I was gonna about
I do feel I have some duty on a personal as well,
because I've always had own suspicions about this -
Dumbledore being gay -
Oh Go - *LAUGHTER*
I thought you were going to ask something completely -
Yeah, go on.
Dumbledore being gay - Yeah.
Was that something that was just thrown out for the American press-
No - To get them stirred up a bit
- No, though it did Though it did, which was obviously very funny, but
I found people's reaction to that really interesting.
I knew he was gay. I just knew he was gay.
Okay. And to me it was not a big deal.
This is a very old man, who has a very terrible job to do
and his gayness is not really - - off topic.
It's not really relevant.
Anyone who is even vaguely a fan of the Harry Potter franchise nowadays
knows that J. K. Rowling has been facing criticism
for her post-mortem additions to the Harry Potter World.
For anyone not aware,
it started with Rowling announcing that Dumbledore was gay
three months AFTER the final book was released, in 2007
and has culminated in 2018’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Crimes of Grindelwald;
A movie based on a fictional textbook centering around a fictional historical event
that we already know the result of.
Dumbledore is particularly famous for his DEFEAT of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945.
And don’t get me started on the play.
*SIGH*
A fair amount of the criticism has been aimed at Rowling’s
complete lack of textual representation of non-straight characters.
Every single character ends up single or in a heterosexual relationship.
The only real reference to any homosexuality is in the form of a childish insult;
DD: 'Don’t kill Cedric!’
Who’s Cedric? Your boyfriend?
Shut up.
And despite hoisting Dumbledore up like he is the only representation she needs to be considered progressive,
Rowling has yet to reveal any other non-straight characters,
or even tell us anything about any of Dumbledore’s past relationships.
Beyond the failed relationship with Grindelwald, that is.
JKR: Do you remember
In the first draft of the script for - um
JKR: Half-Blood Prince. DR: Right.
JKR: When Harry's at the station and Dumbledore comes to meet him at the station. DR: Oh yes!
And in an early draft of that script, Dumbledore said to Harry
JRK: "I remember a young woman with eyes of flashing whatever."
I read this and I scribbled on my copy of the script -
"STEVE, DUMBLEDORE IS GAY" - shoved it up the table
And Steve- "Oh" *LAUGHTER*
So that's why that line didn't make the film.
I fear I may have stollen a wondrous from you, Harry.
She was truthfully very pretty.
The Girl. (Is this how gays talk? Am I doing this right?)
But while everyone is REELING from the BETRAYAL of their beloved childhood author,
I’d like to point something out;
Harry Potter has been far from flawless since the beginning.
But I want to spend some time talking about a piece of representation
who you can't really dismiss as being done in a post-mortem sense;
Remus Lupin.
Remus Lupin is introduced in the third installment of the series
In 2016, Rowling said in her Pottermore Presents EBooks
that his werewolf-ism, or lycanthropy, is meant to be a
She has said,
Even though the Harry Potter books are set in the 90s,
it makes sense that she would include a character in her stories that mirror the stigma at the time.
And the similarities are there;
Lupin marries a woman.
This is a point many fans of the series found irritating,
considering AIDS undeniable connection to the LGBT+ community,
which largely fueled the stigma against the virus.
But. Y'know. It's just that.
Lupin wasn't close to any male characters who...
Just happened to have been rejected by their family...
And remained single until their death...
Yeah.
That relationship never happened.
Anyway.
Lupin is a beloved character, was dear friends with Harry’s father,
and was described by some students to be one of the best professors they ever had
despite his condition being outed by a spiteful Severus Snape,
ultimately resulting the loss of his job at Hogwarts for fear of students’ safety.
Lupin goes on to father a child before being killed in the final book.
He is intelligent, kind, and respected by all of the main characters,
and is one of Harry’s many father figures.
Even though it is never explicitly stated what his affliction represents,
Remus Lupin serves as a sympathetic representation of those people
that children will see, and love, and remember.
Well. That is.
Until you look at the OTHER werewolf.
Fenrir Greyback.
*SIGH*
Fenrir Greyback is the only other werewolf we encounter in Rowling’s books.
Greyback is one of Voldemort’s followers, who takes pleasure in spreading his affliction,
and works with the Death Eaters in exchange for more children to bite.
(In case you are unaware, Death Eaters are followers of Voldemort,
whose goal is to rule over those without magic
because he believes they are lesser humans than himself;
Are those? Muggles.
In their "rightful place."
I.E. Death Eaters are magic white supremacists)
Oh. And you heard me right.
Children. He bites children.
So, I just threw a lot of information out there,
let me translate the allegories here;
Translation;
It's not like there was any rhetoric suggesting gay men with AIDS were spreading it on purpose
or anything.
*SIGH*
So close, Joanne.
If we cannot acknowledge and embrace the fact that
we all have a certain degree of darkness within us, some more than others, perhaps,
Then I think we will be living in quite a dangerous climate
and I think that's much more damaging for children.
The moment something can't be talked about is -
Exactly
- the moment it becomes a danger.
So close.
And don’t even get me started on the inconsistencies with how werewolves LOOK!
Just look at i-
Hello everyone! Thank you for watching my new essay!
I'm really sorry that it's taken nearly a year for me to get another video out to you guys
but, you know, life happens.
I took a class this semester where I was learning a new editing program
and I convince the professor that, for my final, I could edit a new video essay.
It's been tweaked and made better, and here we are!
You just saw it. It was done. I made one.
Thank you again so much for watching.
Leave a comment if you have time, I love- I absolutely LOVE reading the comments.
Huge shout out to Jeremy Duval for helping me write.
I put a link to his Tumblr down below if you want to follow him or see more of his work.
Please subscribe if you liked this video. Maybe I'll do another one this year, but you'll
be on top of it when it does (I know, I'm sorry).
Also, sorry for all the jokes.
I'm not funny.