Utopian vision vs realism in fiction

[Penny & Bryce]

No: HPFGUIDX 33478

Hi --

> "jrober4211" <midwife34 at a...> wrote:
> 
> I doubt seriously that JKR
>  > conciously decided while writing the Potter stories " Gee, I think
>  > I'll write a series in which traditional gender roles are
> portrayed."

Sirius responded:

> 
> I disagree.
> 
> Of course the text isn't just what the author intended (it also
> reflects her cultural background, assumptions, and biases - known or
> unknown)
> 
> However I think there must have been a concious choice involved in
> making the hero (Harry), the side kick (Ron), The most senior "good"
> figure (Dumbledore), the most senior "evil" figure (You-know-who) and
> the higest ranked wizard (Fudge) all male characters.
> 
> But this could be for a number of reasons:
> 
> 1. This is the way JKR believes young readers view the world
> (possible)
> 2. This is the way JKR wishes the world to be (unlikely)
> 3. This is the simplest and least contentious option - the line of
> least resistance and most readers (most likely)

JKR wasn't writing with a target audience in mind, so I doubt that it's 
(1).  Given what we know of her social & political beliefs, I think it's 
unlikely to be (2) either.  As for (3), I'm not sure, but are you 
suggesting that JKR wrote this entire series with marketing 
considerations in mind?  That's *very* unlikely in mind.  She didn't 
even know whether it would be published, let alone whether having male 
characters in some of the major roles would result in greater overall 
readership. I think that view attributes a great deal more foresight & 
planning (not to mention commercial savvy & ambitions) to JKR than is 
likely to be the case.

I write non-fiction as a general rule, but in writing a bit of 
fanfiction, I found that characters often do just come into your head 
with their basic characteristics in place (gender, ethnicity, etc.).  I 
can certainly believe JKR when she says that Harry just strolled into 
her head, and that it would have been difficult for her to change him 
into Harriet.  I don't think it's at all unreasonable that JKR just 
wrote the characters as they came to her.  While this does probably 
reflect unconscious cultural biases & experiences to an extent, I don't 
think, from what I've heard of JKR, that she believes the world should 
operate along "traditional" gender role lines or that she should attempt 
to promote that social order in her books.  It just doesn't square with 
what we know about her.  IMO.

Hoping to have more time later to comment on some of the issues on this 
subject that Tabouli, Luke & others were discussing yesterday --

Penny