(no subject)
Updation for the day: went to work, had an embarrassing conversation with an elderly Chinese gentleman about boxers, did a little shopping, and watched a very long chick flick with my mother and sister.
That should do it. Now, to pick up where I left off last night:
I'm fairly sure that if you're reading this, you're aware of the fact that I've avidly shipped Harry/Hermione for awhile and still do so, although now it stands a snowball's chance in Hell as far as canon goes. You're probably also aware of the fact that Hermione is far and away my favorite character in the series (and that Ginny is far and away my least favorite. Yes, I even prefer Voldykins.) So it shouldn't come as a surprise that observing the startling reversal of Ginny's and Hermione's roles was somewhat comparable to alien water torture for me.
Do you remember when Hermione actually cared alot about Harry? I do. I remember a time when Hermione refused to leave Harry's side in times of grave danger, choosing instead to suck it up and face some of her worst fears in order to help him along. In each of the first five books, in fact, Hermione has directly contributed to the solution of whatever mystery is plaguing Hogwarts that year. Let's make another list, eh?
Book 1: Helps with all the "tests", but solves Snape's puzzle on her own
Book 2: Gets whacked before the final showdown, but only after literally spelling out the answers for Harry and Ron
Book 3: Facilitates Sirius's escape by providing the time-turner
Book 4: Helps Harry through each task
Book 5: Tries to convince Harry to see through Voldy's trap; when this proves fruitless, she provides a method for heading off Umbridge and getting them to the DoM
Book 6: ...uh...well...She tells Harry that Malfoy's probably not up to anything...okay, that turned out to be wrong. She...hexes McLaggen to help Ron cheat his way onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team... doesn't count? Okay...she...well, shit.
I mean, obviously I acknowledge the fact that Hermione is not the one who saves the day at the end of each book. This series is about Harry Potter; it's his job to save the day. But if you take the first five books and examine how the plot unfolds, you'll see that it can't be done without Hermione. Why the deviation? Are we supposed to become accustomed to the idea that Harry must defeat Voldemort without any help at all? Well, that's glaringly inconsistent; I had thought that one of the themes of the series was the importance of friendship. Voldemort, who has not allowed himself to experience love and friendship, can be defeated by Harry, who has. Yet apparently, friendship is not important enough to warrant a really profound display of solidarity on Hermione's part in book six, even though she's been pretty damn solid throughout the first five books? Let's face it: she didn't do shit in HBP. When Harry needed relief and advice, he turned to Ginny. There was even an occasion when Ginny told Hermione to lay off Harry, and he felt grateful to her for doing so. As if Hermione is an adversary and Ginny rescued him. So, in the space of ONE BOOK, Hermione went from being a source of knowledge, great advice, and comfort to being a thorn in Harry's side.
I can hardly even blame Harry for wanting to get her to shut up in HBP, because she was utterly insufferable. Overemotional, fake, pathetic, and evidently desperate for attention: in other words, a completely new and disgusting Hermione. She spends the majority of her time in HBP pitching hissy fits every time Ron snogs Lavender. If she happens to remember Harry's existence, it's only for long enough to make obviously longing inquiries into what Ron's up to. Or to tell Harry that he's a moron for thinking that Malfoy's doing something suspicious. Now, we've seen Hermione respond negatively to Ron's periodic displays of infatuation for girls like Fleur and Madame Rosmerta. Her responses in those instances were typically mocking, scathing, and directed towards Ron's shallowness as opposed to Ron's treachery in being interested in girls other than Hermione herself. So now we're supposed to believe that Hermione really is jealous now, and that she wasn't pissed off that Ron was acting like a superficial idiot around Fleur and Rosmerta? How about when Luna kept OPENLY hitting on Ron in OotP, right under Hermione's nose, and she didn't even say a word? (Correction: she said plenty whenever Luna appeared to be coming on to Harry.) Hmm, nice continuity.
