You know those people who read books and are totally in love with the characters and the story, but when they hear anyone talking about doing a movie adaptation of the narrative they usually do not get so excited? I am exactly this type of person. And, don´t get me wrong, it is not like I hate every second of the film or refuse to watch it. I also understand that there are many details contained in the narrative which we can´t put in the movie, because it does not contribute to the main story. But, there are some singularities that the movie producers should have given more attention to.
An example is the construction of the character Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter film universe, Ron´s younger sister. I strongly believe that if people who watch the movies read the books, they wouldn’t believe that it is the same person, since the character has completely different roles in each production. Of course, I am going to provide some comparisons to prove it. Let’s check!
Personality
Firstly, the most important thing to define is that Ginny´s personality in the films is not similar at all to the one portrayed in books. While the character in the movies is very boring, insecure, shy and seems to exist just to be Harry´s romantic pair, in the narrative she is very different. Although Ginny starts the film series being an introverted girl in love with Harry, she gives up and becomes a very brave, funny and independent woman. With Neville and Luna, she starts to build the secret resistance of students against Voldemort at Hogwarts in the seventh book. She has some relationships, broke up all of them, and fights with Ron every time that he starts to be jealous about it, always standing up and defending herself. Even though she falls for Harry in Half Blood Prince, she stopped idolizing him as she did before.
Popularity
In the books, Ginny is also seen as a very popular girl at Hogwarts. She dates two boys before Harry: Michael Corner of the house Ravenclaw and Dino Thomas, who is from Gryffindor. She is one of the best quidditch players, replacing Harry´s position at Order of Phoenix and being an official member of the team in Half Blood Prince. But, in the movies, no one ever shows that Ginny is worth the attention. She is just shown dating Dino for a while and they break up without any particular reason, just before she kisses Harry, which reinforces the idea that she is a character only built to be his romantic partner. At quidditch, she appears only in the sixth film, as a random player without importance.
Space at the books x movies
Even though Ginny was never officially part of the golden trio formed by Harry, Ron and Hermione, she always appears in every book as a second character, gaining more space as they are growing up, with the creation of Dumbledore’s army, as part of the quidditch team, facing Death Eaters at many battles and starting a romance with Harry. In the films, she is only seen as Ron´s younger sister, appearing a little bit more at the fifth one, but only receiving more attention when she kisses Harry in Half Blood Prince.
Romance with Harry
This category is very hard for me to write about. This happens because the development of Harry and Ginny’s relationship is absolutely well written, and nothing of it is portrayed in the films. Firstly, in the book, while she is in a relationship with Dino Thomas, Harry starts to feel very jealous, and he experiences an intern battle with himself because he was also scared of what Ron would think, since he was her brother and was always complaining about her dating men. And, when she finally broke up with Dino and they won the quidditch cup, in the middle of the celebration, Harry kissed her. After that, they started dating and she was a constant presence in his life. They broke up at the end of the sixth book, because he was going to hunt Voldemort horcruxes, but the feeling was still alive until they met again.
On the other hand, in the movie, Ginny just comes out of nowhere and kisses him at the Room of Requirement when they go there to hide his potions book. It was never said if they started a relationship or not, and nothing else happens in this film. At the Deathly Hallows, they kiss once at the first part, without any chemistry and again at the second part in the middle of Hogwarts battle. She is just there whenever he needs to have a partner, but nothing is ever developed.
I strongly believe that Harry Potter movies are one of the best book adaptations to the cinema. But, I can’t forgive what they did with Ginny, it is a completely different person. And, of course I have nothing against the actress Bonnie Wright, who gives life to the character, she is wonderful. It is just that I believe that the construction of Ginny in the films received more attention than just being seen as Harry´s romantic pair.
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The article above was edited by Larissa Mariano.
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