30% white, and 10% Asian, Native, and mixed, and yet the majority of our government, school board administration, managers, etc etc are white. Now, logic states that if everyone has the same equal opportunities and 60% of our population is African American then 60% of leadership positions should be filled by Africans Americans! Except this is an area where the Good Ol' Boy system is alive and well in the year of our Lord 2025. DEI is very important for areas of the US where I'm from.

For those who don't know, DEI stands for "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" and sort of arose from Affirmative Action that began in the 70s. Now, let's have an example of what DEI is that I can actually pull from my own experiences: if, say, you have a business where about 50% of your employees are black women and your HR department consists of nothing but white men, there are going to be some problems simply because these white men are not going to know or understand some of the difficulties that their black female employees are going through. And I'm not even referring just to the racism, sexism, and micro-aggressions (like only asking the women to wash your coffee cups, ERIC) they have to put up (though that as well), I'm also talking about the health of your employees that may affect their jobs, like sickle cell anemia and the higher rate of maternal death in childbirth for black women. They're going to need to be supported when they're symptoms flare up or when they get pregnant. Doesn't it make sense to hire a black woman on the HR department to help bridge the gap between management and a significant portion (half!) of your employees? And just because an HR department might have a preference for hiring a black woman in this case does not mean she would be any less qualified than a white man who applies. Qualifications always come first, regardless. If she got hired, she got hired because she was qualified for the job.

The times I saw where this was not the case and the person was unqualified? Either management just didn't have any clue what they were doing and hardly anybody was qualified, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, whatever, OR they were hired specifically because they were unqualified so that management could fire them and go, "See! See! DEI didn't work, now I can hire a white man." Kind of like how major companies only hire a woman CEO when they company is on the brink of disaster.

None of this applies to actors because the nature of the business is so directly tied to looks. In fact, Disney can get away with dictating the way their employees look more than any other company because they don't call them employees; they are cast members. The fact that HBO hired Paapa Essiedu means that they wanted to hire him, not because they were forced to by some shadowy leftist conspiracy of pink-haired lesbian feminists forcing "DEI" on them, or whatever conservatives think DEI is. It is their production company, they have the freedom and right to hire whoever they want.

[trippingontheescalator]

I honestly do not care that Paapa Essiedu is the new Snape; I did not like the first movies with Alan Rickman (and I usually love Alan Rickman, but not even he could make me like those movies), I don't plan on watching the new show simply because I don't want to contribute to JKR's anti-trans campaign but I don't resent any of the cast or crew for their role in it. We all have to do what we do to put food on the table, I'm not going to judge. I've got no horse in this race. Paapa Essiedu is a new Snape for a new generation, everything changes and everything must change, and I am unbothered by the continuing march of time or my own inevitable impending old age and death. What I am bothered by is some of the racist things I've been seeing.

So, I recently saw a racist post deriding Paapa Essiedu's casting as Snape as "DEI." This post, like so many Trump-Toe-Sucking Conservative thought-pieces on DEI, clearly has no idea what DEI is. So, let me explain!

First off, I am an American. Secondly, I am an American from the Deep South, specifically in an area where the population is about 60% African American, 30% white, and 10% Asian, Native, and mixed, and yet the majority of our government, school board administration, managers, etc etc are white. Now, logic states that if everyone has the same equal opportunities and 60% of our population is African American then 60% of leadership positions should be filled by Africans Americans! Except this is an area where the Good Ol' Boy system is alive and well in the year of our Lord 2025. DEI is very important for areas of the US where I'm from.

For those who don't know, DEI stands for "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" and sort of arose from Affirmative Action that began in the 70s. Now, let's have an example of what DEI is that I can actually pull from my own experiences: if, say, you have a business where about 50% of your employees are black women and your HR department consists of nothing but white men, there are going to be some problems simply because these white men are not going to know or understand some of the difficulties that their black female employees are going through. And I'm not even referring just to the racism, sexism, and micro-aggressions (like only asking the women to wash your coffee cups, ERIC) they have to put up (though that as well), I'm also talking about the health of your employees that may affect their jobs, like sickle cell anemia and the higher rate of maternal death in childbirth for black women. They're going to need to be supported when they're symptoms flare up or when they get pregnant. Doesn't it make sense to hire a black woman on the HR department to help bridge the gap between management and a significant portion (half!) of your employees? And just because an HR department might have a preference for hiring a black woman in this case does not mean she would be any less qualified than a white man who applies. Qualifications always come first, regardless. If she got hired, she got hired because she was qualified for the job.

The times I saw where this was not the case and the person was unqualified? Either management just didn't have any clue what they were doing and hardly anybody was qualified, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, whatever, OR they were hired specifically because they were unqualified so that management could fire them and go, "See! See! DEI didn't work, now I can hire a white man." Kind of like how major companies only hire a woman CEO when they company is on the brink of disaster.

None of this applies to actors because the nature of the business is so directly tied to looks. In fact, Disney can get away with dictating the way their employees look more than any other company because they don't call them employees; they are cast members. The fact that HBO hired Paapa Essiedu means that they wanted to hire him, not because they were forced to by some shadowy leftist conspiracy of pink-haired lesbian feminists forcing "DEI" on them, or whatever conservatives think DEI is. It is their production company, they have the freedom and right to hire whoever they want.

[trippingontheescalator]

Here is my completely unasked for opinions on Snape ships:

Jeverus - Love it, but only after James is made to crawl on his belly and eat dust. If he isn't sufficiently beaten down or if Severus forgives him too early then I can't. James needs the ego knocked out of him first, he needs to be broken down and rebuilt and THEN I love it.

Snirius - Also love it. Completely different energy from jeverus, in that I need James to be a contrite simp who realizes the error of his ways, Sirius on the other hand is a bastard and so is Severus, and them trading blows and insults between kisses is just 😘

Snily - Honestly like it, but only when Lily has genuine flaws that she has to work through in the text as well. I'm not interested in perfect Lily and simp Severus who must flagellate himself to he worthy of her love. But when they're written as two people with a lot of history and complicated, flawed beings? Beautiful.

