Just in case anyone doesn’t know:
J.K. Rowling uses personal wealth to fund anti-trans org
J.K. Rowling is using her wealth attained from the Harry Potter series to create an organization dedicated to removing transgender people’s rights "in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces.”
You can “seperate the art from the artist”, but can’t seperate the Harry Potter royalties from the anti-trans funding.
Don’t forget that she also has publicly said that she considers consumption of Harry Potter media as support for her political ideology. She herself literally made it a political stance.
People seemed to have no trouble dropping Gaiman after his horrendous behavior came to light, but even suggest people drop their beloved nostalgia books and it’s all “but my blorbo! JK bad I guess, but I like my blorbo!”.
The sad part is that the HP-verse is so clearly not for us – that is, not for anyone besides straight white liberal Christians. The stereotypes, the handwaves, the defense of the status quo. But people choose to engage with and perpetuate this media anyway.
People would rather just enjoy the blorbo than take a stand against what it represents/supports. Comfort is “easier” than tension.
My Christian mom didn’t let us watch Harry Potter because our church said it was evil. I guess it’s not for Christians either, though I think that has changed and it’s fine now.
Yeah, I forgot about that satanic panic stuff around HP. Maybe those xtians feel more comfortable now knowing she hates the same people they do.
Nah, that was just boomer panic and the moms now are millennials that read harry potter.
As a millennial I’m dying 😭. I feel like many of us really split between “comfy cozy uwu” and jaded cynicism
Yup, a childhood friend of mine gave me the first Harry Potter book for my birthday, and my christian parents threw it away after they left because “it promotes witchcraft”. Then I grew up and realized I was trans, and hate Harry Potter for an entirely different reason.
Trans rights and stuff
Rocky Horror is a bit better than Harry Potter. DON’T dream it, be it.
E .****fff
There’s a real dark irony in a book about a young boy quite literally coming out of the closet to discover his true self written by a woman who might as well be a Dursley.
The irony disappears slightly when the whole slave liberation arc was literally Confederate propaganda that was so distasteful and irrelevant to the plot, it was cut from the movies.
The house elves love being slaves. It’s the natural order of things.
The real dark irony is Jo saying they probably would have transitioned when they were younger if they were aware of gender expression.
Wait what? Did she actually say that?
“The more of their accounts of gender dysphoria I’ve read, with their insightful descriptions of anxiety, dissociation, eating disorders, self-harm and self-hatred, the more I’ve wondered whether, if I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition."
“If I’d found community and sympathy online that I couldn’t find in my immediate environment, I believe I could have been persuaded to turn myself into the son my father had openly said he’d have preferred.”
Ah, so not sincerely. Just part of another transphobic rant insinuating that trans people are corrupting the youth.
It could be both. But yeah she’s clearly weaponizing it at minimum
She said this at the very beginning of her going terf for what that’s worth. And cis people can’t be persuaded to transition.
And cis people can’t be persuaded to transition.
Yeah but transphobes don’t believe that. They’re convinced that confused kids get groomed into being transgender the same way socially isolated boys get groomed into incel/far right groups.
Harry Potter has no true self to discover. From the first to the last page of this pile of rags he is a wizarding Mary Sue with near-infinite privilege and the personality of an oyster. The story opens with “yer a wizard” in the first 50 pages and that’s the end of his character arc. From then on he’s a mere vessel for the reader to experience the world and the author to move the plot along.
… As a matter of fact, what even is the biggest character arc in that story? I don’t remember much, but Neville and Hermione have a glowup and Harry’s uncle dies or something? And the weasleys open a shop? I certainly don’t recall anything that lends credence to the idea that Rowling even believes that either individual people or societies are capable of profound change. The story begins and ends basically in the exact same place except the characters are 10ish years older.
And then he grows up to become… a cop.
From the first to the last page of this pile of rags he is a wizarding Mary Sue with near-infinite privilege and the personality of an oyster.
I disagree.
As a matter of fact, what even is the biggest character arc in that story? I don’t remember much
:-/
that really doesn’t add much to the conversation. you’re just
-ing. why do you disagree, Jo?It’s a generic critique of any fantasy novel protagonist. Potter isn’t any more of a Mary Sue than Aragorn or Rand Al’Thor.
And “The plot was bad, I don’t even remember what happened”. Bro, what do I even say to that?
The story wasn’t so bad that it failed to sell tens of millions of copies in dozens of languages.
And “The plot was bad, I don’t even remember what happened”. Bro, what do I even say to that?
The story wasn’t so bad that it failed to sell tens of millions of copies in dozens of languages.
