Harry Potter Video Games

Yep. Given the timing it definitely seems like it was a calculated pushback.

With the recent reunion special excluding Rowling and the above flex it looks like WB understands that Rowling is poison and is working to disassociate her from the franchise as best they can. And honestly, I'm not sure the casual HP fan really knows or cares much about the author. You could probably convince them she died years ago if you were persuasive enough.

That last part might be a bit too much if I may say so.

Heck, the books made repeated mentions of goblin uprisings, strikes etc - there was also that infamous statue in the Ministry of Magic that clearly positioned goblins as being inferior to wizards.

There's also the fact that some magical species allied with Voldemort precisely because he was offering them a better shot at life than wizard society has ever given them (not counting the Dementors whose idea of a better deal pretty much is "I get to eat more souls).

It's been a sticking point to me that as I get older, the more I realize that the Trio and other heroes never do much to reform their society even as they acknowledge it's failings and occupy positions of power as adults, aside from the generic reforms according to word of god.

Like did Hermione implement laws to give more rights to magical creatures, house elves, and muggle borns during her Ministry of magic career?

They talk a big game, but the fact that the wizarding and muggle world is clearly separate but supposedly "equal" is such a sour point for me.

It doesn't help that those societal issues are never actually adressed within the books - the story (not counting the epilogue) pretty much ends with Harry musing about his magical slave making him a sandwich.

It's been a common criticism in recent years that the books over time introduced some rather heavy-hitting topics (like, you know, literal slavery) without ever actually adressing them in an adequate way - not helped by the one person objecting to the whole thing being mocked as a meddling busybody. Nevermind that the consensus the books seems to have settled on was "magical slavery is actually good, the problem are bad slave owners".

And no, you don't get credit for going "Oh, but there's totally gonna be reform later according to some side materials I put out".

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Mar 18th 2022 at 8:08:47 PM

When I was a kid, I always thought that last thought from Harry about Kreacher was cute because it showed them getting along now and symbolized hope for the future.

Now it's kinda uncomfortable and I wish Rowling had the premise of wide spread reformation and anti-corruption efforts for potential sequels.

Not whatever Cursed Child was.

It's rare that you see Death of the Author invoked like this, but that's how problematic Rowling has become.

Actually, it's extremely common. See Lovecraft Mythos fans. Or Enerverse fans. Conan fans. Or The Mists of Avalon fans. Or...

Except with most of those examples the author is literally dead too.

Death of the Author is easier to invoke when the author is, well, dead.

Edited by M84 on Mar 18th 2022 at 5:31:31 PM

Side-stepping JKR issues entirely

I enjoy making fun of Harry Potter's setting/the whole concept of muggles/the house elf system and why that's not okay as much as the next person but, it's not really the job of books designed for children with a focus on a Chosen One and his destiny to confront an evil dark lord to illustrate societal reform.

That seems like a bridge too far for escapist literature that's largely known for wizard lightning battles with magical terrorists.

Edited by FOFD on Mar 18th 2022 at 5:47:54 AM

I'd argue that with today's issues, children should be increasingly aware of the problems that face our society and what they can do when they hit adulthood.

Like Harry and co becoming ministry officials is an interesting premise for a hypothetical next series.

Rowling wanted a series that grew up with it's audience after all. Rowling injected these issues into the books like racism with the discriminations of muggleborns giants, house elves, so to side step these issues is lackluster writing.

If she didn't want to include societal reform, then she shouldn't have brought up these issues.

You can't just highlight racism and other societal issues and then go "yep we defeated the evil darklord, and nothing bad ever happened again. "

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 18th 2022 at 5:50:30 AM

Most of those are actually dead author and separating for them are easier than and actually living author who is still making content.

Edited by unknowing on Mar 18th 2022 at 6:00:22 AM

And again, the past book ends the pre-time skip story with Harry musing about Kreacher bringing him a sandwich.

The story ultimately settles on "wizard fascist died, status quo restored" - they even kept bloody Slytherin.

I think a lot of people would probably love Rowling to pull a Notch and sell off the franchise.

