I didn’t grow up with the initial books, but I distinctly remember the Deathly Hallows book fanfare. I wasn't paying attention to the release date then, as I was in primary school and didn’t read the Harry Potter books until I hit 4th-6th grade around that time.
I read books because I love them. I prefer finding myself lost in books. If I can’t go to the library, I just read fanfiction.
I just need good recommendations for books nowadays.
I’m not planning to read Rowling’s new book at all. It’s not gonna go into my bucket list as the One Piece, FMA, and Ouran collections are. It’s not gonna be on the to-read section like R.F. Kuang’s Babel or any of the classics of Japanese literature. It’s hell for not sure, as I was recommended Donna Tartt’s books, and I’m just loving the snippets I get.
I already knew laughable things about the new book, like how Twitter managed to invade her brain with all the criticisms, and less laughable like ableism. I heard of her cozying up to anti-LGBT, anti-abortion, and other hate group,s including throwing a lunch for a TERF thing against the backdrop of people protesting conversion therapy. Another is about giving lunch to a fellow TERF in the crowd for some bad protest that they’re obviously using for their bad purposes. Yeah, a just hateful lady. I hope her brain from Twitter melts even more.
If you want Harry Potter but better, go see Owl House and Witch Hat Atelier.
I mean, you can still read HP fanfiction. It’s still being updated daily, free with new content. I don’t read it often,n but I know it.
Fans are trying to take back their lives from bad creators. Writers who are terrible at their job and writers who are just darn terrible. Even with child pornography crimes, just expressing far-right extremism in any way is a one-way ticket. Well, except for the bigoted one,s that’s for sure.
Okay, just to get this out of the way. I used to admire it just a tad. It wasn’t worship. I remember seeing that unauthorized biopic of hers and avoiding lots of Rowling videos and news about her. I wasn’t that dedicated that she should be this good wonderful person,n but I didn’t look up Kenshin’s mangaka news either.
I mean I already heard enough of what people have to say about them without going into videos.
I was detached and attached. I understand authorial intent but at the same time, the death of the author is another route.
I prefer to admire writing before the author. I hardly kept up with any of my fave authors if I have any.
It’s really hard to ethically consume her products, particularly the theme park. Even without the Fantastic Beasts franchise dying, the theme park is a large draw and is the major reason Nintendo allowed Universal to make their parks.
With Hogwarts Legacy running afoul of its own controversies in spite of Rowling’s nil involvement and the new TV series with Rowling’s involvement, Harry Potter is just…too big and has a life of its own.
Regardless people making Harry Potter ‘cringe’ by saying ‘Oh that wizardry school boy? You’re still watching that kiddy?’ or whatever on those lines, the Harry Potter legally belongs to Rowling through IP. Rowling wants the extreme end of IP, aligning herself with Disney on that mentality.
Just to be clear, this is radically different from the Bear and Barlow who monetized something with actual lines and in no way a parody.
The Etsy and commissioned merchandise from fans for fans won’t hurt the bottom line. Though Disney attempted to do that, the Etsy train is still running. I haven’t heard that many lawsuits against these tiny creators that often. It helps that it’s not that well-known or seems like a viable purchase compared to the many merchitems alone in many retail and online stores.
For Godoka’s sake, here’s the list of the highest-grossing media franchises. None of these have been affected by Etsy or commissions at all.
It’s just that Rowling wants the monopoly that she earns from her work. Just look at the Harry Potter Lexicon incident. The Lexicon is still here, though there is an official Lexicon book.
Rowling still gets the money because legally it belongs to her through copyright.
That’s one of the main issues.
Harry Potter became a behemoth that is far beyond the author’s imagination. No matter how much people censor the franchise's name, it’s inescapable.
It’s not just hers but it also belongs to the fans and the people. The people won’t know the difference between the adaptations, but the diehards and Rowling will.
Because IP will eventually go to the public domain. Not that the companies and houses won’t try to do something about it once it goes to the public domain.
Harry Potter is taken back by the fandom from the overlord Rowling. The real Quidditch game changed its name to Quadball yet it’s inclusive. Outside of Rowling loyalists, the big names in the HP fandom distanced themselves from her.
Rowling will be making bucks off her property even when others are making spin-offs and other related material. When she does, it’s awful. Her screenwriting is horrendous, with The Cursed Child being the biggest indicator.
Honestly, I’m not looking forward to the TV reboot. So many things could go wrong with the time and Rowling’s stringent stubbornness after the backlash to her screenwriting.
She’s no Louis Sacher.
It doesn't help that she will funnel the money to fascists who want to rid the world of those she hates.
It's honestly difficult because one way or another, the money spent on her books and merchandise will funnel to people who don't believe in hurting others she deems hateful.
When she is this far-right fascist supporter of all things hating Jews, the Scotland independence movement, the trans community, and so on, the hate she vibrates from her braindead tweeting to the point she seemed to want to make those who call her out the villains in her latest book or make comment on them which amused her Twitter critics to no end.
Honestly, TERF is just white supremacy and fundamentalism at its core.
However, TERFs don't seem to realize it or perhaps do.
For Rowling, it seemed that she felt her abuse as a (white cis) woman is being seen as lesser against the trans.
Lots of factors of intersectionality impact how they are treated in the system. The whole suffragettes are white women, which does not include BIPOC women.
To TERFs, it came down to feeling the misogyny they feel is invalidated or seen as lesser when nobody said such things. They are merely pointing out intersectionality and do not weigh trauma against trauma.
The point is for white people to recognize their privilege and white supremacy, because giving it up means losing a lot.
Rowling herself is friends with fascists. She knows what the fuck she is doing which makes buying her products and even attempting to boycott a juggernaut much more difficult.