Thanks, i can respond to that. It may have not had the best written story, but it was a story that resonated with people (even though we, on reflection, found a lot to pick apart in it) and that’s really, really hard to do. Tens of millions of copies each volume indeed.
From then on he’s a mere vessel for the reader to experience the world and the author to move the plot along.
I mean i’m exposing my writing naivete here but if we get rid of the word mere above, isn’t the primary job of the MC to be a vessel for the reader to experience the world and the author to move the plot? we kind of come back to the same idea. give a bland protag that the reader can feed their emotions and reasoning into and they connect a little more. the more they connect the better the book sells. it seems like a decent writing strategy if nothing else is working.
given that thought, maybe i should write a novel about me. i can’t think of anything blander. maybe that’s why they say everyone’s first novel is about themselves.
I am not saying it did not sell. That’s the one thing it did really well. But it’s hardly a hot take to say success is not a measure of quality. Plenty of mainstream slop out there. HP is slop. It’s not offensively bad, but it’s certainly not good.
Over 6+ books it’s really sub-par writing to have a character who does not really grow because they already did not have any internal flaws or conflicts. The upside is that it’s really hard to hate a blank slate MC and you don’t risk writing yourself into a corner. I’m sure this is no small part of why there is so much HP fanfic specifically – it’s hard to write those characters badly as they lack so much depth!
Tons of things did the HP formula better, with well developed characters, good worldbuilding, good plot, good themes, yada yada. e.g. The Magicians (only saw the show) or Misfits&Magic. And in all of those the protags face strong personal hardships and are drastically different people by the end. Yeah, it’s hard, but that’s what storytellers do.
I’d argue Harry is way worse than both Aragorn and Rand Al’Thor. At least there’s several attributes added to both of those characters, though Aragorn is a lot more fleshed out. Aragorn is noble, loyal, carries a deep sadness, love towards someone special, etc., you can easily describe him with other words than just “adult man who becomes king”. Rand struggles with what he should do, who he is, what will he become, who should he love? all that, he too can be described with not only surface level things.
What qualities does Harry have? He hates people who are terrible? Feels sad when he loses people he cares about? He has no feelings outside of generic things he does in his life, it’s like he’s on autopilot and just reacts to things like some standard of a person would. How would you describe his traits, other than some generic “a kid that becomes a special wizard and grows up” or his physical appearance? And I don’t think Rand Al’Thor is a very good character mind you, but at least he is one. Harry is just an empty shell
I’d argue Harry is way worse than both Aragorn and Rand Al’Thor.
That’s fine. You’re entitled to your own opinion.
What qualities does Harry have?
Naivete, isolation, and confusion that gives way to optimism and comradrie in Book 1. If you ever read any Roald Dahl novels, he’s got much of the same youthful curiosity and compassionate cheerfulness of James from the Giant Peach and Charlie from the Chocolate Factory.
Much of Harry’s early personality is informed by his struggle to understand his parents and his parents’ friends, picking up and discarding their habits and traits in pursuit of self-actualization (Book 3/4/5, in particular, have him latching onto Remus Lupin and then Sirius Black as idols, only to lose them and himself in turn). Over the course of the series Harry’s initial optimism is poisoned by cynicism and hatred, frustration at the failure of his elder peers, and ultimately a depressive death spiral. He matures, discarding the childish qualities of the early books and adopts more mature (often toxic and reactionary) views and motivations by the end of the series. As a case in point, Book 1 Harry would have happily joined SPEW, while Book 5 Harry considers it an annoyance. I’d say Harry’s arc really peaks in Book 6, when he uses black magic on Draco Malfoy and Snape has to rush in to save him. He’s gone from a cheerful, generous, naive little kid to a battle-hardened child soldier.
Like, if I was to really describe Harry’s story progression, that’s it. Its a look inside a child that’s forced to fight a war for survival. You get a similar (abet much better written) character trajectory for the Animorphs. But to say nothing is going on with the central character? That’s blatantly rage-bait.
Also my suspicion that book 6 is the last book that Rowling had more than a few token notes on. By book 7, you can really feel the ghostwriters crowding in and WB taking a heavy hand in editing/finalizing (although it’s clear they’ve been around since book 4). Forcing a Disney-style happy ending on a wizard civil war betrayed so much of what Rowling had set up in the early novels.
Well that is a good analysis! You honestly got me more convinced of Harry’s personhood than the books ever did. I guess I just really, really hate Harry as a protagonist, which blinds me to the other points. I’ll blame Rowlings writing style for that one though.
