I don’t normally do movie reviews, but a certain video came up in my YouTube recommendations that I simply couldn’t refrain from discussing. The scene I am discussing today occurs at the end of the first movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I will link that video at the end, but something stuck out to me about this whole scene in general. 

The Slytherin house worked hard for that win.
They played against the odds, subverting all the social norms of the house that they get placed into based on personality traits they don’t control, becoming the damned of the school by sheer coincidence. They squeeze out that extra effort to succeed, to finally be recognized despite favoritism towards other houses. And for what? Only for Dumbledore to sweep the medal from their hands and the podium from beneath their very feet, erasing not only the hard work of the younger students, but the whole house of young adults. No wonder these kids grow up to be evil. They’re taught from the most influential points of their life that their own hard work is irrelevant. Perseverance is irrelevant. All that matters is connections in high places and luck. For heaven’s sake, they spend their teen years in a dungeon. They’re condemned before they can even prove their worth, locked away in an echo chamber of unhealthy ideals instilled in them to no fault of their own.

What’s more is that this was planned. Those banners were never green. They were always red. That joke of a headmaster, Bumblesnore, had those points locked in before he even walked in the room. He deliberately decided that he was willing to blindside an entire house of promising magic users with the cold, hard truth of the scenario. It was rigged from the start.

This act can’t even be justified by Harry and friends saving the world. Harry’s victory in that chamber did nothing. In fact, had he not gone down there in the first place, the stone that would have given Voldemort immortality would’ve never been endangered in the first place. Harry being down there only caused injury to himself and delayed the inevitable. And what reprimand did Harry receive? A cart of sweets. The fruits of non-existent labors. A result of nothing more than the situation of his birth. He was in no way skilled enough to have defeated Quirrell or Voldemort in that scenario. Had he been anyone else, he would’ve just essentially ended the wizarding world as we know it.

But no. Let’s reward blind luck. Let’s congratulate the foolishness of nearly giving the worst wizard known to man immortality, prevented only by a proverbial hat draw. Why reward effort, skill, hard work? Harry was born with loving parents, so an entire community can be deceived into believing they have claimed a hard won victory after a year of torment, only to have the wool torn off their eyes to see the harsh reality of the world.
From where they’re standing, it must seem like a 4 carat run of bad luck. However, the truth is that it was rigged from the start. Slytherin never had a chance. And it didn’t stop there. Everyone else in that hall gave a standing ovation for this public mockery and shame of an entire generation of wizards with the skills and wits to prevail against the odds. The other two houses didn’t even want to win. They just wanted to see Slytherin lose. Why? Well, because they were themselves. Because they had the skills, the determination to win, despite the already crushing blow of being placed in “the bad house”. It’s sickening.

Anyways, thank you for coming to my TedTalk. I’ll see you next time.

link to YouTube Video: Well done Slytherin. However.