I'd also like to point out that, in addition to being pathetic and ridiculous, Hermione displayed a rather disturbing tendency towards malice and violence. You'd think that this would endear her to Harry, who seems to appreciate those exact qualities in Ginny, but unfortunately that's not the case. Hermione's bird attack on Ron, which was probably supposed to be amusing, was absurdly out of character. I don't even think that Hermione's had a detention after the Forbidden Forest incident in SS/PS; is she really going to set a pack of magical birds to peck Ron to death and risk having him snitch on her? Not to mention her cattiness and painfully obvious insecurity when Harry started showing her up in Potions. One can infer that Hermione has some inferiority issues and uses her excellence in the classroom as a substitute for genuine self-worth, but to display such petty animosity towards a close friend who's previously struggled in that particular class is pretty outrageous. It wasn't even as if she was sincerely concerned that the HBP's textbook might be dangerous: she really seemed to want all the academic attention back on her. And how about Confunding McLaggen? Somehow, I don't think anyone can argue that it's ethical for a prefect to hex another student to help a friend get on a Quidditch team. Hell, it's not ethical for ANYONE to do that, although Hermione seemed quite keen to bang on about the prefect status and how it makes you that much more accountable. Not such an issue anymore, is it, since all of a sudden, RON is Hermione's top priority--the one she's willing to break rules for?
I feel like I'm getting carried away here, but I need to mention the changes Rowling made in depicting Hermione's behavior. Interactions such as that between Hermione and Parvati before Slughorn's Christmas party serve as an example: Parvati asks if Hermione is dating McLaggen, and Hermione giggles and says something foul like, "Oh yes--didn't you know?" and then makes that comment about liking "Really good Quidditch players", as if she's some pathetic groupie. Rest in peace, my proactive, morally upright, strong, independent, decisive Hermione Granger. You have been replaced by an imitation, one who ignores Harry while jealously watching Ron snog another girl. Screw the first five books: Hermione now wants to be a desperate housewife, dammit, and Ron is the chauvinist who can make it happen!
Next time: Ron "I-just-hit-puberty-at-age-sixteen" Weasley
That should do it. Now, to pick up where I left off last night:
I'm fairly sure that if you're reading this, you're aware of the fact that I've avidly shipped Harry/Hermione for awhile and still do so, although now it stands a snowball's chance in Hell as far as canon goes. You're probably also aware of the fact that Hermione is far and away my favorite character in the series (and that Ginny is far and away my least favorite. Yes, I even prefer Voldykins.) So it shouldn't come as a surprise that observing the startling reversal of Ginny's and Hermione's roles was somewhat comparable to alien water torture for me.
Do you remember when Hermione actually cared alot about Harry? I do. I remember a time when Hermione refused to leave Harry's side in times of grave danger, choosing instead to suck it up and face some of her worst fears in order to help him along. In each of the first five books, in fact, Hermione has directly contributed to the solution of whatever mystery is plaguing Hogwarts that year. Let's make another list, eh?
Book 1: Helps with all the "tests", but solves Snape's puzzle on her own
Book 2: Gets whacked before the final showdown, but only after literally spelling out the answers for Harry and Ron
Book 3: Facilitates Sirius's escape by providing the time-turner
Book 4: Helps Harry through each task
Book 5: Tries to convince Harry to see through Voldy's trap; when this proves fruitless, she provides a method for heading off Umbridge and getting them to the DoM
Book 6: ...uh...well...She tells Harry that Malfoy's probably not up to anything...okay, that turned out to be wrong. She...hexes McLaggen to help Ron cheat his way onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team... doesn't count? Okay...she...well, shit.
