SHIP cliches (Was: Re: H/H SHIP)

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 79911

-Cressida:"Whatever your views on the [shipping among the characters]
matter you have to admit that JKR would try very hard to avoid falling
in to that most obvious of traps hero gets main female character. I
sincerely hope that she has something a little more surprising up her
sleeve than that old chestnut."

Pshemekan:"This seems to be most repeated in the SHIPping discussions.
H/Hr Ship -- no it's hero gets the girl cliche, FITD situation -- no,
that is the love triangle cliche, R/Hr Ship -- bickering friends
cliche... So it seems all mainstream trio solutions are cliche – JKR
should pair Ron/Hagrid, Snape/Hermione and Harry/Angelina so to avoid
clicheism."

Pshemekan's right, IMO. Everything's been done before.  It takes more
than that to make a cliché; in a true cliché, a plot element is
handled in an unoriginal, uninteresting way that shows a lack of
thought or originality.

But take a plot or subplot with rich, fascinating characters, have
them act in believable ways, and tell the story well, and you have
something fresh and new.  JKR is not the first to do this.  400+ years
ago, an author took old stories that had been circulating for many
years, gave them a twist, populated the stories with fascinating
characters and brilliant storytelling, and gave us the works of
William Shakespeare.

I think cliché-ism doesn't apply here. If Hermione and Harry work as a
team and simpatico as a man and woman, that's what I hope happens,
hero-gets-the-girl be damned.  I happen to think H/Hr does work, and
the case for them is strong. That's good enough.

Jim Ferer