by Nightcrawler » Friday 25 June 2004 2:08:41pm
The way the books work, and the overall "feel" of them would change completely IMHO.
Everything in the books are from Harry's POV; the raging testosterone, the ego-feuled jelousy, the male bonding with Lupin etc. Much of this stuff would just not work with a girl as the lead character.
The books might work with Harrieta instead of Harry, but it would have been a lot harder to pull off. Like somone said earlier, girls will (genrally) read books about both male and female antagonists, but guys will genrally stick to reading about male antagonists, unless there is sufficient reason to read it anyway. In other words, the books would have to be VERY good, and not too girly (BSC for example :p).
If JKR were to simply change the name "Harry" to "Harrietta" and make only the absoloute necisarry changes in character interactions, then the books would suck (IMHO).
If the books were to work, she would need to completly pull the books apart, and then put them together in a way that would totally change the overall "mood" of the books. Otherwise HP would indeed be shelved with the Baby Sitters Club.
Perhaps it would suit the "mood" of the books if they had a stronger Paganist theme along with the new female lead. This would make them somewhat cool (and controversial!), and would make them less girly.
However, as the books are currently, magic is not a major theme, it is merely the way in which the books are presented. If more focus were to be put on the actual magic (or "magick" as the case may be) itself, then they would be essentially quite different books.