Breakdown: Ginny Weasley

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welcome back to the Potter discussion. This is episode 113 known today's episode. We will be breaking down the character of Ginny Weasley.

hello? Hello. Oh, welcome back everyone. To episode 113. Finally, we are back with another breakdown. I have been awaiting for another one of these because breakdown Draco Malfoy was actually one of the most popular episodes. Ever and part two was up there as well. It was just one of the most fun I've ever had.

I did an episode, especially for character like Draco Malfoy, so to be doing another breakdown with Ginny Weasley, another very interesting character I think is going to be another great episode. If you're listening on YouTube and you want to find the full version of this episode, head over to your podcast app, search the Potter discussion.

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The SpeakPipe page link and the Google form link for anything you want to hear or say on the show, or send me an email. My email is the Potter discussion, right? Gmail.com. That is the part of discussion at g-mail dot com and I'm at the Potter discussion on Instagram. Let's get into today's episode.

I think a good place to start is just to get an overview of. Who is Ginny Weasley? Well, let's talk about that. I mean, if we get into today's episode and you don't know who Jenny is, anything about her, that would be a problem. And I'm sure there are some people here even the most die hard fans who don't know everything about her.

So before we get into this, I think we should just do a quick background. Jenny's full name is actually Geneva, Molly Potter. Uh, it was a Weasley before she married Harry, but our first name was actually Geneva and they just call her Ginny out of a nickname. She was born on the 11th of August, 1981 in great Britain.

She is a pure blood, which, uh, an English wish. Of course we know that she plays chaser. Seeker, uh, in Quidditch, she attended Hogwarts school, witchcraft and wizardry from 1992 to 1999, just one year below a hairy Iran and her mind. She was in Gryffendor during her first year. She developed a long standing crush on Harry and came under the influence of the memory of Tom.

16 year old self. A lot of stuff happened to Jenny, but that's just kind of a basic overview of Jen Nerva, Molly Janera, Molly Weasley. Uh, they lived with August, 1981. So that is a bit of background on her. I got this information from Harry potter.fandom.com. Great website, go check it out. I'll leave a link to this page in the show notes.

So that's just kind of the, uh, technical stuff, the dates and all of that. But now I really want to get into who is Ginny. Of course we know who she is. I mean, that's, that's a given. We know that she lives with a, you knows, or that she is a easily up until she wears Harry, but who is she really? I mean, that's really the question we're going to be asking.

How does junior have an impact on the story and what role does she play? And almost more importantly, what role does she think she plays? Because if anything, that's what matters the most, uh, depending on what she decides to do, depending on where she decides to go, that's really where the story will go.

And that's really why and how her character will get developed just based on what she will do for herself. And on the note of doing things for her. We have the fact that she was the youngest of the Weasley family and the only a girl, of course, that is hard enough on its own being the youngest of the family, but being singled out in your own gender, I think is especially difficult.

So I think with the Junee, having to kind of make her own and not being able to follow the example of other. Is really encouraging for her. So not only, you know, how to speak out for herself and really stand up for who she thinks she should be. It also is kind of difficult for her because she doesn't have this herd to follow and she kind of has to branch out and make her own.

So that's really though the win lose here. She has to make her own way, but she also asked her to make her own way. Right. So it's difficult. Like you're falling flippers in the snow, you know where to go, but there's no work involved and if you're not, and then you make your own footprints, you walk your own path, but you do have to break the snow in the process.

So Jenny really. But has had this huge challenge in front of her, of trying to successfully beat being how being, who she is being in a family of. So of how however many, um, that's like 90% kids that are like her. Constantly kind of trying to one up her and are just always above her. So I think Jenny is really trying to kind of break away from the group and make her own way and really show everyone that she is not who they think she is.

She is a very different person. And I think she, um, she's kind of like kind of show how she deserves to be treated with respect and has to kind of have this own aura around her that her family has to recognize. And honestly that she has to recognize to Judy is a really, really good person. And she can really do a lot of good tried, but she really had to struggle with realizing that for herself because there's some different things in her life that she was struggling with for us being the youngest and the only female in the family.

