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Don't talk of June, don't talk of fall! Don't talk at all! Show me!
I would like to have it known that I am not in favor of J.K. Rowling's announcement that Dumbledore is gay.
It is not that I am upset that Dumbledore is gay, but I am tired of these press-conference revealings of information that didn't make it into the books. This is the worst kind of example of "telling rather than showing". I thought the Epilogue was guilty of that, but these are even worse. I don't want you to tell me that Ron and Harry are Aurors, or Dumbledore is gay or Neville marries me Hannah Abbott. If you feel that there are things that you left out of the books - backstories to be filled in, futures to be revealed - then write a book of short stories to fill in the gaps! Tell me the story of Dumbledore's love for Grindelwald. Show me how the heck two characters we never saw interact came to fall in love and how Hannah became the landlady at the Leaky Cauldron. Where did Ron and Hermione's children's names come from? Who finished their Hogwarts education? What does Draco Malfoy do in the years between book 7 and the epilogue?
Just dumping this information on us seems lazy, like Rowling wants to have control over the stories without writing them. Pleeeeeease STOP IT and start writing your Harry Potter Encyclopedia or your books of Hogwarts Stories rather than feeding us random details here and there with no story around them.
srah - Tuesday, 23 October 2007 - 12:39 PM
Tags: harry potter, j.k. rowling
Comments (12)
EV - October 23, 2007 - 4:47 PM - ℓ
Yeah, I'm torn. I'm glad Dumbledore's gay, and that there was such a positive reaction to that from kids, but I feel like it was wussy of her to leave it out of the books. I mean sure, some people speculated, but she did not give nearly enough to make it a real thing in print. The religious right already hates her for being Satan, so she really would not have lost that much. I did, however, like the thing about how the draft script for the HBP movie had a scene of D reminiscing about past loves, and she crossed it out and wrote "Dumbledore's gay" on top of it.
Anyway, in summary, My Fair Lady is the best musical ever.
srah - October 23, 2007 - 5:18 PM - ℓ
I feel like if these details were so important for everyone to know, they should have gone in the books.
I actually think that the one that bothers me the most is the Neville/Hannah thing, because that's NOT something that she knew all along and it only just came out (like the HBP script thing). She's talked in interviews about how she considered putting Neville/Luna together in the epilogue but it just seemed too neat. So when did Neville/Hannah come along? She's just making things up now and announcing them.
I don't know. I guess I don't really have a right to complain what she wants to do with her invented characters. Maybe I'm just looking for a way to MAKE her write more stories about the HP universe.
Fraulein N - October 23, 2007 - 8:34 PM - ℓ
I've never read any of the books, but this sounds pretty half-assed to me.
Cherri - October 23, 2007 - 10:14 PM - ℓ
While I understand that many writers know far more about their characters than they reveal in books, I'm beginning to get the feeling that J.K. Rowling is starting to just make things up for some reason. She actually contradicted herself on what Ron did after book 7 (in one interview she said Auror, in another she claimed he helped George run the joke shop). She also said in an earlier interview that Neville married someone, but never said it was Hannah Abbott until now. If she had known that before, then why didn't she just say "Hannah Abbott" in the first place?
I can't believe I just posted something about Harry Potter that sounds so serious. I need to go to bed.
cdp - October 24, 2007 - 8:25 AM - ℓ
Really, I need to check out this 'henry porter' show....it sounds fascinating.
Fraulein N - October 24, 2007 - 7:22 PM - ℓ
Okay, is JK Rowling on the crack rock? That's what it's starting to sound like.
Ditto! Except for the part where Neville marries me.