What to do when an author doesn't write exactly the way you want them to
I read a blog post this morning, and it got me thinking about what the blogger was bitching about. She tore into JK Rowling for 2D tokenism in her portrayal of Cho Chang and the suggestion that Dumbledore is gay. Cho Chang is a brief female love interest in books 4 and 5 of the HP series that we eventually get to know as a clingy, whiny girl that by book 6 completely disappears because Harry realizes he really loves Ginny Weasley and she is the girl for him. Dumbledore we find out with the last book published is gay, but after his one love ended badly, became celibate for the next 200 years of his life and never fell in love again.
Feel the raeg ...
For anyone else who is shocked and horrified that a series of childrens' books has a very oversimplified, asexual view of the world and are equally of a mind to rant about the lack of Asian lesbians in the Harry Potter universe, I might suggest instead of ranting all about JK Rowling's shortcomings as an author - a bad author who has eight hundred million dollars - to accept her and her work for what it is: A highly successful series that has spawned movies, toys, a theme park and Disney cruise vacation package and a fandom that spews art, fic and every other disgusting and horrible thing at lightning speed a fandom creates. Emphasis on disgusting and horrible.
So fine, Rowling decided to focus her story on a straight, Caucasian boy who deals with being marginalized in the general population because he's different from them, and instead spends 7 years attending a school for kids with the same marginalizing problem he has that forces them to live in their own close-knit community where at least there they can live as a society with their own lifestyle and societal norms, and be accepted by everyone else. EXCEPT Rowling decides to make her main character have issues with fitting in with the world he does belong to, because the antagonist of the story after killing his parents suffered some horrible setback when he tried to kill Harry as a baby, and the child becomes the thing of legends which means he has to suffer with celebrity status, and all the baggage that brings with it. You're right - this is a shit plot because it doesn't have enough Asian lesbians.
Oh sweet, sweet metaphor ... what has become of thee ...
In case you didn't notice, the entire plot of Harry Potter is about people who are "other" than the accepted norm and their struggle to survive in a world they know struggles to accept them for who they are, and fears and hates them because they are different. That in a nutshell is every racial, ethnic and sexual orientation individual's experience, and this hack wrote it into a story geared at a young audience who could read about this marginalized kid's experience and possibly develop empathy for real people who struggle with the same problem. They very likely could be one of those people and can relate to Harry Potter because they're dealing with the same issues.
Proverbial forest trees blah blah blah.
You still feel like Harry Potter would be improved with more Asian lesbians and Dumbledore lemonparty? There is always the fan fic/art/comic world. Here fans shamelessly pump out au stories using Rowling's characters with plenty of yaoi, yuri and rule 34 emphasis. If you're more interested (and I suspect this is the root of the blog author's complaint) in MarySueing your way into the Harry Potter world no one is stopping you from doing that either; just be ready for the shitstorm that comes with writing garbage like that.
Knock yourself out! And remember - JK Rowling has eight hundred million dollars.
Feel the raeg ...
For anyone else who is shocked and horrified that a series of childrens' books has a very oversimplified, asexual view of the world and are equally of a mind to rant about the lack of Asian lesbians in the Harry Potter universe, I might suggest instead of ranting all about JK Rowling's shortcomings as an author - a bad author who has eight hundred million dollars - to accept her and her work for what it is: A highly successful series that has spawned movies, toys, a theme park and Disney cruise vacation package and a fandom that spews art, fic and every other disgusting and horrible thing at lightning speed a fandom creates. Emphasis on disgusting and horrible.
So fine, Rowling decided to focus her story on a straight, Caucasian boy who deals with being marginalized in the general population because he's different from them, and instead spends 7 years attending a school for kids with the same marginalizing problem he has that forces them to live in their own close-knit community where at least there they can live as a society with their own lifestyle and societal norms, and be accepted by everyone else. EXCEPT Rowling decides to make her main character have issues with fitting in with the world he does belong to, because the antagonist of the story after killing his parents suffered some horrible setback when he tried to kill Harry as a baby, and the child becomes the thing of legends which means he has to suffer with celebrity status, and all the baggage that brings with it. You're right - this is a shit plot because it doesn't have enough Asian lesbians.
Oh sweet, sweet metaphor ... what has become of thee ...
In case you didn't notice, the entire plot of Harry Potter is about people who are "other" than the accepted norm and their struggle to survive in a world they know struggles to accept them for who they are, and fears and hates them because they are different. That in a nutshell is every racial, ethnic and sexual orientation individual's experience, and this hack wrote it into a story geared at a young audience who could read about this marginalized kid's experience and possibly develop empathy for real people who struggle with the same problem. They very likely could be one of those people and can relate to Harry Potter because they're dealing with the same issues.
Proverbial forest trees blah blah blah.
You still feel like Harry Potter would be improved with more Asian lesbians and Dumbledore lemonparty? There is always the fan fic/art/comic world. Here fans shamelessly pump out au stories using Rowling's characters with plenty of yaoi, yuri and rule 34 emphasis. If you're more interested (and I suspect this is the root of the blog author's complaint) in MarySueing your way into the Harry Potter world no one is stopping you from doing that either; just be ready for the shitstorm that comes with writing garbage like that.
Knock yourself out! And remember - JK Rowling has eight hundred million dollars.