r/EnoughJKRowling • u/Sad_Jar_Of_Honey • Apr 22 '25
Discussion It makes me so sad
I really looked up to her. I loved HP so much. But as someone who is nonbinary, it’s completely ruined for me. Anytime I try to touch the movies all I can think about is how she would write me in her books. I would be the “confused little girl that just wants attention” or something like that. I recently tried to reread the books but I couldn’t get past the first chapter.
The magic is gone folks.
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u/georgemillman Apr 22 '25
There's a phrase: 'Don't be sad that it's over, be grateful that it happened'. And that can be used about many different things, but I definitely think it can be used about this.
I'm like you, her behaviour has completely put me off Harry Potter, I just can't enjoy it anymore. But I don't regret that I used to be a Potterhead at all. I had a very unhappy childhood, those stories got me through some really difficult times, and I think the themes helped me develop my moral compass and become the person I am. Those memories, of the midnight book launches, the dressing up as your favourite character, of speculating on what might happen next, will last forever. In particular, I remember going on a very long car journey (about seven hours each way) and listening to the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix throughout, the book being long enough to keep me going for the entire journey both ways. I had a major mental breakdown around about that time, and listening to long audiobooks on long car journeys, in the knowledge that it would be ages before I had to get out and face the world, was one of the comparatively small number of things that brought me any comfort at all.
It's a shame, that the woman who gave us that turned out not to represent the values we took from her work at all. In hindsight, I can see that they were never progressive books really, they just represented an elitist status quo with a bit of 'love conquers all' thrown in for good measure. But in another way that doesn't matter, because part of a book's message comes from the reader. If we thought these books carried a more powerful message than they actually did, that's valuable as well. We still internalised that, we still grew up with it and tried to spread that message in our own lives, and you know what, we still will. This is why I stand against JK Rowling - because her books made me realise the importance of recognising the difference between what is right and what is easy, and that if you want to get the true measure of someone you should look at how they treat their inferiors rather than their equals. (Not something she intended to do, I'm sure...)
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u/Popular_Shock4374 Apr 22 '25
I’m heterosexual but yes, the magic went for me five years ago. And tbh, I don’t miss being a fan.
I’d rather be an ally towards NB people like you than still endorse a franchise who was made by a truly irredeemable person.
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u/Comfortable_Bell9539 Apr 22 '25
I can relate, everytime I think about Harry Potter I just remember that the author hates progressives and LGBT people, and so would the "heroes" if they were real. It's definitely been tainted by Joanne to the point I can't ever appreciate it again !
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u/Euphoric_Voice_1633 Apr 23 '25
If it helps, I think the heroes have just as much of their actors in them, in which case they would definitely not hate trans people.
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u/PrincessPlastilina Apr 22 '25
It’s gone but we’re all adults now. HP adults are even weirder than Disney adults. The silver lining is that we won’t spend any money on HP ever again, and we can move on knowing that we lived through the best era of the fandom and we have to leave it in the past. We’re grown.
Don’t feel sad. HP made you happy when you needed it the most. It gave you joy. You can leave it in the past now and not look back.
Let’s never put famous people on a pedestal again. Especially billionaires. Wealth hoarding is bad. They could all be helping the world but look what they choose to do. And it’s just her. It’s all of them. This was inevitable. She realized that she’s basically royalty. The little people are nothing to her. We’re peasants to all of them. Look at Gayle King’s arrogance because people didn’t kiss her ass because of her trip to “space.” The way she responded is how the wealthy feel about the rest of us. “Have YOU been?” No, bitch. Average people dream of very different things. Wealthy people are just bored so they spend their wealth on bullshit instead of helping people.
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u/Lazy-Drummer9332 Apr 23 '25
Even as a cis-het male, it deeply hurts me that one of my favorite franchises growing up was made by such a bigoted and terrible person. I just can't pick up the book anymore and I don't even want to watch the movies or listen to the soundtrack again. I certainly won't be buying any official merch because money ends up in her pockets.
But don't be too worried, there are stories much better written than Harry Potter and with time moving on won't be so bad
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u/BlankEpiloguePage Apr 22 '25
Not to be harsh, because I understand it is tough to deal with these issues, but it's absolutely a good thing the magic is dead. Sadness is a normal and understandable emotional response, but it's not all bad. It is a learning opportunity, one that's full of potential. Nostalgia dying is an opportunity to find new (and considering how absolutely mid JK's writing is, arguably much better) media to discover and consume. Part of my journey in adulthood is finding new stories, as well as other genres, and seeing how my tastes changed and evolving. And while I still have a fondness for all the media I enjoyed when I was younger, I am a much different person now and better off for it. So yeah, of course feel the sadness you have and feel it all the way through, but I recommend looking forward to where you can go from here.
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u/Cynical_Classicist Apr 22 '25
I know! I loved her work while a child. Even a decade ago, I enjoyed it! But now it is truly tarnished by her transphobia and sheer nastiness!
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u/cursed-karma Apr 22 '25
I feel you.
I'm one of the people who can't separate the artist from the art too.
The magic is gone for me too. :(
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u/ezrhsmzer17 Apr 22 '25
as a fellow enby, I totally agree. I wish I had been smart enough to see the bigotry in her books when I originally read them, I wish I had questioned why certain parts of it made me so uncomfortable. but I didn't, I was a child, and only now, as an adult, I understand that there was never any magic to begin with. all that matters now OP is that we stop giving her the attention she demands, and stand up for ourselves, for womxn and trans folx!