The girls (and boys) go crazy for Tom Felton and Draco Malfoy
J.K. Rowling has often gone on record saying how slightly disturbing it is for there to be so many fans of Draco Malfoy. Perhaps she views it as a disappointment that Draco has legions of dedicated fans who dress up as Slytherin students rather than Gryffindor students. But if it’s so disturbing, why do there continue to be people who say “I’d rather be in Slytherin than Gryffindor?” I present to you three possible reasons as to why:
Reason 1: The actor
Tom Felton brings sympathy to the character of Draco
J.K.R. has stated how it scares her to have fans speaking highly of Draco after watching the movies. “People have been waxing lyrical [in letters] about Draco Malfoy, and I think that’s the only time when it stopped amusing me and started almost worrying me,” she said in a 2005 interview. “I’m trying to clearly distinguish between Tom Felton, who is a good-looking young boy, and Draco, who, whatever he looks like, is not a nice man. It’s a romantic, but unhealthy…” This might sound like a backhanded compliment, but having Tom Felton as the supposed “slimy git” might have not been the best choice if J.K.R. wants readers to distinguish Draco the Character from Tom Felton the Person. As a member of the female gender, I’ll be the first to admit that Tom Felton is an attractive young man (and a terrific actor). People tend to respond better to good-looking people, and Felton’s looks help the audience to sympathize with Draco and even excuse many of his deep character flaws (I’m not saying that’s necessarily a good thing, but that’s just human nature). Attractiveness and a bad attitude is always a fatal combination that sends girls to the moon and causes boys to idolize.
Reason 2: The “bad boy” image
Everyone loves a bad boy until they've got one
If there is such a thing as girl Kryptonite, it is the fantasy of the “bad boy”. Draco fits this mold a little too well. The bad boy-the guy who can stop a room with his swagger-is mysterious and alluring while also being aloof. He’s like the flame moths are attracted to-you know you aren’t suppose to touch him, but you can’t help it. I think the movies have more to do with this aura around Draco than the books, but some of that aura does ooze from books and into the reader’s mind. The scenes from Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows also show that Draco is capable of thinking on a higher plane, and that presents an even more powerful version of girl Kryptonite, the reformed bad boy.
The allure of the bad boy doesn’t just affect girls. Draco himself was attracted to the mystique of the “dark side”, as it were. That was part of the basis for his actions at Hogwarts and his decision to become a Death Eater. Little did he know, like many girls who actually end up with bad boys as boyfriends, how deceiving forbidden fruit can be.
Reason 3: The character
Draco starts to feel the pressure of the dark side
I first liked Draco when I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. After that, I was a Draco fan for life. I’m sure many readers of the series were like me, and would rather read about what Draco did during his down time than Harry’s exploits. I always felt that Draco had more that was happening to him psychologically than he let on, and for that reason, I stayed along to see what I would find out about him (along with seeing if Harry would indeed stop Voldemort). Since this character is supposed to be unlikeable, there should be reasons as to why many readers drawn to him. Here’s how I break it down:
*Shallow pettiness. I know that sounds weird, but let me explain. Draco was born into a wealthy family. He has everything he could ever want, and can get anything he pleases. With money comes confidence and swagger, and whether you’d like to admit it or not, everyone wants to have that kind of power, so we live vicariously through Draco’s rich exploits. Why else are shows like Gossip Girl so popular?
*Living without the super-ego. Not only does Draco represent the rich, lavish lifestyle everyone dreams of having, but he also represents the ability to be mean without repercussions. People don’t like to admit this, but people can have really evil, despicable thoughts. What people end up doing, however, is suppressing them. This ability to suppress these thoughts is known as the super-ego, the psychological part of our mind named by neurologist Sigmund Freud that polices our wild desires and reminds us of the repercussions we would face if we acted on said desires. Draco’s super-ego doesn’t reign in his opinions about other people, and so he can bully, taunt, and degrade people at will without feeling guilty (at least on the surface). Now, I’m not saying that everyone wants to release racial epithets on people they dislike, but now and again, we all want to slap, curse, or punch that person who’s annoying us. Draco’s actions allow us a bit of relief.
