DR Weekend Edition 10-20-07: With a name like Dumbledore, are you surprised?
[facepalm] I’m so not into Harry Potter. Don’t ask me why; I don’t have a problem with J.K. Rowling, I respect her talents and her accomplishments, I think she wrote a very good series with engaging characters…that somehow failed to engage me anyway. I guess it’s just not my thing. However, I just couldn’t pass this up. Half of my fandom-enamored friends are just about wetting themselves over the news that apparently, Rowling has announced that Albus Dumbledore is/was gay. (Is? Was? Series is over, so I guess “was” is appropriate.)
That’s right, the revered headmaster of Hogwarts was gay - and now it’s canon. As someone who adores seeing strong gay characters in fiction who aren’t wholly defined by their sexuality and whose sole point in the story isn’t just to be gay, I love this revelation. I also understand why Rowling would wait until the end of the series to make this announcement; I doubt Dumbledore’s sexuality had anything to do with the story, and if it had been known before he end of the series, he might have been seen as the token gay character. (…it might also have encouraged even more Dumbeldore/Harry fanfic than there already is, although I shudder to think that there may be a sudden upsurgence in such fics now that fandomers have this to work with. Scary.)
Now as someone who doesn’t quite get the obsessive nature of fandom…I’m just staring in wonder as certain corners of the internet practically explode with the buzz. Hell, I had to skip reading half of my LiveJournal friendslist because all they were talking about was this.
So there. If you’re a Potter fan, now you know, and I’ve done my duty by reporting on gay news in an one of my areas of personal interest: popular fiction. Incidentally, no, Richard Harris (pictured above) - the actor who played Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films - was not gay.
Everything’s news to someone, I guess.
harry potter, j.k. rowling, hogwarts, dumbledore is gay, gay characters in fiction
October 20th, 2007 at 2:36 am
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today on DR Weekend Edition 10-20-07: With a name like Dumbledore, are you …Here’s a quick excerpt[facepalm] I’m so not into Harry Potter. Don’t ask me why; I don’t have a problem with JK Rowling, I respect her talents and her accomplishments, I think she wrote a very good series with engaging characters…that somehow failed to … [...]
October 21st, 2007 at 2:44 am
Oh my. He was gay? That puts a new light on things. It doesn’t change the story, but it means that, at least until my best friend and resident Potter fan-girl wakes up tomorrow, I actually know something that she doesn’t about the books. Regular Hermoine, that one. I’ve gotta remember to taunt her with this.
October 21st, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I have one word in rebuttal to Richard Harris not being gay:
Camelot.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:00 am
Hm, seems there’s an interesting NYT editorial on the subject. It’s worth looking at, even though I can’t agree with most of what it says.
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1674550,00.html
November 1st, 2007 at 11:04 am
That’s an interesting revelation to come at the end of the series. I wonder how, when they make the movies now, they’re going to handle that? Are they going to somehow put that in the movie scripts, or are they going to stay true to the books?
My daughter is a huge fan, and could care less about the gay issue. So…maybe this next generation might be on to something by ignoring a person’s sexuality and moving on with life. We adults could learn something from them, eh?