Oh, TV Tropes...!

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

Quite honestly, the Harry Potter stuff on that site has gotten to the point where I can't read it because just about everything is fawning over how great and super-special-awesome the series is, oh, and how Snape is an evil douchebag who wanted to get Harry and James killed so he could keep Lily. But this... this makes me want to scream:

"Hermione... [is] one of the smartest and more pro-active females in the whole Harry Potter canon and English literature in general"

WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!

How could they make such a claim?! Hermione is a better heroine than, say, Tiffany Aching?! How about Eliza Doolittle?! And I'm sure you could come up with other examples.

No, no, in Harry Potter it seems fairly obvious that the most powerful women in the series are antagonists. Sure, Hermione's perfectly independent and capable, but in the last several books it's like she becomes Harry's servant because he's too lazy to do anything himself!

God damn it, Harry Potter wouldn't bother me so much if everyone didn't insist it was the greatest thing since sliced bread!

Comments

[sunnyskywalker]

Or Katsa from Graceling, if you want to compare heroines' reactions to their own violence. Katsa does some pretty awful things (mostly because her uncle the king, who has trained her since childhood, orders it, and she's afraid to disobey) - and hates herself for it. She looks for ways to lessen punishments she's ordered to dish out whenever she can, and occasionally manages to talk her way out of things without anyone getting hurt. Even when she manages to kill the villain, she's disturbed because she thinks she did it too easily and for the wrong reasons. She actually recognizes and battles her dark side, and while she doesn't always succeed, she is at least actively trying to be a better person.

Also, even though she herself doesn't want to wear dresses, get married or have kids, she doesn't think there's anything wrong with women who do, and in fact is quite fond of her nurse (a fan of all three) and recommends her to care for another girl who needs help. She doesn't blame girls for not defending themselves, either, since she knows they don't know how, and thinks it's unfair that it's tradition not to teach them.