(no subject)

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one a little bothered by Dumbledore? Not only with the fact he could end up in the Guinness Book Of World Records for "Most Incompetent Headmaster of All Time" (though I'm sure there's worse. :P), but also because...he just bugs me. I know JKR was trying to write him as the "flawed Yoda", so to speak (and to be fair, he's nowhere near Yoda. XD), but it's also how...preachy he gets. Towards Fudge, for example. You know, in Goblet of Fire, with, "You place too much importance on purity of blood, yadda yadda et cetera et cetera" -- which considering how he treated Tom Riddle and the Slytherins is...slightly hypocritical isn't it? Probably bad writing on JKR's part, though. :/

Anyways, sorry 'bout the rambling. Thoughts?

Comments

Re: Grindelwald and Dumbledore

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Erm, haven't you seen or read the interview? Of course she was doing it deliberately.

Re: Grindelwald and Dumbledore

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

*Sighs*

Okay, true, I haven't seen it or read it. Maybe it's my optimism talking.

But what parts about it made you think she was insulting gay men? *Is too afraid to seek out the interview for fear of going green and talking in caveman for weeks*

Re: Grindelwald and Dumbledore

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

It seems to me, from the way her comments were phrased, that she was trying to play the "I'm so liberal and tolerant" card without actually having to back that up. The whole way she talks about people being afraid of the love between two men, and never dealing with the actual sex aspect, signaled to me that she actually on some level finds the sex part "icky" or frightening or otherwise disturbing, but would not admit to herself or to the public that she's got those homophobic feelings going on. So she just pretends that the actual sex part of homosexuality doesn't quite exist and talks about it only in terms of emotion. (In short, I agree with Dan Hemmens' basic assessment of the Dumbledore-is-gay announcement.)

Because she's really into this image of herself as tolerant and liberal and 'doing all the right things' in the politically-liberal playbook, but her own books are profoundly intolerant and politically conservative on many levels. So the whole Dumbledore-is-gay thing just plays right into that pattern that I see with her.

Re: Grindelwald and Dumbledore

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

It definitely raises a bunch of unpleasant implications, to say the least. :/

Re: Grindelwald and Dumbledore

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, that nonsense of hers about homophobes only being against 'love between two men' was such drivel. Religious fundamentalists aren't against the idea of two men being in love - unquestioning devotion to religious leaders who are men is the kind of thing they encourage.

What they become obnoxious and hypocritical about is the question of two or more men having sex. Perhaps JKR really was trying to play the "I'm so tolerant" card. She is so stupid and inarticulate that possibly the impression she gives off could be as different from her intent as all that.

Re: Grindelwald and Dumbledore

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

*This*, so very much. :D