Romance musings

[hildigunnur]

So there have been discussions about JKR's handling of the romance in HBP. While I was extremely satisfied with how everything turned out, I'm fully aware that there are lots of people who aren't. I saw a discussion where it was mentioned that a lot of people had been longing for character-driven romance when JKR delivered plot-driven romance. That remark reminded me of something that I said about H/G at some point. With the help of the search option of gmail, I found what I said and where I said it.

The following is from a comment I left on prncspnut's LJ here:

Now I'm what they call a OBHWF shipper. Not because it's convenient and easy but because I see reasons for it in the plot. If we go quickly into my reasons for shipping Ron/Hermione, is that I feel that from the very start, JKR set them up to become a couple later on. From my very first reading of PS/SS (1999, in Icelandic btw), I was sure about them becoming an item in the later books and nothing that I've read so far in the Harry Potter books has convinced me otherwise. Being very fond of both characters and their interaction, I've become a staunch Ron/Hermione shipper.

But you are talking about Harry/Ginny. So from the perspective of the canon reader, yes, I saw them set up as a potential couple early on. In fact, during my first reading of CoS (also in 1999 but in English). From the fact that she has a crush on him and nothing can convince me that she's only herocrushing on him (because a girl who say: "Leave him alone, he didn't want all that" isn't herocrushing) to the elaborate ending where Harry both fights a monster and his ultimate foe while saving Ginny. Just say that I think I got enough clues then.

Unlike Ron/Hermione, I don't necessarily feel that the characterization of Harry and Ginny is in the direction of them becoming a couple. Maybe because I sense a certain individualist streak in both of them which doesn't make them fit as perfectly together. Where I to ship only based on characterization, I wouldn't be so quick to ship Harry/Ginny but when I take the plot into consideration, then my attitude changes.

I've been a fan of Ginny from the start and her characterization in OotP didn't surprise me in the least. I felt there were enough clues for her spunkiness in OotP. But as I said, I don't ship her with Harry because of her character. Actually I think her characterization in OotP and how her character was described to others, was a bit of "Ginny 101" for Harry. So I suppose that is what made people choke slightly on her there if you know what I mean.

Now, JKR herself said something that can be seen as contradicting to what I say about Harry's and Ginny's characterization. I hope you forgive me for quoting JKR here (this is of course from the third part of the TLC-Mugglenet interview):

JKR: Well, no, not really, because the plan was, which I really hope I fulfilled, is that the reader, like Harry, would gradually discover Ginny as pretty much the ideal girl for Harry. She's tough, not in an unpleasant way, but she's gutsy. He needs to be with someone who can stand the demands of being with Harry Potter, because he's a scary boyfriend in a lot of ways. He's a marked man. I think she's funny, and I think that she's very warm and compassionate. These are all things that Harry requires in his ideal woman. But, I felt — and I'm talking years ago when all this was planned — initially, she's terrified by his image. I mean, he's a bit of a rock god to her when she sees him first, at 10 or 11, and he's this famous boy. So Ginny had to go through a journey as well. And rather like with Ron, I didn’t want Ginny to be the first girl that Harry ever kissed. That's something I meant to say, and it's kind of tied in.

One of the ways in which I tried to show that Harry has done a lot of growing up — in “Phoenix,” remember when Cho comes into the compartment, and he thinks, ‘I wish I could have been discovered sitting with better people,’ basically? He's with Luna and Neville. So literally the identical thing happens in “Prince,” and he's with Luna and Neville again, but this time, he has grown up, and as far as he's concerned he is with two of the coolest people on the train. They may not look that cool. Harry has really grown. And I feel that Ginny and Harry, in this book, they are total equals. They are worthy of each other. They've both gone through a big emotional journey, and they've really got over a lot of delusions, to use your word, together. So, I enjoyed writing that. I really like Ginny as a character.

I like to interpret JKR's words as she has used the plot and the subplots to prep Harry and Ginny for each other. Quite similar what she does with Ron in HBP where it's quite obvious that his relationship with Lavender is so that he will gain maturity in that respect.

While there are people who say that they haven't really connected with some of the romantic plots of HBP, I have to say for my part that the two major plots - the one involving Hermione, Ron and Lavender and the one involving Harry, Ginny and Dean - resonated strongly with me and for my part I think those are pretty good descriptions of teenage relationships and there's something that makes them inherently different from what I've seen in most romantic fan fiction (and romance novels for that matter).

As I see it, when you write romance (as in romance novel or in romantic fan fiction), you go out of your way first to emotionally invest the reader in the pairing and then emotionally pay off the reader. I don't think that JKR was so much thinking about both those things when she wrote her romantic plots. First of all, I think she hoped that we as readers, had got emotionally invested in the characters as characters - not their romantic future - and secondly, I think she also hoped (and hopes) that she can emotionally pay off the reader in other ways than with romance like with friendship, humour and things that take courage and self-sacrifice.

I love how Harry's irrational jealousy was like a monster inside of him. I could so connect with that. I loved how Ron's and Lavender's relationship was like oh so many relationships my friends had when we were teenagers (FYI I was the eternally dateless one). I was so impressed by how Hermione too can be affected by love and how I felt for her (that's where my own experience kicked in to add to me empathising with her). In my opinion for their romantic plot to advance, like with Ron having to date someone like Lavender, Hermione had feel a bit down with love if you know what I mean.

It has been said that JKR didn't delve enough into Harry's and Ginny's relationship but I can't see describing more make-out sessions would have helped the advancing of the plot in any way. I think in many ways the reason why Harry felt that Ginny made him so happy, was because being with her made him feel like a normal teenager who has a laugh with his girlfriend between the times they get release for their raging hormones. While JKR isn't really shying away from the snogging descriptions, there's no need to have it steal page time from the actual plot.

Furthermore, if I'm going to be honest, it's not often I've seen the trials and tribulations of teenage romance described so honestly as in HBP. JKR might not be on par with Klaus Lynggard, Håkan Lindquist and Hans Hansen (all Scandinavian writers - I don't believe that their work has been translated into English) in describing the sweet agony of being a teenager but in my mind JKR gets it quite right.

And I think I should got to bed now.