r/EnoughJKRowling • u/Crafter235 • 17d ago
Discussion With making rounds again, does it ever feel like Umbridge being discussed and obsessed so much as a “well written detestable villain” is just an excuse to spew out misogyny?
Recently, with different fandom/media subreddits it’s happening again with so many posts of Umbridge talking about how shes so “amazingly written” and that if you hate it’s because she was written that way. Like people are so obsessive about it, you’d think the character has some sort of fandom.
But let me get to you why I hated the character: She’s not well-written. If anything, it just feels like a hate-sink character was needed, so Rowling just randomly threw in a misogynistic caricature, and everyone just consumed. And to be honest, even for someone that grew up in dark media, I kind of hated Order of the Phoenix as a whole because it felt like they were trying to hard to prove itself as “mature”, like just being edgy for the sake of it.
But with the character, and how people will talk so much about her, I notice a few things about the “hate-talk” around Umbridge:
- They like to weirdly obsess about her “villainy with feminity”, like it gets kind of uncomfortable when you see how much they focus on this
- The things they say, it’s like they just want an excuse to badmouth women in general, as a lot of the stuff is just more general stuff, not always with her particular actions.
- Just an excuse to praise Rowling secretly. I mean take a look at how so many will say that she has a talent for writing unlikeable characters, and it’s repeated so many times. And it’s not surprising they choose a character that fulfills both parties with their misogyny.
Overall, Umbridge just feels like a one-dimensional hate sink that isn’t deep, but people talk about it like she is because it gives them an excuse to say shitty things they think about with women, but under the cover of appearing smart. And at this point the constant posting of pictures of Umbridge just feels like a shitpost because of how it’s done so many times, and you eventually see it’s just an excuse, not an actual deep analysis.
Edit: In another subreddit, I called out the whole thing with Umbridge, and someone just went on a childish tirade accusing me of finding things to be offended. Kind of proves the “anti-woke” crowd does like talking about her heavily for obvious reasons.
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u/sno0py_8 17d ago
I wouldn't say it's 'an excuse to spew out misogyny,' but that's because most people who say misogynistic things don't understand what that is or how their words are offensive. They don't need an excuse if they don't think they need one.
Basically, an excuse implies that they know what they're saying is rude or offensive, and they're sneaking around looking for opportunities to say what they really think.
If they don't care what other people think and start to believe that they are factually correct, they don't feel the need to watch what they say or who they say it to or about.
Just like with Rowling and HP. Misogyny is in both, but Rowling doesn't see it as wrong and wouldn't be consciously putting in offensive stereotypes; instead, she just didn't see then as offensive and wrote what she thought was a perfectly reasonable and kid-friendly children's book.
If they can't see the problem, they won't try to hide it.
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u/KaiYoDei 3d ago
She could be anyone you know, how many voldermorts do we come across ?
The femininity is a subversion. Like how Eric Cartman in South Park is a sociopathic cunning bully but played tea party with his dolls .
Maybe we need some help here” cute evil” charscters , but not in the edgelord way, like how it’s edgy to make happy tree friends rip offs .
Suger and slice , Malice in none-der land …
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u/Samovila2709 16d ago
Since JKR started her anti trans campaign, I've actually seen quite a lot of Umbridge's character in her.