ladysophiekitty: (Hermione sad)
ladysophiekitty ([personal profile] ladysophiekitty) wrote2010-12-06 12:08 pm

My thoughts on Ron/Hermione

Most of my flist ships Harry/Hermione, but there are a few of you who ship Ron/Hermione, or don't mind them.

Lately I've been thinking about it, and thinking about book!Ron/Hermione versus movie!Ron/Hermione.

I actually think I prefer movie!Ron/Hermione to book!Ron/Hermione, because there were little things in the books that prevented me from really liking them. The whole "being with other people to make the other person jealous" thing didn't bother me at all, because they were hurt and jealous and wanted to hurt the other person and make them think about what they were missing out on. I don't mind the bickering, either, because these are two kids who like each other, but don't really know how to go about it.

The two main things that bothered me were the birds, and THAT STUPID HOW TO BOOK THAT RON HAD! I mean, seriously. You couldn't figure out how to be in a relationship with Hermione without a self-help book? And Hermione didn't truly start to be in a relationship with Ron until he started taking advice from the book? That kind of makes me mad, actually.

I think THAT'S why I like them in the movies better, because they show the previous stuff without that stupid book and the birds. I loved how they showed Ron as trying to get on Hermione's good side, but not really knowing how to. The moments where Hermione was just so sad that he had left. The awkward moments, when he was like, "let's put this to a vote, shall we? I agree with Hermione!" and he had his hand up, and then slowly dropped it when she was glaring at him. Or how Harry said, "keep talking about that ball of light going through your chest, and she'll forgive you" or, I think the moment that truly stood out to me, that was like, "oh hey! Sexual tension!" was when Ron touched Hermione's face right under her scratch during the cafe scene. Moments like that, I think that I could ship them, even if my heart belongs to Harry/Hermione.

[identity profile] sherrilina.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I think R/Hr and H/G are significantly improved in the movies, or made to be more tolerable at least, I think in part because the movie producers and writers, unlike JK it would seem, understood how negative and unlikeable she made these two relationships, lol. And I think in some ways they improved on H/Hr in the movies as well...

LOVE the new header btw, gah! :D <3333

[identity profile] gigi-tastic.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
.dude i ship emm watson and that is all that matters

[identity profile] kissoffools.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not going to argue with you or try and change your mind, because believe me, I think I got tired with Ron/Hermione vs Harry/Hermione fights back in 2007. I just.... mostly don't understand. And granted, I am coming at this from a Ron/Hermione shipper's point of view. I just thought that their relationship was executed perfectly in the books, and I didn't realize that others took issue with the stuff you mentioned!

You said you had a problem with the birds, but yet you said you were okay with the fact that they used other people to make each other jealous. The birds were an act of jealousy. Which, given how callous Ron was acting, kind of makes sense. It isn't completely justified, of course, and it was definitely irrational, but Ron's always managed to bring out Hermione's irrational side. She Confunded McLaggen for Ron, after all.

And in terms of the book, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we only really see that book when Ron gave it to Harry? And granted, he complimented Hermione like the book said - that's what lame teenage boys do. And in the real world, teenage girls buy magazines like Cosmo Girl and Seventeen to get advice for how to get boys to like them. It's silly and people should be able to be themselves and get dates that way, but in general, that isn't how society works. If Harry and Ginny had been together more in Deathly Hallows, what's to say that Harry wouldn't have tried stuff from the book as well? But really, the main reason Hermione actually went for it with Ron was because he wanted to save the house elves. And that was his decision - that wasn't something she'd asked him to do, and it wasn't something the book suggested, either. That was character growth on Ron's part, and that impressed Hermione. But she liked him for ages, all the way back to book 4, arguably, long before this book ever came into their lives. And I bet she would have agreed to date him then, too, if they'd managed to get over their awkward issues and do things like grownups. But hey, that's teenagers for you.

I'm not trying to make you change your mind, by any means! Just trying to explain things from my perspective. After all, it's all about how you interpret things, right? And everyone's allowed to interpret motivations however they want. :)

[identity profile] kissoffools.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
.......and looking at the other comments i feel like i probably shouldn't have said anything. cool. um, backing out now. pretend i wasn't here.

[identity profile] ladysophiekitty.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
A disclaimer: I actually haven't read the final book since the day it came out and , so it's been quite a while! And yeah, I got tired of them too, especially since both sides could be so nasty!

