Shippers and Non-Shippers

[Penny & Bryce]

No: HPFGUIDX 28095

Hi --

Oh, shipping!  One of my favorite topics....

Cindy C. wrote:

> 
> As we all know, to date, there has been only a small amount of overt
> romantic activity described in the HP series.  There is almost none
> in the first three books.  In GoF, there is "The Unexpected Task"
> and "The Yule Ball."  Those chapters were played mostly for laughs,
> IMHO.

I'm of the opinion that these chapters are meant to introduce us to the 
notion that the characters are growing up, becoming really & truly 
adolescents.  JKR has said several times that she doesn't intend to keep 
the HP characters rooted forever in pre-pubescence.  I for one applaud 
this.  It just wouldn't make any sense to me for 17 yr old Harry, Ron 
and Hermione at the end of Book 7 to have had no thoughts of or 
experience with romance or sexuality (yeah, I mostly think Hermione is 
younger ... reasons better saved for another post).

GoF may also be setting us up for something larger plot-wise in this 
regard.  It certainly hits us all over the head with the fact that Ron 
has a crush on Hermione.  I don't think it's possible to definitely 
guess whether those chapters were just a humorous subplot or a humorous 
subplot that gives us some vital background info &/or sets up a more 
important subplot in a later book.

I must say that I'm very against the recent trend to try & label what 
seems like it could have been "cut" from any of the books.  It seems to 
me that it's completely impossible to guess which details may seem 
inocuous enough to us readers now but may be very important on down the 
road.  I trust that the editors have at least said, "Hey, can we cut 
this down by trimming here?"  If it didn't get trimmed, my guess is that 
JKR said, "No way can you eliminate *that*..."  In fact, I think I 
recall a post-GoF interview where JKR said something to the effect that 
she was very happy with GoF and that it was as lean as it could possibly 
be to get the story told in the way it needed to be conveyed (rough 
paraphrase).

 > I must admit I have no interest in Ships (or Slash) among any of the
> adult characters.  <snip> 
> Even for Harry, Ron and Hermione, I would prefer that they stick to
> the knitting and not have significant romantic relationships until
> post-Book 7.  I have no idea why this is, but perhaps it is a feeling
> that the next three books should be fast-paced adventures, and Ships
> would steer the books toward being romance novels?  I really don't
> know.

I'm curious why some people regard *any* introduction of sexuality as 
turning the books into "romance novels" (which then, under popular 
consensus, will make the HP books somehow less on the literary scale 
apparently).  I would, as I mentioned above, be far more annoyed if JKR 
were to try & sell us that these characters who will be adults (UK age 
of consent is 17?) at the end of the series have had *no* interactions 
of a romantic nature at all.  Then again, I think Cindy & I may be in 
disagreement about the basic nature of the books, since I regard the 
series as novels with a protagonist who starts out as a child rather 
than as "childrens' books."  <g>

I *like* my books to have some element of romantic love in there 
somewhere.  In looking at my list of favorite books as we've been 
discussing over on OT-Chatter, I'd say not a single one is completely 
devoid of the concept of romantic love.  It may not always be central to 
the plot, but it's there somewhere & in some fashion.  I know Ebony 
keeps threatening to write an essay on "The Four Loves" as identified by 
C.S. Lewis & HP (and I do wish she'd do this!).  I don't think the 
characters would remain as rich & fully-faceted & as beloved as they are 
if they don't continue to grow, both in a chronological sense & in the 
less quantifiable maturity/emotional sense as well.  For growth to occur 
beliveably IMO, we just can't have 3 characters go through adolescence 
without romantic entanglements.  Yes, not everyone dates in high school. 
  But, did you escape high school without any crushes or love interests 
or *thinking* about it *at all*?  Probably not.  IMO, JKR needn't turn 
the books into the equivalent of Harlequin dime-novels in order to 
address this very real part of human life though.  Based on my reading 
experience, most great literature does have some element of eros.

We've been talking about Narnia some lately, so I'll throw in that I 
read that series for the first time recently & didn't like it all that 
much.  It was "okay."  The plot was handled well & I liked the overall 
themes & resolution thereof (the Christian allegory was very nicely 
done).  But, the characterization left alot to be desired IMO.  I agree 
with whoever noted that Lewis' descriptions are lovely, but the 
characters seemed flat somehow to me.  Not only did I not *love* them, I 
didn't feel at all connected to them either.  I attribute this at least 
in part to the fact that there was a lack of romance/sexuality.  It was, 
however, hard I think to pin down how old the characters actually were, 
so maybe the absence of romance was warranted if they were in fact 
intended to be pre-pubescent.

I can fully see FITD, which involves romance, advancing the plot & 
serving as an important subplot to boot.  [If you don't know what FITD 
stands for, you haven't read our VFAQs lately!]  I'm sure there are 
other scenarios besides FITD that JKR could devise that would also serve 
an important purpose plot-wise & involve ships.

The other thing I'll note is that I think it would be nigh on impossible 
& extremely disturbing if the ships angle were completely dropped at 
this point anyway.  There *has* to be *some* resolution to R/H -- 
whether it's (a) R & H becoming a couple for some period of time at 
least, (b) Hermione declaring that it's Harry she wants & FITD, (c) 
Hermione rejecting Ron on other grounds (Krum for example), or (d) at a 
minimum, Harry noticing that Ron doesn't seem as keen on Hermione as 
he'd thought at the end of GoF.  JKR can't just drop this storyline 
entirely though.  And personally, I don't think it's feasible since I 
think it ties into a reasonably important subplot: FITD.  <g>

Penny