Snupin - Dislike. I can write snupin in short spurts but every time I tried to write a long snupin fic Remus slowly morphs into a passive aggressive, gaslighting, "Oh my friends weren't so bad, you're exagerrating, I need to downplay your pain because my school days were the last time I really enjoyed my life and if I take my rose-tinted glasses off I will have to examine my own actions and guilt and be forced to take responsibility and acknowledge that not every bad thing I've done can be blamed on the wolf, nor can I insulate my feelings by blaming other people's prejudice against lycanthropy as a reason for why they might not like me instead of acknowledging that maybe I'm not actually that nice of a guy." SORRY.

Snucius - Unironically love Lucius having sugar baby Severus to spoil.

Snucissa - What's better than one hot, rich blond? TWO hot, rich blondes. Death Eaters, you say? Morally dubious at the best of times, you say? Yes, perfect, I crave gothic, crumbling aristocracy, the beautiful decadence that masks our sins, and yet still loving throuple snucissa.

Snarity - It all depends on the Charity. She's basically an OC since we don't know anything about her in canon, except that she had the balls to tell Death Eaters they suck in a major newspaper when the Death Eater activity was extremely high and that she and Severus were friends. I can get behind this with a well-written and interesting Charity 👍

Snarry/Snamione - Not a fan at all. Even if there's no romantic relationship until Harry and Hermione are like 40, I can't see Severus ever acknowledging them as anything but those annoying kids who made his life hell. Every time he sees them the Kill Bill sirens start playing in his head. Harry could be 60 years old and Severus 80 years, and Severus would be like, "Shut the fuck up, you snuck out of the castle and went to Hogsmeade when we all thought a serial killer was out to get you, I have a heart condition because of you, get out of my nursing home before I throw my dentures at you."

Snon - Only in A Very Potter Musical.

Snumbledore- Only in Potter Puppet Pals.

[trippingontheescalator]

"...had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile..."

Or, how I write and interpret Lily Evans.

So, first off, I would just like to say that this is just my interpretation of the character. Lily appears in only a few blips so that most interpretations of her are going to be valid in one way or another. This is not character bashing, I like Lily (well, I like my interpretation of her anyway), just like I like Severus, and Sirius, and most other HP characters (except Remus, I don't much care for him lmao). I'm also not interested in hearing "Well, Snape did this bad thing so therefore whatever Lily does is justified..." because this is not about Severus. Now, I will also be doing some character analysis on Severus as well, just because his character is so intricately tied to hers that it is difficult to peel her away without also needing to look at him, but he is not the focus. Lily is.

Personally, I am sympathetic to Lily; I see her as a flawed teenager in the same way that Severus is flawed, and James is flawed, and Sirius is flawed. I also see her as a product of her time. The culture, social mores, and attitudes of the 1970s are vastly different from the 2020s. Lily is a boomer, just like many of your parents and grandparents are boomers. The only difference is that your parents and grandparents got to live full lives and hopefully grew as people, whereas Lily will always be stuck in the 70s. Now, this is not to say that the terrible things that happened in the past are in any way justified. James's sexual assault against Severus is still sexual assault even if no one in the 1970s would have recognized it as being such. But I think remembering this is crucial to understanding who Lily is as a person. Remember: "The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there." (L.P. Hartley)

There is also the issue of a Doylist vs a Watsonian interpretation, and how sometimes the former informs the latter. For instance, at the scene by the lake in OotP, Severus and Lily do not interact until Severus is attacked despite them being in the same class, taking the same O.W.L. Now, if you were best friends with someone, wouldn't you join up once class was over and discuss how you think you did? But that isn't what happened. After the test, Severus immediately gets up and leaves, absently walks with Lily and her group of girl friends silently without acknowledging them as they chatter to themselves, not acknowledging him either. The minute they get outside, Severus breaks away from the group, still absorbed in his examination questions, and sits in a clump of grass beside some bushes. Lily and her other friends move to the lake where they take off their socks and shoes to dip their feet into the lake. Not even so much as a "See you, Sev!" "Talk to you later, Lily" from either of them.

Now, the Doylist explanation is that JKR is trying to keep their friendship a secret so that it is the big twist in DH. She did an absolutely terrible job of this in my opinion, but that's neither here nor there. Either way, having Sev and Lily exchange pleasantries would raise too many questions in the readers that JKR doesn't want to answer at that moment. So, no talking, they ignore each other as if they were complete strangers.

Unfortunately, this creates a bit of a dilemma from a Watsonian perspective. Severus and Lily's relationship has not yet severed completely; it's on the rocks, certainly, but even then they would have said something to each other even if it was only coolly polite. Not ignore each other completely as if the other didn't exist.

There are several ways to interpret this, and I'm sure other people have their own thoughts, but for me this reads as though one or the other would prefer not to be seen hanging out when other people are present, and I am inclined to think Lily is the one who is embarrassed to be seen with Severus rather than the other way around. Some might think that Severus wouldn't want his Slytherin housemates to see him hanging out with a Muggleborn, but Severus willingly stood outside the Gryffindor Tower for hours waiting for the chance to apologize her; he's not above publicly groveling to someone of a "lesser blood status", regardless of what others might think of him. Severus's housemates are also nowhere to be seen in this scene. The O.W.L. they were taking is Defense Against the Dark Arts, which means it is a core class and that Severus's dormmates would be there taking it too. However, Severus doesn't acknowledge any of them either and neither do they come to his defense when he is attacked. Clearly, the rumors of their friendship have been greatly exaggerated. Lily, however, is with her friends; she actually has something to lose by being seen with him, and she admits that she is getting shit for being friends with Severus when she says, "None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you." in DH.

I don't think she would ever actually come out and say to Severus, "It's embarrassing to be seen with you in public, let's just hang out in private and not acknowledge each other when we're around other people." But I do think Severus can pick up on enough hints that this is what Lily wants and is willing to accept whatever crumbs he can get, while Lily gratefully accepts this change without commenting on it.

With this reasoning, a few of the flaws that I give Lily are: susceptible to peer pressure, overly concerned with her public image and reputation. So far, fairly typical of a sixteen-year-old in the throes of puberty while trying to learn how to be a good person. We've all been there, which is why I violently repress all of my middle school memories.