I guess the difference between the birds for me was that it was a physical act of violence against one another versus just trying to make each other jealous. Like, both of them are not OK, but I understand the first part. It's just when it starts to get physical that I'm like, "No way!" I think I was 11 or 12 when the sixth book came out, so while beforehand I had been aware of the relationships, I didn't actively ship. In fact, that was also around the time I became involved with fandom, and I became more of a Harry/Hermione shipper due to fandom rather than any of the books or movies. It wasn't until later when I reread and rewatched things that I realized that yeah, I do like Harry/Hermione.

I just remember getting that impression about the book, too, that he used it and that's what really got them to get together. Again, it's been 2 years since I've read the book, but that's what I thought. But then, I might have just been getting the wrong impression, because I don't like the way JKR writes romance. I think that if she had written Harry/Hermione together in canon instead, I probably wouldn't have liked that either.

And don't apologize! It's interesting to see other shipper's POV, especially when we aren't going to be all "BITCH! YOU SHIP RHR/HHR YOU HAVE NO TASTE DIDN'T YOU REALLY READ THE BOOKS?"

[identity profile] hmsharmony.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Pretty much THIS to all you said. We already discussed this via FB, but the book is really what made the difference for me. HERMIONE IS NOT YOUR STEREOTYPICAL GIRL. If Ron loves her, he should know that, and he should NOT be treating her like your stereotypical girl. His awkward attempts to get on her good side? THAT'S what I'd have liked to see. I could so get on board with that relationship. I still think that Harry is her equal and that's whom she belongs with, but I wouldn't have minded R/Hr had they gone down that route.

[identity profile] dtotheaisy.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
So this may seem really random that I'm commenting here because I haven't been on LJ in months. That would be because I usually use tumblr BUT IT HAS BEEN DOWN ALL DAY and I just lurked back here to have some kind of contact with fandom people. Anyway, I'm lobster-quadrille1 on tumblr in case you're confused, I can't remember if you follow me but anyway I'm pretty sure I follow you. So yeah.

Anyway this is an interesting perspective! I like seeing the ways other people interpret the text and it's much more intelligent when people make comments like this rather than just DIE BITCH MY SHIP IS BETTER.
Yeah, the birds thing is kind of bad. That's one of the only times Hermione ever did anything that made me feel annoyed by her, because come on. However, I feel like it was in her nature? She often acts irrationally crazy when she's upset. I can't think of another example that extreme but she sort of reminds me of my own friend who can become rather... crazed, at times :P

As for that book, I barely noticed it, tbh. I just assumed it was a silly present Fred or George or someone gave Ron, and him being his clueless self he sort of took it a bit too seriously. I don't think most of the things he does for Hermione are the influence of the book, however. There's that one time he compliments her and Harry thinks it was due to the book, but he really undergoes some massive character developement in Deathly Hallows and by the end I feel he has outgrown anything like that. Their eventual hookup is a result of Ron being totally selfless like the man he has become. At least, that's how I see it.

As for Harry and Hermione - well, I sort of see Hermione as a bit of a mother figure to Harry. Epic love between them, though <3 (ps though, one of the other few times Hermione pisses me off - when she gets all annoyed about that sign in Godric's Hollow - I feel she should have got that Harry would have loved people writing all over it. It's stuff like that which makes me personally think they don't have that deeper understanding of one another. But I still love their friendship!)

OMG THIS COMMENT IS LONG, I AM SO TUMBLR DEPRIVED

[identity profile] nani1986.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks for not bashing Ron while discussing your ship. I love the trio and one of the reasons I don't like H/Hr and R/Hr is that shippers of the first need to turn Ron into an OOC abusive monster to make their ship work and the second ones are usually into OBHWF, which is just... gah.

As for Oppugno and the "book". These are teenagers, they're not exactly romance savvy and they are ruled by hormones. We all do stupid stuff when we're kids, I didn't mind that so much. I think JKR made a big mistake by having romance be such a huge part of HBP.

I think the movies are more H/Hr than the books, I got tons of Harry/Hermione vibes for POA... but this was not the case in the books. I saw Ron/Hermione coming from GOF and I didn't even think Harry/Hermione was a possibility (then again I thought the same about Harry/Ginny and look how that turned out :P) I thought R/Hr were going to date or something, which would have been fine... then in the Epilogue without any character development for 19 years we find out that everyone married their high-school sweetheart? WAT.

