October 21, 2007

• Why J.K. Rowling made a very poor choice.

  For those who haven't heard, J.K. Rowling revealed last night that
  Dumbledore is gay. I won't lie; I was stunned when I read the news. I
  support gay people and their right to be gay; I do not support gay
  marriage, and never will. However, I do not like her decision to create
  this plot discussion for one very simple reason. If Dumbledore was gay,
  and JKR wanted to address this current issue in society in her books,
  she should have done that. She should have revealed it in the books. It
  is an absolutely boneless move to simply add this rather dramatic
  detail several weeks after the series concluded. If she really wanted
  to display an open mind to all walks of life, (and I don't know if that
  was the objective or not; I'm simply speculating), she should have
  actually taken the time to work this fact into her story, where
  millions of people can experience it. If she feels it is appropriate to
  reveal now, then why couldn't she have done it where she told us the
  story of Harry Potter? It was a poor move from an author who typically
  displays nothing but grace and poise.

  And also, at the risk of
  being politically incorrect, I have a 11 year old brother who read this
  story on the internet today. I know that people (including, and
  especially, myself) continue to insist that Harry Potter is not
  children's literature, but the facts show that the majority of the
  Harry Potter fan base comes from children. I feel that this was an
  inappropriate move on her part, to basically force this discussion
  point on families. It is the decision of the parent to choose when to
  discuss sexual preference with their children, and this was not a
  necessary revelation. JKR needed to either tackle the issue in the
  books, where she can introduce it with an storyline to educate children
  about being gay and the truth about it, or leave it alone completely.

  Now,
  before any flips out about me referring to homosexuality as an "issue,"
  you know what I mean. As much as many people would like to believe,
  being gay is not something that every household wants to address. It is
  not as simple as revealing that a character is actually a sibling to
  another character or something similar. It is something that will
  ignite a political and ethical war of words that will give more
  ammunition to fundamentalists and those on the religious right, and
  these are not things that the Harry Potter universe needs to be
  surrounded with as it slowly beings to wrap up. I don't have a problem
  with a gay character, in the very premise of the idea, but JKR did a
  very poor job in introducing Dumbledore as gay after the entire series
  is over.

  • 12:47 AM
  • 2 Comments