Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
As you may remember – or preferably, may have watched – a few weeks back I did a
video on the major differences between the book and film versions of Hermione Granger.
Well, some of you requested that I also take a look at the biggest differences between
Ron and Harry as well.
So, today, we’ll be discussing the most noticeable differences between Ron Weasley,
when comparing the novels to the films.
What about Harry?
Keep an eye out for a video about the differences between his character, as I’ll certainly
be releasing that in the near future.
But for now, let’s begin with Ron, shall we?
Ah, Ron Weasley.
If you know him best from his character depiction in the Harry Potter book series, then the
Ronald Weasley that you know and love is the courageous, quick-witted, and loyal best mate
of Harry Potter.
He’s also the youngest son, and sixth child of Molly and Arthur Weasley.
And while some of that remains true for Ron’s character in the films, the majority of what’s
consistent between the books and the movies is – rather surface level.
I mean, yes, Ron is one of Harry’s bestest buds in the movies.
And, yes, he remains the sixth son born to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
But, other than these superficial details, there are many more character-defining qualities
that were either changed substantially for the films, or omitted completely.
In this video, I’ll be focusing on four of these major differences between book and
film Ron.
MAJOR DIFFERENCE #1: His Amount of Courage and Bravery
Unlike those who have only read the Harry Potter series, I daresay, very few fans of
the films would describe Ron as courageous.
In fact, in the movies, Ron is quite frequently portrayed as, well, the opposite.
For example, in novel version of The Prisoner of Azkaban, there’s a scene in which Harry,
Ron and Hermione come face-to-face with Sirius Black – who they believe to be an evil,
murderous wizard who betrayed Harry’s parents.
Of course, this turns out to be quite untrue.
But before they uncover this important detail, Ron not only places himself between Harry
and perceived danger, he does so on a broken leg, declaring that he’s willing to die
to protect his best friend.
In the movie-version, however, he’s the bloke cowering in the corner, while Hermione
takes what should’ve been Ron’s place shielding Harry from Sirius Black.
Sadly, this sort of thing happens frequently throughout the films, where Ron’s moments
of bravery and loyalty are turned into displays of him being a complete coward and someone
else – typically Hermione – is given his lines and actions.
Another example is in The Philosopher’s Stone, where book Ron remains calm after the
three friends get trapped in the Devil’s Snare.
His level-headedness allows him to give Hermione a good reminder that she’s a witch and can
summon the thing she needs – which happens to be fire – to cast the spell to help them
escape.
Since Hermione is a little hysterical at this point, lamenting that they don’t have anything
to start a fire, Ron is essential to the three friends escaping from the snare.
In the film version, however, Hermione does it all, and Ron just sits there screaming.
Another memorable example is in The Chamber of Secrets where Ron is able to confront his
fear of spiders.
He’s scared of course, but he manages to summon the courage to do what he needs to
do.
But in the film he’s a laughable mess.
To me, this lack of Ron’s bravery is such a flaw in the Harry Potter movie franchise
for several reasons.
For one, it makes Ron seem a lot less dynamic as a person and almost unbelievable as Harry’s
best mate.
For another, in the books, it’s pretty clear that Ron’s courage is one of his most admirable
qualities, and, in my opinion, the reason The Sorting Hat placed him in Gryffindor.
Without his bravery, he actually seems rather out of place in the films – amongst Harry
and Hermione, and within Gryffindor as a whole.
MAJOR DIFFERENCE #2: His Level of Intelligence
In addition to novel Ron’s bravery, the films also seem to drastically reduce movie
Ron’s intelligence.
In the books, Ron and Harry frequently receive similar grades and are able to perform magic
at a pretty comparable level.
It’s Hermione who’s well above the both of them when it comes to academics and book
learning.
In the movies, however, Harry’s character is portrayed as being smarter and more adept
at magic than he is in the books, while Ron is showcased as, well, kind of an idiot.
Don’t tell me you didn’t notice?
In The Philosopher’s Stone, for example, there are several times in the novel that
Ron does something bright, like take out the troll in the bathroom.
In the movies, he requires much help from the others to even do that.
He also somehow manages to hit himself in the face with a broom during a flying lesson
in the first film, despite having grown up in a wizarding household, which presumably
had this magical item.
And while I’m on that topic, might I also just say that the movies also took away almost
every instance of Ron being the trio’s Wizarding World expert, when he got to share his knowledge
of magic with Harry and Hermione, who had both grown up in Muggle homes.
For some reason, all of Ron’s helpful tips and explanations about magic from the novels
are handed over to Hermione, who in the films, frequently shares information about things
she reasonably would’ve had no understanding or knowledge of.
Finally, in the books, Ron is actually a pretty funny and quick-witted character, cracking
jokes and providing wonderful comic relief.
And, while yes, you may find movie Ron funny, I’d be willing to guess that you find him
humorous because of all the stupid things he does or incredible silly expressions he
makes.
The fact is that, while he is technically comic relief in both depictions of his character,
the films took away Ron’s humour and quick wit, replacing it with an overexaggerated
goofiness that you could laugh at, rather than with.
MAJOR DIFFERENCE #3: His Relationship with Harry
For some reason, the movies decided to portray Hermione as being closer to Harry than Ron.
And while all three are close friends in the books, it’s incredibly clear that Harry
and Ron are best mates – sorry, Hermione.
This alteration from books to movies is actually kind of infuriating.
There are so many scenes in the book series in which Ron was showcased as caring the most
about Harry, but in the movies Ron is almost always swapped out with Hermione.
As mentioned, she’s the one who throws herself in front of Harry in The Prisoner of Azkaban
– rather than Ron.
She’s the one who says Dumbledore asked her and Ron not to send Harry letters – not
Ron.
She’s the one who insists she’ll go with Harry to hunt Horcruxes, as a useless and
uncaring version of Ron sits silently in the background.
MAJOR DIFFERENCE #4: His Appearance
The translation of a character from the page to the screen is a hard one for filmmakers.
As discussed in my video on the differences between book and film Hermione, it’s, of
course, near impossible to cast the perfect representation of a character from a book
that everyone will be satisfied with – especially, with a franchise as well-known and well-loved
as Harry Potter.
HOWEVER, since this is a video on the differences between book and movie Ron, how could I not
mention the differences in his appearance?
So, when it comes to how Ron looked in the books, he was described as tall, long, and
lanky with bright red hair and freckles.
Now I would say that the movie version of Ron, portrayed by actor Rupert Grint, could
only be described as two of those things: tall (sort-of) with bright red hair.
He was not particularly long and lanky, and he certainly didn’t have freckles.
It’s interesting because the statures of James and Oliver Phelps, the twins who played
Fred and George Weasley, are more along the lines of how I envisioned Ron in the books.
And Rupert Grint actually looks a lot more like how Fred and George are described in
the novels.
In any case, this would’ve been hard to predict when casting young children.
I guess the one thing the filmmakers could’ve done to make Rupert Grint better match the
description of Ron in the novels is put freckles on him…but when compared to all the other
major character alterations they made to Ron, this hardly seems important…does it?
And that brings us to the end of another video!
What did you think?
Do you agree?
Did the movie turn Ron into a useless version of the Ron depicted in the books?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
And, as always, if you enjoyed this video, don’t forget to like it and subscribe to
the channel!
Until next time…
“Accio Brain!”