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conuly
And some of them are mentioning that the one outed gay character having exactly one unrequited love (who was evil) in his past and, presumably, being celibate the rest of his life is OMG homophobic.
Which it might be, I don't know. But I don't really think that this is a sign of JKR's views about gay people. It's more a sign of how she views relationships in general - you seem to have your one true love, and you're stuck with them. FOREVER. Even if they become evil. Even if you throw a nasty slur at them and they never speak to you again. Even if the fact that he's adopted your mom as a quasi-foster mom gives your entire relationship creepy incest vibes, or your family disowns you, or you just aren't right for each other, pregnancy notwithstanding, or whatever - everybody seems to ultimately end up with just one person.
And this is a very sweet and touching way to look at the world. It is. Imagine - you fall in love, you marry your high school sweetheart, awwwww.
It's not very realistic, but we're talking about a world with magic in it. How realistic do we expect it to be, exactly?
(And why hasn't somebody asked the all-important question yet? Why did she decide to stop calling Hermione waspish?)
Which it might be, I don't know. But I don't really think that this is a sign of JKR's views about gay people. It's more a sign of how she views relationships in general - you seem to have your one true love, and you're stuck with them. FOREVER. Even if they become evil. Even if you throw a nasty slur at them and they never speak to you again. Even if the fact that he's adopted your mom as a quasi-foster mom gives your entire relationship creepy incest vibes, or your family disowns you, or you just aren't right for each other, pregnancy notwithstanding, or whatever - everybody seems to ultimately end up with just one person.
And this is a very sweet and touching way to look at the world. It is. Imagine - you fall in love, you marry your high school sweetheart, awwwww.
It's not very realistic, but we're talking about a world with magic in it. How realistic do we expect it to be, exactly?
(And why hasn't somebody asked the all-important question yet? Why did she decide to stop calling Hermione waspish?)
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Date: 2007-10-20 11:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-20 11:08 pm (UTC)I take this as a personal challenge to write as much Albus!slash as I can...
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Date: 2007-10-21 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 03:19 am (UTC)And I think that the ONE TWU WUV FOREVAH thing is extraordinarily silly. (Especially since she herself is divorced and remarried. Issues much, Jo?)
no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-22 12:11 am (UTC)I don't think that it's necessarily JKR herself having that belief/issue, but rather that it's still a huge meme in our society, which is why "one true love" is what the fan wanted to know about. I don't even think about sexuality when reading books unless it's shoved in my face, and then I get annoyed. ;o)
I think that people might be losing sight of how much things have changed when they interpret Dumbledore's life & actions. Assuming the books weren't supposed to take place 50 years into the future, we'd have to figure that he is from at least one generation before our parents, and society has only become even marginally non-homophobic within the last 15 years or so. It's not unusual for gay/lesbian people in his generation to have remained celibate (and still be that way) or to have had very few partners, and it's still somewhat rare for them to be openly gay in the first place. Given the attitudes towards women in the books, it'd be pretty silly to assume that the magic-using community wouldn't have remained in sync the muggle one in regard to prejudices.
Personally, though, I was always more irritated by her attitude towards characters that aren't jocks and/or popular. At least she wasn't saying nasty things about gay people on a regular basis like she was Hermione/Neville/etc. either directly or through Harry/Ron. :-/
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Date: 2007-10-22 07:02 pm (UTC)2. You're probably right. He's got to be over 100 - maybe he's just used to not shouting "YEAH! I'M GAY!!!!" every day six times in the morning and twice after dinner.
3. Yes, yes, yes. I always did feel she had problems with some characters.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-20 11:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-20 11:08 pm (UTC)I take this as a personal challenge to write as much Albus!slash as I can...
no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 03:19 am (UTC)And I think that the ONE TWU WUV FOREVAH thing is extraordinarily silly. (Especially since she herself is divorced and remarried. Issues much, Jo?)
no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-22 12:11 am (UTC)I don't think that it's necessarily JKR herself having that belief/issue, but rather that it's still a huge meme in our society, which is why "one true love" is what the fan wanted to know about. I don't even think about sexuality when reading books unless it's shoved in my face, and then I get annoyed. ;o)
I think that people might be losing sight of how much things have changed when they interpret Dumbledore's life & actions. Assuming the books weren't supposed to take place 50 years into the future, we'd have to figure that he is from at least one generation before our parents, and society has only become even marginally non-homophobic within the last 15 years or so. It's not unusual for gay/lesbian people in his generation to have remained celibate (and still be that way) or to have had very few partners, and it's still somewhat rare for them to be openly gay in the first place. Given the attitudes towards women in the books, it'd be pretty silly to assume that the magic-using community wouldn't have remained in sync the muggle one in regard to prejudices.
Personally, though, I was always more irritated by her attitude towards characters that aren't jocks and/or popular. At least she wasn't saying nasty things about gay people on a regular basis like she was Hermione/Neville/etc. either directly or through Harry/Ron. :-/
no subject
Date: 2007-10-22 07:02 pm (UTC)2. You're probably right. He's got to be over 100 - maybe he's just used to not shouting "YEAH! I'M GAY!!!!" every day six times in the morning and twice after dinner.
3. Yes, yes, yes. I always did feel she had problems with some characters.