Harry Potter, REALLY for Grown-Ups (well, PG-13 anyway)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 164417

BetsyHP wrote:
> I do think it's... I don't know if odd is the right word, but it
does lessen the realism of the Potterverse for me.  How many years was
it before Ron discovered boys couldn't enter the girls' dorms?  You're
telling me none of the boys attempted a panty raid at one point or 
another?
<snip>

Carol responds:
Ron's discovery of the girls' staircase being off limits to boys is a
memorable comic moment (along with his short-lived reaction to the
double standard--girls are expected to be better behaved and more
sensible than boys), but to me it's in keeping with his failure to
understand his feelings for Hermione for six whole books when they're
obvious to everyone else (well, to most readers, to Hermione, and
eventually even to Harry). Like most teenage boys, he experiences
physical attraction long before he can separate it from love--or, at
any rate, a relationship based on mutual respect and affection as well
as physical attraction. In this respect, Ron strikes me as a typical
teenage boy viewed from a comic perspective. But he's also more prone
than Harry to jealousy, or at least, less able to control his
jealousy. (Not that I think he deserved to be attacked by a flock of
birds, but that's another post.)
> 
Betsy HP:
> I will say, also, that it leaves Harry's sexuality somewhat in
question for me, or at least a bit ambiguous.  I mean, I know JKR
means for Harry to be quite straight.  But he seemed very bored with
actually kissing Cho.  (One kiss, and Harry lost all interest in the
possibility it seemed.)  Harry doesn't develop any sort of crush on
any older girls.  Veelas do nothing for him.
   
> Instead it's Ron who takes very quick notice of  Madam Rosmerta, and
who falls all over Fluer, and who is very willing to make out with
Lavander until the cows come home even though they don't have all that
much in common. 

Carol responds:
That's not the impression I get. Harry spills water all over himself
when he sees Cho in GoF and his stomach does flipflops every time he
sees her. He never has any such crush on another boy. And in HBP we
get the monster in his chest. (I got really tired of that monster,
but, fortunately, JKR is better with other story elements than she is
with romance.) As for the Veela (and Fleur, of course, is part Veela),
Harry at first is just as susceptible as Ron, but just as he can
control his jealousy to some degree, keeping it inside rather than
revealing it through words and action, he also learns to control his,
erm, attraction to the Veelas rather more quickly than Ron and the
other boys (or even the men, to judge from the referee). The sensation
he feels, a kind of euphoria in which nothing matters except showing
off for the Veela, is very similar to the euphoria he feels when
Crouch!Moody places him under the Imperius Curse. My feeling is that
the two abilities are related--Harry can resist the pull of the Veela
because he can resist the Imperius Curse. (Something to do with his
scar, maybe?) Maybe Harry is just a bit more mature than Ron (which I
hate to say because I like Ron, but he's very much a kid even at
seventeen).
>
BetsyHP: 
> Also, Harry is fairly quick at spotting the handsome young men
(Cedric, Sirius, Lupin, Tom Riddle), while he doesn't seem as able to
spot the pretty young women.  Is Tonks attractive, for example?  And
why do we need a Slytherin to point out that Ginny is pretty?  (Though
partially I wonder if this isn't because JKR doesn't like describing
female characters as good looking for political reasons.)
<sniP>

Carol:
Or we need to know that those young men are handsome for plot reasons.

Seriously, I think Harry is so obsessed with Cho for two books that he
can't even see any other girl, and by the time he realizes that he
likes Ginny, he's seen her so often that he doesn't even think about
her looks.

Is Tonks attractive? She's an "older woman" with pink or purple hair.

Carol, who wouldn't want sex in a kids' book, anyway