One flaw that I do NOT give her is the idea that she was a gold digger, for a few reasons: A) I don't see it as a flaw. Get your bag, girl. And, B) it doesn't make sense to me from a Doylist perspective. Lily is JKR's golden girl, her idea of True Womanhood upon which she places on a pedestal. And JKR makes it very clear that she despises that sort of ambition. If you're a good person, then good things will magically fall into your lap. You shouldn't strive to rise above your station and do things just for the money. That's what Percy would do, that's what Petunia would do, that's what a Slytherin would do.

This is a common trope in romances. A girl only wants to marry for true love, even if that means she will be destitute! But what's this? Gasp! Her true love actually is rich all along and she has proven herself to be a Good Woman™ and thus is deserving of her newfound wealth. What a twist! JKR has stated in interviews that Lily would have fallen in love with Severus if he hadn't joined the Death Eaters, and I think she implies as much in DH when the book states, "The intensity of his gaze made her blush." She is clearly trying to prove that Lily is a Good Woman™ and not a gold digger who doesn't care that Severus poor, that the only reason she didn't date him is because she disagreed with his morals, and James being filthy rich is because the Fates have decreed she deserved it for being such a Good Woman™.

Frankly, it's a sexist trope and in my humble opinion, James being filthy rich is the only reason to marry him because he is not winning any awards with that personality. I've always agreed more with Marilyn Monroe when she said, "Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn't marry a girl just because she's pretty, but my goodness, doesn't it help?" But also I have bills to pay, I have to think about what a prospective partner is going to contribute to a household, whereas a sixteen-year-old girl doesn't have to think like that.

So, a neutral trait that I give her: romantic. Lily wants to fall in love and she's not going to settle for someone just because he makes a decent income. However, referring back to her previous flaws that I've established for her (susceptible to peer pressure, overly concerned with her public image and reputation), it is important to her that her prospective partner be socially acceptable at the very least, if not charismatic and popular. She's not interested in James's money, but she does like the fact that people like him and she can take him out in public without the two of them being whispered about behind her back.

But! Just because she decided not to pursue Severus does not erase the fact that he was likely her first crush. And that tells me a little about Lily's taste in partners. At this point in his life, Severus is described as, "had a stringy, pallid look about him, like a plant kept in the dark. His hair was lank and greasy and was flopping onto the table, his hooked nose barely half an inch from the surface of the parchment as he scribbled," "Round-shouldered yet angular, he walked in a twitchy manner that recalled a spider, his oily hair swinging about his face," in addition to her blushing at the intensity of his gaze. She had the hots for this weird, sickly Victorian waif of a boy. She probably wanted to spoon-feed soup or something.

And considering how James is described at this age-- "James’s eyes were hazel, his nose was slightly longer than Harry’s, and there was no scar on his forehead, but they had the same thin face, same mouth, same eyebrows. James’s hair stuck up at the back exactly as Harry’s did, his hands could have been Harry’s, and Harry could tell that when James stood up, they would be within an inch of each other’s heights." Now, some people think that the reason Harry is short is because he was malnourished and that he is actually tall in later books due to all the Hogwarts food and therefore James is actually quite tall in this scene, which is valid. But this is not my interpretation though. I view Harry as maintaining his "Seeker build" all his life-- naturally predisposed to being short and scrawny due to the genetics he got from James. James is even described as having a "thin face" here. Plus, James being short, thin, with a "slightly longer" nose is right up Lily's alley. She likes her men thin, delicate, and big-nosed.

(Also, it's absolutely hilarious to me to imagine that James and Severus are just two short, scrawny ass kids fighting each other. James is 100% just Sirius's fancy, little long-haired chihuahua with a Napoleon Complex to match. He carries him around in a pink, sparkly Gucci handbag like Paris Hilton.)

So, James has the looks, but he doesn't act anything like Severus and Lily disparages James's personality time and time again. She says in OotP, "But you’re just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter," and "Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you’ve just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can — I’m surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK." And she doesn't say this in a slap, slap, kiss kind of way. The text uses the adjective "coldly" in the way she speaks to him; this isn't fiery passion, this is disdain (except for the hair bit, she states she clearly thinks a lot about his hair).

Again, this makes sense if her first crush was Severus. Her tastes in personality probably also aligned more in Severus's favor. So, now I've got her romantic likes and dislikes--

Likes: Short, Thin, Prominent Nose, Lots of Hair on Head, Intense, Intellectual, Emotional, Friendly Dislikes: Arrogance, Bullying, Vanity, Violence, Social Ineptitude

Now, Sirius and Remus have this to say in OotP:

“She started going out with him in seventh year,” said Lupin. “Once James had deflated his head a bit,” said Sirius. “And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it,” said Lupin. “Even Snape?” said Harry. “Well,” said Lupin slowly, “Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James, so you couldn’t really expect James to take that lying down, could you?” “And my mum was okay with that?” “She didn’t know too much about it, to tell you the truth,” said Sirius. “I mean, James didn’t take Snape on dates with her and jinx him in front of her, did he?”

Some people interpret Lupin's words to be the definitive truth when he says Severus never lost an opportunity to curse James, but I don't. Lupin is wiggly with the truth in PoA and I have no doubt that he is being wiggly here so as to paint James in a better light to protect his poor, orphaned son from the truth. Do I think Severus cursed James first at times? Absolutely, but I also think the amount of times he did this were fewer and farther between than James cursing Severus first on account of, A) a lack of opportunity, Lupin says he never lost opportunity but how often did that opportunity actually come along? It's difficult to get away with cursing James when he is popular enough to be surrounded by a whole group of people, B) knowing that not only would James retaliate but also the other Marauders as well, and C) knowing that the other Slytherins would not back him up, just like they didn't back him up at the lake. Severus can be petty, vicious, and vengeful, but to me it's seems obvious James is the instigator the majority of the time and that he hexed Severus "for the fun of it" and "because he exists" throughout their Hogwarts career.

Now, regardless of whether or not you believe James changed and matured, or that Severus was the one at fault, or that it was a "rivalry" and not "bullying"-- none of that matters because this is about Lily, and regardless if it was true or not Lily honestly believed that James had changed. As Sirius said, James did not jinx Severus in front of her after sixth year. There are some who say that because Lily chose James, that obviously means that James really is a good person or she would have never picked him. But I want to make Lily a character, not a plot device, and some sort of all-knowing, divine arbitrator who only offers her hand in marriage to the one who is truly noble and good is a plot device. Lily is not all-knowing. She can only make decisions with the facts she knows, and Sirius and Remus admit that some facts were kept secret from her.

