Fleur (was: Re: Seeking: Is it meant to be a good thing?

[Audra1976 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 48396

rsteph1981 at yahoo.com writes:

<< It seemed to me that Fleur took the
threat very seriously.  She was, after all, fighting
Maxime to go to Gabrielle.  That Cedric and Krum
didn't believe they would die, I give you, but I can't
agree about Fleur.  She seemed waaay to upset about
it.  She was worried about Gabrielle, not points. >>

Speaking of which, this is one of the parts that bothers me as a woman.
"Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur Delacour, who was quite 
hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water.

'Gabrielle!  Gabrielle!  Is she alive?  Is she 'urt?'"

I feel that this makes Fleur appear weaker than the male competitors.  Fleur, 
the female character, is "hysterical," a word that was first coined 
specifically for women (hyster = uterus).  It's true that Harry also took the 
threat seriously, but he is still portrayed as a stronger character.  

First, Harry is not as old as Fleur, Victor, and Cedric.  We expect the three 
older champions to act in a more mature manner, yet in this instance, Fleur 
is on Harry's level, while Victor and Cedric are acting in a more mature 
manner.  Second, Harry heard and saw the scary-looking merpeople, and saw the 
hostages tied up under the water, and that is what really added to his 
feeling that the hostages were in danger.  He thinks about "how eerie it was 
down in the lake, surrounded by spear-carrying merpeople who'd looked more 
than capable of murder."  Fleur never saw what Harry saw.  She never even 
made it past the grindylows.  Third, when Harry is back on land he realizes 
that he just got caught up in the moment:  "Now he was out of the water, it 
seemed perfectly clear that Dumbledores safety precautions wouldn't have 
permitted the death of a hostage just because their champion hadn't turned 
up."  But Fleur, who has been out of the water for a while, is still 
convinced that her sister's life had been in danger.  

In the first task, Fleur faced the Welsch Green, which was the smallest, and 
seemingly least threatening, of the dragons.  It is specifically stated that 
her hand is shaking when she reaches into the bag to select her dragon, but 
this is not said about any of the boys.   The announcer's commentary on Fleur 
is the most negative.  Of Cedric's strategy the announcer says, "Clever 
move--pity it didn't work."  Of Victor's, "That's some nerve he's showing," 
but of Fleur's he says, "Oh, I'm not sure that was wise."   None of the 
three's strategies were the best ones to use, but Fleur didn't get any 
comments about her strategy at least being clever or brave.

In the third task, Fleur is taken out of the picture by a simple stunning 
spell, while Crouch-as-Moody resorts to two of the Unforgivables to get rid 
of Cedric and Victor.

Does this portrayal of Fleur strike anyone else as sexist?

Audra