Why the Molly hate?

[wook77]

I was reading a craptacular story written by an author that I adore mocking.

That being said... a theme that runs throughout this author's stories is - Molly bashing/hating. I thought it was just further proof as to the craptacularness of this author but it turns out I was wrong.

It seems that there is more than one person out there that dislikes Molly for whatever reasons...

My questions to you -

Does anyone else hate on Molly and, if so, why the Molly hate?

No wank and please to be providing reasons.

Comments

hopping over from the daily snitch

[3goodtimes.livejournal.com]

Well, I think the Molly-hating stems from a few different issues:

One reason is the amount of reader sympathy for Sirius, who Molly often berated out of concern for Harry. Some felt she was too harsh on a man who had just come out a 12 year prison sentence and had risked life and limb for his Godson, while those who sided with Molly believed she made a good point about Sirius not fulfilling his duties as surrogate father. Of course, there are a good number of extremly devoted Sirius fans who were highly offended by Molly's remarks in book five.

Another is Molly's role as nagging mum. I think many of us can relate to the exhasperation one feels when a mother's over-protectiveness kicks in. Molly is a prime example of this and can strike some people (teenagers, especially) as annoying.

And the third, and perhaps most obscure reason readers may not like Mrs. Weasley is her role as a woman. Weepy, over-emotional, nagging, domineering adult woman. Female fans might be sensing (perhaps without even realizing it) Molly's tendancy to embrace the stereotype stay-at-home mother: affection and protection, but also, unfortunately, that other girly trait--the ability to overeact.

That being said, I myself have mixed feelings about Molly, which I think is a good thing. Great characters are not great because they're prefect, but because they are complex and, ultimately, flawed.

Whew! That turned into a rant, didn't it? :)

Re: hopping over from the daily snitch

[wook77.livejournal.com]

First - thanks for adding your comments to the discussion.

I'd completely forgotten about the Sirius "issues". Thanks for reminding me about that. I can completely see where people are coming from with that. After reading that part over again... I think my first thoughts about that section was that Molly was mothering not only Harry but Sirius.

Molly is overprotective but I think there are reasons behind that.

The third was one I hadn't thought of. You're quite right... she is the "stereotypical" mum. I find JKR to have quite a few stereotypes in her book (I view Cho as a stereotypical teenage girl and probably why I don't much like her).

I think the over-reaction thing really has something to do with being Gryffindor as well. I pointed out above...Molly's overreactions are similar to Ron and Harry's name being pulled out and Seamus at the beginning of OotP. Gryffindors tend to react first and then question.

Finally... I really like your line about Great Characters. I really really really (how many reallys can I fit in here...) like it. It's such a wonderful way to sum up the thoughts on Molly and, really ;), anyone.