CHAPDISC: HBP30, The White TOMB

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 165782


> bboyminn:

> As to not feeling empathy for Harry and Ginny, and 
> thinking it is because JKR is not good at writing 
> 'love scenes', let me say that we are never going to
> see, and should have never expected to see, anything
> even remotely close to a 'love scene' in the HP books.
> That is simply not what these books are about. Any
> platonic, more intimate, or even physical love is 
> going to be referenced in the most indirect and 
> metaphorical manner. 
> 
> At best we will see Harry and Ginny in physical closeness
> as we do in the common room scene where they are 
> discussing tatoos. Maybe a quick kiss or a hug, but hot,
> naked, and sweaty never were and never will be, and should
> never have been expected to be, in any of these books.
> 
> Any romance is going to be eluded to superficially because
> it is not the central theme of the story. You should have
> never expected 'well written romance' because this is 
> not a romance story. That aspect is secondary to the
> central story and is not part of a book for general 
> audiences. (I hesitate to say 'children's book'.)

Magpie:
Actually, I have to defend juvenile lit a bit there.:-) Children's 
books don't have sex (YA books do, and HBP is a YA book, but still 
obviously its style does not include graphic sex), but they can 
contain love stories. So I wouldn't say a lack of empathy for H/G as 
a couple is due to the age group of the books or that the lack of 
empathy couldn't be due to JKR not being particularly good at love 
scenes--or romance in general.  Children's/YA authors have created 
plenty of couples to root for. There are of course plenty of H/G 
shippers rooting for them, but I don't think JKR is one of those 
authors who are good at creating those kinds of couples. (After all, 
there are plenty shippers of every pairing in canon, and it's not 
usually about literally what's in the text but what could be between 
the lines-H/G included.)  

JKR tends to write romance as plot points and not as real 
explorations of specific feelings between characters and I think 
that works fine for the books. But I think that's also the reason 
shipping takes place most off the page. You get when characters are 
supposed to fancy each other, but you don't feel it with them. At 
least that's my experience. 

-m