However, as much as Rowling only legally owns HP and gets money off it, and wants to keep her hands on it, fans will say otherwise.
To them, the fandom had long since done things that she won't approve of even before the TERF reveal.
Make Sirius gay? Good!
Make Tonks trans? Good!
Make Hermione black? In official media, if done that way, the Mudblood and the whole slavery wasn't abolished thing for SPEW's cause... People point that out. Unless it's done well to change and express the revolution in fanworks, the canon won't be changed.
The best fans can do is make anything and everything with HP in fanworks. Zines and other commissioned works won't even make a dent in the pockets of Rowling and whoever wanted to work with her.
I don't think Rowling is aiming at any fan-created merchandise. It's not like it hurts her bottom line in any way, considering her wealth came from her merch sales alone.
The fandom belongs to her fans, not to Rowling. It was not she who created the real sport of Quadball.
Whether or not anyone realized it, just because one owns the legality of it does not mean it isn't the fandom's either. It’s just so big that at this point, JKR only owns the legality.
Just like Disney, who was responsible for the years-long wait for their products to enter the public domain, JKR has to learn that one day her works are gonna enter the public domain.
Again, fandom explores things that have so much potential. It’s a hobby for them.
Rowling seemingly accepts her loyalists and hates her critics to the point of her consuming their every critique into her writing.
I mean that part will always amuse me.
It's inescapable at the end of the day. Even as the fandom public culture seemed to collapse and move away from JKR.
The culture had undoubtedly collapsed as a result of her bigotry. Fans felt like they wasted years of their lives on a product that ultimately promoted bigotry and hate. They can take it back by rewriting and writing things JKR would disapprove of.
While the public fandom that had done so much in the mainstream collapses with only the online fandom still there, just not as loud, it's mainly the normies buying the Harry Potter stuff now and the diehards.
Even when the TV and the movies are up in the air, the fact the game still did fine made it clear just how inescapable Harry Potter really was.
Also, I have just this to say. While HP is inescapable from the public consciousness, having just a subset of people protesting isn’t going to put a dent in it.
However, even not buying something from Harry Potter and Chick-fil-A is a privilege.
Fuck, I haven't bought anything Harry Potter in literal years and that's because I have the privilege to just ignore her to oblivion.
When people talk about ethical consumption, they are talking about common brands like Walmart and Amazon. Do they go in as poor as they are just to have basic needs at the cost of the environment, and the overall capitalistic and systemic nature of why they remain so poor?
Anyone with money can choose to support or simply play something that has nasty or good messages with the brain being either someone who supports or does not support certain causes.
Those in poverty don’t have the luxury. Getting basic needs is a priority, but does it also mean they should support this capitalistic system that kept them so poor in the first place? Even if they have jobs, it’s still not enough to support basic needs.
That’s why anyone even protesting Rowling is just well-intentioned, but when it's a juggernaut, it's hard to boycott. As one of the highest-grossing media franchises, one way or another money will make its way to her.
This is in no way defeatist.
I have to point out that JK Rowling was radicalized into the ghoul she became. She definitely had unexamined biases when she wrote HP, but the same JK of today won't write the HP of then. She was a white woman of her time, writing a product of that time. HP is not without flaws but at the end of the day milquetoast white British liberal product of the time. Lots of white writers wrote the common fantasy tropes that obviously didn't examine much further. To say HP was also some kind of crypto-fascism won't do anything to help that anyone can be radicalized by a hate group.
What one must do is to keep a check of own biases and behavior. JK Rowling is a cautionary tale of a decent person falling down the rabbit hole of a hate movement with just a bit of nudging.
And she did it all in real time. Once upon a time, she really would have walked amongst the trans community in support.
Saying that HP was always bad from the start won't make anybody feel better when anybody can be radicalized into the cruelty they are capable of. Surely, they might not have JK Rowling's power and money, but still, the cruelty will be there.
Yes, it is hard to seperate from art from the artist but 'read another book' is not the way to go when to always remain check with your biases and always try to do good every time you see yourself diving into the crueler option because there's always a hate group out there having your name.
This is a capitalist society, which means that just working means that there’s not much to try to juggle between living a healthy lifestyle and a place to live.
There are ways to protest, like strikes and looting, which is a totally legit rebellion.
It's just going to be really hard as the rich get richer, the middle class gets smaller, and the poor and homeless get nothing more than they usually have.
I agree to ignore everything about the new show to oblivion and make damn sure that not more money goes to her to direct her hatred.
Anything to do with HP, any fandom stuff that people still enjoy, can still make sure they profit out of it, not her for fan merch, while fanfiction can write whatever they want alongside fanart.
For official stuff, ignore them and do not give them attention. Do it after she is buried and whatever her will states to do with her blood money.
What she is doing with the money now that her fans send to her through the many revenues she has is just awful. At this point, when one is being so uncritical of what she is even doing by funding her through the money revenues that she has, that will hurt and is hurting a community that won't ever hurt her.
She's a ghoul but do not fund her or be uncritical of her just because you like her work. What I think of being uncritical or not being thoughtful at all is the death of the reader.
Readers must have critical thought of what they are reading, and beyond that, see what is happening. Media literacy is down the drain to the point that black and white reading of a text lacks any nuance. Just this guy is the true villain, even though they could see the throughline of the themes from what one character is doing to the one at up top doing it masterfully.
Not having any critical thinking of just beyond the text and actions caused not by the text but how the author benefited from the text, is just the thing.
Yes, it's fiction. Fuck my rarepairs won't hurt anyone. Harry Potter in itself is milquetoast when it's all said and done when seeing the other white writers at the time.
However, seeing the cause of this fiction in which the author is benefiting from hurting a community should be an reason to step back and really think of the real-life consequences of an author doing everything in their power with the money they get.
