#how to be a hp fan after breaking up with jkr: read critically and fill the books with LGBTQ headcanon

[puzzled-dragon]

today my mind was blown by the gayly prophet's headcanon that Hagrid can be read as a closeted transwoman

highly recommend listening to that ep at the very least, but also just the whole pod it's excellent

[kt-65-wrecks-blog-blog]

Okay, I'm asking in all sincerity because I don't really understand anything. Why are people so against the ship Sesshomaru x Adult Rin (don't kill me, I don't ship Sesshomaru with anyone. I don't hate him, just don't ship him with anyone, because I've always been very scared of him since I was a child) and they say that Sesshomaru is Rin's father? I always thought that Rin was just like a little sister to him (Sesshomaru is 19 years old in the canon, for me it is strange to still know that he is a father). I thought Jaken and Kaede were Rin's foster parents. I never saw anyone being against the ship Naofume x Raphitalia, even though Naofume has known Raphitalia since she was a child, be careful of her, accompanied her (very fast) growth and that Naofume has often said clearly that Raphitalia was a daughter to him . So why are some fans against Sesshomaru marrying Rin even after she became an adult? Rin never called Sesshomaru a father and Sesshomaru never referred to Rin as his adopted daughter. In fact, although Sesshomaru protects her, he has never acted fatherly with Rin.

Wow an ask! That’s exciting!

First of all no attacking. Secondly CW: p3d0phelia, gr00ming, and l0licon.

I don’t not ship Sesshomaru and ADULT Rin. Through my personal lens I’ve never really seen their relationship familial. Canon leaves a lot of blanks to fill in. They traveled together for like 9 months then he left her with Kaede. We know he visits and allows her a great deal of agency even when they travel together, which leads me to believe he would have respected that same amount of agency when she’s was growing up. But it’s all head canon because we don’t know and that’s where it gets problematic. Because unless sunrise deigns to show us... it could have been less than savory. So that’s my personal stance.

I’ll preface that I’ve been reading fanfiction in this fandom and writing it since like 2005ish. Pre-final act. Pre-knowledge that Sesshomaru did not raise Rin. And let me tell you, it was a cesspool full of land mines. I first learned the word l0licon in relation to Sesshomaru. I’ve stumbled on fics and art that straight up should be burned. If I could Kirinmaru my way back in time I would do an unsee. So when sess Rin shippers refuse to admit that people bare personal traumas that the idea of this ship triggers they are doing those people a huge disservice. Then I pop back into the fandom 10 years later and daaaaaamn. People are wild on both sides. And tbh both of them have points.

I guess I’ll break it down into like really basic pro/anti arguments:

Anti:

- adult Rin doesn’t exist. She is not a character who has been introduced and sunrise continues to promote her as a child. Maybe that’s just leading people on with the allure of who the mom is.... but it’s in really poor taste. Gross taste actually.

-whether he raised her or not he was in such a position of power over her because of how much she idolized him that he was in position to mould her into whatever he wanted. Which reeks of some gr00ming/child bride ick.

-generally, through their personal scope, they see their relationship as familial. Which makes getting married later not a-ok. Valid.

-the target audience for Inuyasha and Yashahime is 11-16 ish. Hella older people, people who grew up with Inuyasha are watching Yashahime, but we aren’t the target. So sunrise is telling a story to young people that it’s totally ok for someone in a caretaker position to later proposition/marry the person they cared for. And it’s not.

-there’s like a level of feeling betrayed because Rumiko wouldn’t even let them show Inuyasha and Lagome kissing because she was only 15, so for sunrise to take that turn... is like...why? What?

Pro:

-some people, myself included, just didn’t see their relationship as familial so it’s just not a factor.

-the story takes place in an era where people tended to get married younger, so...

-western audiences are viewing through a colonialist lens.

-sunrise hasn’t showed us anything, but Rin had the potential to grow up to be such an independent badass. Like, she was raised by Kaede, Sango, and later Kagome. It’s easy to make those mental connections and imagine adult Rin as a strong independent willful character.

-not a point but IMO pro sess Rin shippers should be the most mad at sunrise, but we are only 7 episodes in and nothing is even confirmed.