So, I give her this positive trait: a highly defined sense of right and wrong and is brave enough to step up when her morals demand it. Now, at times, this trait can also crossover into a flaw and become a rigid sense of right and wrong such as when she tells Severus, "They don’t use Dark Magic, though," which proves to her, in her mind, that the Marauders are morally superior to Mulciber and Avery. Now, I'm not debating that Death Eaters aren't scummy, but Lily in this scene isn't arguing the fact that Mulciber and Avery are morally wrong for their beliefs in blood superiority. Her argument is that the violence the Marauders inflict on others isn't as bad as the violence Mulciber and Avery inflict because the magic the Marauders use isn't technically Dark Magic, which is a very fine line to toe. James uses Scourgify to waterboard Severus, but in Lily's mind this is a lesser offense because Scourgify is not classified as Dark Magic.

I think the key to writing a good character is to acknowledge that what we consider to be a positive trait can also be used as a flaw, and what we see as a flaw can also be seen as a positive trait. Even the other flaws that I gave her - susceptible to peer pressure, overly concerned with her public image and reputation - can be positive in the right circumstance. For example: if your best friend is telling you that the Mulciber guy you've been fawning all over lately is creepy, well, damn, they might have a point. Maybe you should listen to what they have to say, instead of stubbornly doubling down because you are too sure of your own perception and you are determined to go your own way and everyone else can go hang, Severus. Sometimes your peers are pressuring you for a reason. It's called an intervention and they would like you to go to rehab, Sirius.

Now, some people say that dating a former friend's bully, no matter how that friendship might have ended, is not very moral so how strong could Lily's sense of right and wrong be? Now, I personally would never date anyone I knew to be a bully, whether the person they bullied was a friend, stranger, or enemy. But that is my personal sense of right and wrong, not Lily's. If Lily was a Dungeons & Dragons character, her alignment would be "Lawful Good." A Lawful Good character does not mean that they obey every law just because they are laws, it means that they have their own internal set of laws and code that they rigidly follow because they believe this code does the most good for the most people, and are willing to break society's laws if it goes against their own personal moral code.

This leads directly to another personality trait of Lily's, one that she actually shares with Severus: Lily is vindictive. She believes in punishing those who have harmed her or others, regardless of her own personal relationship with them. Severus called her a mudblood? Then she will punish him by calling him Snivellus and leaving him to be brutalized by the Marauders because that is justice to her. She wants to punish him. Because she wants to make him hurt like he hurt her, and some would say that letting someone get sexually assaulted by being stripped naked in public does not fit the crime. I am one of those people. I, personally, think Lily was morally wrong for not getting a teacher in this moment regardless of what Severus said. However, the purpose here is not to sit in judgment of Lily, but to define her character to make her a real, living, messy, contradictory, positive, negative human in my writing (and hopefully for others! I hope this can help other people!).

Now, remember when I said we had to keep in mind that Lily is a product of the 1970s? This is that moment. Lily has a very well-defined sense of right and wrong, and her moral compass aligns with what is right and good in the 1970s, not the 2020s. Lily would not have viewed this as sexual assault. None of the characters would have, not even Severus even though he would be the one forced to deal with the trauma of what happened. At this time in the UK, boys would be caned bare-bottomed in front of their entire class at school as a disciplinary measure. There have been articles and memoirs of boys even being forced to strip down completely in front of their classmates to receive their caning. Even girls were subjected to being caned bare-bottomed, though it was usually done privately or if done publicly only in an all-girls school. When these children spoke out and protested this, the adults ridiculed them. Said they were weak and too coddled and it was good for them. This practice wouldn't end until 1986 when it was officially banned. Male nudity was not treated with the same respect as female nudity. Obviously, we know now (or at least we should know now) that what is considered sexual assault when it happens to a woman should also be considered sexual assault when it happens to a man, but this was nigh unfathomable in the 1970s. People might sympathize with what happened to Severus, but they would not have treated it with the seriousness it deserved. Lily, as a sixteen-year-old child, is not going to spontaneously receive an epiphany that holy shit, this is sexual assault when no one else, not even the adults around her, recognize it as such. She is going to view this moment as everyone else does (minus Severus himself): that this super embarrassing for Severus but no worse than being called a mudblood. Again, I want to reiterate: I am not excusing sexual assault, I am attempting to understand why a character, specifically Lily, would think a certain way.

And now we've arrived at the million-dollar-question, a smile so enigmatic that it would give the Mona Lisa a run for her money: what exactly was Lily feeling in that moment when, "Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile, said, 'Let him down!'"

So, the most popular interpretation is that she secretly thinks James' actions in this moment are actually funny or that she is actually a sadist who enjoys watching someone be humiliated. But, with all that I've built with her character, I don't actually think that is the case. Lily appears in cold, righteous fury when James chokes Severus with Scourgify and demands he leave him alone. After Severus breaks free and casts Sectumsempra and ripping a gash across James's cheek, James casts Levicorpus on Severus, and that's when Lily's mouth twitches in a brief smile. I don't think Lily necessary finds Severus hanging upside down with his underwear exposed funny, I think the smile is more wryly cynical. She has criticized Severus for using Dark Magic, told him that it is worse than the spells the Marauders use, and when Severus loosed an obviously Dark Spell in that moment he was immediately punished by being flung upside and having his underwear exposed in what Lily would view as karmic retribution. Again, I'm not excusing anyone's actions. I am not stating that Severus deserved this or that Lily's interpretation is right, I am just stating what I think Lily is thinking in this moment, and in this moment I think she is thinking: You let your mouth write a check your ass couldn't cash.

And so that is my interpretation of Lily Evans and how I write her in my fics. And, once more, none of this is meant to be character bashing. This is meant to be character enhancing by giving a symbolic metaphor of a character an actual fully-formed personality with warts and all. I don't dislike any of these characters (except Remus), not even James despite my constant dunking on him. I don't have to find a character good or morally right to find them interesting and entertaining.

