Hermione Granger: An Icon in Girls’ Culture

By: Kylie Gagne

One of the most popular fantasy franchises in the world today is The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This series takes the audience on a journey into a world filled with magic, mystery, conflict, friendship, and love. It follows the main character, Harry Potter, and his two best friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, as they live and study at Hogwarts and challenge the forces of evil (Smitha, 2024). While each member of this trio plays an important role in the franchise, I want to place the focus on the only girl, Hermione Granger. Hermione plays an important role in the Harry Potter series, girls' culture, and the lens of girlhood studies. By analyzing her character development and creation, I argue that Hermione Granger is a powerful, inspiring female character for girls.

As previously mentioned, Hermione is a powerful female character. She holds many positive traits that contribute to her strength. She is intelligent, brave, bold, loyal, hard-working, independent, kind, and emotional. Hermione takes pride in herself and all of the qualities she possesses, even the ones that seem negative in certain settings. She embraces her authentic self, which makes her relatable and a role model for girls. By doing this, she serves as a symbol of empowerment. She encourages girls to embrace their strengths and weaknesses and stand up for what they believe in.

Understanding Hermione's history and background is one of the key concepts in comprehending why she is such a prominent girl figure. The Harry Potter series consists of seven books and eight movies. The first book, written by J.K. Rowling, entitled "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," was published in 1997. In an interview at the Edinburgh Book Festival, Rowling explained that she feels Hermione is a bit like herself. She states, "She is an exaggeration of how I was when I was younger" **(**Ryan, 2021). This is fascinating because Rowling was born in 1965, during the second wave of feminism. The goals and aspects of this movement could have had a role in influencing Hermione's character. The book, published in 1997, also connected to a wave of feminism, specifically the third wave. Based on this, a logical conclusion can be drawn to show that these two movements played a role in Hermione's development and why she is the way she is.

As for the films, the first Harry Potter movie came out in 2001, and the last movie came out in 2011. The period of the film can be linked to two major waves of feminism: third-wave feminism and neoliberalism (or 21st-century feminism). There is a slight character shift in Hermione's character from the books to the movies (Bell, 2012). This shift made Hermione a more powerful female character. In the films, they added lines from other characters to Hermione to make her role in the franchise more prominent. They also made her responses to certain situations bold and "masculine-coded" to display "girl power." (Wara & Bruin, 2023). This movement shift could have contributed to the shift in Hermione's character to make her more relevant to an audience and culture surrounded by these new ideals. It can also be why she became more of an influential girl figure.

Hermione Granger's character helps us understand many aspects of girlhood and girls' culture. Specifically, Hermione displays the "Can-do" girl discourse, she exhibits girl power, she challenges stereotypes, displays intersectionality, and the development of her character relates to many of the waves of feminism. All of these details that Hermione fits into explain how and why she fits into girls' culture and the theories of girlhood.

The waves of feminism played a major role in Hermione's character. Three major waves of feminism occurred during the time that the Harry Potter franchise was being developed. Each one had different goals and politics that influenced Hermione's traits and contributed to making her who she was. These waves include second-wave feminism, third-wave feminism, and neoliberalism (21st-century). Examining Hermione through these lenses allows us to better understand how her development as a character reflects the evolving feminist ideals.

The second wave of feminism took place from the 1960s to the 1990s. According to Shauna Pomerantz, during this time, "girls were ignored, marginalized, or framed as lesser than boys, men, and women" (Pomerantz, 2020, p. 846). So, second-wave feminism is where a fight for equality can be seen. This could be why Hermione is so involved in things like school and her intellect. She is constantly proving to be just as smart as, or even smarter than, her male counterparts. The third wave of feminism started in the 1990s and is considered to be occurring still in the present day. This wave of feminism is where many different aspects can be seen, such as challenging gender norms, reclaiming girl power, intersectionality, and an emphasis on activism. Hermione's character aligns with all of these aspects. Neoliberalism consists of aspects of the feminist movement in the 21st century. Neoliberalism is where we see the "can-do" girl discourse. Hermione is a prime example of this discourse, as she is the "ideal girl."

