I want to say, for the record, that I like the erotica meme. I have reasons why, which hopefully I'll get around to discussing. I'll also hopefully do the meme. And
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Thank you for such a well-considered response! All of this makes a lot of sense and answers my question perfectly.
This comment will likely be laden with sweeping assertions, mostly because I'm too lazy to give specific textual examples... Feel free to discount at will. ;-)
The reason I don't like Ginny is really just my anger with Rowling. Ginny went from being a realistic (though minor and obviously plot device-y) character to this Mary-Sue jumble of sudden positive, attractive traits with absolutely no transition. It's bad fan fiction. The last two books in general read like bad fan fiction. There are big elements of book 6 that I absolutely love, but overall JKR fell off the bus after book 5. I have an unsavory emotional response when I think about it, which keeps me from being entirely reasonable on the subject; I recognize that shortcoming and try to deal with it.
JKR handled Ginny Weasley very, very poorly. This attracts you to Ginny and this turns me off about her. I find those different responses really fascinating. Draco is definitely a mishandled character, as well, but if I ignore the 7th book entirely (and her whimpering, cowardly, impotent sudden characterization of him), I am more comfortable with the extrapolating I can do on his character. I can see much more easily how canon Harry and canon Draco could function together than canon Harry and canon Ginny. Because I feel that Ginny was not originally planned as the love interest. The very sudden, very wrong-feeling shift in her character exemplifies this for me. If JKR had really decided that Ginny was the one for Harry from the beginning (rather than panicking when she decided Harry needed a love interest at all, and I don't think he did), I think she'd have planned her growth a little more gently and naturally. But it could be that JKR suffers a kind of "writing a love interest syndrome." She didn't allow the character to grow naturally because she was distracted by all the important things Harry would need in a love interest.
Luna was consistently a stronger, more interesting character than Ginny; so much so that I thought if any het pairing had to occur with Harry at the end of the books, Luna would have made the most sense. Because she was her own whole person (which I find very attractive), and Harry would have benefitted from having that kind of gentle confidence around. Harry consistently felt comfortable around Luna (though a bit weirded out, tbh), whereas he felt very agitated around Ginny. I think at the end of it all, Harry'd have gone for peace over stress, at least to begin with. I'm not convinced he'd have settled down immediately, because he'd have a lot of shit to work through. And if he did settle down immediately, I think it would end badly with a bitter breakup/divorce. But that's all extrapolation.
Ginny-as-love-interest is the Ginny I hate. The drastic shift in her character bugs me. Really bugs me. And I know plenty of people read it as the shift in Harry's perception of her, which could have some merit, but I still think it's too far of a stretch.
But if we're trying to fix what's broken about canon, and make these characters into real people, then Ginny is certainly a character to try to fix, to try to bring to a real conclusion she could have had. Because there certainly are incarnations of Harry and Ginny that would have ended up in a positive relationship. I don't think it's the Harry and Ginny that JKR gave us, and I'm mostly just really pissy about that.
I agree with everything you say about Ginny. But as you say, Draco was mishandled as well. Why are you more comfortable extrapolating Draco's character than Ginny's? Why does Ginny seem to inspire your disgust, whereas Draco your creativity and imagination? Do you think it is resentment due to Ginny being shoe-horned in as Harry's love interest? I ask because in other people I have seen discuss this, it appears to be resentment that Ginny is a woman.
I don't get defensive about Ginny Weasley, since she is badly handled in canon. But sometimes I see fans bashing the female love interest and it really looks like it's less to do with the character herself and more to do with the fact that she isn't the person they want for their man. Which . . . huh? I'm not saying that's what you're doing; I just see it a lot and it makes me sad.
This comment will likely be laden with sweeping assertions, mostly because I'm too lazy to give specific textual examples... Feel free to discount at will. ;-)
The reason I don't like Ginny is really just my anger with Rowling. Ginny went from being a realistic (though minor and obviously plot device-y) character to this Mary-Sue jumble of sudden positive, attractive traits with absolutely no transition. It's bad fan fiction. The last two books in general read like bad fan fiction. There are big elements of book 6 that I absolutely love, but overall JKR fell off the bus after book 5. I have an unsavory emotional response when I think about it, which keeps me from being entirely reasonable on the subject; I recognize that shortcoming and try to deal with it.
JKR handled Ginny Weasley very, very poorly. This attracts you to Ginny and this turns me off about her. I find those different responses really fascinating. Draco is definitely a mishandled character, as well, but if I ignore the 7th book entirely (and her whimpering, cowardly, impotent sudden characterization of him), I am more comfortable with the extrapolating I can do on his character. I can see much more easily how canon Harry and canon Draco could function together than canon Harry and canon Ginny. Because I feel that Ginny was not originally planned as the love interest. The very sudden, very wrong-feeling shift in her character exemplifies this for me. If JKR had really decided that Ginny was the one for Harry from the beginning (rather than panicking when she decided Harry needed a love interest at all, and I don't think he did), I think she'd have planned her growth a little more gently and naturally. But it could be that JKR suffers a kind of "writing a love interest syndrome." She didn't allow the character to grow naturally because she was distracted by all the important things Harry would need in a love interest.
Luna was consistently a stronger, more interesting character than Ginny; so much so that I thought if any het pairing had to occur with Harry at the end of the books, Luna would have made the most sense. Because she was her own whole person (which I find very attractive), and Harry would have benefitted from having that kind of gentle confidence around. Harry consistently felt comfortable around Luna (though a bit weirded out, tbh), whereas he felt very agitated around Ginny. I think at the end of it all, Harry'd have gone for peace over stress, at least to begin with. I'm not convinced he'd have settled down immediately, because he'd have a lot of shit to work through. And if he did settle down immediately, I think it would end badly with a bitter breakup/divorce. But that's all extrapolation.
Ginny-as-love-interest is the Ginny I hate. The drastic shift in her character bugs me. Really bugs me. And I know plenty of people read it as the shift in Harry's perception of her, which could have some merit, but I still think it's too far of a stretch.
But if we're trying to fix what's broken about canon, and make these characters into real people, then Ginny is certainly a character to try to fix, to try to bring to a real conclusion she could have had. Because there certainly are incarnations of Harry and Ginny that would have ended up in a positive relationship. I don't think it's the Harry and Ginny that JKR gave us, and I'm mostly just really pissy about that.
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I don't get defensive about Ginny Weasley, since she is badly handled in canon. But sometimes I see fans bashing the female love interest and it really looks like it's less to do with the character herself and more to do with the fact that she isn't the person they want for their man. Which . . . huh? I'm not saying that's what you're doing; I just see it a lot and it makes me sad.
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