Rowling is *most definitely* a Harry/Hermione shipper!
Well, the transcript of the full interview is out; my thanks to shantari and avidbeader for the link:
I'll put my discussion underneath the cut, but you would have caught the primary gist of it from my subject heading ...
Seriously, I felt like I was reading a post in the Fiction Alley H/Hr forum. All of the H/Hr positives that Rowling mentioned were those that I and others have espoused over the years (and waved away by the canon shippers). She and Watson really pushed the infamous tent scene; both book and film. Rowling says she wanted Hermione to be 'the heroine', which made me grin; I've talked about "heroine Hermione" in various places over the years, half tongue in cheek, getting strong reactions sometimes :-). Hermione's "always being there for Harry" was discussed; well, that's core H/Hr right there, folks.
We'll have to admit Rowling and Watson to the H/Hr club, teach them the official handshake and the primer on what to do when the revolution comes. :-)
Rowling didn't trash R/Hr quite as much as I was anticipating ... the ladies were kind and left him some scant hope that he could be redeemed with marriage counselling. We know better, of course. After all, 19 years later he was still lying to his wife; I think Rowling must have forgotten that. It's a pity Emma didn't remind her.
Still, you can't get much more damning than talking about "too much fundamental incompatibility" in a relationship. Sorry Ron, but you shouldn't have listened to those fans who thought bitter fighting and complete disinterest in each other's goals would make for a successful marriage.
Ginny wasn't mentioned at all, darn it! With all of the H/Hr love going round I'd hoped that Rowling would say something about all of that 'soul mate' rubbish from the Interview o' Doom (the HBP weekend) and address it. Instead Ginny is just implied collateral damage from the positive H/Hr talk, shoved to one side at a future double-H wedding. Well, I can live with that.
(I guess Ginny's total absence is consistent with her treatment in the canon, at that.)
Best part of the H/Hr lovefest was the 'true equals' bit, helping to cancel that rubbish Rowling spouted about Harry and Ginny being 'equals' in the Interview o' Doom. A phrase that any fair dinkum HP fan on my side of the tracks loves to hate. It was Watson who made that statement but it's on the record that Rowling did say 'yes'! :-)
Overall nothing inconsistent with the preview of last week; I believe everything I wrote in my earlier post stands. Those who allow Rowling to guide them, lead them or think for them in their HP fandom beliefs now have to pull a sharp U-turn or start thinking for themselves ... while the rest of us bring out the popcorn and watch. Any pro-Jo canon-worshipping fan who used the word 'deluded' as a Rowling-reinforced weapon has to recant (although I guess that's been the case since the "it could have been" interview of ... 2009?). Those who rallied behind the Rowling banner have to now get used to seeing the other side smirking behing their big VINDICATED! signs.
Rowling has said that she wrote the R/Hr relationship "for reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it". I dare say that's the source of a number of the flaws of the series, including her unsatisfying pairing of Harry with Ginny and her determination to keep Harry firmly mired in the mud as a barely adequate wizard, as well as sticking to her resolve to mate Hermione to her red-headed doom.
It's also now revealed as the reason for one of the ugliest spectacles of any of the HP books. I speak of that infamous tent scene, when Harry and Hermione were left to solider on alone after Ron abandoned them.
I hated what Rowling wrote between Harry and Hermione in that tent. She had to get Ron and Hermione romantically linked - it was the last book of the series - but if she let Harry and Hermione get close, even act as good friends, readers would have been screaming "WHY IN BLAZES DON'T THOSE TWO GET TOGTHER?". Like, you know, most of the world were screaming when the film came out, pictures being worth a thousand words and all. So she wrote Harry as a total cad, coldly ignoring his distaff best friend and letting her cry herself to sleep night after night.
Rowling wrote it like that because it was the only way she could keep R/Hr intact. She couldn't pump up R/Hr so instead she deliberately destroyed the friendship between Harry and Hermione. It was one of the most replusive things that Rowling wrote in Deathly Hallows (and believe me, that's saying a lot). Chalked up to Rowling's desperation in trying to stitch her sorry OBHWF pairings together.
And now unveiled as a casualty of what she has admitted to us all - she was handcuffed to her old storyline, "clinging to the plot as I first imagined it", and so obliterated everything good between her and her sorry OBHWF goal. Well, at least now she's regretting writing Harry as such a louse. I accept your apology for writing that scene, Rowling. :-)
And thank you for this interview; it's been like a school reunion this past week! Lots of fun, celebration and entertainment!