I mean, obviously I acknowledge the fact that Hermione is not the one who saves the day at the end of each book. This series is about Harry Potter; it's his job to save the day. But if you take the first five books and examine how the plot unfolds, you'll see that it can't be done without Hermione. Why the deviation? Are we supposed to become accustomed to the idea that Harry must defeat Voldemort without any help at all? Well, that's glaringly inconsistent; I had thought that one of the themes of the series was the importance of friendship. Voldemort, who has not allowed himself to experience love and friendship, can be defeated by Harry, who has. Yet apparently, friendship is not important enough to warrant a really profound display of solidarity on Hermione's part in book six, even though she's been pretty damn solid throughout the first five books? Let's face it: she didn't do shit in HBP. When Harry needed relief and advice, he turned to Ginny. There was even an occasion when Ginny told Hermione to lay off Harry, and he felt grateful to her for doing so. As if Hermione is an adversary and Ginny rescued him. So, in the space of ONE BOOK, Hermione went from being a source of knowledge, great advice, and comfort to being a thorn in Harry's side.
I can hardly even blame Harry for wanting to get her to shut up in HBP, because she was utterly insufferable. Overemotional, fake, pathetic, and evidently desperate for attention: in other words, a completely new and disgusting Hermione. She spends the majority of her time in HBP pitching hissy fits every time Ron snogs Lavender. If she happens to remember Harry's existence, it's only for long enough to make obviously longing inquiries into what Ron's up to. Or to tell Harry that he's a moron for thinking that Malfoy's doing something suspicious. Now, we've seen Hermione respond negatively to Ron's periodic displays of infatuation for girls like Fleur and Madame Rosmerta. Her responses in those instances were typically mocking, scathing, and directed towards Ron's shallowness as opposed to Ron's treachery in being interested in girls other than Hermione herself. So now we're supposed to believe that Hermione really is jealous now, and that she wasn't pissed off that Ron was acting like a superficial idiot around Fleur and Rosmerta? How about when Luna kept OPENLY hitting on Ron in OotP, right under Hermione's nose, and she didn't even say a word? (Correction: she said plenty whenever Luna appeared to be coming on to Harry.) Hmm, nice continuity.
I'd also like to point out that, in addition to being pathetic and ridiculous, Hermione displayed a rather disturbing tendency towards malice and violence. You'd think that this would endear her to Harry, who seems to appreciate those exact qualities in Ginny, but unfortunately that's not the case. Hermione's bird attack on Ron, which was probably supposed to be amusing, was absurdly out of character. I don't even think that Hermione's had a detention after the Forbidden Forest incident in SS/PS; is she really going to set a pack of magical birds to peck Ron to death and risk having him snitch on her? Not to mention her cattiness and painfully obvious insecurity when Harry started showing her up in Potions. One can infer that Hermione has some inferiority issues and uses her excellence in the classroom as a substitute for genuine self-worth, but to display such petty animosity towards a close friend who's previously struggled in that particular class is pretty outrageous. It wasn't even as if she was sincerely concerned that the HBP's textbook might be dangerous: she really seemed to want all the academic attention back on her. And how about Confunding McLaggen? Somehow, I don't think anyone can argue that it's ethical for a prefect to hex another student to help a friend get on a Quidditch team. Hell, it's not ethical for ANYONE to do that, although Hermione seemed quite keen to bang on about the prefect status and how it makes you that much more accountable. Not such an issue anymore, is it, since all of a sudden, RON is Hermione's top priority--the one she's willing to break rules for?
I feel like I'm getting carried away here, but I need to mention the changes Rowling made in depicting Hermione's behavior. Interactions such as that between Hermione and Parvati before Slughorn's Christmas party serve as an example: Parvati asks if Hermione is dating McLaggen, and Hermione giggles and says something foul like, "Oh yes--didn't you know?" and then makes that comment about liking "Really good Quidditch players", as if she's some pathetic groupie. Rest in peace, my proactive, morally upright, strong, independent, decisive Hermione Granger. You have been replaced by an imitation, one who ignores Harry while jealously watching Ron snog another girl. Screw the first five books: Hermione now wants to be a desperate housewife, dammit, and Ron is the chauvinist who can make it happen!
Next time: Ron "I-just-hit-puberty-at-age-sixteen" Weasley