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Mar 18th 2022 at 11:19:50 AM

"If she didn't want to include societal reform, then she shouldn't have brought up these issues. "

Not really? You can include issues and let them there and still dealing with evil, is like complain tolkien didnt erase monarchism after beating sauron.

This mostly a change of audience and taste, now we expect children literature of having a sort of social reformer, children heroes like star or stenve universe kinda show what people expect nowdays.

Notch basically went mad with the isolation and went full on twitter rant.

Hell, beating Voldemort the first time didn't do anything to fix wizarding society, the magic nazis just infiltrated the government that defeated them by exploiting corruption and complacency.

The idea that society gets better because of some symbolic act like defeating Voldemort for real this time, is the same mentality Americans use in order to convince themselves they defeated racism THIS TIME every few years.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 18th 2022 at 6:04:27 AM

(5) Perhaps, but I'm of a different mindset.

• You can have a simple story without intense political themes and solutions. Leave solving today's incalculable number of evolving issues to denser, less romantic literature.
• These books weren't written with today's issues in mind. Looking back on them with hindsight to say that they don't reflect today's problems well enough sounds unfair, even to someone like JKR.
• You can include societal problems and not have them pervade your work/have answers to them. Life isn't solely about societal issues nor do we even have clear and efficient answers to those problems, so I wouldn't expect fiction to be that way. Worldbuilding can include all sorts of issues that the main premise isn't locked on.
• If she hadn't I'm almost certain we'd be discussing how the wizarding world is too idyllic, rosy, AND unrealistic because no classism/racism/misogny happens in the visible hierarchies.
  • Glass half full illustrating these problems without dwelling on or just insta-fixing them created a more believable setting without coming off as Anvilicious.

And I don't think she implied all issues went away with Voldemort. The story just ended without resolving those issues because it was never truly about those issues.

So, anyway, about Flipendo'ing those nasty goblins

Edited by FOFD on Mar 18th 2022 at 6:08:11 AM

Except Tolkien doesn't highlight monarchism as a problem within his story.

Then maybe Rowling shouldn't have included literal slavery and made some of her characters apologists for it? That's not really something you can just walk away from - especially when the main character is supposed to be somebody who grew up in regular British society which (to my knowledge) abolished slavery ages ago?

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Mar 18th 2022 at 11:22:54 AM

I mean if Rowling and WB wants to make the Wizarding World a thing, then they have to address these issues.

And even then the worldbuilding of how the heroes solved these issues is iffy, like giving Shacklebolt(What sort of name is this for a black character?) the position of Minister of magic for life till he retires.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 18th 2022 at 6:23:55 AM

As I've seen other people say, even though JK is not involved in the game, she's still going to profit off this and no doubt she'll use that money to continue her transphobic hate campaign.

So no, it doesn't matter that the game will include an option to play as a trans character since JK is just going to use this as springboard to attack trans people. It's an utterly empty gesture.

[quote]Death of the Author is easier to invoke when the author is, well, dead.[/quote]

Why?

It's easier to separate economic profit from author (because he is, well, dead).

But that not what Death of the Author means. Death of the Author is a literary framework to interpret work without caring about author's personal opinions and interpretations of his work from your own. Not your Get Out of Jail Free card from thinking about broader context of author opinions.

Edited by Misiael on Mar 18th 2022 at 11:48:18 AM

It is easier to not think about their opinions since they are no longer around to say more bad shit.

A big part of why Rowling is toxic is because she is STILL saying bad shit.

Edited by M84 on Mar 18th 2022 at 7:07:24 PM

But they still said it and never retracted, so... what's exactly is a difference?

You know funnily enough, just yesterday I was reading an article about how a lot of works of fiction fall into the trap of, whether intentionally or accidentally, arguing in favor of the maintenance of a pretty terrible status quo simply because the only characters in the story who seem interested in changing it are even more reprehensible.

So even if Rowling's not on the writing team I do understand the concern that the Goblins will fall into this in the game, because it's such a common pit to find yourself in as a writer even with no bad faith involved at all.

Yeah, Killmongering is a problem in mainstream media nowadays.

Nowadays, heroes who want to change the status quo and villains trying to keep things so they stay in power might see a resurgence.