A Choice I Made For Very Personal Reasons
In my recent post about reconsidering JK Rowling's writing of romance in the Harry Potter series in light of the additional information from her later works, I declared myself puzzled by the following words of Rowling's:
What I will say is that I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment.
I wrote:
And it is not quite clear ( Read more... )
What I will say is that I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment.
I wrote:
And it is not quite clear ( Read more... )
You make some good points and I don't really think Hermione would be bored with Ron. I think they would be happy together! But I was trying (not always successfully) to think and write about what J K Rowling might have been thinking, and trying to feel my way into explaining/justifying some of the things she said like "but the combative side of it… I’m not sure you could have got over that in an adult relationship, there was too much fundamental incompatibility" and "in some ways Hermione and Harry are a better fit." You might say I'm trying to reconcile my author-worshipping with my R/Hr-shipping.
Of course it is hard for me, having enjoyed Ron and Hermione's relationship so much, to empathize with such words, but I can follow her to a certain extent. I think she designed Ron and R/Hr to be perfect for Hermione when she first created Hermione, an awkward geeky girl of 11, head-over-heels in love with the world of magic that she'd been invited into, determined to learn everything she could about it. Which is all very well and good, and it certainly caught my interest. But this was a long series. Not only did the girl Hermione age from 11 to 18, but possibly even more importantly the woman Jo Rowling aged from 25 to 42. So I think the question she was considering then was, given Hermione at 18, as she had written her growing and developing through seven books, was Ron and R/Hr what she would have created for her then. And, I suppose, five to seven years later when we can imagine Ron and Hermione must have decided to marry and start a family, same question.
I'm not saying the answer is "no" but I'm not sure the answer is "yes" either. And I imagine Rowling would be thinking less of "what would make Hermione happy?" and more of "what would make a good story?" That's where I think she mentioned the words "very little to do with literature"---she probably was realizing that probably some of her critics had a point when saying that the romance of Harry and Ginny was a bit pasted on (because it wasn't as well-integrated into the adventure action as it could have been) and the romance of Ron and Hermione also suffered from not having a point-of-view window into either character and forcing all their interactions to be either in Harry's presence or with Harry unwittingly eavesdropping. (I also think she dragged out their "getting together" unrealistically, somewhat muting its impact, but I don't think Rowling sees it that way.)
There's no doubt that a romance between Harry and Hermione, who were in fact the main two actors in the defeat of Voldemort, would have had an extra oomph from that fact. It would have also bothered me a bit, because Harry was so much "more" than Hermione and she was so clearly his sidekick, helper, and facilitator rather than his full partner, but it still would have had a strong appeal.
On the other hand, I still think if I were writing a romance for Hermione Granger, as she was at the end of the seven books, I would have a strong tendency to create a relationship for her much like Wash/Zoe in "Firefly" or Harry/Sally in "When Harry Met Sally." Maybe because that's a kind of romance that appeals to me but I think also because Hermione is still pretty uptight and intense and it's just fun and funny to pair her with someone who's loose and funny and watch them drive each other crazy. It's ... sexy. But there is more to Hermione than her workaholic intensity and I concede that there are probably multiple other types of romance plotlines and heroes that could work for her.
Unlike you, I'm very excited about The Play and I LOVE the brief glimpses we get of Ron and Hermione in the new video on Pottermore. Partly because both Ron and Hermione's actors look (and act, as far as I can tell) more like I'd imagined them than Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. Though I do wish Hermione's hair was longer and bushy because I always see her that way. Also there's a nice hug, though it appears to be the actors rather than the characters. It would make a nice gif. I wish I knew how to make them, then I'd have something to post on Tumblr!
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I was thinking this exact thing yesterday when I saw the video, but I hadn't been able to find one. So I made one. :P
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But I'm still with low expectations because after the interview of Doom, I'm too weary to be optimistic.
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FWIW it's just like LJ, copy and paste and put it under a readmore. Longish meta posts have crossed my dashboard often. If you tag it with "harry potter" and "meta" (not sure if it has a dedicated tag) it will be out in the wild for tag browsers to see too.
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I'm not saying the answer is "no" but I'm not sure the answer is "yes" either. And I imagine Rowling would be thinking less of "what would make Hermione happy?" and more of "what would make a good story?" That's where I think she mentioned the words "very little to do with literature"---she probably was realizing that probably some of her critics had a point when saying that the romance of Harry and Ginny was a bit pasted on (because it wasn't as well-integrated into the adventure action as it could have been) and the romance of Ron and Hermione also suffered from not having a point-of-view window into either character and forcing all their interactions to be either in Harry's presence or with Harry unwittingly eavesdropping. (I also think she dragged out their "getting together" unrealistically, somewhat muting its impact, but I don't think Rowling sees it that way.)
YES to all of this. Even the last bit.
I think truly good "from agitation to true love" storylines aren't dragged out. Because after a while, you realize they'd just give up. I mean, on one hand, I don't think Hermione marrying a guy she dated in her fourth year was realistic. OTOH, it really could've just been settled in HBP. I actually thought they were a couple at the end of HBP, because they're shown by the lake embracing. Harry and Ginny made a little more sense - they did break up, but only because Harry was worried for her safety.
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