The real world doesn't work that way. Yes, some HS relationships ARE successful but everyone in the Epilogue married their Hogwarts love and that is so unrealistic.

So I guess the lesson is... KIDS, IF YOU DON'T FIND TRU WUB BY AGE SEVENTEEN YOU ARE DOOMED!

Anyway, I'll just leave this here:



OT3 forever ^^

[identity profile] anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
yes this post.

unfortunately, the movies are not going to be a particularly good fix-it, especially if you're, um, as war torn as i am. so. #kanyeshrug all over this fandom in the end, but i do prefer them in the films. i'm picspamming ootp now and they have all these tiny little faaaces and i'm like okay, i see you now, with this still picture in front of me, and i don't particularly care for you but i can deal with you and your faces. if it weren't r/hr we were talking about, i'd probably ship it too. but, i mean, i'm a lost cause. this fandom has ruined me and i have no issue stating as much. #kanyeshrug.

[identity profile] anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
it amuses me because all the r/hr shippers think the movies are more h/hr than the books and i, at least, think the movies are more r/hr than the books because i didn't even see r/hr in the books. so i think the perspectives are really interesting. i mean, perspective shapes your entire reading of this 'verse, especially with shipping, but i think that produces some interesting results in the way this fandom views the films.

i'm interested in seeing how the r/hr fandom at large feelings about the epilogue, because i've seen a lot of shippers who are like 'otp forever' but i've also seen a lot of 'i love them but i can't imagine them together forever and ever amen' and i would have been okay with that, actually, but i have a million problems with the epilogue from a ship and non-ship perspective so i am the most biased human. :D
Edited 2010-12-06 23:18 (UTC)

[identity profile] nani1986.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not a Ron/Hermione shipper. I don't do trio-shipping.

[identity profile] anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
oh! sorry, i misunderstood your comment then. :)

[identity profile] ladysophiekitty.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, where Ron/Hermione is concerned, it's BOTH of them hurting each other, but in kind an innocent way for the most part (minus the birds, which Hermione did, not Ron) more like, "I don't know how to show you that I like you". So no, I don't see Ron as an abuser.

In the first Harry and Hermione story I wrote, I think one of the good things about the story (and I was 11 at the time so the story sucked) was how I portrayed Ron's reaction to them being in a relationship. He was like, "What?" and was kind of annoyed at first because hello, is it going to be awkward for him? How is that going to affect their relationship with each other? Then he was OK with it. But it's hard to find fic where the Weasleys aren't bashed so much or where Ron isn't a huge dick who used spells to get Hermione to like him. That makes me MAD because Ron IS a good guy who sometimes get things wrong. I think that in the books, he liked Hermione, and Hermione liked him, but I just never saw it working out as a long term relationship. Because, like you said, who you're with in HS isn't always who you're with for the rest of your life.

[identity profile] nani1986.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
It's okay. I was kind of miffed that you were assuming I was one because I didn't see H/Hr in the books.

Actually, that statement is wrong... I ship Trio Friendship. That is trio shipping, hehe. I just don't care if they are romantic with each other.

[identity profile] anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
hahaha well i actually got it from I saw Ron/Hermione coming from GOF. but i'm sorry to have been a bother. :) and trio friendship is a totally legit life choice.

[identity profile] avidbeader.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)
I think it generally comes down to one's tastes. I cannot stand relationships where it's all fighting until they fall into one another's arms. I hate it in real life. I hated it when Han and Leia did it thirty years ago. I ship Harry and Hermione because they are the best team in the books and because they fit together so well, each supplying something the other needs. That's the kind of relationship I want to read about.

In my opinion, when Rowling went down her path she didn't include a vital component that might make the relationship between Ron and Hermione believable for everyone. She didn't show us any respect between them. Hermione *never* expects Ron to succeed. Ron *never* shows Hermione any genuine appreciation of her passion for learning, except when it gets him out of a jam. They dismiss the things the other values most and never apologize for it.

They may be opposites, but there's nothing to trigger attraction. Hermione isn't looking for someone to loosen her up; her academic drive is too important to her. Ron isn't looking to be improved upon (note that the only character who seemed to think Ron was 100% fine the way he was...was Luna).

