Why can't Hermione marry Harry Wei Zifu?

Why Hermione can't marry Harry: Britain's hierarchy and racial concept

Harry Potter is popular all over the world. Movies alone have earned nearly $8 billion at the global box office, and the sales of novels reached 400 million copies as early as 20 1 1, which also led to more lasting profits in DVD, online games and theme parks. This little wizard with round glasses is no less attractive in East Asia than in Europe and America. Last year, after Mexican director Gilmer del toro paid tribute to Japanese animation predecessors, the Hollywood blockbuster "Pacific Rim" suffered a box office failure in Japan. Some critics felt that after the Harry Potter series, Hollywood did not have a decent fist product in Japan.

British novels and American capital once again show the world the powerful cultural export capabilities of Britain and the United States. It is not an isolated case to say "once again" because British pop culture, packaged and spread by American capital, first conquered the United States, and then swept the world with the help of the American platform. In music, there are famous bands, such as Beatles, Rolling Stones, U2 and coldplay. When the Beatles landed in the United States, they were all the rage and even exclaimed as "British invasion". In terms of movies, besides Harry Potter series, there are also 007 series, Sherlock Holmes series and so on, not to mention Jason? Statham, kate beckinsale, Kate Winslet, Ridley Scott, Christopher Nolan and other famous British actors and directors in Hollywood (the latter two are directors of Black Hawk Down and Inception respectively); It is also surprising that David Beckham still enjoys a high popularity in the world after his retirement.

Get down to business. In Harry Potter, Harry and Hermione are a match made in heaven, which is considered by many Hami people to be a match made in heaven. Finally, Hermione married Ron in the Trio. Even emma watson, Hermione's actor, thinks that Ron may not really make Hermione happy, but Harry is actually more suitable for Hermione. So, why can't Hermione, who is both talented and beautiful, marry Harry, the protagonist of the story? The following is an "interpretation" of the deep-rooted British concept of hierarchy and race. It's not a serious academic argument, just a laugh.

China people are not sensitive to "class differences" and "ethnic differences", while China people are not used to considering problems from the aspects of class and ethnic composition. For example, since ancient times, the standard of China's "Discrimination between Yi and Xia" is culture, not nationality or race. Moreover, the mobility of China society has always been high, as evidenced by the fact that "the court is Tian Shelang and the court is the emperor at dusk". On the contrary, in Europe and America, where the region is small, there are many ethnic groups and the religious language is complex, "ethnic composition" is a very important historical and cultural issue, and it is also a very realistic political issue. Moreover, Europe has always had a tradition of distinguishing between nobles and civilians. Compared with China, the social stratum is solidified and the mobility is low. These are the basic problems of Harry and Hermione's marriage relationship. It is particularly important to find out the ethnic composition and hierarchical status of several protagonists, which is the premise of Hermione's marriage problem.

First of all, which nationality is the protagonist of the story: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Malfoy? Of course, they are all British. However, Britain is a multi-ethnic country. Where are they from? If you pay a little attention to the color of their hair, you will find that Ron and his parents, brothers and sisters (including Ginny) all have red hair, Malfoy and his son have platinum hair (light blond), Harry's hair is dark, and Hermione's hair is brown. What does this mean? This means that they are not of the same nationality.

The official name of the main ethnic groups in Britain is "Anglo-Saxon", but this is limited to England; The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland also includes Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The peoples in these three regions are now called Scots, Irish and Welsh, but their ancestors also had the same name in ancient times: Celts. British history began in the Roman Empire. In the fourth year of Xuandi Wufeng, Roman general Caesar crossed the sea and entered the British island, turning the island into the northwest province of the empire. Since then, the British have their own history of civilization. Caesar met some local aborigines in England. The origin of these tribes is unknown, and it is uncertain whether they are a nation. However, the black-haired Romans had no time to pay attention to more details. Caesar gave them a Latin name: "Celts". In Caesar's battlefield diary, the most typical physical feature of the Celts is their iconic red hair.

In the late Roman Empire, the national movement declined. Now "Germans" whose hometown is Germany rushed into the Roman Empire, dismembered the Roman Empire, and established a series of small Germanic countries, known as the "Germanic Migration" in history. The Anglo-Saxons in England are the result of this great migration. "Germanic" has now become synonymous with Germany. In fact, the name was given to them by the Romans. At that time, the Germans were still in a tribal state. They didn't know that they were called "Germans" by the Romans, but called themselves by their own tribal names. Among the Germans, there are three tribes from near Denmark: Saxons, Angles and Jutes, who crossed the ocean to the British Island. The largest number of Angles named this land "Anglia". Middle English A is equivalent to English E today, and later evolved into England. Some Saxons who stayed in Germany were named after their "Saxon" tribe in northern Germany. Jutes write tribal names on Jutland, Denmark's largest peninsula, which is generally translated as Jutland. After three Germanic tribes crossed the ocean to Britain, they were collectively called "Anglo-Saxons" (a few Jutes) in order to unite and conquer the local people. There are not many local Romans, so the main conquest wars are aimed at the local Celts. Most Celts were killed or enslaved, and a few survivors had to hide in the desolate areas further west and north. Celtic in the northern highlands became the ancestors of Scots, Celtic in the western mountains became the ancestors of Welsh, and Celtic in the northwest of Ireland became the ancestors of Irish. Later, in the colonial movement to develop North America, a large number of Irish immigrants gathered in Boston, and now there is a "Boston Celtic" in the NBA of the United States.

