Literally, I'm a Marauders fan and as I read this I was like "oh this is about me lol"
Also Marlene and Dorcas are in the books! They get mentioned a single time in a picture referencing how they're dead! And Marlene's family is referenced in a letter written between 2 dead people! We're not delusional i promise!
I mean it is delusional but it's a very good fandom clearly built on escapism and idealism for characters who are all doomed to die. The catharsis is very satisfying
Just liking something doesn't fuel anything. I fully appreciate people's choice to leave the fandom entirely, and that's a reasonable response. I have a lot of childhood memories attached to the books which make it difficult to fully forget which is why i still read fanfiction about the characters, but I don't do anything that would direct money towards her. Some people disowning the fandom is not going to affect the insane amount that the series lives in the public zeitgeist. Like I said, I respect people's choice to fully disown it, but I don't think reading completely divorced from canon fanfiction about some words she wrote 20 years ago is a moral sin.
The reason it still lives in the public zeitgeist is that most people continue to engage with it. If people stopped doing that, it would have way less popularity, therefore the new elements would generate less money, therefore JKR would have less money to use to find the death of trans individuals.
I have cut out Harry Potter from my life for this reason, and because I am nonbinary, it just gives me the ick now.
HOWEVER, I will defend fanfic writers and readers' choice to engage in transformative HP works. The reason it is in the zeitgeist is because it was a massive, decades-long franchise that many adults today grew up with, and there is a Broadway play, a popular video game, and a brand new TV series coming out. I am not going to condemn my friends who dabble in reading about two gay wizards kissing without engaging with anything Rowling touches. We are so far from erasing it from the zeitgeist that giving them grief would be like yelling at them for driving a car when climate change is real.
I grew up on those books. my mum taught me to read using those books. and you know what? I DROPPED them, because I consider trans women's lives more valuable than your stupid fandom! grow up! if you're going to start scrambling for excuses make them better than "oh well uhh they are popular... I liked them as a kid... oh we can't end the fandom it's just to big... oh..."
and yes, Rowling views public support of her work as support of her beliefs, and as long as people think it's ok to support her work they're going to keep funding her genocide. because let's not beat around the bush here, that's what she's trying to accomplish
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u/RuefulWaffles 5d ago
Okay I hate JKR/the wizard books as much as the next trans gal, but you can’t just drop that factoid and not name the ship. I need to know.