[trippingontheescalator]

I've noticed this too, and I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with all the economic uncertainty of the times. It seems to me that people cling to social conservatism after experiencing economic hardship. Since I mostly know U.S. history that's what I'll use as examples, but comparing the short skirts, college-bound and sexually liberated flappers of the 1920s when the economy was booming vs the long dresses, the traditional values of the Catholic League of Decency censoring anything subversive in film, etc during the 1930s in the Great Depression. Likewise, Gen Z faced economic uncertainty during the pandemic when their ability to graduate was questioned and they lost their jobs, in addition to what is happening now with skyrocketing prices in the U.S. (good gravey, these groceries are killing me). Like I said, I don't know if that's true for other places, it's just something I've notices here. Gen X and Millennials had already formed their political opinions when all of this happened, while Gen Z was (and is) still young enough to be more malleable.

There's also the technological literacy issue. This purely anecdotal and in no way scientific, but for me personally I've noticed that Gen X and Millennials are much more suspicious and critical of the things they read and see online and less likely to provide information. Boomers are still out here falling for the Nigerian Prince scam because many are still not technologically literate, but Gen Z are watching tiktoks of redpill MRA's and tradwives espousing the glories of subservience and getting sucked in completely (feels all very culty to me). My Gen Z coworker watches these tradwife tiktoks and wants to be a STAH mom on some farm, and I keep trying to tell her "Fine, if that's what you want, but your husband better pay you a living wage for your work and you better pay income taxes for it because otherwise you're not going to have any Social Security! You won't have any retirement saved! Even if he is the perfect man that you say he is and would never divorce you, he could still get in a car crash and die! He could get cancer and be unable to work! And then you'll be a single woman with no work experience and no savings! Cleaning, childcare, and childcare is real, hard work that deserves to be paid, no matter if you do it in the home or outside the home!" And its like I'm talking to a brick wall.

The marauders fans come from a generation where information is so easy to access (we did too in the 90s but not to this extent), social changes are on the rise, there’s visibility everywhere and everything is televised, yet they are the least progressive subsection of the fandom. Ten years ago, even the Snaters had a real understanding of both Severus and the Marauders characters and importance, they weren’t running around glorifying abusers and giving them a narrative value that they don’t have. Fighting tooth and nail against the hard fact that they exist solely to give shape to Severus Snape's backstory is mind blowing. The abuse Severus went through is very real, just like the Marauders are without a doubt the perpetrators. That’s what personally enrages me about them, they have all the information, examples, cues, everything to be better and they’re not. 😶

Younger generations today are actually much more conservative than the early Gen Z, the Millennials, or even Gen X. There are already studies emerging showing that levels of political conservatism and ideas leaning far more towards the right than the left, even within supposedly progressive spaces, are significantly higher than in the three previous generations, and are now on par with Boomers in many respects.

There aren’t any fully consolidated theories yet, but one line of thinking links this shift to the fact that earlier generations were reacting against very repressive, authoritarian systems, which led them to pursue constant cultural and political revolution. In contrast, today’s teenagers haven’t lived through such intense social or political upheaval, so they tend to have a far more individualistic, liberal-market-oriented, and less critically developed view of social conflicts. This often results in radicalisation within right-wing spaces, and a form of watered-down conservatism even within the left.

As I said, these are still early-stage studies and political theories, but judging by what I’ve seen online, they honestly make a lot of sense.

[trippingontheescalator]

After Astarion finds Vellioth beneath the Szarr Mansion--

Karlach: "You're just going to leave your grandad's skull lying around like this?"

Astarion: 😒

[trippingontheescalator]

Shadowzel is so funny to me, because Lae'zel is trying to awkwardly compliment Shadowheart, saying things like "Your skills are improving" and "your hair is pretty"

And Shadowheart is just: "🙄 girl stop we are not friends."

YOU HAD A KNIFE AGAINST HER THROAT. You basically just proposed to her in Githyanki. You are the source of her (literal) bruises. You brought this on yourself, Shadowheart.

[trippingontheescalator]

Wyllstarion is just Wyll handing Astarion a bunch of uno reverse cards.

"I'm a vampire."

"I'm a monster hunter."

"I'm seducing you so you'll never betray me."

"I'm saving myself until I'm in a committed relationship."

"I'm going to sacrifice all these people and ascend."

"My high charisma and gentle romancing will convince you otherwise."

[trippingontheescalator]

So, a post of mine has recently blown up, and I just want to say: it is 100% possible to both write a marauders era fic that is historically accurate and still be as gay and trans and nonbinary as anything that could possibly be written today. All of these things existed back then, people might have struggled to express it verbally without the terminology we have now, and they might have used to terms that were perfectly acceptable in times past but are now discouraged (example, transsexual vs transgender), but people of all kinds still existed. In fact, many of those people wrote books in the past, expressing a wide variety genders and sexualities.

You want some gay guys who get a happy ending (no "bury your gays" trope here!), try Maurice by E. M. Forster. Yeah, that E. M. Forster, of A Passage to India and A Room with a View fame. Originally written in 1913, it wasn't actually published until 1971 after Forster's death. It's about a rich aristocrat getting dicked down by his rugged gamekeeper.

You want some lesbians? Try Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown, published in 1973. Yeah, that Rita Mae Brown, who writes that series of cozy old lady cat mysteries like The Purrfect Murder and Murder, She Meowed. Wrote a semi-autobiographical coming of age novel about the 70s lesbian scene where her main character is just eating up that delicious rubyfruit.

You want some trans men? Try Metamorphoses by Ovid. Published 8 AD. Yep, some Roman guy was writing about trans men in year. fucking. 8. The particular poem in question is "Iphis and Ianthe" and Iphis is a man with a vagina, which is kind of problem because he's supposed to marry the beautiful Ianthe in the morning and Ianthe does not know about this vagina situation. So, Iphis prays to Isis, and the goddess Isis is like, "yeah, I can fix that" and gives him a dick.

If you want trans women... well, there's Myra Beckinridge and the sequel Myron by Gore Vidal, published in 1968 and 1974 respectively. But honestly it's kind of a fucked up and weird book, but then again Gore Vidal was a kind of fucked up bisexual himself with some terrible opinions. Look, not every one of these is going to age well. Myra Beckinridge was an important work that did a lot to subvert gender and sex norms. I would recommend reading a synopsis first to prepare for anything that might be triggering thought.

