I like that show where they solve all the murd3rs ([info]cedarlibrarian) wrote,
@ 2008-08-20 09:41:00
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Current mood: mathematical
Current music:too bad she only thinks about the Lord above
Entry tags:harry potter

Nobody goes to Beloit College to study math
I usually love the Beloit College Mindset List, but this year it made me cross my eyes.

The first item on the list is "Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team."

Except.

Any fan worth his/her salt knows that Harry Potter was born in 1980, not 1990 as the Mindset List sets most of the births for the Beloit College Class of 2012. Yes, yes, we all know J.K. Rowling can't add and subtract but the books are pretty clear on this one. I'm wondering how they arrived at the Harry Potter Could Be a Classmate conclusion. My only theory is that they counted Harry as being 11 years old at the time of the US publication of SS, which would mean Harry was born in 1987 and could be a classmate of theirs if Beloit had a Quidditch team. They don't, though. I don't think Quidditch is popular in Division III schools.


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[info]pinkfinity
2008-08-20 02:07 pm UTC (link)
I think they're using movie canon, which takes place ten years after the books do, if you look at the various newspapers in PS/SS and CoS (but which still have the deaths of the Riddles in 1946, not 1956 as would have been the case to make the CoS opening "50 years before" CoS.

In other words, book-canon is clear - Harry would've been the class of 2001 or 2002. Movie canon is a hodge podge of messiness anyway.

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[info]cedarlibrarian
2008-08-20 02:45 pm UTC (link)
I'm not buying that. It makes zero sense to not use the source material, and that would also assume that someone is paying close enough attention to the movies to note when they take place, but didn't pay close attention to the books. For a lot of books that are made into movies I could see why the person (people) putting this list together might have used movie canon, but not for HP.

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[info]janni
2008-08-20 02:38 pm UTC (link)
Even aside from that, this seems one of their less inspired lists.

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[info]schmevil
2008-08-20 03:21 pm UTC (link)
I don't think Quidditch is popular in Division III schools.

One of the great mysteries and/or injustices of life.

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[info]cedarlibrarian
2008-08-21 05:21 pm UTC (link)
I know, right? They're all so traditional. Basketball. Whatever.

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[info]imaginarycircus
2008-08-20 03:59 pm UTC (link)
I think they are talking about the fact that these kids were 7 and 8 when the books first came out and so in terms of publishing Harry could be a college sophomore and these kids think of him as their age more or less. But still you are so right.

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[info]flutastic
2008-08-20 04:35 pm UTC (link)
May I add that I LOVE that Hermione is two days older than me? She had to be a Virgo. :)

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[info]cedarlibrarian
2008-08-21 05:26 pm UTC (link)
Of course she did. What else could she possibly be?

I think the only other Aquarius in the book is Arthur Weasley, which makes sense. We're eccentric humanitarians. :)

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[info]patchfire
2008-08-20 04:49 pm UTC (link)
I just went and checked the list for the year I entered college, which was the first year that they did the list.

I disagreed with 75-90% of it. Which makes me wonder how accurate this thing really is for later years...

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[info]elohvee
2008-08-20 04:51 pm UTC (link)
The only real excuse is that the books were released in the US so that even though Harry was technically ten years old than us, we were always the same age when reading. I read SS when I was eleven and DH when I was seventeen.

Interestingly enough, the College of William and Mary does have a Quidditch team, and apparently they're very competative. I was thisclose to enrolling there instead of UVA just out of curiosity as to what they actually do.

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[info]cedarlibrarian
2008-08-21 05:27 pm UTC (link)
You know, that is a really good point, and I bet that's exactly what they were thinking. I mean, they're still WRONG and I'll be nice and not point out that we waited 3 years between GoF and OotP, but I can just about follow the logic.

Edited at 2008-08-21 05:27 pm UTC

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[info]fasterthanlight
2008-08-21 12:19 pm UTC (link)
This whole post was wonderful, but your last sentence?

Priceless!

Yay!

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