And yes, I fully agree about the later books; after the fifth one, I can barely remember anything that happens in them, outside some biggest plot points. Compared to how I can still fairly well recall what happens in books 1-4, and mostly 5 as well despite there being more time passed after reading them, the contrast is huge.
Aragorn…you had all of literature to pick from and you chose Aragorn as your first example?
Literally “the pre-destined future leader who just needs to walk forward and automatically wins”.
What’s his biggest hurdle through the entire three-book adventure? Picking which hot princess he’s going to marry? Politely asking some ghosts to defeat half the Dark Lord’s army in an unwritten side adventure? Literally walking up to the Black Gates of Mordor and telling the Eye of Sauron “Made you look”?
Come on. The most difficult fight Aragorn has in the entire epic adventure happens in the first half of the first book.
He struggles with his identity and guilt over isildur’s failure with the ring, he straight up fails to save frodo after getting stabbed who would have died if Arwen didn’t show up, and that final stand against Sauron’s army was basically a suicide mission that only worked because he taunted Sauron into sending the army out of the black gate before ever heading out there.
Aragorn is not a- hhrrrgh I’m gonna angry cry, I’m gonna barf right now how dare you
👎
At least it’s not more explicit. It’s not like there’s some potion that lets you change your physical appearance at will that is even capable of turning you into a furry. Or a type of witch/wizard whose special ability is to change their appearance at will, as shown by a slightly androgynous woman who regularly changes her appearance based on how she’s feeling in the moment.
Write what you know.
what about potter puppet pals. can we still watch that?
Does watching it put money in the hands of people doing harm to trans kids? Or will it LEAD to harm to trans kids?
If the answer to either of those is ever yes, then no.
Like does watching Neil Cicigrega’s potter puppet pals eventually lead to royalties to jkr? Or does watching it make you eventually want to do anything that will give money to jkr, like watch actual hp content or other jkr content?
Best to just let it go.
if that’s your standard i can never spend any money. she’s a billionaire and well invested.
those look like 8yo kids
As much as the author sucks, I enjoy the series too much to throw it away :/
There are so many other series which are a lot better. You really don’t need this one.
YAaaarrr, we be enjoying content from slimey, bilge-bucket creators without spending a single doubloon on their barnacle-covered arses. 🏴☠️
pirate the media and dont give it exposure then :) any dollar given to that franchise is a dollar spent to harm trans people
It harms much more than just trans people. Firstly transphobes think even the slightest form of gender-noncomformity is transgenderism, secondly many of those TERF orgs also oppose other things (wondering if Collective Shout got any money from her, but probably she already blames porn for trans people).
transgenderism
Forgive me if I’ve been mislead, but from what I understand “transgenderism” is a term used by transphobes to diminish a legitimate phenomenon, implying it is a belief or fad.
Still upvoted for contributing to the discussion and for supporting an alien in his search for the universe’s best cup of coffee.
I know, that’s why I used that word in that context. They don’t care, they just see someone not extremely masculine or feminine, then think they must be trans. I got accused of “formerly having ‘rapid onset gender dysphoria’”, because I used to have long hair for metal reasons.
Speaking from experience as well, ain’t nothing “rapid onset” about cultivating a properly metal head of hair.
I do appreciate the clarification though!
I always hear “transgender ideology” from transphobes, to make it more of a thought exercise and fad than a physical state of being. “Transgenderism” is a word I’ve been familiar with for decades but it may have been coopted or is being eschewed now, not sure.
I consume it purely through fanfiction and AO3.
as a transfem academic who enjoyed HPMoR, I dislike JKR’s Harry Potter series because it’s poorly written and is not critical enough of the ethical problems it contains
Not trying to hate on Harry Potter fans, but the characters just seem so one dimensional to me. It’s a neat setting which really speaks to the cozy part of my brain, but I never noticed enough depth in it to get why it has so many fans.
It isn’t critical of its ethical problems at all. It mostly doesn’t even acknowledge them.
did you read HP: methods of rationality? the one where Harry Potter beheads Lucius Malfoy because of ethical motivations?
Oh you mean the fascistic nightmare world where it turns out the only problem is bad actors, not the fact that it’s systemically rotten to the core?
I mean, both worlds are rotten to the core, it’s just that HPMoR is properly critical of the problems therein. Only one of the two worlds has the main character working hard to dismantle the institutional racism he was presented with.
Oh fuck me, sorry I read that as MMO. No, methods of rationality was good.
outside of nostalgia which is hard to quantify what is the appeal compared to thousands of better series in the genre? Its not just written by a bigoted monster who uses her platform for harming others its filled with lackluster world building and empty characters.
