SHIP: Harry, Hermione, Ron and JKR's Split personality

[selah_1977]

No: HPFGUIDX 38940

Hello, everyone--quick re-introduction, as I haven't posted here in 
dog years--Ebony AKA AngieJ, mostly on the Convention/Gathering and 
Evil!Fanfic (chuckle) side of the fandom these days, but wanted to 
poke my head back in here to respond to this:

Ana wrote:
> > I often read that Rowling based Hermione's character on herself 
> > and Ron's--on her own best friend, what's-his-name.  Now, I don't 
> > know how a writer's mind works (and it's a shame, after all those 
> > months of reading fanfiction I should :)), but with romance not 
> > being the central theme of the books and all that... wouldn't it 
> > be more economical for Rowling to take a perfectly good best 
> > friends relationship from real life, maybe with some romantic 
> > interest at some point, but definitely just best  friends in the 
> > end... and just put it on paper instead of inventing something 
> > different for these two?


And Barb wrote:
> You make a good point, but OTOH, I think that Harry is even more 
> based on JKR than Hermione.  <snip...> So if she's writing Harry as 
the masculine side of herself and Hermione as the feminine side, it 
makes sense that the two of them would have the same best friend--one 
based on HER best friend (and perhaps this is why Ron feels like the 
most well-rounded of the three to me--she's not permitting some of 
her qualities to go into either Harry or Hermione while she conserves 
them for the other character).  One could argue in this case that 
this makes it more likely that she'll pair Hermione and Ron--(would 
she pair herself with herself?) or you could use the same information 
to argue Hermione/Harry (together they make a whole).  Or this could 
be the main argument of the non-shippers.  We obviously won't know 
for sure for a while.<<


Other than Ron being perhaps the most well-rounded of the Trio 
(hmm...), I think that both Ana and Barb's points are interesting, 
considering a post I made in December 2000--

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/7284

It's extremely difficult to use psychoanalytic criticism with the HP 
books, as the author is living and very private with the details of 
her personal life... not nearly as easy as doing seminar papers 
applying Lacan to say, Mary Shelley or James Joyce.  Nevertheless, a 
year and a half after I posted that theory, I really haven't changed 
my mind much.  

This is why I pretty much stopped debating ship over six months ago 
after a year of doing so.  I now believe that one cannot *prove* ship 
to people, and neither should one feel compelled to do so.  Shipping 
is based upon a sum total of how people read the books, their RL 
experiences, what they believe is important in love and romance, etc. 
It is not always contingent upon the actual canon, either--a year 
ago, we had a *long* discussion going in which quite a few H/Hers 
said they didn't like the romances in *Little Women*, either.  In 
another fandom of mine, we have something called the "Dean vs. Teddy" 
debate--in that particular author's stories, all of my ships are 
canon, but there are plenty of people who I respect who believe that 
the ending of this particular series was pretty badly written (which 
I concede) and that the female protagonist ended up with the wrong 
guy (which I do not concede ;-)).

I've seen compelling arguments for Ron/Hermione over the past two 
year, but in those same two years none have rung as true for me as 
Harry/Hermione theory and what I read as Harry/Hermione subtext in 
canon.  Similarly, I am sure that Ron/Hermione theories, fanfic, and 
canon events (esp. in GoF) have convinced others... indeed, reading 
GoF nearly swayed me to concede Ron/Hermione as a likely scenario in 
the near canonical future (I conceded this kicking and screaming, 
I should note--I was not happy about it at all at first!) and I still 
think canon is going that way.   And while Ron/Hermione is not my 
ship of preference, I cannot say it is total anathema to me. I've 
read my share of it. Heck, I've *written* it.  If it happens, it 
happens.  If it doesn't, it doesn't.  This will still be a great 
series no matter what the pairings are.

Because when all is said and done, I've read these books just as many 
times as any fan who's been around for a while.  I've seen shipping 
debates come and go... and I still think I'm right.  I'm still as 
much in favor of H/H as I ever was.  Judging from the three weeks' 
worth of posts I just skimmed, and recognizing many familiar posters 
and positions on both sides, I think that I am far from alone.  Those 
who leaned R/H a year ago still lean that way, those who lean H/H 
along with me still lean that way, and the no-shippers are still 
gritting their teeth at us all.  :)

As far as Harry getting no girl because he is the Hero on a Hero's 
Quest/Journey, JKR's own words refute that--she has definitely 
confirmed that romance is in the cards for the young Mr. Potter (and 
I daresay she reads them better than Trelawney!).  Perhaps with a new 
character. Perhaps with someone we have already met. I can honestly 
say that I don't know, and I am looking forward to finding out what 
JKR has in store for us. 

That is, whenever Book 5 comes out... sigh...

--Ebony AKA AngieJ