Harry's looks (Was: Dark Book - Blood and Cruelty/ Draco)

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 177288

> Carol responds:
> 
> But my point is, Harry's (occasional) attractiveness to girls has
> little to do with his looks (which, except for the scar that draws 
all
> eyes, are unexceptional) and everything to do with who he is (the 
Boy
> Who Lived, the Chosen One) and what he has done (survived an AK,
> fought dragons, confronted DEs and LV himself and lived to tell the
> tale). Perhaps we should substitute "popularity" 
for "attractiveness"
> since Harry attracts girls other than Ginny and Cho only during 
times
> of popularity for some accomplishment and never during times when 
he's
> suspected of being the Heir of Slytherin or a lying attention 
seeker.

Magpie:
Right, but that's also why I thought I was brushing that aside in my 
post--whether or not we as readers picture him as handsome or not is 
subjective, since we'll never see him. (Though the description of 
him as "ordinary looking but with beautiful eyes" does seem to me to 
add up to something far dreamier than "chiseled features like a 
super model.") He's not ugly, certainly, and he's not good-looking 
to the point where that's something we'd really list as a defining 
trait. I didn't think Betsy was trying to put him on Sirius' level 
to begin with, but to just say that to her he seemed to come across 
as also good-looking--this not an area in which he struggles. 

But my point was that whatever he looks like, it's not a character 
trait of his to have problems lookswise and in fact when it comes to 
dating he is advantaged. He doesn't always have hoards of girls 
after him (sometimes he does), but he is on the A-list. I doubt 
there's a single boy in Harry's year who isn't more sought-after 
than he is. Not because he's just so prettily handsome--which I 
honestly don't think JKR would admire anyway and neither would we. 
But I do think she thinks he's a guy girls should recognize as the 
dishiest in the class. Not because of his looks, but not in spite of 
them either. The girls who like him do like him physically, even if 
they weren't drawn to him because he had a pretty face only. 
Romilda, for instance, may be impressed by his heroism (not at all 
like Ginny!) but she seems to be blatantly lustful about what she 
wants from him. She finds him physically attractive--a hottie.

That just seems emphasized more with questions of "But where are the 
girls third year?" Most people never have *any* experience being 
chased the way Harry is more than once. Being chased by girls is his 
experience, even if it's down to his general coolness and not just 
looks (which I can imagine JKR wanting us to get).

My post was not claiming that Harry was most conventionally handsome 
but that other things gave him that experience. His experience *is* 
more like Sirius's despite Sirius being more handsome technically. I 
suspect that was more Betsy's point as well, that she was suggesting 
Harry was a bit like Hermione, who is also carefully described as 
not some cheerleader pretty girl who attracts mostly by looks (like 
Fleur), yet seems to operate as a confidently pretty woman in her 
dating life. 

-m