But also, I mean like, like Jim child, um, but also struggling with, you know, her first year, like, like I said, um, um, opening the chamber of secrets and always being seen as, you know, this. Younger, you let us successful version of Ron by Ron and having, uh, there, um, having Jenny's entire family to kind of hovering over her, especially Ron, uh, when, you know, like, uh, all the boyfriends that she had and all those things that she's doing and the friends that you had, especially with Luna, Lovegood, she really went all out.

And really tried to make her own path and just kind of show the world that she was not another Weasley. She was Jenny and Ron. I think there's another element of the story that we'll get into later. But I think just a pretty quick overview of Ron is he really made it difficult. Ron and never really got along.

And Harry was a really only common denominator between them and without Harry, I don't know how they could have survived together, especially just in the same room, but Ron and Janine have not really had a great relationship because Ron is always there. Ryan is always trying to make sure that Jenny is not in a relationship that she's not, you know, getting into trouble.

And Ron is just like hovering. Constantly there and Janique and can handle that because that's what Molly does. That's what Fred did assess with door. Georgia does. That's what bill does as the Charlie does. That's what Arthur does. Everyone is just there and she just wants some space. So even at Hogwarts, that's really the getaway.

That's really how she can escape it with Iran, hovering over. Still there's no way she can have a good time at Hogwarts, which I think is why Ron definitely made it a challenge for Jay to enjoy her time. But I think you need, they kind of did figure it out in the end, but I think.  Virginia, but I think that's a pretty good introduction to Janie.

So let's get into the episode. What I want to talk about next year is about her role, about what role does Jeannie play in the story and who is she? Of course there are these archetypes for characters and there's different roles that have to be filled. So who is Jenny? Who is Jenny in this mess of Harry Potter?

Well, the obvious answer is the insured, like the love. Of the main character, because of course that is where she ends up. But I think it's more than that. It's more than Jenny. Um, you know, kind of just being there for Harry. I think Jenny is there not only for Harry, but with Harry, they are probably the two that are most alike on a much deeper level.

Of course, Harry and Ron are, you know, like, like exactly the same and Fred and Jordan just yelling of course. But Harry and Ginny are the most alike emotionally. If that makes any sense, there are both kind of like the bottom of the heap. They have, they had nowhere to go. Um, Gina Vinny was at the very bottom of her family and she was picked on by everyone.

And Harry had no one else. He had no friends growing up. All I had was deadly to make fun of him and beat him up and junior and Dursley to. I hate it. I mean, that's basically it, so they really can relate in that way, but they also were kind of sticking out, you know, Harry for pretty obvious reasons. But also Jenny, as the last Weasley, as the last Weasley who had nothing else to hide, like nothing else to do had no one else to live up with.

Uh, that's kind of what Ron was saying. He could get everything perfect, but it wouldn't matter because someone else did. And it's even a worst Virginia because whatever Ron does, Ron has Quidditch, Ginny has Quintin. It's Ron's Quidditch. It's also Charlie's Quidditch. It's also Fred and George's Quidditch.

So everyone else's Quidditch. So everyone, Harry and Ginny have had so much stacked against them of they're just carrying on their shoulders, trying to not let everything fall, which is why they're also so good for each other, because they both need the person that he, that the other person. Someone that can really be thinking for each other.

And so that can really kind of be there. And of course, anyone else could be there literally, but Harry is really only pushed for Jeannie who knows what you need is feeling. And Ginny is really yellow person for Harry who ha who Harry? Oh no. Okay. I was losing Gino's with Harry thinking and herring as a genius thing.

I probably just should have just said that I'm actually reading the half-blood prince right now. And I think that point is made especially. Um, by Harry really kind of realizing his attraction to Ginny in this. Uh, I think it's, it's described this leg, like monster and his chest. That's like, like, you know, like really happy when, um, Ginny, like had it had an argument with Dean all of that kind of stuff.

And then it's like really mad and like growling when Harry sees a Ginny and Dean, you know, kind of really being real and friendly. And I haven't gotten there yet, but I think the point that Harry is really like the monster is really said about it is. He takes the Felix Felicis to go down and get the memory from Slughorn and see Hagrid.

