Stereotyping

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 84643

> Siriusly Snapey Susan wrote:
> > I just don't see things this way.  Maybe I've read too much fanfic
> > and my impressions are tainted by that, but overall in my reading 
> > of the Potterverse, I've found a refreshing *lack* of attention 
> > paid to one's gender.  <snipping myself out, here>

THEN K WROTE:
> There was a reason I stressed that these were my pre-OoP feelings. 
> Before OoP we really didn't know much about Molly and Minerva 
> beyond the superficial details that one was a mum and the other a 
> teacher. The only female character I really felt I knew was 
> Hermione....
<snipping yours>
> It's fine to have background characters we don't know much about, 
> but do *all* the female characters other than Hermione have to fall 
> in that category? 
<snippety-snip> 
> I was delighted with the character developments and throwaway
> comments in OoP that gave us a female MoM, witches on the 
> Wizengamot, Umbridge, a much more detailed Minerva, more about 
> Molly, a fleshed out kick-ass Ginny, Loony Luna and Tonks.
> 

BACK TO Siriusly Snapey Susan:
> > One reason we see so few examples of what WW moms [whoops--mums] 
> > do is that these books take place in large part at boarding 
> > school.  Parents aren't around; their daily lives aren't 
> > discussed much.  We have no clue what Mrs. Diggory does or Mrs. 
> > Finnigan or Mrs. Thomas or Mrs. Patil or Mrs. Brown.  No, JKR 
> > doesn't tell us these things, but what, really, would they add to 
> > the story?  How/when would they fit in?  JKR has kept the Order's 
> > membership pretty small to this point, so until/unless that 
> > circle expands to include lots of other Hogwarts kids' parents, 
> > we'll likely never know what Mrs. X does--**or MR. X for that 
> > matter**.  That doesn't make the WW--or JKR--sexist, im(never-)ho.
> >
> 
AND MORE K:
> But we do know what Mr Diggory does and Mr Thomas. The only mother 
> whose job we knew was Hermione's mother, and she was a muggle. I'm 
> not talking about spending much time and space on giving us details 
> of the characters. Ginny's comment about being possessed by Tom 
> gave us an insight into her in *one* line, the scenes at grimmauld 
> place between Molly and Sirius and Molly and Remus took up hardly 
> any room in comparison to what they showed us. A prime example of 
> this use of one liners to give us insight into characters is Gred
> and Forge's comment about Oliver trying to drown himself in the 
> showers, that reinforced our whole image of him in one line and he 
> wasn't even *in* the scene, Minerva's line that 'it unscrews the 
> other way' is another one-liner that tells us a lot about her, same 
> with the comments about Flitwick and the swamp.

Siriusly Snapey Susan again:
Not much I could snip in the last part, because it is very good!  NOW 
I understand more of what you were trying to get at, K.  And I hadn't 
recognized your emphasis on pre-OoP [sorry!].  

I think your point is well-taken that women were, by & large, 
background characters before OoP.  I still think I'm right that, when 
all 5 books are included, those females who were present were 
refreshingly able to join in anything [Quidditch, aurors, DA, 
Wizengamot], but you're also right that we don't get much information 
about them, nor their POVs.  Of course, we don't much of anyone's POV 
besides Harry's....  

I think you're dead-on, though, in pointing out that JKR has proven 
herself capable of telling us a lot in ONE line--your examples are 
perfect [Ginny, McGonagall, Wood], and that makes your annoyance much 
more understandable to me.

BTW, in total agreement w/ you on "kick-ass Ginny"!

Siriusly Snapey Susan