So to pickup from last time I am going to be using the same article to analyze the differences of Hermione Granger in terms of looks from the Harry Potter book series and the movie. The storyline of the novels does not matter all that much to my analysis but in case you haven’t read the books I’ll give you a link, even though I’d much rather you went out and bought the books and read them yourself. The only part of the story that matters is Hermione’s part which is fairly small. Hermione is a girl who goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and she is the smartest girl of her year. That and the fact that she is not supposed to be the prettiest girl are the main points for Hermione.
There are four specific quotes from Sonja Eismann’s article “So Tired of Being Sexy: The Female Musician’s Body Politic.” I won’t introduce them here because then I will be explaining the quotes but it won’t make sense without the significance of the books but I will introduce them as I come to the beginning of each paragraph of analysis. Eismann’s article shows how hyper-sexualized women are and how women cannot always say that they are so sexual in the name of ‘empowerment.’ The reason that the Harry Potter books contrasts so well with this is because Hermione is not hyper-sexual. She is the average book nerd that people encounter all the time. Hermione is more than likely seen with a book rather than a mirror and she is the antithesis to the patriarchal paradigm that suggests that women have no mind.
The Harry Potter books are a world-wide phenomenon and if you haven’t heard of them I will go so far as to be undiplomatic and suggest that you have been living under a rock since 1997. They are wonderful for young girls because the author, J.K. Rowling, has managed to take one of the main supporting characters and write her as a strong female character. One who is not conventionally pretty but who is insanely smart and in the end of the series she ends up with the boy she has loved, well I want to say since they were eleven but more truthfully probably since they were around fourteen, maybe thirteen. J.K. Rowling may have been able to write about a strong female character but even she is not free from patriarchal pressures. When J.K. Rowling first was going to publish her book she was asked to “change her published name to her first two initials instead of “Joanne,” so that she didn’t turn off potential boy readers with her female-ness” (Melissa Anelli Harry, A History, 49). I wanted to bring this point up because it shows that even those who you believe would be able to act the way they wished are still under patriarchal pressure.
I’d like to start with the idea of the patriarchal paradigm from Sonja Eismann’s article. The quote is “that it is still the female body that is synonymous with sexuality, that women are all matter and no mind” (Eismann, 270). Hermione as we are introduced to her in the book is a girl with “a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth” (Rowling Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 79). It is quite clear that Hermione is not a woman that is without a mind but as the books progress there is no change in her personal appearance until the fourth book. In the movies however this is a progressive change in Hermione’s appearance. Played by Emma Watson the character of Hermione slowly becomes more of what we expect a girl her age to look like. There is no change in her behaviour because this would be too much of a change in the story line that is beloved by so many people. Yet the physical change in Emma Watson as Hermione Granger is very noticeable from Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
Hermione from Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
Hermione from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Hermione from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Hermione from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hermione from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Hermione from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire shows a stunning transformation of Hermione. Even at the beginning of this book she has not been described as conventionally pretty. “‘Stunningly pretty? Her?’ ... ‘What was she judging against – a chipmunk?’” (Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 277). The movie, being the photographic representation of the book, is not able to get the same reaction out of this transformation. Because the “biggest reward society has to offer all women ... is wanting to see them naked, thereby granting them the desperately needed ‘hot status’” (Eismann, 270) the directors of the movie has increasingly made Hermione less of the bushy haired chipmunk toothed girl that she was in the first movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Now she has curly hair instead of bushy and she is wearing make-up, if only subtly. This takes away not only from her transformation in the book but from her empowered stance of being a main character that is not conventionally beautiful.
"But she didn’t look like Hermione at all. She had done something with her hair; it was no longer bushy, but sleek and shiny, and twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head. She was wearing robes made of floaty, periwinkle-blue material, and she was holder herself differently somehow" (Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 360).
What is wonderful and horrible about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is that Hermione’s transformation makes her unrecognizable. It is wonderful because it does mean that girls and women who do not make themselves up everyday still have the ability to be beautiful but it is horrible because of how people cannot picture these girls as beautiful or comprehend the transformation. I think this transformation would have been wonderful in the movies because the directors could have shown that Hermione, with her bushy hair and big teeth can be beautiful and that it is okay for girls not to wear makeup and spend hours getting ready every day.
