this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2024
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Why? I have a HP tattoo and don't regret it. The fandom has gone past the author at this point. She's a hateful removed but that doesn't mean that we can't still love the world and characters she created. We've made it our own.
Except she still gets royalties and uses those to donate to political organizations, so you know
Tons of ways to enjoy the fandom without giving her any money.
Why not sail the high seas?
AARGH MATEY!!!!!🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
Last time I checked it was a little more complicated than that. I think the Wizarding World is now owned by WB, whereas Harry Potter is where Rowling gets royalties. That's where the distinction between the two lives, which is why there are so many things being spun up lately.
I don't know how involved she still is but I know back in 2010ish when universal was opening the wizarding world in Orlando they had to run all the design desicisions through Rowling. The park ended up changing the color of the name tags for just the workers in that area of the park because she thought the white on them was to bright.
You mean the world where slaves like to be slaves and trying to release them is wrong, apartheid is right because the other sentient people look different, the bankers are antisemitic stereotypes and the main character becomes a literal cop enforcing all this?
It's really a magical world /s
If they're a reader of fanfiction that is typically one of the major changes to the story that's done. Fanfiction has effectively rewritten the entire series to be more palatable at this point. Bonus points that you can read it without giving Rowling any money too.
If the fanbase needs to rewrite the entire series to be "more palatable" that might indicate something about the series itself.
Might be time for people to just move on to a different series.
That's a tall order with how most people act. Disney vibes anyone? There were few things that could capture a whole generation's imagination so strongly, and people want to bond over it. My stance is taking what you like and making new things is how we get new series's, and fanfic has it's place in that.
None of that is correct.
Oh, and thanks for the '/s'. You know, otherwise I really would've thought you were giving it a compliment after a full paragraph of invective.
This is what the fucking bad guys believe, it's not like the books are advocating for apartheid. What the hell kind of criticism is this.
What species are allowed to use a wand and attend Hogwarts?
What other species has wizards?
At least goblins and giants and the wand ban is broad enough to imply more.
Have you seen the two hour video by Shaun on the books? I highly recommend it for a look back on the books and the issues that we couldn't have picked up on as kids but are pretty obvious on a reread.
They're not as great as we remember them to be (if I have to read the phrase "mannish hands" or another word about a 16 year old girls "square jawline" again I think I might vomit) and if the best parts of the world are the bits created in spite of the author, why continue to associate it with her work. Obviously, it's easier said than done when you're talking about an entire community, but there's plenty of other worlds created by nicer authors.
The best thing to come out of the series was the cast from the movies being as cool as they are today, but any time I think of the world, all I can think of is the token diversity characters named things like Shacklebolt and Cho Chang (almost, but not quite Ching Chong), the young Irish boy obsessed with whiskey and explosives, and the defense of slavery that's identical to arguments from actual slave owners in the US.
Plus, there's the whole thing with the hook-nosed bankers that totally aren't Jewish stereotypes. You know who created a fantasy race based on Jews that doesn't feel like an offensive stereotype? Tolkien. Tolkien's dwarves are based on Jewish stereotypes, but don't come off that way at all because of how they're presented in the world.
While I agree with you in most things (especially the jewish stereotype, yikes) I must call you on the defense of slavery. I always got the impression we weren't supposed to agree with the magic world view of house elves. I think the only point of Hermione going over the top was showing how something so hideous had become so normalized and accepted by good people in the magic world. Hermione being an outsider sees how fucked up it is and calls it.
Things are not black white. As fucked up as JK Rowling is, it doesn't mean everything she says is bad. She tried to make some good points...others sucked ass. It is what it is.
One of the only freed house elves we hear about literally drinks herself to death because she can't 'handle' freedom, which was a defense of slavery back in the day.
Also, even more eerily, Joanne has tried to retcon Hermione as black. When you then read her as the only character to try and free the house elves, something everyone makes fun of her for, it becomes EXTREMELY unsettling. Even if she weren't black, it's upsetting, and not because we're meant to see how problematic the Wizarding World is. May I remind you, Harry also thinks she's being crazy for trying to free them, and he's just as much of an outsider as she is. When all characters from all walks of life in a work believe the same thing like this, it feels very much like it's the author who believes it and is putting it into the work.
To me, the Hermione thing had always felt like JK was trying to make her out to be a "blue hair/pronouns" feminist who shouldn't be taken seriously and in the process she accidentally walked face first into making the same argument that actual slave owners made to justify themselves. I don't think she intentionally meant to justify slavery, but she ended up there trying to criticize Hermione.
This is why I recommend Shaun's video to people, as it tries to take an impartial look at the books. He points out how it feels like JK's point of view shifts as the books go on, and she goes from criticizing the system to defending it as the money started rolling in and she began to benefit from that same system. But there are some constants with her open bigotry now even as far back as the first book, some of which I've already mentioned, like the stereotypical characters (which could easily come from growing up in a sheltered environment, but she claims to deeply research a culture before creating a character) and applying masculine traits as a negative to female characters. Whether or not she supports slavery we can only guess at as she's never made a statement on the subject, and I can't imagine that she does, but her bigotry can be seen to not be a recent development, just a more deeply entrenched or worsening belief.
Anyone who thinks "shacklebolt" is some sort of callback to slavery need to have their brain rebooted. That's Qanon levels of pattern-finding.
hateful removed
They instance they're on automatically censors certain words the admins consider slurs. "Bitch" is one of them.
wow thats pretty unnecessary for regular swears lmao
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At my last job, the only who was in his 50s or older and was nice to the trans employee had HP tattoos. He saw JK being a terf (we taught him the word) as her (referring to Rowling) own problem to solve.