That’s like it. It’s a problematic ship and is in the hands of sunrise now.

That was a long post. Sorry. I’ve had 15 years to think about this. And I hope that answers some questions for you.

🖤🖤

One more thing just as an aside: recognizing problematic content in your media doesn’t mean you have to hate it. Most relatable is JKR. Before she was a terf of Twitter she displayed her anti Semitism in her books.

What’s the point of dying on a hill trying to defend her when you could instead take the time to flex those critical thinking skills and research WHY and WHAT was anti Semitic, then decide how you want to proceed. Does it make HP less of a childhood comfort series? No. It just makes you a more rounded thinker.

[sidekickjoey]

My (Very) Spoiler Filled Review of Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindlewald

That movie was so much better than I was expecting considering all the reviews I’ve seen knocking it hard for the past week. Here’s my recap of my experience with it character-by-character, as well as some of my responses to reviews/criticism I read beforehand-- let me know what you think! 

Read at your own risk, there’s a lot of spoilers here. Scroll REALLY fast until you see the gif I put at the end, mobile users! I’m sorry read mores don’t work for you! 

1. Newt Scamander, never change. I found myself going ‘awwww’ way too much over this man in this movie. He’s so quirky and so true to himself the whole way through, and I absolutely am in awe of it. He’s seriously a dream of a man. The gentleness he gives toward his creatures and his utter playfulness with the ZouWu (look me in the eye and tell me that didn’t make you feel all warm inside) was breathtaking. Eddie Redmayne once again outdid himself with his portrayal of Newt. His expressions this movie too were phenomenal, especially since we didn’t always hear Newt speaking. A+ to him all across the board.

2. Let’s talk about Queenie. I see a lot of people upset at what Queenie became in this movie, but in all reality, I don’t think it’s as out of character as everyone is saying. Think about it: Queenie experienced something traumatic. She found the one man she loves more than anything, and then suddenly he’s ripped away from her because of a rule the main four all acknowledged in some way was super ancient and not right. She gets him back, but yet again, she is hounded with society being like “Hey, we see your love, but it’s not right and we will send you to prison if you try marrying each other.” That stuff gets to you. It makes you think irrationally. Someone mentioned “But Queenie was so smart last time and now she’s acting like an idiot.” Well, yeah. That’s kind of what Jacob was saying. It’s because she feels threatened, and that pressure has gotten to her so much that she is desperate to find a fix for it. Was it a lot to use a love potion on Jacob? Yes. Was it a lot to jump the gun and follow Grindlewald? Yes. But she felt she had no choice. She was backed into a corner, and Grindlewald held out his hand and said he can make all her dreams come true. When you are desperate, you’re going to take whatever chances you can get. 

3. By the way, let’s talk about Grindlewald. I walked into this expecting Hitler 2.0 to be honest, but what we got is kind of scarier in a way. Grindlewald is, as we saw in the first movie with his “Won’t we die just a little” comment to Newt, not exactly wrong. He’s fighting for things that should be fixed. He wants freedom and he wants truth. He wants wizards to have to not live in shame, and he wants them to be able to marry muggles and even interact with them without shame. However, he’s a bad guy fighting behind these causes. His methods and means of going about things are all wrong. With the WWII vision he saw, he pandered to fear to gain support. He took the message and said “Hey, this is the future if we don’t act” without informing them that, sorry to break it to you, that’s the future regardless. And that my friends is dangerous. He’s so sly and he’s so manipulative, and he gets away with what he does with his supporters because he’s not fighting for a bad cause. It sends chills up and down my spine thinking of it. Also, I’m not too fond of Depp, but his delivery of Grindlewald, especially during the speech, was fantastic. If anything, his role of the villain offers you a chance to hate him all you want. I really enjoyed his portrayal this time around.

