H/G and R/H - books vs movies

[Llama]

SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY

To start off, I'm an unabashed Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione shipper. I never understood the H/H stuff.

I think the books portray H/G better. I like the stronger more independent Ginny of the novels much more than the shoe-tying, pie-holding while Harry eats version of the movies.

On the other hand, I like the movies portrayal of Ron and Hermione, mainly due to Emma Watson's acting. Her expressions during both the Qwidditch trials and the actual game while she's supporting Ron were heartwarming. Her reactions to Ron kissing Lavender were heartbreaking. Further, the best part of the GoF movie is when she snaps at Ron to ask her out first next time and not leave her as his last resort.

So, which format do you think portrays these relationships best?

(feel free to gush about either relationship as you see fit)

 

[OmahaStar]

I still prefer Harry/Ron, or Harry/Fred/George.

Either way is good.

 

[CmdrAJD]

Hermione/Ron and Harry/Ginny worked fine for me on the page, but, in the movies, Daniel Radcliffe seems to have so much more chemistry with Emma Watson that the book's pairings just feel forced to me.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

Heh, I remember getting into some pretty thorough debates over this on Mugglenet's forums. I've always loved R/Hr (a real no-brainer up against H/Hr I thought, much more interesting). I generally prefer the books, but I will admit that there's some good acting and writing in the movies for the two, though I disagree about that scene from GoF being the best part, far from it IMO.

On the other hand, the only time H/G actually appealed to me was OotP, where she showed some great characterisation once she'd gotten past her Harry crush. But even then it wasn't my preferred Harry ship (that would be Harry/Luna). Before OotP, I was pretty meh about H/G, but afterwards, with the release of HBP, I grew to loathe her character. She just became a regular Lana Lang type.

With movie H/G, I didn't hate it, I was just back to feeling indifferent about it, and wanted to get back to the R/Hr, Malfoy or the memories.

 

[MNM]

So, which format do you think portrays these relationships best?

I think they suck in both formats, but for different reasons.

In the book, after five years of near anonimity, suddenly Harry has a "monster" in his chest and wants nothing more than to make out with super girl Ginny, who's badass at Quiditch, who is an adept liar and troublemaker - like the twins but of course better, who is the girl nearly every male at Hogwarts wants to get with, and we have to read page after page of agonizingly bad writing about how great Ginny is (despite never being shown any of this greatness, only told it) and Harry's annoying angst about it all.

And in the film, we are subjected to Ginny being played by someone who has, to be polite, no acting talent whatsoever, and has zero chemistry with the person playing her love interest, making all those scenes just seemed horribly forced and bad anyway.

 

[Lapis Exilis]

I have to admit that movie-Ginny does have a tendency to be rather zombie-like, but then movie-Harry has just an ounce more charisma than that. After HBP I am once again convinced that Daniel Radcliffe was very poor casting for Harry - he's generically handsome, sure, but Harry in the books always struck me as a somewhat quirky hero, and I think someone who captured that with a little more zest would have improved the movies 200%.

But I never got the hostility towards Harry-Ginny. None of Rowling's romances are particularly deep and she started telegraphing that Harry would end up with Ginny in CoS, so I'm surprised some folks claim shock at the situation.

Ron and Hermione in the books are sort of cute and touching. They were fine in the GoF and OotP movies - but everyone seemed to be existing in their own universe in HBP. No one had the slightest bit of chemistry with anyone else. I still can't figure it because Yates did such a good job with the character moments in OotP. All I can guess is they edited the movie by committee and that's why it's so leaden.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

After HBP I am once again convinced that Daniel Radcliffe was very poor casting for Harry - he's generically handsome, sure, but Harry in the books always struck me as a somewhat quirky hero, and I think someone who captured that with a little more zest would have improved the movies 200%.

Daniel Radcliffe, not quirky?

 

[Lapis Exilis]

After HBP I am once again convinced that Daniel Radcliffe was very poor casting for Harry - he's generically handsome, sure, but Harry in the books always struck me as a somewhat quirky hero, and I think someone who captured that with a little more zest would have improved the movies 200%.

Daniel Radcliffe, not quirky?

He strikes me as utterly vanilla.

 

[happydave]

After HBP I am once again convinced that Daniel Radcliffe was very poor casting for Harry - he's generically handsome, sure, but Harry in the books always struck me as a somewhat quirky hero, and I think someone who captured that with a little more zest would have improved the movies 200%.

Daniel Radcliffe, not quirky?

He strikes me as utterly vanilla.

I'd have to agree with this, it's not that Daniel Radcliffe does anything wrong (though the luck scenes in HBP are agony to watch his woeful facial expressions), it's just that he's not really charismatic like you'd expect Harry should be.

The relationships (both of them) are incredibly underdeveloped in the films to the point where we just accept them because we're told they exist and not because we actually see/feel anything in them. But really neither relationship is deep in the books either. To me it comes off more as highschool dating where they date because they are told they should (and hormones) rather than a real connection between the two.

One thing which was shown incredibly well in the HBP film was the Harry/Her friendship, you could see there was no sparks there but they really showed the strong deep friendship between the two and how they care for each other. Ron on the other hand seemed like a little bit of a third wheel.

 

[DarthPipes]

One thing which was shown incredibly well in the HBP film was the Harry/Her friendship, you could see there was no sparks there but they really showed the strong deep friendship between the two and how they care for each other. Ron on the other hand seemed like a little bit of a third wheel.

I blame Kloves the screenwriter for that one. He's had a hard-on for Hermione and is always propping her up while destroying Ron. The worst case of this is in the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, when he gave Hermione Ron's "If you want to get to Harry, you'll have to go through me" line. Keeping Ron silent in the final scene was inexcuseable. He's the one who gives most of that conversation in the book.

 

[suarezguy]

H/G was pretty good in the books (Draco may have had something of a point that Harry , at least subconsciously, likes to be hero-worshipped, they have the connection of being affected by the bad guy, and the fact that Ron wouldn't and doesn't like it may be a spur) while there wasn't chemistry between the actors. I think Harry has the most chemistry with Luna in the films, with her really not showing any deference but also having kindness and at times empathy, as well as sharing the outsider feel, her having admirable confidence in that regard. I can see why Harry wouldn't be attracted to Hermione in either medium, with her somewhat intimidating intelligence and frequent nagging.
Really dislike Ron/Her in the books and the films have been all too close, slightly increasing Ron's unlikableness. I can see why Ron would want to win someone so different, but Hermione should just be exasperated.