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

[torchedsong.livejournal.com]

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.

Now, granted, the male characters aren’t spectacular either. Harry is passive, Ron is average, Draco is a waste, Snape is a mess, Dumbledore is also a mess, Voldemort is a standard villain, and plenty of other male characters are either boring or obnoxious.

And yet, as disappointing as some of the guys are, I can still find something about them interesting or engaging. I can see their potential or humanity, no matter how static, simplistic, or irritating their characterization is (well, maybe with the exception of James; I can’t stand him no matter how hard I try - and I’ve tried.)

Maybe I’m being sexist and judging the women too harshly. Maybe I’m not giving Rowling enough acclaim for trying to write a variety of female characters in a story revolving around a young boy. Maybe I’m excusing the poor characterization and lack of depth in the male characters when they’re far from complex either.

Whatever the reason is - it is what it is. Even as a young girl who enjoyed the books, I only gravitated towards Hermione and Luna. McGonagall was the sole female authority figure I found respectable. The rest?

Umbridge and Bellatrix are stereotypical images of evil. Narcissa is all about her son. Lavender and her friends are silly girly girls. Pansy is a mean girl. Millicent is an ugly mean girl. Fleur is French and beautiful. Katie and the other Quidditch gals are just there. Tonks is bubbly until she falls for Lupin. Cho is the first love interest. Molly is Harry’s overbearing surrogate mother. Petunia is Lily’s awful sister. Rita is the “pushy” career woman. Trelawney is an oddball. Sprout might as well be nonexistent. Merope is the birther of Evil Incarnate.

And then there’s the two female characters that I dislike the most: Ginny and Lily. They’re depicted as wonderful young women we’re meant to admire and adore. And yet, I’d take rude Pansy and crazy Bellatrix over them any day. Even Harry, who is portrayed as “amazing” at times, is given some flaws and criticisms within the narrative. Not everyone adores Harry and he’s called out by other characters (including his friends) for his behavior. But Ginny and Lily are overwhelmingly worshiped to the point where I can feel Rowling hitting me over the head on how I must approve of their superiority awesome personalities.

Writing this post is not doing any favors for the feminist in me. Strange thing is, from what I’ve read, JKR considers herself a feminist. But her female characters are not compelling or well written enough. Her male characters fall flat as well, but at least with the boys and men, it seems like she tried to give them depth. With the exception of Hermione, I get the sense that JKR didn’t bother to go any deeper with the girls and women. (And it’s telling how Hermione is an Author Avatar and the female character JKR put the most effort into.)

Well, this bitter rambling post has gone long enough, so I’ll end it here. Am I being too harsh and unfair or is there something off about the way JKR writes women? Or is it no different than the way she writes men? I know this topic is far from new, but I'm forevermore late to the party.

Comments

[t0ra-chan.livejournal.com]

You're not being unfair about the way JKR writes her female characters, she clearly doesn't practice what she preaches. She once said that the wizarding world is supposed to be equal, but when you actually look at what she wrote, it's clearly not the case. Female characters, especially feminine ones, are always treated as lesser, unless they're no-nonsense like Hermione and McGonagall or tomboys like Ginny.

When she took her break between GoF and OotP, I think the critisism of her books regarding her female character really got to her. People complained that apart from Hermione and McGonagall none of the female characters actually matter. All the important roles are filled by men: all the DA teachers, the rival, the mean teacher, the mentor, all the ministry employees including the aurors (the only female one is Bertha Jorkins and she exists and dies completely off-screen). Even with Harry's parents it's all about his dad: Harry looks like him (except the eyes), he played Quidditch like Harry, Snape's beef is with James, the Marauders were James' friends and so on. Lily was just there for her eye color and dying so Harry has a magical protection and a muggle family that could raise him.

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. Umbridge is both a ministry employee and a DA teacher, Amelia Bones is another ministry worker, Tonks and Emily Vance are female aurors and Neville's mom Alice also gets upgraded to auror. In GoF she was just Frank Longbottom's wife and didn't even have a first name. As for the students, we get Lun, Cho gets a lot more screen time, Angelina becomes Quidditch captain and Ginny got a personality transplant. But it's clear that JKR never truly cared, because by the time HBP came out so much of this got undone. Emily Vance and Amelia Bones die inbetween books, Tonks becomes a sad sack because of love, Ginny just exists as a love interest Mary Sue, Luna's role is greatly reduced, Cho is mentioned only once, Angelina has graduated so Harry becomes captain, Snape becomes the new DA teacher, the new teacher is also another man and even Hermione is all caught up in relationship bullshit. Not a single female character does anything of importance in this book.

JKR should just admit that she has no real interest in female characters unless they are exactly like herself and that she has a lot of issues with girly girls and femininity.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/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.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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.

[torchedsong.livejournal.com]

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

I agree, although I think it's not only feminine women that are disparaged, but women who are considered too "masculine" or unattractive. Umbridge, Rita, and Millicent come to mind as women who have unfeminine features and are seen as unattractive for it. The "correct" type of femininity is reserved for girls who aren't too girly but aren't ugly or too masculine either.

Speaking of appearance, this is a side-topic and me being oversensitive, but I found it bothersome how cruel JKR could be in describing characters meant to be unappealing. It makes me wonder how much of it is truly Harry's perception of the people around him and how much is it JKR's own superficial vision of appearance. Again, I'm most likely being oversensitive, but I find it an interesting thought nonetheless. Especially when it pertains to the Slytherins who are either ugly (e.g. Snape, Pansy Crabbe, Goyle, Umbridge, most of the Death Eaters) or beautiful in a vain and cold way (e.g. the Malfoys, Blaise, young Tom Riddle). And the one token bad Gryffindor, Peter, is the most physically unappealing member of the Marauders.

Sorry for going off on a tangent there. Back to the main topic:

All the important roles are filled by men: all the DA teachers, the rival, the mean teacher, the mentor, all the ministry employees including the aurors (the only female one is Bertha Jorkins and she exists and dies completely off-screen). Even with Harry's parents it's all about his dad: Harry looks like him (except the eyes), he played Quidditch like Harry, Snape's beef is with James, the Marauders were James' friends and so on. Lily was just there for her eye color and dying so Harry has a magical protection and a muggle family that could raise him.

Well said! It's completely true that the majority, if not all, of the main and significant roles in the story are filled by men. They're the major players who affect the plot and vice versa. You can take out plenty of the female characters and the story will remain largely unaffected. Even though some female characters get an upgrade in OOTP, it doesn't matter too much in the long-run. Once HBP comes around, the important characters in the story are, once again, male - Dumbledore, Snape, Draco, Slughorn, and Harry.

And Lily is such a weird case for me. She's praised throughout the books and depicted as being so sublime and perfect in comparison to the imperfect men in her life... and yet, she's more of a symbol than a character of her own. Her existence relates back to Harry, James, and Snape. She has nothing interesting of her own to offer. JKR keeps trying to tell the reader how amazing and special she is without showing it.

This connects back to Ginny in a way because I got the vibe that JKR wanted her to be Lily Version 2.0. She wanted Ginny to be "worthy" of Harry. In the end, Ginny is nothing more than a love interest given to the hero as a reward to make babies with, just as Lily had no existence beyond the men in her life as well.

JKR should just admit that she has no real interest in female characters unless they are exactly like herself and that she has a lot of issues with girly girls and femininity.

Yep. She at least tried with her male characters to give them complexity, but other than Hermione, none of the female characters mattered too much to the overall story.

Thank you for your insightful comment!