So whatever was in Rowling's mind when she wrote the characters...only a portion made it into the books to demonstrate to all the readers why Ron and Hermione would be attracted enough to the other to fall in love. There's simply not enough in the books to justify it without idiotic fixits like Ron using a self-help book to con his way into Hermione's good graces. We are not shown that Ron actually and truly has come to understand and appreciate Hermione...he's just found a shortcut.

I can well believe that the scriptwriters have worked VERY hard in the last movies to try and soften and solidify Ron and Hermione's interactions to make them more believable. But it doesn't balance out five pre-epilogue movies and large chunks of the last movies that show just why Harry and Hermione have a better chance to be a lifelong romance.

[identity profile] nani1986.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, Ron is sort of clueless about relationships in general so I guess that his reaction would be along the lines of "What?" :P Also, I think he would be apprehensive about it at first.

What I hate is the endless Ron beats Hermione so she has to find comfort in Harry's arms fics, WTF is up with those? First off, it's a discredit to Hermione to assume she'd stay in an abusive relationship, and same to Harry who has to be aware of that and yet says/does nothing. Then we have abusive!Ron, which is so many kinds of OOC.

I think it would have been more relalistic if the Epilogue had been longer and explained things. If JKR was set in making Ron/Hermione happen, then she needed to make it believable past a High School romance. Same goes for Harry/Hermione, Harry/Ginny and any other Hogwarts based pairing. A relationship takes work, it will get ugly at points, and it won't always work out. I'm not saying they didn't stand a chance, but it's so WEIRD that she had everyone from Harry's year hook up with each other. If so, move over Match.com... Hogwarts is where it's at!

[identity profile] nani1986.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
No worries. tbh after HBP, DH and all the shipwars I've become sort of paranoid in this fandom. Being a Gen person can be awkward sometimes. So sorry if I was kind of aggressive :P

[identity profile] anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
i think after the ship wars we're all become sort of paranoid in this fandom, ngl. i think paranoid parrot it the mascot of the h/hr fandom at the very least. womp. :)

[identity profile] anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com 2010-12-06 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
I recognize that in a nice, shipwar less world I am not supposed to love this comment.

But I fucking love this comment.




Why is it so horrible that I want to be angry? I am.

I love this comment.

[identity profile] ladysophiekitty.livejournal.com 2010-12-07 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I don't ship opposites attract. When I ship, it tends to be from friendship to love, where the people have very strong bonds of trust and understanding and respect for each other. Sometimes there is some bickering. Back when I was a Bones fan and still liked there relationship (so, seasons 1 and 2) Booth and Brennan would bicker over small things now and then, though maybe bicker is the wrong word. They would have a discussion where maybe they didn't agree with each other, but the respect was definitely still very there.

For Harry/Hermione, I remember reading or hearing someone say that the best marriages are ones in which the people can communicate without saying a word. Harry and Hermione definitely have that.

[identity profile] ladysophiekitty.livejournal.com 2010-12-07 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
I think that if the books had been more like that, while I wouldn't have necessarily strongly shipped them (because, as I mentioned below, they aren't really my kind of OMG I STRONGLY SHIP IT ship), I wouldn't have been as, well, against it as I am. Because there were little things here and there that actually bothered me, done on both sides.

Oh man. Harry Potter was my first online fandom, and I was such a young one, too. 2005 was when I got into it, actually, and it makes me a bit cynical about all fandoms. Which is why I tend to stay in my happy corner of fandom. Buffy/Angel fandom? Yeah, I was usually at all the Cordy/Angel communities and sites, like Stranger Things.

[identity profile] ladysophiekitty.livejournal.com 2010-12-07 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, there have been a few fandoms where I didn't actually ship anyone but I wasn't necessarily active in those fandoms, and they weren't HUGE like HP is. So I can't imagine what it must have been like, but I'm sure there were times when it wasn't pretty.

Also? I need more Harry Potter icons. Will go looking for them now!

[identity profile] anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com 2010-12-07 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
lol this fandom makes me miss btvs ship wars so much. i just want to go back to the land where i can snark and be like 'see bitches canon is on my side.'

i miss canon being on my side.

[identity profile] ladysophiekitty.livejournal.com 2010-12-07 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
I'm actually thinking of having a discussion on my LJ about whether you prefer to have your ship be canon or fanon, and which ones do you tend to go for. It's about half and half for me, though I find for the most part I prefer it to be fanon. But Angel/Cordy and Wes/Lilah did it so perfectly that I love it!

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