Um, and. He passes and Ginny, and he accidentally brushes Ginny and then Shalon, Ginny turns and goes like, I don't need any help getting into the border patrol. And they had an argument and inherited like, oh yeah, that's kind of a long winded explanation. But my point for this story is they are very much like each other and they definitely are good.

They work well to. But that brings me all the way back around to her role. What role does Jenny play and how does she play? There's so many different things that we could kind of interpret from her from the story. But I think the biggest one is that she uses. Really struggling. She is really struggling and she really wants to get back on top.

Not of everyone else went back on top of herself, right. Because in the fifth, sixth, even, you know, like, uh, first, first books, she was really struggling. She just had so much on her plate and so much to do. It was really hard for her to continue going to keep a throwing coal on the fire and to just keep on chugging.

So I think those times especially were very difficult for her. And I think the first, uh, the first book, uh, not the first book to that the first year, uh, for Ginny, it was one of the harder. Because not only was she struggling, it was, I mean, with Lord Voldemort, she was also not able to tell anyone every time she tried to Ron was there kind of like shoving her over every time she tried to use too scared.

So you can say it in time. She was a first year and she had no one to go to. She didn't, she didn't have the courage to go to two in Oregon or professor Dumbledore. She couldn't tell Parsi because Ron was always there and she couldn't tell Harry because she was too embarrassed to talk to Harry. She was powerless.

And that book, there's the word. I wouldn't think of it. That one for awhile. He was powerless in that the first in her first year. So I think that's really where her, her struggles lie. She is powering. In the, in the situation that she is in. And then she continued where she was. She would likely, never regain the power that she could have previously taken, being at a family that big, it means she had to fight for everything and she needed to stick up for herself and say, I want.

I don't care what you think, but I will like that, you know, the last piece of whatever I want the last scoop of this soup, um, over someone else, like Ron, who assumes G doesn't and takes it without asking. So Ginny has to step in. She has to be her own self. She really has to look at the world, not as against her, but look at the world as of challenging her to a greater battle.

So if Jeanie. Step up and she can hit those curve balls. If she can really see everything coming. I think that is really how her, her struggle ends. And that's really where everything comes through. She's clarity at the very end that Jenny really sees the end of, you know, her journey. She sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

She sees where she needs to go. And that's really where her, her victory. She, she struggles for so long. And then she finally has a victory and she goes to that place and she is finally happy. But before that it was the struggle that she was trying to get over. It was her not fitting in. It was her not feeling comfortable in her own skin, her being the person who just couldn't get there, who eventually did found her happiness and.

Got to the place that she was going to. So, I mean, that's, that's her role she's struggling. And she, her, her story is her trying to find just the right person to be with the right life for her. So I think she eventually found it. Um, and I think that is a pretty good explanation of Jeannie's role in the story.

Now that we really understand Jenny as a character and the role that she plays in the story. Now, I think it's important to really look at who she is. In the book versus the movie. Now this is a topic that has been strongly debated for years. And I think I definitely want to weigh on weigh in on this and just check out what's going on here, because I will say there is a big, big, big, big difference.

And I will say that my, my, my preferred kind of genie my, that the J that I see that it will strengthen. And the most independence in is definitely the book, Janet. That's a universally agreed upon a fact. Now Bonnie Wright did an amazing job and the reunion definitely shed light on that. It was not her fault.

Bonnie Wright did a fantastic job and he just said, but it was her writing. It was her position. It was the scenes that got cut. And this seems like an added that a really, uh, dragged her image through the mud. And it wasn't that her, you know, character was tarnished. It was just that she didn't get shined like she did in the books.

Right. It's like everyone was just kind of like, uh, a rusted penny and the people that had the most scenes, the most. Screen time. We're the ones who got the most shine, the most, you know, cleaning and Ginny just gotten, you know, like one or two, maybe like a, like one, why don't you were pretty strong scenes, you know, a movie, you know, like one and like two and like zero and like one.

So she didn't really have this whole big moment. The biggest deal for her was probably the battle of Hogwarts, probably getting married with Harry, but that was way long gone. She was too. For the, like, I mean, for the, for the movies, for the story, for the arc to be complete. And I think the books is really where that kind of comes to life.

