I can absolutely see American wizard parents preferring to send their child to Hogwarts instead of Ilvermorny, particularly if their ancestors were British. Given how long-lived wizards seem to be, they might even be relatively recent ancestors.

Not that just anyone can enroll at Hogwarts, of course. When Hagrid says of Harry that "his name's been down ever since he were born," that implies to me that you have to pre-register for a spot somehow. There's sense in this: it's a smallish castle, there's only so much space in the dorms, and there are only so many staff and so many hours for classes in the day. They can't take everyone.

Being familiar with Muggle things does seem right out, though.

~Neshomeh

My own headcanon is that they're obliviated and left to live normal muggle lives.

But to me I think it sounds like she started taking when she transformed back. But I can see it being interpreted the other way.

Yeah, it reads as though McGonagall speaks while she is in the act of transforming back, which doesn't make much sense. I think J.K.R. probably should have written the passage something like this:

Professor McGonagall turned back into herself with a faint pop. "Really, what has got into you all today?" she said, staring around at them all. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from a class."

That puts events in the order they happen (which is very important for precisely the reasons shown in this example) and doesn't have her doing things at the same time that she shouldn't.

See also: Ing Disease.

~Neshomeh

I think a lot of the complaints (and I've just read an actual article about them, so I know what at least some of them are) come from a different perspective than mine on why this exists in the first place. I'd like to address that in two points.

1/ Out-of-universe, what is this? It's a promotional piece for a new film. How much of a hand did JKR have in creating the Fantastic Beasts movie? Wikipedia says she wrote the script; did she also get to choose where it would be set? How the main characters would be cast? Whether it would be action, thriller, drama?

I'm guessing not. I'm guessing that the production team had far more to do with that, dictating what would make it 'a good (ie, profitable) movie'. Which means that the "History" had to end up with a 1920s America in which white people in a white city run an oppressive government (okay, that's still technically speculation) and do the same kind of magic that people want to see in the film. Because that's what's in the film.

Now, this says nothing about all the backstory. She could've written ten thousand words about how the Native Americans use a magic based on the natural environment (sorry, that's offensive) their actual beliefs (no, that is too), well, on whatever it is that she's allowed to comment on (any suggestions?). But:

2/ In-universe, "The History..." is a blatant propaganda piece. MACUSA is so wonderful! They run everything! They've been called that since a hundred years before the name made sense because they're so historical! Segregation is totally a good idea and Dorcus was such a dorcus, it's all her fault! The Demon Headmaster is a wonderful man! All Hail President Pickles - she even has a sense of humour!

This is not an unbiased story. It's predicated on the idea that Europeans are the best people and the government is the best of all possible governments. It gives lip service to the idea that there might be a few people who disagree, but then relentlessly drives home the point that President Pickles is the only True Way for American wizardry.

So yes, it forces Native magic (and it was a serious question for everyone: how could she have written that part that would not have offended everyone?) into the mould of European magic and ignores everything that doesn't fit. It makes zero mention of the massive African magical community brought over by force. It says that the magical segregation was forced on the good guys by the actions of the people they segregated themselves away from. It claims that hunting down family lines, genociding magical species, and Oblivating on a massive scale is a good idea.

And it's blatantly biased, not on JKR's end, but on the end of the unnamed in-universe writer of the piece. This is... it's like reading a Soviet history textbook. Half of the information you get is actually into the mindset of the system that created it, obtained by reading between the lines, not by just reading the words on the pace.

But people are taking it at face-value, and I think that's a real shame.

hS

(And to repeat my question a third time so it doesn't get lost: giving Natives a connection to nature is offensive. Saying they didn't have as high a technology level as Europeans is offensive. Working their genuine beliefs into a story is offensive. Claiming they helped European wizards on the run is offensive. (All from the article I linked to.) So: what should JKR have written that would not be offensive? Because not saying much about them is also offensive...)

Oh, that's brilliant! Here, let me follow up with an addendum of my own:

Darn it, the reason we moved out here in the first place was to get away from the government. We moved across the Rocky Mountains just so that we would have a chance to relax, mingle with our no-maj neighbors, and generally not have the government poking into every bit of our personal lives.

