Dumbledore
I'm so mad that I had to find out about Dumbledore being gay from DAN of all freaking people, who has no interest in the HP series! How has this not cropped up on my flist yet?
At any rate, I'm not happy about it. I don't personally have any problem with Dumbledore being gay, but I think the announcement is stupid for a
1) There's enough backlash against her books for leading kids to the occult and otherwise "corrupting" them. Does JKR really need to add fuel to the fire? Some people who might have let their kids read the books before will certainly not do so now, and I think that's a loss for the kids.
2) It's totally irrelevant. His sexuality has nothing whatsoever to do with the plot of the book, just as someone's sexuality has nothing whatsoever to do with their ability to be a good teacher, or parent, or politician or scientist, etc etc. This was an unnecessary invasion of Dumbledore's privacy.
3) It's catering to the lowest levels of the fandom. JKR's been doing a lot of that lately. All the questions she gets are "Tell us who hooks up! Tell us who has babies! Tell us who gets married! What kind of house do they live in? Does it have a nice yard?" *rolls eyes* That's the job of fanfiction, to explore issues that aren't addressed in the books because they don't belong there. I think JKR really should leave well enough alone at this point and stop adding information to the HP universe, especially of this nature. Really.
4) It's lazy and cowardly. The HP books might be about prejudice, but that doesn't mean they're about ALL prejudice. They're centered pretty succinctly on magical bloodlines, and the appropriate modern comparison is to racism. If JKR wanted to address anti-gay bigotry she ought to have made it clear in the book, not in a sort of offhand, oh by the way comment.
5) It doesn't DO anything. Simply remarking that one of the characters is gay does not promote tolerance or open a meaningful discussion about the issue. It can't say anything about homosexuality because NONE OF THE CHARACTERS KNOWS. Without evidence that Dumbledore is publicly gay and still respected and given positions of leadership, we can't take any lesson from it. I've read in some places that the general meaning goes something like "Dumbledore is wonderful. Dumbledore is gay. Therefore, gays are wonderful." but that makes as much sense as "Ron is red haired. Ron has a great sense of humor. Therefore, redheads have a great sense of humor." Dumbledore's gayness is (as I mentioned in #2) irrelevant to his actions and character, so the revelation is equally irrelevant. Really, what it's doing is flushing out the homophobics among us. Will and Grace already did that.
6) It's yet another loss for agape. There's just WAY too much eros in our society, to the point that people don't even know there's a difference these days. Dumbledore's conversion took place because he saw someone he cared about embrace evil, and he decided he would not do the same thing. Eventually, he has to defeat the man who had once been his closest companion. That moment would have been profound and meaningful whether he had a romantic or platonic relationship with Grindelwald, but it has a different connotation now. Personally, I'd always loved the way Hermione and Harry have a purely platonic friendship and admired that JKR didn't feel the need to make a love triangle out of the Trio. It's the same reason I've always adored Sam's loyalty to Frodo. There are forces besides romance that move people to great acts of love, and I'm sorry to see this one flung into the "OTP" bin.
7) Please, PLEASE, spare us all from the bad fanfiction that's going to spring from this! I've already seen some disturbing icons with Dumbledore ogling a half-naked Harry. *gag* Because that's what being gay means. It means you look lecherously upon any and ALL members of the same sex, especially if they are in your care as an authority figure. And ESPECIALLY if they are 1/5 your age. Until now, Dumbledore has only been paired with witches near his age. (McGonagal, Skeeter, Rosemerta) But now the floodgates are opened and Dumbledore MUST be paired with every wizard in the series, no matter how inappropriate or ILLEGAL that pairing might be. Quite frankly, the fandom is just not mature enough to handle this revelation.
Bleh.
At any rate, I'm not happy about it. I don't personally have any problem with Dumbledore being gay, but I think the announcement is stupid for a
1) There's enough backlash against her books for leading kids to the occult and otherwise "corrupting" them. Does JKR really need to add fuel to the fire? Some people who might have let their kids read the books before will certainly not do so now, and I think that's a loss for the kids.
2) It's totally irrelevant. His sexuality has nothing whatsoever to do with the plot of the book, just as someone's sexuality has nothing whatsoever to do with their ability to be a good teacher, or parent, or politician or scientist, etc etc. This was an unnecessary invasion of Dumbledore's privacy.
3) It's catering to the lowest levels of the fandom. JKR's been doing a lot of that lately. All the questions she gets are "Tell us who hooks up! Tell us who has babies! Tell us who gets married! What kind of house do they live in? Does it have a nice yard?" *rolls eyes* That's the job of fanfiction, to explore issues that aren't addressed in the books because they don't belong there. I think JKR really should leave well enough alone at this point and stop adding information to the HP universe, especially of this nature. Really.
4) It's lazy and cowardly. The HP books might be about prejudice, but that doesn't mean they're about ALL prejudice. They're centered pretty succinctly on magical bloodlines, and the appropriate modern comparison is to racism. If JKR wanted to address anti-gay bigotry she ought to have made it clear in the book, not in a sort of offhand, oh by the way comment.
5) It doesn't DO anything. Simply remarking that one of the characters is gay does not promote tolerance or open a meaningful discussion about the issue. It can't say anything about homosexuality because NONE OF THE CHARACTERS KNOWS. Without evidence that Dumbledore is publicly gay and still respected and given positions of leadership, we can't take any lesson from it. I've read in some places that the general meaning goes something like "Dumbledore is wonderful. Dumbledore is gay. Therefore, gays are wonderful." but that makes as much sense as "Ron is red haired. Ron has a great sense of humor. Therefore, redheads have a great sense of humor." Dumbledore's gayness is (as I mentioned in #2) irrelevant to his actions and character, so the revelation is equally irrelevant. Really, what it's doing is flushing out the homophobics among us. Will and Grace already did that.
6) It's yet another loss for agape. There's just WAY too much eros in our society, to the point that people don't even know there's a difference these days. Dumbledore's conversion took place because he saw someone he cared about embrace evil, and he decided he would not do the same thing. Eventually, he has to defeat the man who had once been his closest companion. That moment would have been profound and meaningful whether he had a romantic or platonic relationship with Grindelwald, but it has a different connotation now. Personally, I'd always loved the way Hermione and Harry have a purely platonic friendship and admired that JKR didn't feel the need to make a love triangle out of the Trio. It's the same reason I've always adored Sam's loyalty to Frodo. There are forces besides romance that move people to great acts of love, and I'm sorry to see this one flung into the "OTP" bin.
7) Please, PLEASE, spare us all from the bad fanfiction that's going to spring from this! I've already seen some disturbing icons with Dumbledore ogling a half-naked Harry. *gag* Because that's what being gay means. It means you look lecherously upon any and ALL members of the same sex, especially if they are in your care as an authority figure. And ESPECIALLY if they are 1/5 your age. Until now, Dumbledore has only been paired with witches near his age. (McGonagal, Skeeter, Rosemerta) But now the floodgates are opened and Dumbledore MUST be paired with every wizard in the series, no matter how inappropriate or ILLEGAL that pairing might be. Quite frankly, the fandom is just not mature enough to handle this revelation.
Bleh.