I took issue with that comment too because I think people can't stand for her not to be beautiful because they can't stand to think of a positive character that isn't physically attractive. I mean, when is the last time you saw a movie or TV show heroine that one could call positively homely? Even Emma Watson isn't unattractive--I was rather disappointed upon seeing the movies because I didn't think Hermione would look that good.
So these people, who can't bear to see someone in a positive role who isn't a beauty queen, make Hermione suddenly a well-groomed show pony, a la the traditional teen movie plot of "ugly duckling loses the glasses, cuts her hair, and suddenly becomes a swan." There is nothing in canon to really indicate that this has happened to Hermione--by the end of the fifth book she is fifteen and ought to be blossoming by now, but we haven't seen any big surge of boys suddenly flocking to her side or running into walls as she goes past because they're staring.
When in reality...I know a lot of intelligent women, but most of them would ever win a beauty contest. It's their brains that makes them attractive once you know them, but Miss America they will never be, no matter what they do. Meanwhile, a lot of the women I know who are "pretty" and take a lot of time to maintain that, who aren't necessarily the brightest crayons in the box. I don't know why this is. I don't know if beautiful women see they can get by on their looks and don't need their brains, so they concentrate on doing their hair and makeup and come across as vapid while the unattractive women realize their minds and personalities are all they have so they'd better cultivate them, or if the women who are naturally dumb go all out on their looks to compensate, or what.
So I don't see what the problem is with keeping Hermione the way she is actually written rather than projecting our own ideas of how a heroine should be on her, and keeping her more true to how it usually is in real life. And that's why I would never make Hermione beautiful and would take a second look at anyone who did.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2005-07-12 08:06 pm (UTC)So these people, who can't bear to see someone in a positive role who isn't a beauty queen, make Hermione suddenly a well-groomed show pony, a la the traditional teen movie plot of "ugly duckling loses the glasses, cuts her hair, and suddenly becomes a swan." There is nothing in canon to really indicate that this has happened to Hermione--by the end of the fifth book she is fifteen and ought to be blossoming by now, but we haven't seen any big surge of boys suddenly flocking to her side or running into walls as she goes past because they're staring.
When in reality...I know a lot of intelligent women, but most of them would ever win a beauty contest. It's their brains that makes them attractive once you know them, but Miss America they will never be, no matter what they do. Meanwhile, a lot of the women I know who are "pretty" and take a lot of time to maintain that, who aren't necessarily the brightest crayons in the box. I don't know why this is. I don't know if beautiful women see they can get by on their looks and don't need their brains, so they concentrate on doing their hair and makeup and come across as vapid while the unattractive women realize their minds and personalities are all they have so they'd better cultivate them, or if the women who are naturally dumb go all out on their looks to compensate, or what.
So I don't see what the problem is with keeping Hermione the way she is actually written rather than projecting our own ideas of how a heroine should be on her, and keeping her more true to how it usually is in real life. And that's why I would never make Hermione beautiful and would take a second look at anyone who did.