I’ve never understood this argument. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not spending another penny on this franchise for the foreseeable future, but… I’m still a fan of the books. I’ve read my copies so often most of them are held together with duct tape and chewing gum. I have my old dvds and I give them a watch here and there. Probably gonna watch them with my kid once he’s old enough.
I’m a fan of Harry Potter. Its not about if a different series is better or worse. And the books aren’t bad, but that was never the issue. No one who is really a fan of something is gonna transfer their love for that thing to a “better” version that easily.
What do those other series not have? They’re not Harry Potter. They’re a different thing. And it doesn’t have to be nostalgia for you to like a thing. And if you can replace it that easily, you’re not much of a fan. Which is fine! Everyone has their own tastes… But think about something you actually are a fan of. There’s no replacement for it.
Hope this didn’t come off too strong, I’m not mad or anything, but its really an argument that I don’t understand when people make. There are so many good arguments for voting with your wallet on this thing, but this doesn’t seem to be one of them.
Now we’re talking!
I’m first:
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, by Fritz Leiber.
Very 1980-ish fantasy for adults.
Your turn!
Can I come over and poke you with a pitchfork? I know it’d be painful, but I feel like I’d really enjoy it.
Do you have any trans people in your life?
Are you assuming that there aren’t trans people that like Harry Potter? Do YOU have any trans people in your life?
I didn’t assume anything, I just asked a question.
I do have a handful of trans people in my life, yes.
Yes I do too. To answer your question
Unless you’re an alt, I wasn’t originally asking you. I don’t know your stance on the Harry Potter IP.
Nope no alt. Didn’t mean to come in hot. Like we all can agree JK Rowling can burn in hell alternating from hot oil to hot coal. Right!?
Whenever you spend any money on anything Harry Potter related, offset it by giving at least that much to a charity for LGBTQ+.
MFers will invent carbon credits before reading a different book
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Suck my girldick, lmao
Same! After all, growing up around attitudes like yours is quite damaging for queer folks. Thanks for looking out.
You are one very, very lost nazi.
The funny thing about the mental health angle is that the treatment for dysphoria as a mental illness is therapy and potential gender reassignment. I recall there was some chud type who was talking up this angle on a stream and they walked themselves right into that and you could see them realize they were wrong about everything even by their own argument.
Is there something about stuffed animals in the Harry Potter books I am missing?
The lion, snake, badger, and raven are the animals of the Hogwarts houses.
Thanks, I couldn’t tell that was a bird at first and then the badger was confusing me. Now I know and get it.
Yeah, the beak kind of looks like a horn.
No. The context is the houses.
Here’s an honest question. Are we allowed to buy Harry Potter stuff after JKR is dead, since she won’t get paychecks from it anymore?
I don’t but it now, think I missed the hype train by being too old when it hit it’s hype.
But the biggest issue is JKR getting the money not the franchise? Or am I missing something where the franchise and license owners are also anti-trans?
I can’t keep up with everything, but I know Harry Potter is getting a lot of hate and I’m out of the loop besides JKR just being a cunt on social media.
Yeah, pretty much. No one is gonna give you shit for reading H.P. Lovecraft.
Well, unless you’re being weird about it
If she owns the rights she could theoretically put something in her will that states x% of proceeds from her intellectual properties will go to [insert TERF organization here]. Considering she’s made it her life goal to make society as inaccessible to trans people as possible, I assume she’ll make sure she can do so in death as well.
So she’s well beyond just commenting and is funding things that hurt the trans community?
I should Google more.
She has publicly stated that she considers purchasing or consuming Harry Potter stuff as support for her ideology, and she donates a portion of what she makes off of it to political organizations that include right-wing Christian extremist groups.
Yup. Just one of her purchases put about 70,000 pounds Stirling in the hands of the lawyers that got gender recognition certificates rendered moot in the UK supreme court. Thats the landmark ruling that has since allowed bathroom, locker room , gym and sport single sex policing completely legitimate by UK authorities and forced “transgender row” in prisons to send trans prisoners to institutions of their birth sex.
She does a lot more with her money than that but that was her single biggest win so far.
She was also involved in the bullshit Cass report. She’s a monster.
Wouldn’t it be better, sir, to make seven wills?
The deep sees are calling.
Steal it instead!
I mean… You’re allowed to buy it now, whether or not you choose to do so
Funny you mention it, because I was thinking of going back and reading all the Dilbert strips I missed out on after Scott Adams went mask-off racist. Am I allowed?
(edit: LOL, looks like a moot point, I tried going there just now and the server doesn’t seem to be running)
Nobody is stopping you but be warned 90% of Dilbert is utter crap, might be entertaining to a child, some weird child who works in a cubicle or something.
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