Lindsay Ellis on JK Rowling's Transphobia

[theoverlymean]

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YouTube video essayist / pop culture critic Lindsay Ellis breaks down

Comments

[missjersey]

I just finished watching this. She wasn't kidding when she said how upsetting seeing all the TV/film transphobic tropes back to back would be. It was really uncomfortable but it made me realize how harmful those dated "jokes" were.

I bought both pins for the [redacted] charity.

[richyrich909]

Thank you for saying this bb. This is why it’s important to rehash things and...unfortunately place them in one big timeline back to back. People don’t process things they may not have followed and react to them accordingly if that were the case unless it’s shoved in their face back to back. Doing things here and there with a lengthy timespan or relying on the public to forget is exactly how these people exist and thrive tbh. You prick a spot every so often and it’ll have a spot of blood , you prick something repeatedly and it’ll bleed so people will notice.

[darklitplanet]

my username makes me wince lol

[missjersey]

Lmao aw. Just pretend you got it from Potter Puppet Pals or A Very Potter Musical lol

[frejasface]

I love the PPP

[missjersey]

[m_pendulum]

I don't regret getting into Harry Potter, but it will always infuriate me that whenever BIPOC fans would bring up the failings of the series we would be silenced. The books have always had issues, but because there was a general "racism is bad" vibe nuance and close reading from a Black or Brown perspective was not encouraged.

Now, it is hard to read the books without seeing all the things Rowling feels pile up together, but it would have been slightly less of a blow if people took it seriously when the bells started ringing something was sus.

[pseudonygma]

I can't speak for anyone else but even though Cho Chang's name made me do a double-take, I was so delighted to see an Asian character at all that I convinced myself to turn a blind eye to it. At that point, I have never seen any contemporary or western fantasy books with Asians so the fact that she wrote one in at all was a delight. I guess it was easier to excuse the laziness of Cho Chang's name because it's easier to assume she didn't know any Asians to ask for name suggestions. But now that I'm older, I know she could've easily name her Annette Chang or Lindsay Cho; Rowling didn't need to give this character an "exotic" name just because she's Asian.

There's something to be said about being so desperate for representation as child that any representation is good representation.

[meetviolent]

Same. Also being young when I read the series, I had the thought, surely if this was a bad thing it wouldn’t have been published.

I had that thought about a lot of things I consumed when I was younger.

[sillycucumber2]

Remember Dean Thomas has a beautiful and intriguing back story that she threw away just because she didn't have room.

[junhyosungs]

this video is a great follow up to contrapoints' video on jk rowling. most of the movies mentioned in the video i've heard of but never watched and it's shocking how much the ~gross man in a dress~ twist is used in these popular movies! like ace ventura, i've never actually watched it and i had no idea it had those components.
the video just really drives home the point of how important representation is in media. i was watching an interview of contrapoints and she mentions how she had trouble accepting she was trans because most trans women she saw in the media were dead prostitutes on shows like svu and she didn't want to see herself like that. it's just really interesting to think about.

[missjersey]

Lindsay's opening line "Well. It appears that I've been summoned" was great lol

[junhyosungs]

i love them both so seeing them interact makes my breadtube heart happy lmao. i know they've been friends for a long time but i hope one day they do a true video collab!

[missjersey]

Haha same. I've watched Lindsay's content since Nostalgia Chick, and Natalie for maybe 2 years. Her videos have helped me understand trans issues in a way that I never knew/considered before.

[cherhorowitz]

the collection of movie clips was hard to watch. she was right that it's one thing to be aware of the transphobia in movies but another to watch it compiled together at one time. and god that book, she's really an all around hateful person.