Harry Potter
Apr. 16th, 2025 03:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greyliliy To clarify before I begin this rant: Yes, I think J.K. Rowling has gone too far and no, I'm not buying anything Harry Potter related that's new.
I bought a Fantastic Beasts artbook I found in a used book store a year ago becuase I love that stupid first movie and I was weak.
I 100% get the "If you buy Harry Potter, you're supporting her" anger and what not.
It's valid. Even I have stopped buying things because she's gotten way beyond the point of getting through to her.**
But what infuriates me is this attitude of "It was always bad", "I never really liked it anyway,", "I can't believe you ever liked it!", "If you still are fond of Harry Potter you clearly hate Trans people!", and so forth that is going around.
F-off with that.
Harry Potter was the only series that my ENTIRE family enjoyed. My dad read the books. My mom looked forward to the movies. My brother liked it. I liked it. I read the first five books. I adored the Fantastic Beasts movie.
My *whole* family went to see every movie when they came out. Together. As a family.
Do you know how rare that is for my family? I think the only other thing that came close was Lord of the Rings.
Harry Potter isn't the best written thing, but it is good. It captured fandom. JK Rowling's acceptance of Fanfic and Fandom is one of the reasons we have such a large and thriving one today.
It had a huge cultural impact.
It has amazing memories for me.
So yes, that makes it hurt all the damn more that Rowling has become the person she is and that she's actively fighting for the eradication of Trans people.
It sucks.
It just sucks all around.
At the end of the day, I'm always going to have a soft spot for Harry Potter. I'm always going to be tempted by the replica wand figures (my favorite merchandise). I'm probably still going to put the ornaments I have for the series on my christmas tree becuase they remind me of good moments of my family.
But I'm also not actively seeking it out and I'm not going to sit here and preach and tell anyone else what they should or shouldn't do.
I'm not even sure what I'm saying any more.
I just needed to vent.
-------
** On a side tangeant, the most angering thing about the JK situation is that when all this started, I really think she could have turned around. Years ago, she was at a place where she had concerns based on misinformation, but between her reaction to critism (though I'll admit some of it went WAY too far--I'm not surprised she double downed) and the falling fruther in with the TERF crowd has led us to today.
And it sucks.
Can't say that enough.
I bought a Fantastic Beasts artbook I found in a used book store a year ago becuase I love that stupid first movie and I was weak.
I 100% get the "If you buy Harry Potter, you're supporting her" anger and what not.
It's valid. Even I have stopped buying things because she's gotten way beyond the point of getting through to her.**
But what infuriates me is this attitude of "It was always bad", "I never really liked it anyway,", "I can't believe you ever liked it!", "If you still are fond of Harry Potter you clearly hate Trans people!", and so forth that is going around.
F-off with that.
Harry Potter was the only series that my ENTIRE family enjoyed. My dad read the books. My mom looked forward to the movies. My brother liked it. I liked it. I read the first five books. I adored the Fantastic Beasts movie.
My *whole* family went to see every movie when they came out. Together. As a family.
Do you know how rare that is for my family? I think the only other thing that came close was Lord of the Rings.
Harry Potter isn't the best written thing, but it is good. It captured fandom. JK Rowling's acceptance of Fanfic and Fandom is one of the reasons we have such a large and thriving one today.
It had a huge cultural impact.
It has amazing memories for me.
So yes, that makes it hurt all the damn more that Rowling has become the person she is and that she's actively fighting for the eradication of Trans people.
It sucks.
It just sucks all around.
At the end of the day, I'm always going to have a soft spot for Harry Potter. I'm always going to be tempted by the replica wand figures (my favorite merchandise). I'm probably still going to put the ornaments I have for the series on my christmas tree becuase they remind me of good moments of my family.
But I'm also not actively seeking it out and I'm not going to sit here and preach and tell anyone else what they should or shouldn't do.
I'm not even sure what I'm saying any more.
I just needed to vent.
-------
** On a side tangeant, the most angering thing about the JK situation is that when all this started, I really think she could have turned around. Years ago, she was at a place where she had concerns based on misinformation, but between her reaction to critism (though I'll admit some of it went WAY too far--I'm not surprised she double downed) and the falling fruther in with the TERF crowd has led us to today.
And it sucks.
Can't say that enough.
no subject
Date: Apr. 16th, 2025 09:37 pm (UTC)Anyway, being a Myers-Briggs “J,” I forced myself to get through the sixth and seventh books – because I needed closure and completion more than enjoyment. It turns out my daughter – back then not yet 30 – agreed with my assessment that the books got worse as the series stretched out. Anyway, once I finished with the series, I donated the hardcover book set to my local Friends of the Library, who could sell it to earn funds for our city library. I knew I would never read the series again. (I usually hang on to books I really like.)
And that was long before Rowling went all TERF on us. As a transwoman, I was very happy that I had unloaded my books years earlier. Good riddance.
no subject
Date: Apr. 17th, 2025 12:21 am (UTC)I mostly looked forward to having a movie series everyone in my family liked and wanted to see together. It was a rarity.
But yeah, not blaming anyone for dropping the series/getting rid of the books. The good memories are definitely competing with modern soured thoughts. Xd
no subject
Date: Apr. 18th, 2025 03:29 pm (UTC)It reminds me a bit of the Neil Gaiman situation. People are so quick to jump to "His books were always bad!" when... no. There are cases where people's shitty views of course seep into their writing, intentionally or not. But to pretend that shitty people can't still make meaningful art is the most immature and over-simplified take ever. It's actually BECAUSE these people made good art that they have such massive power to abuse in the first place. It would be easier for us to process news of allegations or bigotry if these people HADN'T contributed so much artistically, but they did! They did, and that's why it becomes such a huge deal on multiple fronts.
Anyway, I luckily was a more casual fan of HP, so I haven't had to come to terms with things the way many others have. The simplest view I can take is that it's best to refrain from buying/supporting new official HP material, since she does use that income to fund anti-trans politics. Other than that... I really can't say what I'd do if something this important to me got turned on its head. Like, imo HP is bigger than her. Thousands and thousands of people brought the films and other extensions to life. The fandom itself is its own living creature fueled by average people being creative and connecting with each other and even being critical of HP because transformative works oftentimes exist to fix the source material. I get the sentiment that any public enjoyment of HP is a contributor to keeping it relevant and consequently putting money in her pockets, and I don't know how I feel about that in all honesty. I just also don't think it's fair of me to expect everyone else to be exactly as soured on HP as I am when this whole situation is so complicated for a reason.
no subject
Date: Apr. 20th, 2025 04:09 am (UTC)And that's always a dilemma.
I'm more wary of online fans of HP, tbh. A lot of people I know IRL who like HP have no clue what JK says online. The franchise feels separate from her in that regard.
Either way, I can't look at the series without feeling defeated over the path the author went down, but then I remember the good stuff and it all goes gray again. Fun times (not). Xd