Hermione: The Great Advocate of Muliticulturalism
“Hermione was meant to be different than others, to positively impact lives, whether they are a human, a wizard or a magical creature”.
Fan-fiction serves as a mirror into how people interpret a piece of popular culture. It enables writers to get ideas out, to review with others how the artifact of popular culture could have been better, had it been done a different way. Fan-fiction websites serve as a way for people to come together, and share stories that deviate from the original piece.
When it comes to Harry Potter fan-fiction, it’s amazing how people can completely turn the story around. In these stories Hermione and Snape fall in love, or Hermione and Draco. I love that Hermione and Ron fell in love, but others aren’t, and say so wildly. Joke Hermes, pop-culture scholar, would call this community created by popular culture, cultural citizenship. For her, cultural citizenship binds people together, by celebrating shared histories, beliefs, and way of life. Fan-fiction websites serve as a place where people can come together to celebrate their ideas, and their beliefs all on the topic of Harry Potter. Most of the Harry Potter themed fan-fiction has been about Hermione, who just so happens to be one of my favorite characters. I believe that Hermione Granger is an advocate of multiculturalism, through her activism with mistreated creatures and beings, including herself. Fan-fiction writers may or may not agree with this statement, which can be illustrated through two important aspects of cultural citizenship; democracy and deliberation.
When a person submits their piece of work to a fan-fiction website, it becomes an argument. People may agree or disagree with what they wrote. The process of analyzing a text and making choices about it, is deliberation. Hermes states that, “Democracy is deliberation by many on the best possible life for all. By minimizing the number of rules that are set for such deliberation, and maximizing the number of people who are invited to participate, we will obtain the best possible result: and ongoing and unruly process that we learn from” (4). By applying this to fan-fiction it can be said that fan-fiction has no rules, you can simply write whatever you please, and post it. And many people participate in it, people of all ages, most from the United States or the United Kingdom. According to Hermes, since these are both satisfied (minimize rules and maximize people), people will be able to learn many things. They could change their opinion, or strengthen it. Have a new viewpoint on a character, or find inspiration to write a story. Fan-fiction writers know just about everything possible about the artifact in which they are referencing, and so the possibilities of learning from a fan-fiction writer are endless.
After reading many pieces of fan-fiction, I have come to the conclusion that Hermione is an advocate of multiculturalism. To further introduce this claim, a piece of fan-fiction will be discussed. This first story is called Cry Out Curlew, by Evil Is A Relative Term. The story starts off with the statement, “Helping others was her passion.” Many Harry Potter fans already know this, as we have seen her help the house elves when they couldn’t help themselves, go back in time to save Buckbeak the hippogriff, and nurse Ron back to health after being poisoned.
As stated before, deliberation and democracy are a part of cultural citizenship, and fan-fiction serves as a way to deliberate and form a democracy. The author can make statements on whether or not they like how J.K. Rowling wrote the series. For example, if the author made Hermione a mean and terrible person, it can be said that they didn’t approve of Rowling’s choice of making Hermione an empathetic and kind character. However, in Cry Out Curlew, Hermione aids in helping a vampire get a job, when he is being discriminated against for not being “normal” (which is where the multiculturalism aspect comes in). “‘I think,’ Hermione said…‘That you ought to take a moment to reconsider, Ms. Parfit…‘At exactly what point did this gentleman fail his interview? Was it the moment you realized he was a vampire?’” (21). In this story, Hermione is also facing severe discrimination for being Muggleborn, because in her current world, Muggleborns cannot exist in the wizarding world without having a sponsor. “The cause of Muggleborns was close to Hermione’s heart, but the sheer time devoted to examining every bill pertaining to Muggleborns…meant less time was given to other beings who faced near total alienation from magical culture” (8). This shows Hermione’s astounding selflessness, it is clear that this author treasures the qualities given to Hermione’s character from Rowling.
To show a true democracy, we have to look at another piece of popular culture, one that takes a much different spin on Hermione’s character. This one, called The Last Heir by Kiwi6498 does not relate so much to my claim as the above example does, which could be because I think that JK Rowling did an impeccable job creating Hermione’s character, but that’s just another part of the democracy. And like Hermes said, the less rules there are, the more we can learn.
In this story, Hermione is pregnant with Snape’s baby, and she isn’t the respectful girl that she is known to be. “‘I’m pregnant! Are you blind?! No, maybe you’re deaf! You just told me that I’m going to have a baby!’…‘Hermione!’ The old witch exclaimed, shocked at the young witch’s outburst’” (32). Hermione in this story, is much more provocative than the one most fans are used to. “‘How do I know who you go around the castle sleeping with? I’m not an owl! If it is mine, then I have the right to know!’” (78). Clearly, this author liked the idea of having Hermione more rebellious and immodest than Rowling’s character. This author does throw in a line that has to do with Hermione being a “mudblood” which has to do with her advocacy of the multicultural. “Well, that’s a relief to know. At least it wasn’t a person like Mr. Malfoy’…‘Mmmm, he wouldn’t sink that low,’ Hermione said quietly” (18). This line shows that this author appreciates how Hermione is different than everyone as a Muggleborn witch, that in the wizarding world she is still looked upon as beneath most.
Although there are very apparent differences between the two pieces of fan- fiction that were discussed, there are still similarities. In a democracy, everyone supposedly gets to express their opinions. As cultural citizens, fan-fiction writers get to partake in this democracy, allowing readers to deliberate and form an opinion about the topic. Like I said, I believe that Hermione is an advocate of multiculturalism. She has proven to the wizarding world that you can be a female that has muggles for parents and still be the smartest witch for your age. You can be an advocate for creatures that can’t speak up for themselves, like Dobby, Buckbeak and even the Vampire in Cry Out Curlew. Although the second piece of fan-fiction shows Hermione in a different light, it still mentions her cultural background, something I think J.K. Rowling would have appreciated.
After reading both pieces of fan-fiction, I have something to add to the democracy. I believe that if I were to write a piece of fan-fiction about Hermione, my story would be along the lines of Cry Out Curlew. I would keep Hermione’s character the same, because the things that make her who she is, are ones that I treasure. It is no surprise to find out that J.K. Rowling modeled Hermione’s character after herself. Lana Whited writes in her book The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter, “Rowling worked for Amnesty International in London for two years, researching human rights issues in Africa…It makes sense for her to lead the character who represents herself in the Harry Potter saga into social activism” (222). Clearly, Rowling wanted readers to recognize Hermione for her activism and advocacy of the multicultural. This is an important reason for why I would keep the character of Hermione who she is.
As stated before, Hermes defines cultural citizenship binds people together, by celebrating shared histories, beliefs, and way of life. Fan-fiction is unique in the way that it does this. It pulls together people from all over the world, of all ages, and all beliefs, based on one thing; the fact that they care a lot about the topic in which they are writing about. They can all offer different opinions, presenting it through a story, for people to read and deliberate. From there people may write a story, leave a comment, agree or disagree with that person, but through this process fan-fiction becomes a democracy.
Hermione is an advocate of multiculturalism. She put up with being teased about trying to help the house elves, and defied all odds against her for being a “mudblood.” She is a fictional character that real world people can learn from, to stand up for those who cannot. Whether or not a fan-fiction writer agrees with this, and shows her in this light, or changes her character completely, is it obvious that Hermione was meant to be different than others, to positively impact lives, whether they are a human, a wizard or a magical creature.