We didn't expect them to move out here too!

Ah well, joke's on them. We still practice our magic, openly and in full view of all our friends and coworkers. We've been flaunting the International Statute of secrecy for years. Our magic has been broadcast over the whole world, and still they are ignorant. We're hiding in plain sight, because everyone knows we practice magic- movie magic.

Everyone knows that you can't ordinarily get what you see on screen in reality. What they don't know is that sometimes you can and do. Sometimes the magic shown on screen is the real deal, and sometimes the effects have been produced by supernatural means. Our magic has allowed directors to go all-out, and make movies truly spectacular. Our magic and their science have woven together to make something amazing.

Really, it's incredible what we can get away with. Sure, we have a bit of a scourer problem, but quite frankly 'wizard' isn't the weirdest thing we've been called. They can call us out on it all they want. It'll just get lost in a sea of rumors about us and everyone else in this business, and when we notice, we and/or our no-maj allies will deal with them (by ruining their creditability, how did you think we'd go about it?).

We even recently helped release a whole movie series depicting the wizarding world, and we're still living mostly unmolested. Well, it helps that it's an adaption of J.K. Rowling's books. That woman is brilliant, telling the whole world about wizards in such a way that if they ever try to stop her, it would simply be evidence for what she says being true.

So if you want to be able to live as you choose, make friends and fall in love with whoever you want, and really make a difference in the world at large, come to Hollywood. Just make sure what you do for the movies can be covered up as special effects and be careful in front of the tourists.

Where'd you get the idea for Pure-Majs as a phrase? It's just occurred to me that it's a bit weird we never hear about any pureblood-aimed insults (though not all that weird, considering setting and such) but yeah. Also I like 'the Rap' as slang for Rappaport's Law.

Though I am now a bit worried about the rest of New England... Maybe New York State is basically no one but people who want to stick to the capital for job reasons, and the rest of New England is... wizard-populated, but in little enclaves and no big cities? Like, there's no real wizarding population in Hartford or Boston, maybe? Hm.

And, well, Ilvermorny is definitely an ominous presence. Kinda makes me want to write about some muggleborn kid who gets dragged up there, for better or (more likely) worse...

As a piece to camera by Kevin Spacey in that adaptation of House Of Cards Netflix did. Sterling stuff. =]

And if you can believe it, I think we're being too kind to MACUSA. Take a look at them:





I'm pretty sure that's President Picquery there. And she does not look like a President.

That's not a president's office - that's a throne room doing dual service as a courtroom, and a courtroom in which there is only one person acting as judge and jury. That decor in the background isn't the Classical style America has always preferred for its governmental buildings - it's faux-Gothic, evoking the cathedrals of the Old World. And that's no uniform of office - that's a crown.

She may call herself President, but Picquery is quite clearly Queen and High Priestess of American Magic.

And I am quite convinced that the film(s?) will not show the reformation of MACUSA - they will show its overthrow and fall.

And I am right behind that.

hS

[MINI SPOILER WALL. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED]

There's the issue of The New Salem Philanthropic Society... or basically the 1920s Neo Witch Hunters; "a fanatical No-Maj group looking to expose and destroy wizards and witches."

I guess now we know who started it all *Looks at Dorcus Twelvetrees*

It says a lot on its own.

Prohibition was enforced by the government, and the law- while of course there were many who went to speakeasies and such and there were plenty of deaths from alcohol poisoning (the government actually spiked at least once large source of alcohol that wasn't normally for drinking but they suspected was being imbibed and plenty of people died or went blind or such as a result), generally speaking it was something that was unpopular amongst the men and largely supported by the women who had campaigned for it in the first place. Prohibition was more complex than you're implying, and being found drunk during Prohibition was indeed something that made someone conspicuous depending on the region.

What we can take out of this is the fact that MACUSA took such a completely different approach (against the national Muggle government) based on the president's decision.

Maybe the fantastic beasts movie will have some kind of plot point involving the law being loosened?