Fanfiction for a lot of people is a way to relax and enjoy a happier, brighter world, and if that's you then all the power to you. I sincerely hope you find the best fics out there to suit your needs. Not everyone likes historical realism, and not everyone wants to read about the uncomfortable realities of the past, and that is fine. I do. I like reading it, and I will close any fic that doesn't even try to attempt to remember the marauders era is set in the 70s. That's just my particular taste.

There's a paragraph in the novel The Female Man by Joanna Russ (1975 lesbian novel) where the author says farewell to her book and states:

"Live merrily, little daughter-book, even if I can't and we can't; recite yourself to all who will listen; stay hopeful and wise. Wash your face and take your place without a fuss in the Library of Congress, for all books end up there eventually, both little and big. Do not complain when at last you become quaint and old-fashioned, when you grow as outworn as the crinolines of a generation ago and are classed with Spicy Western Stories, Elsie Dinsmore, and The Son of the Sheik; do not mutter angrily to yourself when young persons read you to hrooch and hrch and guffaw, wondering what the dickens you were all about. Do not get glum when you are no longer understood, little book. Do not curse your fate. Do not reach up from readers' laps and punch the readers' noses.

Rejoice, little book!

For on that day, we will be free."

And Russ is stating that it is a good thing when books and movies become outdated and are seen as politically incorrect, like Myra Beckinridge, because this means that society has evolved. We know better now, or at least we know more than we did when it was written. And we are continuously striving to do better and be better and more accepting. Anyway, I don't know where I'm going with this except that I want more gay historically accurate 1970s snape fics, and I'm not going to apologize for that.

[trippingontheescalator]

Lily 100% needed feminist friends, but I don't think we can lay all of it at the feet of her parents. Unfortunately that was just the 70s. Like, this is a time period where it was pretty common for male characters to rape female characters and that would magically make the female characters fall in love with the male characters because they're so "passionate" and "overwhelmed with love." This is the kind of shit Lily would be consuming through films and books. Marital rape was 100% legal and most people didn't think a spouse had any right to say no except for those bra-burning feminists. If James hit Lily, a lot of people, not just her parents, would probably ask, "What did you do?" And think she drove him to it. The culture was crazy back then.

Snape didn’t only have bad examples of Muggles! He knew Lily’s parents, saw that they lived well, and that they were kind. Did it never cross his mind, “Oh… so not all Muggles are bad! I might be wrong”?

You're asking a teenager whose main Muggle figure in his life was his abusive father, who only saw poverty, filth, and a miserable neighborhood around him—which to him represented the Muggle world—and who, on top of that, meets Lily and Petunia, and the first thing Petunia does is mock him for how he's dressed, to rationalize that maybe not everything was bad? Why don’t you ask the same of Dumbledore, who, without any valid reason, was conspiring with his boyfriend to take over the world and get rid of Muggles?

And sorry, but the whole thing about Lily's parents is pure headcanon. There is nothing in canon that indicates Severus knew Lily’s parents or used to spend time at the Evans' house. We can speculate about it or say it makes sense in a fanfic, but it’s not canon—nor is it canon that if he did know the Evans, they treated him well or had no prejudices against him. What we can rationally assume is that if there were anyone primarily responsible for Petunia developing all that inferiority complex and envy towards her sister, it was precisely her parents, due to their clear favoritism towards Lily. So… sorry, not buying it.

[trippingontheescalator]

Okay, I tried googling, but couldn't find an answer, and I need other opinions for possible fanfic-related reasons lol-- but is there any significance to Astarion, Dalyria, and Violet all being white-haired elves (although with the black streaks in Violet's hair, her white hair might be a dye job)? I've seen theories that Astarion resembled Vellioth and that's why Cazador seemed to target him more, and that Astarion was one of the older spawns. Is there any official listing of which spawn came first? Because I've got a theory that Dalyria, Astarion, and Violet are the oldest and the only ones Cazador actually chose because he wanted these spawns for himself, as sort of a "Brides of Dracula" situation, and that Violet dyes her hair white to fit Cazador's "theme" (whether that theme is Vellioth, well, I'm not sure). The others -- Petras, Yousen, Leon, and Aurelia -- came after Cazador made his deal with Mephistopheles, either because they were useful or because they were simply the first few spawn Cazador made after making the deal before he realized "Oh, this is going to take forever and what the hell am I even going to do with 7000 more of these? I don't have enough bunk beds for all of them. Eh, I'll just shove them in cages in my basement for the next century."

[trippingontheescalator]

The Marauders Era Historical Resource Guide Part 1: Pre-1960 to 1970

So, to start with, let's take a look at what came before the Marauders, at some of what their parents experienced because this will influence how they raise their children.

Cokeworth, being Muggle, is the easiest to cover. Cokeworth probably experienced a population boom in the Victorian era for either one of two reasons (possibly both reasons!): the "coke" in cokeworth refers to a byproduct of coal that was very important in the Victorian era as a source of fuel for coal-burning stoves and furnaces. We know Cokeworth is in the Midlands, and coal mining was a big industry in the Black Country, so Cokeworth could have coal mines. The name "Spinner's End" implies that there might also have been a textile mill there as well. The textile industry was huge in the Victorian era. Conditions for either job were, needless to say, brutal. To get an idea of what Severus's grandparents and great-grandparents lives might have been like in Cokeworth, I recommend checking out 24 Hours in the Past on YouTube: 24 hours in the Victorian era - YouTube (only the first 8 videos in the playlist)

If the Snape family are native to the area, they probably worked in either one of these two industries (or both!). Other options would be the service industry, which was very large up until the 1940s (to get an idea of what life was like for servants, I'd recommend reading the biography Below Stairs by Margaret Powell). Even a middle class family had a servant or two, but by 1960 this was a thing of the past. Only the wealthy had servants, though Eileen might have taken on work as a charwoman (cleaning lady).

Or there was workhouse. The Victorian workhouse of Oliver Twist was still very much a thing until 1948 when the NHS was formed. Now, granted, by the 1930s it wasn't quite the Dicksonian terror it had once been (though it still was not what I call great), but Tobias could have very well ended up in a workhouse during his childhood. If he was illegitimate, he might have been born in one. To get an idea of what the workhouse was like during the 1900s, I'd recommend reading about Charlie Chaplin's early life. Yep, that Charlie Chaplin, famous actor of the silent screen spent a portion of his childhood in a workhouse.

