Why did they give Hermione and Harry so many good scenes and chemistry in the fucking movies?
They pretty much took out Ron's character and had him be goofy comic relief and they gave Hermione all of Harry's emotional support.
And like.
I'm conflicted because I always liked how Hermione was more abrasive and logical in the books. And she was sweet but she could be overbearing and tough too. That was kind of the best thing about book Hermione, she was often very bossy and driven and these were very good things, but could be a bit too much.
And it made her a stronger character for it.
But I also liked movie Hermione because...
Um. I had a crush on Emma Watson.
She was more bossy and sort of a know it all as a kid.
And she grew into a more compassionate character with a lot more empathy and sensitivity than she had in the book.
But while that was somewhat detrimental to the original book Hermione...I still liked that interpretation of the character because Emma Watson had a lot of charisma.
Plus she and Daniel Radcliffe just had so much more chemistry, I think, than Rupert Grint and Emma.
So my mom and I were absentmindedly talking about Harry Potter since I'd been ranting about Nagini being a person earlier. She then said that she didn't understand the Harry and Hermione ship, since it was always obvious that they were friends.
And I said that's true, but that was only clear in the books.
In the books, Harry loved Hermione because she was brilliant and had a strong sense of loyalty and justice.
That being said, she often had passions he didn't share and was often lost in her own world, studying hard and getting obsessed with elves' rights and law codes and history.
She was bookish and she didn't always have interesting things to talk about.
Because she had very specific interests that not everyone shares, you know?
And that's cool and Harry respected that for the most part.
But were they compatible in the books? I don't think so. Harry was always more of a sibling who would remind her that the real world exists and people aren't like spells. He was more empathetic than her and had better leadership qualities. Better ideas about how to treat people.
That's all good and wonderful.
But in the movies?
They didn't make it clear.
They cut a lot of Hermione's studying.
They cut a lot of her little pet projects. They cut out the times when she just didn't want to talk to Harry because she was busy or she started saying something boring.
They made Hermione Harry's closest friend and confidant, someone to talk to about everything. Someone who looks out for his emotional well-being.
And who's intelligent, but sensitive. And not so much driven as passionate.
And you know, although I like both versions of Hermione, I do have to concede that both were entirely different people.
And Harry from the movie did have better chemistry with movie Hermione.
More so than movie Ron, who never defended her the way he did in the books or whose character involved choosing the practical over the proper, the right thing over the rules.
They were still argumentative and not quite compatible in the books, but at least they sort of answered the other's flaws. They would have a rocky marriage but their arguments did make their relationship stronger. They brought out good and bad parts of one another and if they were real people, I'd like to think this is mostly a good thing and based on a real love and appreciation for one another's differences.
But in the movies, yeah I was always a little bummed out about that whole dancing scene in deathly hallows.
Harry and Hermione just had such a good chemistry in the movies because of how easy they were around each other.
They had so many extra scenes too.
Moments where they were commiserating or talking about Harry's destiny and all the stress related to that shit.
Or just cute moments like in half blood prince where Hermione was warning Harry about Romilda Vane wanting to slip him a love potion.
"she's just interested in you because she thinks you're the chosen one-" "well I am the chosen one." *Slap
That was such a cute moment. A little out of character for Harry, but still. A funny moment.
And the scene in the same movie where he comforts her over Ron making out with Lavender.
And it feels like she's trying to get over a guy who just doesn't like her the way she wants or who's just trying to hurt her out of spite.
And Harry's there to comfort her.
Like.
In the book, she didn't start sobbing and asking harry how he feels.
And hinting at how "I've seen the way you look at her."
Hermione never cared about Harry's love life in the book. She sent the birds after Ron because she was jealous and bitter and didn't want to express it with tears.
She was a no nonsense girl who was feeling "love's keen sting" more strongly than ever.
But in the movie, they made it like Harry was gonna be her rebound.
And like.
Im just conflicted.
I liked Hermione in both versions. I liked her with Harry in the movies, so I was ok with it.
I didn't like Harry and Hermione in the books.
So it's always weird for me to think about.
Because people who never read the books?
Yeah they have a right to wonder why Harry and Hermione never got together.
The movies really pushed those two and the actors really made it work so much better than it should've.