I'll put my discussion underneath the cut, but you would have caught the primary gist of it from my subject heading ...
Seriously, I felt like I was reading a post in the Fiction Alley H/Hr forum. All of the H/Hr positives that Rowling mentioned were those that I and others have espoused over the years (and waved away by the canon shippers). She and Watson really pushed the infamous tent scene; both book and film. Rowling says she wanted Hermione to be 'the heroine', which made me grin; I've talked about "heroine Hermione" in various places over the years, half tongue in cheek, getting strong reactions sometimes :-). Hermione's "always being there for Harry" was discussed; well, that's core H/Hr right there, folks.
We'll have to admit Rowling and Watson to the H/Hr club, teach them the official handshake and the primer on what to do when the revolution comes. :-)
Rowling didn't trash R/Hr quite as much as I was anticipating ... the ladies were kind and left him some scant hope that he could be redeemed with marriage counselling. We know better, of course. After all, 19 years later he was still lying to his wife; I think Rowling must have forgotten that. It's a pity Emma didn't remind her.
Still, you can't get much more damning than talking about "too much fundamental incompatibility" in a relationship. Sorry Ron, but you shouldn't have listened to those fans who thought bitter fighting and complete disinterest in each other's goals would make for a successful marriage.
Ginny wasn't mentioned at all, darn it! With all of the H/Hr love going round I'd hoped that Rowling would say something about all of that 'soul mate' rubbish from the Interview o' Doom (the HBP weekend) and address it. Instead Ginny is just implied collateral damage from the positive H/Hr talk, shoved to one side at a future double-H wedding. Well, I can live with that.
(I guess Ginny's total absence is consistent with her treatment in the canon, at that.)
Best part of the H/Hr lovefest was the 'true equals' bit, helping to cancel that rubbish Rowling spouted about Harry and Ginny being 'equals' in the Interview o' Doom. A phrase that any fair dinkum HP fan on my side of the tracks loves to hate. It was Watson who made that statement but it's on the record that Rowling did say 'yes'! :-)
Overall nothing inconsistent with the preview of last week; I believe everything I wrote in my earlier post stands. Those who allow Rowling to guide them, lead them or think for them in their HP fandom beliefs now have to pull a sharp U-turn or start thinking for themselves ... while the rest of us bring out the popcorn and watch. Any pro-Jo canon-worshipping fan who used the word 'deluded' as a Rowling-reinforced weapon has to recant (although I guess that's been the case since the "it could have been" interview of ... 2009?). Those who rallied behind the Rowling banner have to now get used to seeing the other side smirking behing their big VINDICATED! signs.
Rowling has said that she wrote the R/Hr relationship "for reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it". I dare say that's the source of a number of the flaws of the series, including her unsatisfying pairing of Harry with Ginny and her determination to keep Harry firmly mired in the mud as a barely adequate wizard, as well as sticking to her resolve to mate Hermione to her red-headed doom.
It's also now revealed as the reason for one of the ugliest spectacles of any of the HP books. I speak of that infamous tent scene, when Harry and Hermione were left to solider on alone after Ron abandoned them.
I hated what Rowling wrote between Harry and Hermione in that tent. She had to get Ron and Hermione romantically linked - it was the last book of the series - but if she let Harry and Hermione get close, even act as good friends, readers would have been screaming "WHY IN BLAZES DON'T THOSE TWO GET TOGTHER?". Like, you know, most of the world were screaming when the film came out, pictures being worth a thousand words and all. So she wrote Harry as a total cad, coldly ignoring his distaff best friend and letting her cry herself to sleep night after night.
Rowling wrote it like that because it was the only way she could keep R/Hr intact. She couldn't pump up R/Hr so instead she deliberately destroyed the friendship between Harry and Hermione. It was one of the most replusive things that Rowling wrote in Deathly Hallows (and believe me, that's saying a lot). Chalked up to Rowling's desperation in trying to stitch her sorry OBHWF pairings together.
And now unveiled as a casualty of what she has admitted to us all - she was handcuffed to her old storyline, "clinging to the plot as I first imagined it", and so obliterated everything good between her and her sorry OBHWF goal. Well, at least now she's regretting writing Harry as such a louse. I accept your apology for writing that scene, Rowling. :-)
And thank you for this interview; it's been like a school reunion this past week! Lots of fun, celebration and entertainment!