Romance and HP
Jul. 25th, 2005 09:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amanuensis1Someone brought this up in a thread somewhere, and I'm starting to subscribe to it too. Has to do with JKR and romance.
Yes, says Rowling, it was always going to be Ron/Hermione; she thought it was plain. Yes, she says, she always planned for Harry and Ginny to "come together and then part." The hints were there.
The hints, however, are the same sort of hints as introducing Polyjuice potion in CoS, and having it play a vital role in GoF. Of having the Trio muse that they haven't seen Kreacher around much over Christmas holidays. Of Scabbers missing a toe. They're plotty hints but not emotional development.
Harry/Ginny is plot but not romance. They're are hints that they'd fit together, like other plot elements in JKR's books, and through book 6 you see, as you do with Ron & Hermione, not the why of the falling in love, not the attraction, but the how of the "how will they get together?" As romance it falls flat, if one's looking for a romantic read. Which I may have been, but so were a lot of others.
If the Harry Potter series were a romance, Harry/Hermione would make the most sense--Hermione is the main female character; she's the only one who's had enough to development for a romance-type reader to think she's worthy of the main male character's interest. This, I think, is where the Harry/Hermione 'shippers (me included) are stumbling about in bewilderment trying to understand why everyone else (JKR included) are telling them the clues all went the other way. If you expect romance as emotional fulfillment and not mere plot, then you're not looking for clues; you're looking for the moments of emotional connection between characters. Harry's had plenty of those with Hermione, I don't think anyone will argue--she's his best female friend. He's not had any of those with Ginny. I really don't think he had any of those with Ginny even in HBP. He had a sudden teenage explosion of noticing her, and yes, I do understand that that's how teen romance happens, but it makes sense from a "this is how things happen" plot sense, to me, and not because of any character development.
This is why we're also asked to buy the Remus/Tonks. As plot, it works fine, and I actually can buy Remus/Tonks far more easily because this is not a relationship we would have expected to see crafted with any more detail than it was, simply because our protagonist was not in a position to see it. But is it asking too much that we get a greater emotional development of the romances that occurred right before Harry's eyes--including his own?
Harry/Ginny feels as distant to me as James/Lily. I was told about it, but never asked to feel it. In fact, I think Harry/Ginny might be Harry's answer to why James/Lily. He puzzles it out, asking Sirius and Remus how his parents could ever have got together; clearly Lily hated James at one time. And he's told that when James stopped being a prat, it blossomed. Similarly, when Ginny stops being a tongue-tied shy thing, Harry starts taking notice, and one day, brrdoom. Just like that, Harry. Doesn't have to be more complicated.
Only I kind of wish it was.
A concession, however: JKR emphasized "come together and part." Does she mean them to be parted for good? If so, perhaps she thought making this anything deeper than Harry's first girlfriend (Cho's not his first girlfriend, she's his first crush) would be wrong, to ask the reader to make that much emotional investment.
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millefiori's reaction to this issue: "I need to step back and remind myself that I'm a character-driven reader in love with the story of a plot-driven writer. My characterization fix is going to have to come from fandom." Best reason for fanfic I've heard in a long time. (Even more than the smut. ^_^)
Yes, says Rowling, it was always going to be Ron/Hermione; she thought it was plain. Yes, she says, she always planned for Harry and Ginny to "come together and then part." The hints were there.
The hints, however, are the same sort of hints as introducing Polyjuice potion in CoS, and having it play a vital role in GoF. Of having the Trio muse that they haven't seen Kreacher around much over Christmas holidays. Of Scabbers missing a toe. They're plotty hints but not emotional development.
Harry/Ginny is plot but not romance. They're are hints that they'd fit together, like other plot elements in JKR's books, and through book 6 you see, as you do with Ron & Hermione, not the why of the falling in love, not the attraction, but the how of the "how will they get together?" As romance it falls flat, if one's looking for a romantic read. Which I may have been, but so were a lot of others.
If the Harry Potter series were a romance, Harry/Hermione would make the most sense--Hermione is the main female character; she's the only one who's had enough to development for a romance-type reader to think she's worthy of the main male character's interest. This, I think, is where the Harry/Hermione 'shippers (me included) are stumbling about in bewilderment trying to understand why everyone else (JKR included) are telling them the clues all went the other way. If you expect romance as emotional fulfillment and not mere plot, then you're not looking for clues; you're looking for the moments of emotional connection between characters. Harry's had plenty of those with Hermione, I don't think anyone will argue--she's his best female friend. He's not had any of those with Ginny. I really don't think he had any of those with Ginny even in HBP. He had a sudden teenage explosion of noticing her, and yes, I do understand that that's how teen romance happens, but it makes sense from a "this is how things happen" plot sense, to me, and not because of any character development.
This is why we're also asked to buy the Remus/Tonks. As plot, it works fine, and I actually can buy Remus/Tonks far more easily because this is not a relationship we would have expected to see crafted with any more detail than it was, simply because our protagonist was not in a position to see it. But is it asking too much that we get a greater emotional development of the romances that occurred right before Harry's eyes--including his own?
Harry/Ginny feels as distant to me as James/Lily. I was told about it, but never asked to feel it. In fact, I think Harry/Ginny might be Harry's answer to why James/Lily. He puzzles it out, asking Sirius and Remus how his parents could ever have got together; clearly Lily hated James at one time. And he's told that when James stopped being a prat, it blossomed. Similarly, when Ginny stops being a tongue-tied shy thing, Harry starts taking notice, and one day, brrdoom. Just like that, Harry. Doesn't have to be more complicated.
Only I kind of wish it was.
A concession, however: JKR emphasized "come together and part." Does she mean them to be parted for good? If so, perhaps she thought making this anything deeper than Harry's first girlfriend (Cho's not his first girlfriend, she's his first crush) would be wrong, to ask the reader to make that much emotional investment.
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millefiori's reaction to this issue: "I need to step back and remind myself that I'm a character-driven reader in love with the story of a plot-driven writer. My characterization fix is going to have to come from fandom." Best reason for fanfic I've heard in a long time. (Even more than the smut. ^_^)
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Date: 2005-07-26 01:08 pm (UTC)I reread your post today and this part really has become my mantra, like I imagine it has for so many others: I need to step back and remind myself that I'm a character-driven reader in love with the story of a plot-driven writer. So I'm really glad I read this post -- thanks for making it *hugs*