Harry Potter, Cursed Child and the Problematic Depiction of Women
By Lacy Baugher
Hermione and her daughter (and Ron’s there too). (Photo: JHarry Potter Play Official site)
Rose Granger-Weasley
Remember how awesome it was when we learned Hermione and Ron had a daughter? How excited we all were to meet her and see what she would do? I mean, Hermione Granger’s daughter, right? How could she fail to be amazing?
Well, too bad for us, because it turns out young Rose basically only exists in this play to provide plot exposition. And occasionally serve as a convenient romantic placeholder, so we know for sure that the two male leads in the play aren’t actually in love with each other. She does almost nothing, and vanishes from the story huge chunks of time. When she does appear, it’s basically to declare her disinterest in Scorpius Malfoy or make weirdly judgmental comments about her classmates. At one point Rose is literally erased from the story – as if we needed a visual reminder of how little impact she actually has on this narrative.
This is Hermione Granger’s daughter, y’all.
I’m trying to remember some fantastic or even pivotal Rose moment – other than the fact that I’m angry that she didn’t have any – and I can’t. It’s awful.
Next: Hermione Granger deserved better than this.