Not to step on anyone’s toes, but
when I was reading the Harry Potter series for the first time, I was not a fan
of how Rowling portrayed femininity. It always seemed like in order to be
considered a great witch you had to forsake your femininity. I will not dispute that Rowling is great at
making witches just as good, or better, than wizards; Hermione is constantly
described as the brightest witch of her age, and one of the best aurors in the
Order of Phoenix is Tonks. What I found
to be lacking in the books, though, is a strong (good) witch that doesn’t
forsake her femininity in order to be great.
In the fifth book, we are introduced to Umbridge who is probably the
most feminine of all the witches we’ve met so far, but Umbridge is not a good
person – she is not to be looked at as a model for someone girls should wish to
be. It would be very easy for a reader
to associate her femininity with her lack of goodness.
The female character that I do
remember wishing to be like, Tonks, is never described as being very
feminine. Tonks is a witchy tomboy, and she
discusses how she’s not very good at “housekeeping spells” – if being good at
housekeeping spells was the definition of being feminine in the wizarding
world, then as a reader I did not want to be feminine. There is the case that Mrs. Weasley is really
good at housekeeping spells, and she does some great things in the later books,
but I never really viewed Mrs. Weasley as being feminine (unless you consider
being good at household tasks the same as being feminine. Which I don’t.)
You never list your requirements for what constitues as "femininity", nor do you ever list what bars Hermione or Mrs. Weasley from entering this group. Hermione does attend the Yule Ball, after all, and is found to be extremely attractive my several characters throughout the series(she does catch the attention of the world class seeker Krum). I find this bashing of HP characters and Rowling's writing akin to the needless insertions into the works of Shakespeare where they look at every character through the lens of their sexual orientation. Hamlet was not gay, and JK made the most talented character in the entire series a witch; enough said.
ReplyDeleteI said in the first paragraph of my post that I don't dispute that Rowling makes the greatest characters witches. That wasn't my argument.
ReplyDeleteBeing a witch doesn't automatically make you feminine. I'm saying that Rowling portrays femininity in a negative light through the character of Umbridge. Umbridge is hands down the most feminine character in the series and she is also probably the most hated character in the series. It is possible for readers to derive a correlation there.
No need for hostility.