Harietta Potter

[Ju-DedoH]

well I have sometimes read books stared by girls like wild magic by tamora pierce, and quite liked it
btw Jane Austen was a great great ... aunt or cousin of mine ... 8)

[Meg Boyd]

I agree...girls as the heroines is very much downplayed...look at Eleanor from "Ella Enchanted"...yes, it is a spin off of a girlie fairy tale of Cinderella, but Ella is truly a kick butt girl, (much like Princess Fiona from Shrek...he he) but I doubt my guy friends who read similar books would even dare to pick up that book, while I don't even think twice about picking up Huck Finn or Fallen Angels, you know? To Kill a Mockingbird is a great novel, and Scout is an awesome girl character in it! As I write this I am scanning my memory of all the books I have read in secondary school, and who was the hero(ine) of those books...they don't look very promising for girls. Too bad, because I feel girls can be great heroines!

As for if Harrietta Potter was the main character, I feel the other characters would treat her differently...perhaps her life with the Dursleys would not be as rough because I bet their neighbors would look at them funnily if they were beating and starving a "helpless girl"...I bet Dudley would think twice about beating a girl, while "Harrietta" would probably look less like James Potter and probably remind Snape less of James and bring less hatred to the table. Dumbledore would probably shelter "Harietta" more than he would with Harry because she's a "helpless girl"...If Harietta Potter was the main character, I bet she'd have it tougher than Harry, because not only would she have a mark, a mission, a brand, a scar, but she'd also have to over come the s*x barrier.

So perhaps more stories have boys as main characters out of sheer convience to the characters???

[Ju-DedoH]

what if harietta was a boyish girl, sort of tough and determined, cos' I don't suppose all girls seem "helpless" at first sight (look at soom of those slytherin girls) ...

[Meg Boyd]

Well lets just say JKR has pity on "Harrietta Potter" and writes her to be pretty, or at least cute...the slytherin girls are always portrayed as ugly, out of sheer imagery...girls who are nicer looking, no matter how tomboyish are always treated "helplessly" because they are girls...

[zledm007]

wow, stereotypes up thje wazoo!! i agree that it wouldn't be the same w/ the hero as a girl, but i don't think that she, whatever she looks like or however she acts will be treated helplessly. i mean, if she had gone through all the things harry did, and had the scar and all, and was a hero, or heroine i suppose to the wizarding world, she would be treated that way. just a thought.

[Meg Boyd]

Ok, I didn't think it would come to this:

Zledy, are you are girl? I didn't think so.

I rest my case.


he he he...i had to do that

[zledm007]

whatever

[Meg Boyd]

Don't take it seriously what I said, I was just pointing out that fact that how would you exactly know how it was to be sterotyped as a girl when you are a boy...that's all I was saying...

Anyways...mean while back the ranch...

I still think a Harrietta Potter would work, yet the story would changed drastically just in the way the other characters treat her.

[Ju-DedoH]

you misunderstood me I believe, I didn't say as ugly as a slytherin girl but as determined and tough as a slytherin girl ...

[Meg Boyd]

sorry, it is just that all the slytherin girls are written as ugly...so that's what I thought you meant...but still you can't tell me Dumbledore and the rest might be a bit wary of treating Harietta Potter like The Chosen One, if she should look like a pretty, delicate girl, no matter what her persona...it would be like Harry struggling to be treated like an adult, no matter what he did some one treated him like a kiddo...as so Harrietta Potter might be treated like a delicate little girl, thus having a worse time overing coming everyone's sterotypes of heroines...

[Ju-DedoH]

You should read this wild magic by tamora pierce, the hero is a girl, not that delicate and she has the same sort of relationship with a DD type of person, and she is a sort of "chosen one", which meens that it is possible

[zledm007]

actually meg, the steroetyp i was talking about was you assuming people (guys) would look at the heroine that way. not the label she'd be given, just that the poeple would give her the label.

[Meg Boyd]

Sorry, you know how naive I am about guys...you of all people should know that zled, but I am not just saying guys would give "Harrietta" this stereotype, but adults...McGonagall, DD, etc...

but who cares anymore, i am obviously fighting a losing battle...

I still think a girl hero would be just as good, but she would have different interaction with the characters as we know them in the books...ie Dudley might think twice about beating up a girl...that's all i am saying, I am not saying all the boys in the HP books would give "Harrietta" a hard time, just the basic interactions would be different...

[AccioNiffler]

Meg, I agree completely with your "losing battle". I think the books would for the most part be the same, but the ways the chaacters interacted. Like Ron and Harrietta would be different than Ron and Harry. Maybe Ron would even have a crush on her, or maybe he would get even angrier with her than with Harry because is was constantly being overshadowed by a girl. And that whole Cho and Harry thing would have been very different. When girls have a crush on a boy, they act a lot different than when boys have a crush on a girl. So who would that crush be on? Ron? One of the twins? Cedric? Now that would bring in some competition, and girls aren't exactly nice when it comes to competing over boys. Maybe even Draco? Yeah, they are enimies,but a lot of girls like the bad boys...

[zledm007]

about the ron thing. i think ron and hermione would change roles. i mean, kinda flip flop you know?