Of course the books are always more detailed than the movies in any scenario. So I think that really helped Jenny because it was detail. It was, it was clarity. It was just the amount of. That had to do with Ginny. That was the problem for Jenny in the movie. Uh, but I think we got a lot more of a junior up, Molly, Jennifer, Molly, we easily in the books.

And I think that's something that I've just kind of always known in myself, but I haven't really thought about it until like, you know, now this whole week. And I was just thinking, like, I always imagined the strong challenge to be in the books. Why is that? And I just like a minute ago, I swear to you a minute ago.

I I'd like Ginny is the strongest way a book character. Like her, her movie persona is much, much different than her book. And I was like, why, why do I think that? But I remember I was kind of thinking of the lines that she was saying, the scenes that she was in and the only. Strong things that she says, and the only big moments that she has, I'm imagining here in like the audio book I am sitting, I am reading, you know, in, in my home.

And I am like, that's, that's just a, where I see her strength coming from the books and Mila, I mean, audio books, I love audio books. And so I I've, whenever I can get a Harry Potter audio book, I do. And I always listen to those and I. Jim Jim Dale. I mean, come on just, this is a side tangent. You have to go get Jim Dale's Harry Potter on, uh, like an audio book, a CD.

That's a thing anymore. I don't know. I'm just, I'm sure there's an app. You can find. Paid to say this, but, uh, Libby one of my favorites. So you can buy, download that. And it's definitely for free, but there's a bit of a weight on Harry Potter books. Again, not paid to say this, but I love Libby so much that, so get, get Libby I'm in your app store.

But anyway, anyway, back here, back to back to discussion of, well, I think Jenny, Jenny, the books is stronger whenever I would say that's. That was, that was a really good Janine line. It's always Jim Dale saying it as Jenny that's. That's always where I think. Um, as you know, Jenny just kind of being strong, flipping her hair and walking away in the, uh, like I was saying, I was reading the I'm reading the half-life pins right now.

And, uh, when Harry first got to the borough, she did a really good impression of flourish. She was walking out and did a really good impression of Molly to Ron. And she just really is, is really being more comfortable with herself and accepting her difference in the family that I think is really where that her first strength comes from, especially in the fifth six books, of course, for a struggling.

Mounting here. Like her, her pile of paperwork was just getting higher and higher and higher, but she was also getting better at her job and she could really push all that aside and she could just get through it a lot faster. She could really divide up a brain into dealing with stress, dealing with her relationships, dealing with herself and dealing with other people.

So she really was much better at just managing herself. I mean, it sounds weird, but she was much better managing herself in the fifth and six books. And especially, I don't, like I was saying, you know, she used some really good moments. Uh, it was like imitation making jokes, making people laugh, making Ron jump.

That's just really where she was feeling comfortable, accepting herself and really, you know, projecting the image of confidence because she felt confident. Finally for the first time she could really show that she felt competent. She could really show the world that that is. She was feeling, and that is who she was.

Um, so the book, like, and again, this, this all happened in the book, all of the things that you need to do as well are all in the book and the, in the half-blood prince movie, um, Harry at the Burley, it burns down. I mean, like that's a big change to make. Um, but Ginny is just there. She hugs Harry, uh, like ties his shoes and then like, Like kisses and maybe, I dunno, like that's, that's it.

I mean, that's, that's like all that happens. It's like this, this whole thing that you need just doesn't do anything. But in the book version of Harry goes to the bureau for the first time, Harry is kind of like a, like in his bed, you know, and then everyone just kind of barges in. Um, and she just kind of like, oh, welcome party.

And Jeannie really feels comfortable expressing her ideas. Yes, it is annoyance and yes. I mean, like it is being pretty mean to Molly, but I think that is really. An important thing too, to kind of recognize and mention that Ginny felt comfortable enough to like with herself to risk having the wrath of Molly Weasley, which I mean is a very confidence.