The house in Spinner's End does seem to be from this era as well. This meant that it would have been built with no running water and either gas lamps or lit by candles. The government started to refurbish these old houses with running water and electricity by the late 1960s, which meant that for much of Severus's early life he would not have had access to running water or electricity, maybe even as far as 9 years old. He would have had to pump water by hand at the neighborhood pump.

With this he and his family would do laundry, fill a bathtub, wash dishes, and cook with. There would have been an outhouse, probably one he would have shared with his neighbors. Here's a picture of an ex-council house outhouse from the 1950s:

Lily's family, in contrast, has either middle class or lower middle class roots. The Evanses are probably either highly skilled blue collar workers (electricians, chefs, land surveyors, nurses, etc) or are white-collar but are not extremely high paying like doctor or lawyer (such as teachers, secretaries, middle managers). However even the Evanses would have experienced deprivation due to wartime rationing, which only ended 4 years before the characters were born. Mrs. Evans was likely a homemaker. Most likely, her house was built with running water and electricity in the 1930s-1960s.

Remus's mother was a Muggle, and his father Lyall was a civil servant who worked for the Ministry. Lyall's anti-werewolf comments led to Greyback retaliating and biting Remus. From this we can infer two things: that Lyall was important enough that the Daily Prophet recorded his statement (Greyback had to have found out what he said somehow, and I don't think he was hanging around the Ministry water cooler listening to gossip), and that this means the Lupins were probably middle to upper-middle class. (Adult Lupin is poor because he can't get a job due to his condition, child Lupin, however, was not poor and considering how everyone's parents are dead in these books, safe to say his parents died at some point prior to PoA)

Lily probably would have grown up with a television, though probably not a color tv (my mother didn't get a color tv until high school, the mid 1970s, and she was shocked to realize The Wizard of Oz, which was periodically played on tv, was actually in color). Severus probably wouldn't have gotten a tv until after he started Hogwarts. By this time a basic black-and-white television would have cost £70 (about £940 today). In contrast, a color tv would have been much more expensive. Remus might not have had a television at all, if his mother had fully integrated into the wizarding world. He might have had a telephone though, so that his mother could keep in touch with her family. Lily most definitely would have had one. Severus might not have. If anyone in his family needed to make a phone call, they might have gone to a neighbor or pub. If there was an emergency, Lily or Severus might have used an honest-to-gods police box (its not just for time travel). These would have been phased out in the 1970s, during their school years.

Children would have been free range. Even for someone like Lily who grew up in a loving home with good parents would have been expected at as young as five or six to go to the store by herself with money her parents gave her and spend the rest of the day roaming the streets and playing with Severus and other neighborhood kids. You might be thinking, wasn't that dangerous? Yep, Diana Tift was abducted and murdered in 1965 at the age of five when she was walking home alone from her grandmother's house. That's just what they did back then. Lily might even have been expected to pick up cigarettes or liquor for her parents at such a young age. Her parents most likely would have smoked, so would Severus's, and they themselves would have probably picked up the habit. It was much more socially acceptable back then, even for teens. So was child abuse. People might not personally approve if they saw Tobias Snape beating his son, but few would intervene. They would say, "how he disciplines his family is his business."

Corporal punishment was permitted in schools until 1986. Caning was the preferred method, sometimes on the bare bottom and in front of the rest of the school, and hard enough to make them bleed. Girls were not exempt from this. Girls might be more often to get beat on the hands if the school was co-ed, but if it was an all-girls school then they were probably canned bare bottomed as well. Here is a series of school articles from 1976 about it: Caning and strapping of girls and boys in UK schools, January 1976 - CORPUN ARCHIVE uksc7601 Severus, if he did not experience caning himself, would have seen it done. Lily might have gone to a girls' school and experienced it herself, or seen it done, or else be hit on the hands. Since Remus's family seems to be fully integrated into the WW, he probably didn't experience this since he most likely didn't attend school at all. To get a better idea of the sort of school Severus might have gone to, here is a tv news report from 1969 about a school serving an impoverished, rought neighborhood in Sheffield: British Education in the 1960s | It's a battle ground | Education | 1960s | Report | 1969 - YouTube To learn more about the sort of school Lily might have gone to, you might want to check out The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark.

A film that's set in an East London British school from 1967 is To Sir, with Love starring Sidney Poitier. You know those cheesy movies from the 80s and 90s about a white teacher going to an inner city school? This movie the exact opposite, where an African-American teacher goes to a run down British school to teach white kids how to read. It stars Sidney Poitier, one of the best actors of all time.

All three (yes, even probably Remus) would have been aware of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear annihilation. The UK was an ally to the US during the war. Britain occupied a part of Germany after WW2, they were involved in spying and in combat in Korea. It was Winston Churchill that coined the phrase "Iron Curtain." There wasn't desk drills where children were taught to hide under desks in the case of a nuclear attack like in the US, but in 1974 the British government published "Protect and Serve" (https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/protect-and-survive), a pamphlet outlining how to survive in case of a nuclear attack. The bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima would have been a terrifying thing for the wizarding world to behold, who had always considered Muggles to be powerless against magic. I can definitely see how the fear and paranoia of cold war nuclear attacks would inflame the rising tensions that sparked the first wizarding war.

James and Sirius would have grown up very differently. Both of them are exceedingly rich, both are purebloods (though only Sirius is considered one of the Sacred 28), and both would have had limited contact with the Muggle world.

The wizarding world seems to be very old-fashioned in many ways, though less sexist to a certain extent (though JKR can't help but infuse it with her own particular brand of misogyny). Whether it's homophobic is a coin toss. You can either state that Dumbledore was hiding his sexuality (though he definitely would want to hide he had the hots for Grindelwald lol) or its so unremarkable to the WW that it's not worth commenting about. There's a whole thing breeding thing going on in the pureblood world, so I can definitely see it as a "gay is fine, so long as you still do your duty and reproduce" kind of thing. As for trans issues, I'm sure JKR has her own opinion about that, but fuck her. If McGonagall can teach 11 year olds to turn a rat into a goblet, people can change their genders. However, they wouldn't call themselves trans or transgender, they would use the term transsexual or, less accurately, transvestite. Muggles would use this word as well. Neither of these were considered slurs at the time and were widely accepted by the community. Likewise, they wouldn't really use gay. It was certainly around by this point but it wasn't as common. Queer, lesbian, and homosexual were all used. Lily and Severus probably would not have encountered this. There were certainly poor and middle class gay people in places like Cokeworth, but the sodomy laws weren't overturned until 1967 and even then only for men over 21. Severus might have come into contact with the seedy underbelly considering where he grew up. There might have been prostitution and it might have been area for "cruising" (anonymous public sexual encounters between gay men, since it was illegal anonymity was important, so men would go to places known to be an area for cruising and have sex there).

