Feeling guilty about being disinterested in or disliking Rowling's female characters

[torchedsong]

The title is self-explanatory. After rereading HP, I realized how let down I was about the dearth of interesting and/or likable female characters. As someone who has a long list of favorite female characters from various books, movies, TV shows, and video games, the women in the Harry Potter books leave me cold or bored

Comments

[aikaterini]

/Female characters, especially feminine ones, are always treated as lesser, unless they're no-nonsense like Hermione and McGonagall or tomboys like Ginny/

And it's not truly equal, because their violence isn't taken seriously. Yes, it could also be because they're Gryffindors, but they're allowed to get away with stuff that the boys aren't. Hermione slaps Draco in PoA. Does Draco slap her in return? No. Ginny flies her broomstick into Zacharias Smith because of his commentary. Does anybody fly into Luna for hers? No. And, of course, the infamous canary scene in HBP. Does Ron ever hex or beat up Hermione for dating Viktor or for going with Cormac to the Slug Club dinner? No.

Because if Draco or Ron did do any of that, then that would be seen as something serious. It would be a big deal. But since it's only girls who are doing those things, eh, whatever. It's not like they live in a world that's run by magic, where men and women are equally capable of performing magic. You may be the brightest witch in your year, Hermione, but your anger is still just sitcom fodder.

/And then OotP comes around and all of a sudden we get a whole slew of female characters, either new ones or the old ones get an upgrade/

Bellatrix might also be an example of this as well. She's the unofficial leader of the Death Eaters after GoF, she gets a lot more personality and page time than her husband (who's really just a nonentity), and we learn that she's Sirius's cousin.

[torchedsong]

But since it's only girls who are doing those things, eh, whatever. It's not like they live in a world that's run by magic, where men and women are equally capable of performing magic.

I think this is another case of JKR not knowing what kind of tone she's setting for her story. On one hand, she wants to add fantastical or humorous elements where abuse, bullying, and violence can be viewed in a frivolous/funny/trivial matter. On the other hand, she also wants to introduce mature and heavy themes to make her books darker and more serious - therefore abuse, bullying, and violence shouldn't be viewed in a frivolous/funny/trivial matter.

The result is a mess of different tones. Physical violence between students can be funny and slapstick (Hermione sending the birds on Ron) or it can be threatening (Draco stomping on Harry's nose in HBP). I think it's a combination of JKR not knowing what approach she wants for her world, Gryffindors getting away with their bad behavior, and violence from girls being seen as "feisty" or "funny" because girls aren't seen as a threat.

Same thing goes for bullying. Bullies like Snape and Draco are treated like the embodiment of everything horrible and irredeemable, but bullies like the Marauders are just having a laugh. It's no big deal - James grew out of it and no one got hurt, so who cares? Boys will be boys!

I'm probably not explaining this very well.... But the tone in the books going back and forth between "take this issue seriously" and "don't take this issue seriously" gives me whiplash.

Anyways, I do think irrational behavior from the female characters is played up for laughs or to show how "cool" they are for not taking any crap from a boy. I agree that there's no way Draco slapping Hermione or a male Quidditch player crashing into Luna on purpose would be seen as feisty or entertaining.

[mary_j_59]

I agree so much with this! It always struck me that Hermione was abusive to Ron--both with the bird attack and with her hitting him when he came back to the tent in DH. Had he been shown doing likewise to her, no reader could have seen it as anything but abuse. But, somehow, Hermione gets a pass. Why?

It's pretty frustrating.