Beloit College: The FAIL Continues...

[mijan]

They wrote back!  Would you believe it!  And not only did they write back, they showed that they're even less insightful than we thought!  It was suggested that perhaps these people were thinking of the movies, and Dan Radcliffe, who is indeed the age of the current crop of college freshmen.  Or, perhaps they were thinking that the saga with the books began when these pip-squeaks were born, and therefore they technically grew up with the books.  To give the benefit of the doubt, I considered these options, and if either one had been presented as the explanation, then I could have accepted it.

But... oh no.  These people are indeed literate, which only makes their error more embarrassing for them. They got their answer out of a book - specifically, JKR's official biography.  The entire contents of the reply I got were a quote from JKR's biography, and the e-mail signature of Beloit's Director of Public Affairs:

“…But in 1990, my then boyfriend and I decided to move up to Manchester together. It was after a weekend's flat-hunting, when I was travelling back to London on my own on a crowded train, that the idea for Harry Potter simply fell into my head.”

Ron Nief
Director, Public Affairs
Beloit College
700 College St.
Beloit, Wis. 53511
Office (608) 363-2137
Cell (608) 770-2625

So, they can read and quote, but apparently they can't think and interpret.  Or add.

Naturally, I had to reply:

Dear Ron,

That was when the book was conceived, but if you look at the precise dates in the books, Harry's birth date is absolutely set at July 31st, 1980.

The first timeline anchor was Nearly-Headless Nick's deathday cake in Chamber of Secrets. The cake is for Sir Nick's 500th deathday, and says that died Oct 31 1492. That was the second book, in which Harry was 12 years old.  If Harry was 12 in 1992, then he was born in 1980.

Also, in the seventh book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", the date of the deaths of Lily and James Potter is read directly from their tombstone: at October 31st, 1981.  Harry was known to be just over a year old when his parents were killed.

When J.K. Rowling conceived of Harry's character in 1990, he was a 10-year old boy in her mind, about to turn 11.

Finally, this timeline (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/timeline.html) has been accepted by Warner Brothers AND admittedly referenced by J.K. Rowling as the most definitive and accurate available timeline of events in the Harry Potter series.  (A detail of this timeline is specific to Harry's life, and is found here: http://www.hp-lexicon.org/timelines/timeline_harry.html)

Therefore, the hard-fast dates in the books are both in agreement: the character Harry Potter was born in 1980, and would be 28 years old today.

Really, a tiny bit of research goes a long way.

Regards,
Michelle
Biologist, academic, and die-hard Harry Potter fan.

So... let's see where it goes from there.  I love it when people try to put me in my place when, clearly, they were wrong all along. 

DON'T MESS WITH FANDOM, PUNY MUGGLES!  WE ARE TEH GEEKS!  WE WILL PWN YOU!

Comments

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Precisely. And not only does it get them nowhere, but they're typically made to look like jack asses because fandomers are quite clever, typically right, and very very stubborn. The fandomer WILL win because the fandomer IS correct, and the puny Muggle mortal will find himself in a perpetual state of *headdesk*.

Better to surrender early and get it over with.