To put it simply, modern Britain has two ethnic origins: Germanic and Celtic. The former is the conqueror and the latter is the conquered. The difference between the two nationalities can be seen from their physical characteristics. Celts have red hair, and all three Germanic tribes are near the Baltic Sea. The latitude in this area is already very high, and the sunshine is scarce. The higher the latitude, the lighter the hair color. So the typical feature of Anglo-Saxons is that their hair is blond, or the lighter the hair color, the more "pure" the Anglo-Saxons are.

1 at the beginning, Malfoy and Wesley started quarrelling as soon as they came up. When you hear each other's surnames, you look down on each other. In other words, racial factors are at work. As a descendant of the winner, Draco Malfoy, a "thoroughbred aristocrat", has always been proud of his bloodline and light hair, and scorned Ron's nation. So, the first thing he said was to mention the "red hair" of the Wesley family. The British audience can see that Malfoy must be a "pure Anglo-Saxon" and Ron must be a member of the Celtic family. What if Harry is caught in the middle? Harry has black hair. Why doesn't Malfoy discriminate against people with black hair? As mentioned above, the earliest history of British civilization began in the Roman Empire, and all European countries are proud of Roman civilization, just as Qi Chu Yan Qin wuyue in the Warring States Period were proud of their "courtesy" and their own Ji and Zhou surnames (at least matrilineal). Harry's black hair is a symbol of his noble blood. His hair is the same color as Caesar! As a descendant of the German conqueror, Malfoy with silver hair looked down on Ron, the descendant of the red-haired Celtic. But in front of Harry, a black-haired Roman descendant, he can no longer show off his noble blood.

Hermione's hair is brown, which means she is an ordinary Englishman. Her hair color is the color of most English people's hair. This involves the British concept of hierarchy. In the early history of England, both Anglo-Saxons and Celts experienced class division. Some people go to agriculture, animal husbandry, handicrafts and so on. As their profession, while others specialize in war, that is, the samurai class, their leader is called "king". These occupations are generally hereditary. After the great migration of the Germanic people, the Anglo-Saxon warriors defeated the Celtic warriors and became British aristocrats (strictly speaking, there were later Vikings and Normans, and they also belonged to the Germanic people in a broad sense). Most Celts were either conquered and enslaved, or mixed with Anglo-Saxon civilians and integrated into ordinary Britons, that is, civilians.

The division between nobility and commoners has always been an important feature of British history, culture and politics. Britain, known as "all men are created equal", is still a legitimate aristocratic country until today. As the head of the nobility, the Queen of England is neither elected nor appointed, but inherited according to the principle of bloodline. There are 1000 people under the Queen, including princes, dukes, marquis, earl, viscount, baron, church aristocrat and law aristocrat. The aristocratic house (upper house) composed of more than 1000 people is theoretically equal to the civilian house (lower house) elected by the remaining tens of millions of people. Together with the king, these two forms the center of British politics-the British Parliament. Historically, the power of the upper house was much greater than that of the lower house. Even in today's high decline of the aristocratic system, the House of Lords is still an important part of British politics. Until 2009, the "British Supreme Court" was established for the first time in British history. Prior to this, the House of Lords has been the highest appellate judicial body in Britain, that is to say, the highest judicial power has always been in the hands of nobles. The influence of aristocratic spirit on economy, culture and society is everywhere. The pursuit of aristocratic spirit among the people is even worse than that of the upper class. For example, Princess Diana, actually the daughter of an earl, was promoted to a civilian princess by the royal family, which aroused the crazy pursuit of the whole world.

In reality, nobility and commoners correspond to a pair of common concepts in Harry Potter: "pure blood" and "muggle". Muggle is an English word created by Rowling. Its root comes from muddy blood, blood is blood, and mud is mud, so it is translated into "mudblood" in Chinese. In English, mud can be extended to dirty and mixed. Muggle or mud blood, it should be more accurate to translate it into Chinese "hybrid". The key to this word is "half-blood". There are many dividing lines between nobles and civilians, and the most important thing is bloodline. Civilians don't care whether their blood is mixed, while nobles insist on consanguineous marriage. The nobles believe that if an excellent group insists on consanguineous marriage from generation to generation, its offspring will be particularly excellent, or, for an excellent group, consanguineous marriage will help this group maintain its advantage for a long time. This is why the British royal family insists on marrying only other royal families, even though it has been reduced in size again and again because of hereditary hemophilia. The color of a child's hair is decided by his parents. Blonde and blonde, red hair and red hair, blond hair and red hair have been mixed for several generations, and the color is not so pure, and it has become the brown hair of ordinary British people. In children's literature, it is simplified as: pure red and pure gold are nobles, and brown is civilians. In the mainstream culture of Britain and America, it is a basic way of thinking to insist on "discrimination" or "differential treatment" based on race and origin.

By the way, the original author, Ms. Rowling, admitted in an exclusive interview with The Times this year that it was a "mistake" for Hermione to marry Ron. This is her initial idea, which is purely a personal decision and has nothing to do with literature. "It has little to do with literature" may indicate that Ms. Rowling did conceive the story according to the British hierarchy and national concept at first, but later, considering that Harry Potter is popular all over the world, audiences and readers in other countries and regions may not understand its historical, cultural and political connotation, so there is no need to be so elegant. However, this article reminds everyone that "all men are born equal". In Britain, "discrimination" is actually everywhere.

This paper is based on Zhai's Why Hermione Can't Marry Harry-History, Culture and Politics in Harry Potter.