Media Interpretation of Harry Potter and Sexuality

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Media interpretation of Harry Potter fantasy novels differs greatly from Joanne Rowling’s books. One of the most noticeable issues is sexuality. Those people, who have read these novels, know that this topic is not at the main focus, while the movie producers as well as actors clearly explore sexuality to appeal to the viewers. In part, it can be explained by their desire to attract a larger audience.

There are several examples that show how film-makers capitalize on sex and gender roles. First, one should mention that official trailer of the last sequel features Ginny Weasley (played by Bonnie Wright) and Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) kissing one another. More importantly Ginny is portrayed as a mature woman rather than as a teenage girl.

This portrayal is supposed to create an appeal to adolescents or adults, rather than children. It should be noted that this scene take only several seconds, but it eloquently shows that the creators of this film did not overlook people’s desire for intimacy and sex. This is one of the details catches the eye of the viewers, especially those ones, who are aged above fifteen.

Another example of sexuality is portrayal of Hogwarts students. Joanne Rowling continuously mentions that her characters wear robes which conceal figure of a person. These clothes are gender-neutral, and they can be equally suitable for men and women.

However, the directors of Harry Potter do not agree with Rowling’s perception of Hogwarts students. This argument is particularly important when we are speaking about female characters like Hermione or Ginny. The movie producers make them wear tight jeans, sweaters, low-necked dresses, and so forth.

This change proves that desexualized novel was not suitable for the needs of mass media. This trend emerged in the third sequel Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and continued in later films.

Thus, it is possible to argue that this emphasis on sexuality is an attempt to attract adults’ attention to these movies. Certainly, this change may not be noticeable to children, but an experienced viewer can see this difference very clearly.

In addition to that, there are several sexual innuendos in these films; the most notorious one is the scene featuring Harry and Hermione kissing one another in nude. Certainly, it is very blurred and viewers can hardly see the actors but it is a clear reference to sexual desires of adult audience.

It should be mentioned that many parents feel very concerned about this scene because it is not appropriate for a children film, and it was not present in the book (Wall, unpaged). This erotic scene clearly violates those standards which are normally set for children movies.

Again, one can hardly imagine Joanne Rowling including such a description in her novel. In the majority of cases, mass media always aim to serve popular demand, and this Harry Potter film was not an exception. It should be borne in mind that those people, who take interest in Joanne Rowling’s novels, are normally aged between seven and fifteen, while this film series, especially later sequels, are intended for a much wider audience.

This is the main reason why sexuality plays more prominent part in them. The key issue is that this change is driven mostly by commercial rather than artistic considerations.

There are some other sexual innuendos in this film serious. One of the examples is Bellatrix Lestrange played by Helena Bonham Carter. Some scholars and critics believe that this female character is full of desire for Voldemort (Rana, 86). Her portrayal in the film is even more sexual, and to some extent, she symbolizes female submission to male. This meaning was not implied by Joanne Rowling in her books.

Apart from that, it should be pointed out that in the fifth film of the series Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, she urged Harry to use force against her. Again, if one tries to look for sexual innuendos, this scene can signify male domination over women. Thus, one can argue that media interpretation of Harry Potter books places much more stress on sexuality than the author does.

This explicit sexuality is intended primarily to male rather than female adults who may take interest in this film. It has to be admitted that some of the sexual innuendos can be unintended but they would have been impossible if the film-makers had wanted to appeal only to children.

Certainly, one cannot expect screen adaptation of the novel cannot completely coincide with the text. However, the examples that we have discussed demonstrate that desexualized portrayal of characters was rejected by movie producers and mass media.

One should take into account that Joanne Rowling conceived this book series as a Bildungsroman describing psychological and moral development of the characters. In contrast, film-makers decided to pay more attention to sexuality.

Moreover, one should take into consideration that the actors playing the major characters have become mature and film-producers take advantage of this fact. Their sexuality is explored both inside and outside the movies. One may pay attention to the interviews given by Daniel Redcliff, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint.

These people no longer appear to be children or adolescents; more likely, they seem to be sexually mature people, who should not be associated only with fictional characters. A person, who is watching their pre-release interviews, does not think that the final movie of the sequel is intended for child audience. These interviews convey specific messages to the potential viewers and one of them is that Harry Potter and the Death Hallows will be of some interest to adults.

If we speak about the actor’s reliance on the sexuality, we should mention their participation in various commercial projects. For instance, Emma Watson represented such fashion house as Burberry and, in fact, became the face of their new collection (Topping, unpaged).

Moreover, she appeared on the cover of such magazines as Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, and People. In each of these cases, sexuality was at the forefront. The same thing can be said about Daniel Radcliffe, who exploited his sexuality while performing in the play called Equus (Wiegand, unpaged).

Those movie producers, designers, and advertisers, who make these actors exploit their sexuality, understand that these actors are familiar to a great number of people from all over the world, and that their overt hyper- sexuality can attract very large target audience, especially those people, whose age ranges between fifteen and twenty two. The thing is that during these years people pass through a period of pubescence and sexuality is a very important part of their lives.

These cases suggest that eroticism can be used to engage the viewers. This is one of the possible explanations but it is not the only one.

One should not assume that their performance outside Harry Potter is only driven by commercial interests. In this way, they try to prove to others and to themselves that they are able to play mature and rather complex roles. To some degree, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson attempt to demonstrate that they can be successful actors outside Harry Potter film series. By exploiting their sexuality, they break stereotype that links them only on Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.

This can be one of the motives which underlie their behavior. Overall, people focus their attention on the overt sexuality of these actors because they are accustomed to their idealized and slightly childish characters. Viewers are not used to their new roles and this might be one of the reasons why many people can be so concerned about their behavior.

On the whole, these examples indicate that media representation of Harry Potter books strongly relies on sexuality. As it has been identified in the previous sections there are several reasons for such an interpretation. First of all, film-makers want to make Harry Potter film series more attractive to adult audience.

Secondly, overt sexuality can be accounted by the fact that majority of actors have grown much older, and they try to break out of child roles. The most important thing is that this film series is not fully suitable for child audience. By comparing and contrasting screen adaptation of the novels and the text itself one can see how mass media transforms popular perception of adolescence and sexuality.

Works Cited

Rana Marion. Creating magical worlds: otherness and othering in Harry Potter. NY: Peter Lang, 2009. Print.

Topping. A. “Emma Watson is named Hollywood’s highest paid female actor”. The Guardian, 2010. Web.

Wall Cleon. “’Potter’ scene is worrying some families”. Deseret News. 2010. Web.

Wiegand Chris. “Radcliffe to star on Broadway”. The Guardian 2009. Web.

Yates David. “The Official Trailer of Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part Two” Warner Bros. Pictures. Web.

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Media Interpretation of Harry Potter and Sexuality

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