Wanted! Complex Female Adult Character: (was:Re: ESE!McGonagall...

[phoenixgod2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 164666


> 
> > >>Jeremiah:
> > Ginny is very complicated.
> > <snip>
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> Only if there's something up with her in HBP.  Otherwise she's 
> Harry's sugar and a bit of recess before his battle with the big 
> bad.  Oh, and his baby-making machine for the wonderful epilogue. <g>
> 
> However, if it turns out that her utterly horrid behavior in HBP 
> really *was* horrid behavior and not short-hand for "spunky girl!" 
> than yes, I'll grant you Ginny's complexity.  At this point though, 
> it's still an open question.  And Ginny is still not an adult. <eg>
> 
> Betsy Hp

Betsy, I agree with you post completely!(I don't feel right, quick,
say something nice about Snape or Draco)  But I would go even a step
further. This is a story about a boy without a father, and ultimately,
how Harry deals with his unresolved father and the other men in his
life is far more important than how he deals with the women in his
life. At least in my opinion.

And I have made the point before, but I'll make it again.  rather than
worry about the women, I worry about what I think is the very real
lack of strong male/father characters in the story.

We have Arthur, who has a spine consisting of three parts jello and
one part spaghetti.

We have Lupin, who wouldn't know a strong decision if it bit him in
the behind during a full moon.

We have Sirius, who was brave, and strong and good.  Right until he
inexplicably went insane in the fifth book after being fine in the fourth.

We have Snape, who is still an issue laden thirteen year old on the
inside.

We have James, the legendary Father who turns out to be an enormous
ass, despite the awe most people hold him in (great model for fathers
right there).

We have Lucius, the mighty pureblood wizard with the aim of storm trooper.

We have Voldemort, the evil wizard so scary people stutter through
this nickname but wouldn't last five minutes against someone who'd
read the evil overlord handbook.

We have Dumbledore, the great light side wizard who couldn't make a
plan, run a war, run a school, or protect a child's interests to save
his life.

So I tell, for those worried about the lack of strong female
characters, I am more worried about the male characters.

phoenixgod2000, who has a very low threshold to meet for
characterization out of his love for Robert Howard and Edgar Rice
Burroughs and is still not happy with the characterizations in HP