Um, and that's just an example from the most recent I can remember. Cause I'm, if you didn't know this, cause I haven't said it yet. I'm ready to national brands. Um, so that's really where I see H and there's a big divide, but movie Ginny, like. Nothing. There's nothing there in the, in the books, she was strong.

She was confident. She had so much depth to her, but in the movie she was, I mean, almost bland. She had nothing to wear and there was no, there was no, no struggle. There there's no challenge. She wasn't climbing a mountain. She was just taking a walk. Right. There's nothing there for her to conquer. She just wanted to go with Harry.

I mean, that, that, that was her challenge, but that's not like a big Harry Potter challenge. It's just. That's something that you can just see on the street. You know, something that just happens like every day and Juni is not this whole different person who has his confidence is trying to build up the strength or herself in the movies.

That's her on the books and the movies as she is just this bland person. Who's just like, yeah. Yeah. Like, hi. Hi. How are you? How's it going? My friend Luna. Yeah. It's like, I just don't get it how she can be. So. Powerful in one book and then just so not even there in the movie now, I think we should talk about her strengths and her weaknesses.

Who is Jenny? What is Janine good at? What is she not? What is horrible inside of her? What is eating at her soul and what can Judy Branch out in and how does she do it? So many questions to be answered and zone his skills to be looked at? I think we should start with one of her. Strengths at her biggest strength is probably, I mean, there's, there's not a word for it, but her biggest strength is her ability to kind of push aside all of the, all of like the, the self-consciousness in her, in her mind and everything that is stopping her from, you know, being who she is and just going for it.

Just having no, like no bad inhibition in her mind and just. Really going for an impression, you know, really making her point and not tearing. If she hurts feelings, sometimes that's bad with her friends, with someone. She knows what their professors, she would never say something rude, but Tiran sometimes that's what he needs to hear.

Sometimes Ron needs a good talking to him. So I think she, Judy is very, very good at just really kind of pushing forward and staying strong. Unfortunately, that also comes with a one of her biggest weaknesses. And then is she doubts herself a lot because one of her biggest strengths is her ability to just forget all of that.

It also has to mean that is one of her biggest weaknesses that she thinks of herself. She thinks how other people think of her. And I mean, everyone does, of course, that's just kind of how, how humans work. But I think it's, especially with Ginny, she has to look out for herself just to look behind her back.

And that really makes her develop a verse long case of doubt, which she did. And the way I kind of see it is, you know, her Ginny is just kind of like a rubber band, you know, not non, you know, emotionally wise, but her, her strength is kind of like a rubber band. And when it's not stretched, he is not showing her string.

She is nodding, you know, kind of going for it when she does the rubber band is polled and she cannot go too far or it will snap and she cannot reign it in. She can not. Bye. You know, she like once she stopped stretching the rubber band, she can't make it smaller. And that's really where the doubt comes in.

Right. She takes up a certain amount of space and she is Jenny. She can be more than that, but she could not be less than that. She cannot be less than who she is. So Jeannie is always there and she knows that she always has a presence within the common room with, with whoever she's with, with Harry, with Ron, with her family, with her friend, with Luna, with who.

She's always there, but always know that she is there and she has this role as Jenny and people expect her to have, you know, whatever funny clips she may have. And that's good. It's a good, that is, it is expected that genie will do something that is funny. That is, you know, that deserves a D attention that it gets, but that also puts pressure on Ginny.

If he doesn't say it at the right moment, if she doesn't say the right. Or tarnished, penny will become even a more so. And she really has to recognize in herself that messing up, I laughing at herself and just kind of making a beginning mistakes that everyone would is just what everyone does. And I think the doubt and the pushing herself forward is just who she is.

That's Jenny's. She pushes herself. She goes for, she puts all of her chips in, but that there is such room for failure. There. She has no protective blanket after that, after she puts herself out. There is no going back, right? She is who she is. And like I was saying before, she can always make herself bigger.

She can always prove to the world that she is something more. But once she's done that, there is no way she can go back. She's not less than who she is. She has to be more. And if she is more than she has to top it, she has to keep getting better and better and better. It's funny. I was just thinking about, and while I was saying that, um, I was thinking about the, a new docu-series and the new season on Netflix cheer.