The most high tech thing the WW is shown to have is Molly's radio. Considering just how obsessed the WW seems to be with blood status, the fact that there doesn't seem to be a mini-skirt robe option and everything is ankle-length, it's giving Downton Abbey. It's giving Jane Austen. The Ministry itself is almost a monarchy. The Wizengamot is both the judicial system and the legislative governing body. The Minister of Magic is voted in, except when the Wizengamot decides to name who they want as Minister, votes be damned, like what they tried to do with Dumbledore. The WW has never heard of "checks and balances."

The WW is harder to pin down in a historical context because it is a fantasy world that seems slightly out of step with the real one. It's safe to assume that both wartime rationing and the Blitz probably had some impact. They might not have understood exactly why it was so difficult to get sugar. Considering how small the population is, the WW might not spend much time on farming produce themselves and choose to rely on Muggles for that. Stepping out of Diagon Alley only to see the street is now a smouldering ruin would be jarring. Going to Hogwarts and learning that your Muggleborn classmate's parents died during the Blitz. Hearing that the entire wizarding communities in Nagasaki and Hiroshima were obliterated in a blink of the eye.

The world outside the WW is changing fast, even for Muggles. In 1960, Penguin Books was tried for publishing Lady Chatterley's Lover on obscenity charges. Barrister Mervyn Griffith-Jones infamously said, "Is it a book you would even wish your wife or your servants to read?" Which was viciously mocked as being put of touch. Penguin was found not guilty. I can definitely see why there was a conservative, reactionary terrorist-cult on the rise in the WW as the 1960s progressed.

Fleamont, we know, was in charge of his company. Sirius's father Orion likely had a job as well because being one of the "idle rich" is not looked upon favorably no matter how rich you were (even Lucius has a job on the Board of Governors). Law, charity, and government work are the most likely options. Euphemia and Walburga would have been involved in some sort of charity work (what Walburga thinks of as "charity" I can only imagine lol).

As far as I can tell, the WW has no form of primary education, which makes sense since they haven't really evolved since the 1910s. Education was considered the responsibility of the parents. For someone like James or Sirius, that would mean hiring first a governess and then a male tutor when they were old enough to teach them maths, writing, etc. For someone like Remus, who is in the middle class, then might mean sending him to a privately-run day school in someone's house that might have 5 - 10 students, or his parents teaching him at home. Now, the best novel about a governess is Jane Eyre, but she's rarely shown actually teaching, so if you want to see more about governesses, go with Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte (the other, other Bronte sister).

Expect Part II covering the 1970s... sometime.

@charlotterhea it was your tags that inspired me to write this! I hope you write that fic!

[trippingontheescalator]

#oof yes#that's why i'd be nervous writing a marauders' era fic#the amount of details you might have difficulty researching#because you don't even know what you have to research#puts me off#i'm not a huge researcher anyway#writing#fanfiction

You know what, these tags here have inspired me to write a historical research guide for the Marauders Era. Because I don't want to stifle anyone's creativity with this post, but research can be very daunting! Yeah, I'm gonna do it.

Sometimes I think this fandom forgets that the Marauders and Snape are boomers. I just saw an "rip Lily Evans you would have loved Dolly Parton" post and like... Dolly Parton began her career in the 60s. Lily most definitely would have listened to "Jolene" as a 13 year old kid. And as a fanfic writer myself, I don't want to unnecessarily dunk on anyone's hard work, but it is a pet peeve of mine when I search for fics set in the Marauders era during the 1970s and the characters all sound like they are heavily involved in 2024 tumblr discourse. These kids would have never heard the term "genderfluid." They would call themselves transsexual or a butch dyke and there would be 212% more cigarette smoke, just everywhere. Fuck there was a designated smoking area at my boomer parents' high school for students and so long as the parents signed the permission slip the kids could go there and smoke. This was incredibly common (at least in American high schools) pre-1980s. Like, I can see the Evans family playing a game of lawn darts, Mr Evans with a beer in one hand, a cigarette in his mouth, throwing highly dangerous lawn darts that would eventually be recalled because of all the deaths it caused. Severus Snape had most certainly absorbed lead from the leaded paint in his house. Nobody was going to call the cops on any abuse they might see going on in the Snape's house because its the 1960/1970s and "how Mr. Snape disciplines his son is his business." War rationing had just ended 6 years before Snape, Lily, and the Marauders were born. Mental illness was extremely taboo, dyslexia wasn't really recognized in schools or talked about until the 1980s, after the Marauders had graduated, a lot of people were still calling PTSD "shell shock." For Muggles, there was no real DNA testing (it was in its infancy), no cellphones you had to pray there was a payphone nearby, and you wpuld talk to a telephone operator. It wasn't until 1966 that the UK switched to an all-digit telephone numbers. Before then instead of an area code it was a central office in every city/region that used letters. So if Lily, as a six year old girl, wanted to talk to her grandma in Manchester, her mother would have dialed something like MAN-9126 (I actually have no idea what Manchester's central office code was lol, this is just an example). Cokeworth is likely a Victorian mill town, and the major push to replace outdoor plumbing with indoor plumbing didn't start until the 1960s. Severus would have most likely spent his early years without indoor plumbing while living in a rowhouse built in the 1860s. Tubs would have had to be filled by hand, laundry scrubbed by hand and hung out to dry, he would have used an outdoor toilet and considering he is in a poor urban area he most likely would have shared this toilet with his neighbors in the other rowhouses.

These characters' story are shaped by the time they lived in, and sometimes I think the fandom doesn't realize how different the 1960s and 1970s really was.