4. Oh my goodness, Newtina. I’ll admit, I wasn’t the biggest Newtina fan coming into this film. I liked them, but idk, the chemistry wasn’t really there for me and it seemed a bit forced. This film, however, changed my mind. My heart freakin broke hearing Newt call out to Tina in his home. He looked so utterly devastated. And Tina reacting so hurt to him, calling him Mr. Scamander? Rip out my heart and serve it on a plate, will you? Newt is freakin precious around her, and you could actually feel he was crazy about her this time. His cute little fawning over her eyes and her stance was precious. It reminded me of when Harry talks about Ginny having nice skin. Tina’s admiration for Newt also was precious. The way she finished his sentence, the way she understood his methods with the ZouWu? Idk, I could feel she really is starting to understand him and become attached. My heart melts for them this time around, and even though the kiss didn’t come, I think it’ll be there next time and beautiful as ever.

5. Dumbledore. Jude Law can freakin slay. I absolutely was in love with everything about his portrayal of Dumbledore. I literally have no complaints, he was perfection.

6. Credence, or whoever you are. This was a bit of whirlwind. If there was ever a part where I got tripped up, it was probably at this reveal. One moment he’s the son of that nanny of his, then he’s a Lestrange, and the next moment he’s some random? I really feel for his frustration because how do you even comprehend all that. I full out shouted though when his big ending cliffhanger thing happened. A lot of people are tripped up because “in the canon verse Dumbledore only had one brother and one sister, JKR is ruining everything, doom and gloom forever.” However, let’s look at what JKR said: not everything we think we know at the end is true. This could be another one of Grindlewald’s mind games. Remember, Queenie told Grindlewald Credence was unsure of his choice. What if this is a ploy to retain his trust? And, if it is true, what if there is a lot more to the story that we will find out that explains why Credence went absolutely unknown and unspoken of in the original Harry Potter books? We are only two movies in to a five part series, everyone. There’s time to figure things out. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying the movie and ones to come.

7. My dear Leta & Theseus. Theseus was what I thought he would be. The kind of outgoing, stiff, Percy-like character who plays a near opposite of his brother. I liked though the moments when Theseus let his guard down and took care toward Newt. His hug was one of those times, and at the end when Newt hugs him back? Magic, right there. I wish we knew a bit more about how he came to be with Leta, but that’s okay. I loved getting to know her a bit and see her past with Newt. She seemed like someone who would give it all to protect those she felt she wronged or cared about, so I do not see her passing as all that out of the blue. Someone needed to do it, and it did two really important things. One, it gave Theseus something other than his boring ministry job’s orders to fight for. Two, it made Newt finally choose a side. Though our time was short with her, I adored her being around.

8. And then there’s Nagini. I feel like we will get way more time with her toward the end of the series. I loved her being there as Credence’s support and friend. I’m still wildly intrigued as to how she ends up in Voldemort’s company, especially after seeing her so pointedly choose against Grindlewald. 

9. The Troublemakers: Nicolas Flamel and McGonagall. Flamel was honestly really funny here, and I know some people have said he was pointless, but I really enjoyed him being there. He provided a good moment of comic relief, and in the end he helped save the day. Not every character has to be some dark, deep character. As for Minerva, I know the timeline is wrong. I get it. I think that was a bit of fan service so people who are HP fans but aren’t as into FB see a familiar face. Not everyone is reading up on HP lore and timelines. To some people, there is no problem with it. It sucks for those who know about the issue, but I don’t think it’s enough to start a riot against JKR for. There’s loads that doesn’t always make sense in the HP universe, and frankly, this will go down with that. Take a deep breath and move forward, everyone.

10. Lastly, Jacob. My sweet summer child. He’s really put through the ringer with this movie. One second he’s engaged, the next second he’s lost in London, then his girlfriend suddenly isn’t with him and he finds her at some villain rally? One man can only take so much. I feel for him at the end when he’s so incredibly lost and looking ready to die. Bless Tina for keeping an eye on him. I’m really glad he has Newt around. His moments with Newt were adorable, and I love that he, much like Tina, is starting to accept that Newt’s just a quirky guy. He’s starting to read and understand him more, which I loved the expression of when he stops going on about Queenie to talk about Tina for the very depressed Newt. He’s really coming around. I hope there’s a happy ending in the ropes for him. He’s more than just a character used for comic relief. I think he has something destined in the future. I just want it to be good.

Thanks for reading this incredibly long review! As reward, enjoy a Newt.