A friend of mine entered my room with an interesting bit of information that might be a relevant topic, seeing as it ties in to media, popular culture and, as far as I can see, censorship. Long story short, J.K. Rowling confirmed to a full house at Carnegie Hall that a beloved character in her Harry Potter series, Dumbledore, is gay.
The hilarity of this is boundless. Yes, I jumped on the bandwagon along with the rest of the world. I've read the books including the most recent and final entry even though my interest had waned.
I had always been fascinated by the repeated attempts to ban Harry Potter books from local and school libraries based on the fact that they promoted witchcraft and stimulated adolescent interest in the occult. I grew up in a small town where being anything but a Conservative Christian was unheard of and frightening. Despite this, I can only think of a few people who made the argument that Harry Potter was bad—one being my grandfather. On the other hand, I can think of many people from my hometown who thought it was equally ridiculous and hilarious—including my pastor.
I was under the impression that the debate reached a side-splitting
So now the books really DO actively promote tolerance—not of the occult, but of homosexuality. I don't know about you, but I'm very much looking forward to this news getting out to the individuals, churches, and communities who wanted to see the demise of Harry Potter in the first place. It's a pity that there are no more books coming out (no pun intended), as that would assuredly up the madness of it all.
So what next? Book burnings? Novels coming off the shelves of morally-strict countries faster than you can say ''Ahmadinijad''? Explosions all over the Internet as the Harry Potter fandom opens their Word documents and starts writing fanfiction about Dumbledore and Grindelwald's tragic, canon love?
All of the above, hopefully. It feels nostalgic, almost, to be interested in what's going on in the world of Harry Potter again.
No comments:
Post a Comment