Also, you want to hear my INCREDIBLY depressing (to me) headcanon about wizarding society in America? Please do tell me if you see any logical holes in it because I really want this to not work but I can't get it out of my head.


..................................

So, at this point that the stories are being written. We know from previous writing that pureblood wizards were relatively rare in early America, and muggleborns were the majority. And given how purebloods act in Harry Potter, and the massive amounts of antimuggle prejudice, it seems likely that halfblood wizards were an extreme minority. So the only way I can square 'massive amounts of distrust towards muggles, including segregation laws and heavy punishments for contacting them' and 'muggleborns are probably the majority population' is... Ugh. If the wizarding government, upon finding out a kid has magic, finds the kid, mindwipes family, takes the kid, and hands them over to some wizarding couple to be raised 'properly.' This'd even line up with the apparent police state and the crushing of indigenous magic.

I really don't want this to work, but I really can't think of any other way to make this make sense. Well, that or the idea that the MACUSA literally only governs the parts of America that had buildings on them in the 1690s and never expanded, and the rest of America has different laws and considers MACUSA to be a bunch of hysterical creeps (however, they are hysterical creeps who had close ties with the British wizarding world and were there first, so the British pretend that they're the actual government and don't recognize whatever the rest of America has and that is why they would teach that Ilvermorny is the primary American school.) This doesn't really work with the stuff about Louisiana and New Orleans, though.

Also, Ilvermorny is supposedly the school for North America but it's governed by American laws. Do Wizarding Canada and Wizarding Mexico not have their own schools? WHY? Does JKR think that the US has a similar relationship to Canada and Mexico as Ireland and Scotland do to Britain?

Also also, I thought it was just AMERICANS who thought we contributed a lot in WW1. If memory serves, we mostly came in at the end. That doesn't really mesh with 'oh yeah wizard Americans had a lot of victories' unless Wizarding America got involved a lot sooner, which, you kind of need to explain that as well.

Also x3 combo, I don't think the thunderbird myths make it very similar to a phoenix. It's a bird big enough that its wingbeats make thunder and its eyes make lightning. It doesn't regenerate or heal or have much in common with the phoenix besides 'magic bird,' it's got more to do with the Roc, if you're going to compare things, right?

I am reminded that the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film is set during this period, and as such Rappaport's Law may yet be involved in the plot in some fashion.

As for the prevalence of Dark magic-attuned wands in a society governed by the collection of squabbling psychos and fascists-in-waiting that MACUSA appears to be (and it can't be a coincidence that the preferred pronunciation rhymes with a common pronunciation of yakuza), well, what can I say? The wand chooses the wizard, after all. This would also tie in with MACUSA being based in the slave states and being a supporter of the Confederate rebellion; one wonders, for instance, just how literal the title of Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan may turn out to be.

Yikes, this is dark. Can, can we send them some sort of relief package or something? Oh, sod it. I'm adopting the headcanon that Canada has an enormous population of Native American witches and wizards who are at least third or fourth generation. There's no basis for it other than the looseness of borders back then, but I'm sick of the history of American magic being one of the Potterverse's most miserable interludes.

Don't know where he found his partisans, but I'm sure Americans were a major part of his army with such backstory. The more I learn about it, the more I dislike Wizarding America.

Because America started out with a much smaller proportion of purebloods, and many more muggleborn wizards. Presumably these proportions stayed the same, since the increased secrecy laws would, I think, keep wizards of any bloodline from immigrating in, right? People went to America stereotypically to escape harsh conditions in their homes, so it seems like immigrating to America would be less popular among wizards than it was among muggles.

So, with these laws, the amount of halfbloods in wizarding America would drop like a stone, while the amount of purebloods couldn't really grow and would probably stagnate, right? So muggleborns would be the majority, yet at no point did enough of them go 'hey I'd rather not never see or contact my family again' in large enough numbers to get the law changed.

Actually, considering all the mistrust, it seems pretty likely that muggleborn wizards would have a harder time finding jobs, getting fair treatment in courts of law (probably no right to an attorney or anything, either) and whatnot, because, well, they're born from nonmagical people, you can't trust them, can you? Or something along those lines...