*Draco follows the path of the anti-hero. Draco’s arc is one that is more compelling to many readers than the traditional hero arc Harry follows. Readers are waiting to see what Draco will do next in the story. Even Harry in Half-Blood Prince was wondering what Draco was going to do next to thwart him. The anti-hero or anti-hero-in-training tend to have interesting quirks that go against the audience’s knowledge about that character and reveals who the anti-hero has the ability to become. Draco is no exception to this rule. While Draco has been brought up to believe that purebloods are superior, he befriends Moaning Myrtle, the ghost of a muggle-born Hogwarts student. When Harry, Ron and Hermione get caught by Greyback in Deathly Hallows, Draco doesn’t expose them, even though he’s taunted all three of them numerous times and has even called Hermione a “Mudblood”, a racist term for muggle-born witches and wizards. Draco doesn’t fulfill his task of killing Dumbledore, and was, in fact, haunted by the task throughout his fifth year. In the movie Half-Blood Prince, Draco, having already accepted the task to kill Dumbledore, makes a veiled statement about suicide to his girlfriend Pansy and friend Blaise Zabini, hinting to the audience that he’s already plagued by what he has been asked to do. And at the end of Deathly Hallows, he has made peace with Harry and Hermione (Ron is a different matter, since it seems that Ron is unable to be at peace with Draco). Draco’s upbringing, his actions, and his mental growth throughout the books makes him a rather rich character in terms of storytelling power, and characters that are rich in storytelling power are generally the characters people like following. I feel that if there was an eighth book about how the Hogwarts group was faring in their early 20s, we would see Draco become even more complex than he already is.
Should J.K.R. be worried about Draco’s fans? I don’t think so. Even with all the obsession and examination of Draco, I think most fans still remember that he’s just a character. Although I understand her concern, I doubt there are girls actively searching for a person like Draco to reform. Speaking for myself, it’s much more fun to analyze and speculate about Draco’s actions and thoughts than it is to fangirl over him (but I guess analyzing can be called a form of fangirling). In any case, it’s better to be a fan of Draco than it is to be a fan of, oh, I don’t know, Voldemort!
EDIT 2/3/2012: After a light-bulb has gone off in my head, I feel I need to clarify some stuff. I think I was thinking a little too rosy when I said I doubted there were girls who were actively searching for a Draco of their own to reform. I don’t know if that’s totally true. I can’t assume it’s not true just because I’m not actively searching for a Draco. Just because I am viewing Draco from the viewpoint of an amateur psychologist doesn’t mean that other people are.
I think that for the most part, girls who love Draco aren’t looking at Draco as a whole person–they’re only looking at the fact that Tom Felton is attractive, and, on the whole, Tom Felton makes Draco out to be an attractive bad boy. And, as I said, people like villains in spite of themselves because they can live like how we sometimes wish we could live (heck, this is why people say Darth Vader is cool!). But, I don’t think a some girls realize the magnitude of Draco Malfoy as a character. For girls who fantasize about Tom Felton, that’s fine. Even just thinking about Draco from the “bad boy” perspective is fine to a point. All of that is surface level. For girls who fantasize about changing Draco Malfoy–and, by extention, changing a guy they might know in real life that’s less than savory–there’s something wrong with that. Many women do feel like they can change a man, but changing a man isn’t necessarily something you have to do all the time. Sometimes, the man has to change themselves. Girls shouldn’t feel like they have to change every person.
To Draco’s credit, he had stuff happen to him that changed him into a better person than he was before. If we’re speaking strictly about the book, if a character developed a relationship with Draco post-change, then that might be all right. Similarly, if a man in real life developed a relationship after changing their lives, then that’s okay. It’s just that girls should be aware where fantasy stops and real life begins. Sometimes, men can be changed by a woman trying to fix them. Sometimes, they’re changed by being alone. If this is what J.K.R. was worried about, then I get it.
Reference/useful links
Draco Malfoy’s page on Harry Potter Wikia
Wikipedia’s page on Draco Malfoy
AskMen’s article on how to be a bad boy with limits
Wikipedia’s page on the id, ego, and super-ego
