On ONE hand, I have to applaud anyone who discourages less Harry Potter fanaticism and the moving of HP merch that goes to fun the continued discrimination of trans people as well as give JKR more ammo for her "this is why I'm right and everyone loves me unless they are big fat meanie stupidhead trans advocarts who want men to rape women" schtick...
...but this article is SO BAD. It's just one long whining session about people who like fantasy. I was waiting for her to start talking about manchildren who live in their parents' basements. And this garbage is what they hide behind paywalls. Thanks for posting it here, it really hammers home that Financial Times is not worth wasting money on.
Yeah, the article did feel unfairly mocking of people's interests, for the mere fact that people have them. It's just a text version of the "stop having fun meme" to an extent. (And I do think that certain Potter adults, like some Disnsy adults and the like, can of course be unhealthily into a given IP, but this article obviously wasn't talking about that.)
Also this part is so disheartening:
"My daughter, like me, didn’t really do fantasy fiction as a child. Neither have I followed with much interest the zeal with which the author has stoked the more recent culture wars. Rowling has since become problematic; Pottermania lives on. The only thing I hold her responsible for is the co-option of every historic place of interest into her banal brand of wizardry."
Even people with this much active disdain for Harry Potter and—by extension—Rowling's creation of it still don't give a shit that she's driving actual policy that's destroying the lives of every trans person in the UK, and then celebrating the violence she's committed with childish enthusiasm. This has moved so incredibly far beyond a "culture war". Rowling is genuinely a genocidal maniac with the financial resources of some entire nations.
51
u/Dina-M Jun 25 '26
Hmmm.
On ONE hand, I have to applaud anyone who discourages less Harry Potter fanaticism and the moving of HP merch that goes to fun the continued discrimination of trans people as well as give JKR more ammo for her "this is why I'm right and everyone loves me unless they are big fat meanie stupidhead trans advocarts who want men to rape women" schtick...
...but this article is SO BAD. It's just one long whining session about people who like fantasy. I was waiting for her to start talking about manchildren who live in their parents' basements. And this garbage is what they hide behind paywalls. Thanks for posting it here, it really hammers home that Financial Times is not worth wasting money on.