Uh, again, I am giving all this free advertising, not paid to say this, but cheer. I mean, great. Um, pretty, pretty far in, and it is fantastic. And I was just thinking how, you know, there's this cheerleading is very similar to how Jenny thinks, right? Um, the leader of this, of this cheer group, Monica is really trying to win the big cheerleading competition and she has to make it bigger than the last year.

She has to just keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. They have gone past a certain point. They just can't stop. They can get a worse because everyone is constantly moving forward, getting better and better and better. And Jenny has to move with that and the cheerleading has to move with that. And there's no going back.

There's no mutual decision to just decide I'm not going to do better this year. I'm going to do it. You know? Exactly the. There's always that urge to do better. There's always Juni. They're trying to improve what you did. There's always this new thing that she has to do and continue doing whatever she was.

It's a struggle for her to continue to be the person she is, and to continue to observe the way that she does and just kind of keep. Your affairs in order everything that she does relies on herself. And if she fails, then her entire life falls apart. There's no one there to catch her. I'm sure Molly will try, but no one else will.

She is just there. She is a floating board in the ocean. She's trying to keep a float. And if she sinks, I think she will sing for good. But if she manages to get to shore, I think she will never wash back into this. Ever again. That's a pretty good let's just stop. I just hit it. Hit 30 minutes on the recording.

I think that is, that is a pretty, pretty good place. Got a metaphor down. Got it. Got 30 minutes. I've checked all the boxes. I think we are. We're ready to wrap up. I mean, th this pretty much just goes off the thing I have so much more. I'm going to do a part two. Do you need such an amazing character? We have to keep digging deeper.

So I'm going to do something else. How many do we get through what, like. For talking points. Yeah. We have two through four. I have nine in total, so we are definitely going to do a part two, not a part three. I never did parts. There is a part two. I think it's definitely a good thing to do. So part look out for this part to it.

It's going to be a good one. I'm not going to put it out next week, but maybe the week after that, I mean, I don't want to leave you hanging in, you know, with this. Um, so it's, it's going to be soon, I think not next week. Maybe not even the week after that. I mean, I should check my schedule. What episodes I've planned, but I'm sure I can figure it out.

You know what I think I'm going to, I'm going to make the episode in two weeks, I'm going to have an episode coming up. Why not want to just tell you? I mean, it's not a big secret. I'm not planning it. It's not a surprise. So here's, here's the episode plan. I'm flipping the. So I have a, I have a Quizmaster planned and that's fun.

And I have another plot hold episode. So, um, with this, I mean, email me, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what you want is if you don't tell me what's going on with you. I don't know. So I think I've got a Quizmaster. I've got a plot holes episode and this part to think I'm going to go, oh man, actually.

I could probably do this part next week, because with, with the Quizmaster, I could probably do this part two next week and then I could do the, uh, the plot holes and then I could do the Quizmaster just so there's not Quizmaster and breakdown on the same spot, or I could do the Quizmaster next week. I dunno.

I really have no idea. Email me, email me the positive discussion@ul.com. Um, that's the positive discussion. If he was like calm or at the Potter discussion on Instagram, again, the two links in the show notes, uh, for a voice permission or a text emission, for anything you want to hear or say on the show, the Potter discussion that gmo.com just send me, send me something.

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So if you don't tell me what you want, I don't know what to deliver. So definitely. Yeah. Contact me. It won't take a minute and you'll get the episode that you want to hear. Um, if you didn't hear the episode you want, just tell me what episode you want to hear and I'll make it for you. It is almost a guarantee that any of us would you suggest I will definitely do as long as it's not, uh, if it fits with this podcast, I'm going to do it.

I mean, that's, that's pretty, pretty solid. So if there's a topic you want me to research for you, if there's any episode you want to hear it. Send it to me, honestly, I will, I would love to hear from you and I would absolutely love to do the episodes that you want me to do well again, I said that that was a great place to, it's a great place to stop again.

I'm saying one more time. The putter discussion at g-mail dot com and at the Potter discussion on Instagram, uh, That's it. That's all I got to say as always remember, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times. It is the one only remembers to turn on the light. Thank you.  and I will see you later.

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