[HPforGrownups] Cool!Ginny, was: Hermione's Character Flaws; and The Dating Game (SHIP)

[marilyn at gehennom.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 68943

Penny wrote:
> As for Ginny, yes, she is a stronger character, albeit through an
> unsatisfactory handling of her from my perspective.  Ooh, Ginny is a
> prankster like Fred and George!  Ooh, Ginny has a sense of humor!
> Ooh, Ginny has lots of friends!  Ooh, Ginny has boyfriends!  Ooh,
> Ginny is a talented Quidditch player!  Ooh, Ginny is super woman!
> Please.  Could we have had some *hint* of all that Ginny in previous
> volumes, please?  I do like the stronger and improved Ginny, don't
> misunderstand.  But, I as a reader feel cheated about how she was
> developed in one fell swoop into such an overwhelming super-star.  

I've heard this from many--a unsettled feeling at all the abrupt
coolness characterization for Ginny--but I definitely feel that it makes
sense given the context of the situation.  There wasn't *un*cool
characterization of her before, just shyness due to the mad crushin'.
Plenty of people took to Ginny negatively because of her lack of
backbone, etc., but Harry really paid very little attention to her
beyond wanting to avoid undue awkwardness, and as we get the story from
Harry's perspective, I think it is perfectly reasonable that we know
little about Ginny until she finally gets over her obsession with Harry
and becomes normal around him.  Maybe it did take her too long to grow
up and out of it, but I can definitely recognize the teenage need to
remodel yourself. 

I'm not saying she is recreating herself just for Harry (at all!), but
I'm sure it was in the back of her mind somewhere that she's glad to be
showing the world (and him) that she's grown up to some degree.

And while I hesitate to get involved in the shipping debates <g>, I
would remark that the sudden Cool!Ginny does seem to denote, not that
she's suddenly *become* cooler, but that Harry is finally in a position
to be able to *notice* some of her coolness.  <g>

> We on the H/H ship just absolutely love OoP.  We think our ship is
> poised to leave the dock in fact. 

Tell me about it!  My fiancee can't stop talking about how obviously
made-for-eachother Harry and Hermione are after OoP.  My house is a
war-torn seascape.

--marilyn, who probably just likes H/G so much because I have red hair
too and it aids my Harry/me ship.  :)

-- 
http://marilyn.suburbanjihad.net/
  "Well--it's just that you seem to be laboring under the delusion that I am
 going to--what is the phrase? 'Come along quietly.' I am afraid I am not going
 to come quietly at all, Cornelius. I have absolutely no intention of being
 sent to Azkaban. I could break out, of course--but what a waste of time, and
 frankly, I can think of a whole host of things I would rather be doing."