Harry Potter TV Series

St. Widge said

We are going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I'll defer to you on whether the Ron/Hermoine and Harry/Ginny relationships make sense in the books. But they didn't make sense to me in the movies. All the "fights" they had seemed very forced and just another version of the trope that when girls and boys like each other the boys are mean to the girls an they both secretly like each other. There just wasn't any real chemistry between Ron and Hermoine in the movies, or between Harry and Ginny for that matter.

As far as it being an "Americanized" view, I think it's the opposite. I think the Americanized view of these things is that the nerdy guy ends up with the hot girl who realizes that he treats her better than the captain of the football team who is as arse. Harry is not American and despite being captain of the Quiditch team, is not an arse. So it's not at all an American point of view. In fact, it's the opposite of what Americans expect for the nerdy girl to end up with the captain of the football team. Captains of football teams end up with the popular girls, the cheerleaders and Ginny arguably fits that role more than Hermoine.

Anyway, to me the movies very much so made it feel like Harry ended up with Ginny as a second choice and the fact that Harry and Hermoine wanted to be more than friends seemed very clear to me in the scene where they danced to the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song in the tent.

Maybe it's just bad film making that does not reflect the books, but I don't see those relationships as working in the movies. Doesn't ruin the movies but I did find the ending very odd and sad in that regard.

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The movies did as good a job as could be done considering they started coming out before the books were finished. And let's be honest, it could have been far worse (looking at you, GoT). Despite the movies having to cut out a lot, it was still really done well. Unfortunately, Ginny's casting was done well before the movies knew the greater role she would take on in the books. To that point, she's hardly seen into the movies until it becomes known that she's going to be Harry's love interest. So we agree there. It was hard to manufacture the connection when the movie directors always treated Ginny like a background character. And unfortunately, the actor wasn't strong enough to pull off the lost time in the later movies. This is one of the things I'm looking forward to the TV series correcting. Ginny will surely play a more prominent part in the TV show at least starting with book two. From the movies, you almost forget that she's a big part of that storyline. She's there in the books. The movie makers just didn't know she'd be so important and it shows.

Respectfully, you've misinterpreted the scene you referenced. It wasn't them attempting to be more than friends or hinting at them wanting to be more than friends. Quite the opposite, that scene is specifically about Ron. It was an attempt to cheer up his friend who's obviously missing the guy she's in love with. The scene ends on a somber note. The unspoken message that both understood was it's not the same without him here. She knows what he's trying to do and appreciates it. He understands that she's trying to make the best of it and not show how it's getting to her and appreciates her for sticking through it. It's a love and mutual respect for their friendship being highlighted in that scene, nothing more.