Hermione’s very existence “undermines the harsh beauty discipline that keeps women continually occupied with their (always imperfect) bodies, making them too exhausted and insecure to take their place as active, dissenting citizens” (Eismann, 272). This is especially so after the Yule Ball in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where Hermione is telling Harry how she managed to tame her hair the night before. “[S]he had used liberal amount of Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion on it for the ball, ‘but it’s way too much bother to do every day’” (Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 377). This reinforces the fact that women can spend far too much time on their own bodies and looks and this leaves them unable to engage in other activities. The book even specifies that it took Hermione three hours to get ready for the ball (357) which is why she would not bother to do that every day.
The movie doesn’t draw attention to the fact that Hermione spent three hours getting ready or that she wouldn’t bother to do so every day because there isn’t as much of a change in the movie compared to the book. It would have been good for girls to understand that it is ok to make yourself up for special occasions but you don’t need to spend hours in front of the mirror every day.
Eismann’s article gives two opposites that society categorizes women in. “[S]ociety ... offers women only the opportunity to be the bimbo and thus be sexually desired by men, or to laugh at the bimbo and be one of the men” (Eismann, 268). Hermione doesn’t epitomize either of these opportunities and gives society the reason to consider this as a spectrum instead of a dichotomy. Hermione lands in the middle of the spectrum because she is obviously not a bimbo, being the smartest person in her year at Hogwarts definitely proves this, and she does not make fun of those who are bimbos much. There is one point in the books, I don’t believe it happens in the movie, where Viktor Krum enters the room and “[s]everal sixth-year girls were frantically searching their pockets as they walked – ‘Oh, I don’t believe it, I haven’t got a single quill on me -’ ‘D’you think he’d sign my hat in lipstick?’ / ‘Really,’ Hermione said loftily, as they passed the girls, now squabbling over the lipstick” (Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 219). Proving that while Hermione may not be a bimbo as those sixth year girls are pictured she is not completely above the urge “to laugh at the bimbo and be one of the men” (Eismann, 268) which also shows how real her character is.
The last difference I want to point out is how much Hermione Granger in the books can be seen as a positive role model for girls. There are so many bad role models and “the effect this all-pervasiveness of porn strategies has on girls as early as their teenage years” (268) is startling so the need for positive role models is great. Emma Watson as Hermione in the movies does not do a bad job at being a role model, and I know it is the directors fault not hers, but to have portrayed properly Hermione as she was written in the series would have made such a good impact. It would prove to girls that girls who start out being described as a girl with “a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth” (Rowling Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 79) can be, not the hero of the novel, but someone who has a big impact. She impacts the people around her, especially Ron who in the fourth book is so self-centered and judgement that the following conversation can take place:
"‘We should get a move on, you know ... ask someone. He’s right. We don’t want to end up with a pair of trolls.’
Hermione let out a splutter of indignations. ‘A pair of ... what, excuse me?’
‘Well – you know,’ said Ron, shrugging, ‘I’d rather go alone than with – with Eloise Midgeon, say.’
‘Her acne’s loads better lately – and she’s really nice!’
‘Her nose is off-centre,’ said Ron.
‘Oh I see,’ Hermione said, bristling. ‘So basically, you’re going to take the best-looking girl who’ll have you, even if she’s completely horrible.’
‘Er – yeah, that sounds about right,’ said Ron" (Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 344).
Which not only shows Ron’s immaturity but how much women are judged based on their looks. In the seventh book Ron has matured and is even openly complimenting Hermione though, as she says, “‘Always [with] the tone of surprise’” (Rowling Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, 119). To say it victoriously Hermione wins in these books. She manages to win over Ron without changing herself much, except loosening up in terms of school work, and proves to those who read the books that you don’t have to be beautiful to influence people or to get boys attention. Something that Eismann is trying to show in her article as well, just how much porn strategies have entered our society and have influenced all women.
Lady Polly
P.s. I didn’t even mention the blue dress/pink dress argument.
"But she didn’t look like Hermione at all. She had done something with her hair; it was no longer bushy, but sleek and shiny, and twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head. She was wearing robes made of floaty, periwinkle-blue material, and she was holder herself differently somehow" (Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 360).