Hermione accurately displays the "can-do" girl discourse and girl power throughout the films. "Can-do" girls are ideal subjects who achieve success in everything (Pomerantz, 2020). Similarly, Hermione portrays this discourse as she is the ideal girl in the world of Harry Potter. She has the looks, the brains, and the power. She is the girl everyone wants to be; she can do it all. Because of this, she defies the "at-risk" and vulnerable girl discourses and displays her strength (Gonick, 2020).

Girl Power refers to the independence and empowerment of girls. Emma Watson, the actress who played Hermione in the films, says this about Hermione's character, "She's girl power. She's out there doing everything" (Wara & Bruin, 2023, p. 265). She displays this in many ways throughout the films. For instance, she constantly outthinks Harry and Ron, she fights against the main antagonists, and she consistently stands up for what she believes in. With these actions, she proves that girls are not lesser than men or boys and that they can do whatever they put their minds to (Wara & Bruin, 2023).

Hermione also challenges stereotypes. Specifically, she breaks the traditional mold of how female characters are often portrayed in literature, particularly in fantasy. In this genre, girls are portrayed as passive and helpless, like they need to be saved. Hermione defies this stereotype by being independent and standing up for what she believes in. An example of this is when she punches Draco Malfoy in the face for making fun of one of her teachers in the 2004 film, "Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban" (Cuarón, 2004). She also proves that beauty and femininity do not make girls less powerful. Kathleen Sweeney puts this perfectly when she makes a statement about girl characters in the 1990s. She says, "Young woman and all their blossoming girliness could now defend themselves and rescue those in danger as well" (Sweeney, 2006, p. 2).

Lastly, Hermione displays intersecting identities. Intersectionality is a way to understand the structures of our society based on connected discriminations and oppressions of a person's identity (Crenshaw, 2018). Hermione is a young witch born to human parents, and these aspects of her identity often cause problems for her throughout the films. For instance, Hermione is frequently underestimated because of her age and her class. As a young witch and someone born to non-magical parents, people assume that Hermione is lesser than her peers and that she is uneducated in terms of the Wizarding World. This oppression is specifically seen in the film, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" when Draco Malfoy calls Hermione a "filthy little mudblood" (Columbus, 2002). The term "mudblood" is used as an offensive term to describe those with non-magical parents. Displaying intersectionality in this way makes Hermione more of a relatable girl character. More than this, her rise above this oppression proves her to be a worthy role model for girls.

In conclusion, Hermione Granger's character is not only a prominent figure in the Harry Potter series but also a powerful symbol in the context of girlhood and girl culture. Because of her character development and creation, Hermione embodies the qualities of many of the aspects of girlhood. She represents the "can-do" girl discourse, serves as a symbol of girl power, defies traditional gender stereotypes, and displays intersectionality. All of these aspects can be found in the various waves of feminism that influenced her creation. Because of these diverse aspects of her character, Hermione Granger stands as a role model for young girls. She encourages them to embrace their strengths, challenge limitations, and never settle for being anything less than their authentic, powerful selves. Hermione proves to be an adaptable and timeless figure in girl culture that will last for generations to come.

Works Cited

Bell, C. E. (2012). Hermione Granger saves the world: Essays on the feminist heroine of Hogwarts. McFarland & Co.

Columbus, C. (Director). (2002). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets [Film]. Warner Bros. Pictures.

Crenshaw, K. (2018). Kimberlé Crenshaw: What is Intersectionality?. YouTube. https://youtu.be/ViDtnfQ9FHc?feature=shared

Cuarón, A. (Director). (2004). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban [Film]. Warner Bros. Pictures.

Gonick, M. (2020). Girls. (D.T. Cook, Ed.).SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies, 852-855

Pomerantz, S. (2020). Girlhood Studies. (D. T. Cook, Ed.).SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies, 846–850

Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Bloomsbury.

Ryan, T. (2021). Thank you, Hermione Granger. Geeks. https://vocal.media/geeks/thank-you-hermione-granger

Smitha, G. (2024). Harry Potter: The World of Wonders, 24(5), 85–92.

Sweeney, K. (2006). Supernatural girls. Afterimage, 33(5), 13–16. https://doi.org/10.1525/aft.2006.33.5.13

Wara, I., & de Bruin, J. (2023). From a slap to a punch: Preparing Hermione Granger for postfeminist Hollywood. Feminist Media Studies, Vol.24(2), 258–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2023.2194572