What is wonderful and horrible about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is that Hermione’s transformation makes her unrecognizable. It is wonderful because it does mean that girls and women who do not make themselves up everyday still have the ability to be beautiful but it is horrible because of how people cannot picture these girls as beautiful or comprehend the transformation. I think this transformation would have been wonderful in the movies because the directors could have shown that Hermione, with her bushy hair and big teeth can be beautiful and that it is okay for girls not to wear makeup and spend hours getting ready every day.
Hermione’s very existence “undermines the harsh beauty discipline that keeps women continually occupied with their (always imperfect) bodies, making them too exhausted and insecure to take their place as active, dissenting citizens” (Eismann, 272). This is especially so after the Yule Ball in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where Hermione is telling Harry how she managed to tame her hair the night before. “[S]he had used liberal amount of Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion on it for the ball, ‘but it’s way too much bother to do every day’” (Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 377). This reinforces the fact that women can spend far too much time on their own bodies and looks and this leaves them unable to engage in other activities. The book even specifies that it took Hermione three hours to get ready for the ball (357) which is why she would not bother to do that every day.
The movie doesn’t draw attention to the fact that Hermione spent three hours getting ready or that she wouldn’t bother to do so every day because there isn’t as much of a change in the movie compared to the book. It would have been good for girls to understand that it is ok to make yourself up for special occasions but you don’t need to spend hours in front of the mirror every day.
Eismann’s article gives two opposites that society categorizes women in. “[S]ociety ... offers women only the opportunity to be the bimbo and thus be sexually desired by men, or to laugh at the bimbo and be one of the men” (Eismann, 268). Hermione doesn’t epitomize either of these opportunities and gives society the reason to consider this as a spectrum instead of a dichotomy. Hermione lands in the middle of the spectrum because she is obviously not a bimbo, being the smartest person in her year at Hogwarts definitely proves this, and she does not make fun of those who are bimbos much. There is one point in the books, I don’t believe it happens in the movie, where Viktor Krum enters the room and “[s]everal sixth-year girls were frantically searching their pockets as they walked – ‘Oh, I don’t believe it, I haven’t got a single quill on me -’ ‘D’you think he’d sign my hat in lipstick?’ / ‘Really,’ Hermione said loftily, as they passed the girls, now squabbling over the lipstick” (Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 219). Proving that while Hermione may not be a bimbo as those sixth year girls are pictured she is not completely above the urge “to laugh at the bimbo and be one of the men” (Eismann, 268) which also shows how real her character is.
The last difference I want to point out is how much Hermione Granger in the books can be seen as a positive role model for girls. There are so many bad role models and “the effect this all-pervasiveness of porn strategies has on girls as early as their teenage years” (268) is startling so the need for positive role models is great. Emma Watson as Hermione in the movies does not do a bad job at being a role model, and I know it is the directors fault not hers, but to have portrayed properly Hermione as she was written in the series would have made such a good impact. It would prove to girls that girls who start out being described as a girl with “a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth” (Rowling Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 79) can be, not the hero of the novel, but someone who has a big impact. She impacts the people around her, especially Ron who in the fourth book is so self-centered and judgement that the following conversation can take place:
"‘We should get a move on, you know ... ask someone. He’s right. We don’t want to end up with a pair of trolls.’
Hermione let out a splutter of indignations. ‘A pair of ... what, excuse me?’
‘Well – you know,’ said Ron, shrugging, ‘I’d rather go alone than with – with Eloise Midgeon, say.’
‘Her acne’s loads better lately – and she’s really nice!’
‘Her nose is off-centre,’ said Ron.
‘Oh I see,’ Hermione said, bristling. ‘So basically, you’re going to take the best-looking girl who’ll have you, even if she’s completely horrible.’
‘Er – yeah, that sounds about right,’ said Ron" (Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 344).
Which not only shows Ron’s immaturity but how much women are judged based on their looks. In the seventh book Ron has matured and is even openly complimenting Hermione though, as she says, “‘Always [with] the tone of surprise’” (Rowling Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, 119). To say it victoriously Hermione wins in these books. She manages to win over Ron without changing herself much, except loosening up in terms of school work, and proves to those who read the books that you don’t have to be beautiful to influence people or to get boys attention. Something that Eismann is trying to show in her article as well, just how much porn strategies have entered our society and have influenced all women.
Lady Polly
P.s. I didn’t even mention the blue dress/pink dress argument.
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