#regardless of what jkr does or says

[selkies-world]

To sum up: they still think that trans peoples human rights are an online conversation, and expect the series to run for 10 consecutive years.

So let's get ahead of this right now.

I propose a media-wide blackout of everything Harry Potter related when the first season is released. No tweeting about it, not even to trash it. No posting online about it at all - No Instagram stories or posts, no TikToks, no snaps, no memes on FB, not a word on here, nothing. They will not commit themselves to 10 consecutive years of something if the first season flops. They might attempt a second season, but we can shoot that down, too.

I cannot still be dealing with the hate this woman has for us in 10 years. I cannot still be having this conversation when I'm in my mid-30s. I need her to be dead & forgotten by then, or used as a cautionary tale after her death. We can revive the fandom after she has died, depending what her will stipulates will be done with her bloodmoney. Okay? Is that a good enough compromise for you? You just have to wait for her to die, and not leave her estate & bank account to anti-trans stuff, and then you can get back to loving Potter. Deal?

But in the meantime, we need Warner Bros. to see that they cannot make money from this show. We need them to lose money. We need them to lose enough money that even JKR funding the entire project won't be enough for them to take the risk. Right now, they're saying that JKR's reputation & blatant transphobia have not impacted their ability to find more than enough people to audition for the series. We need them to rethink that. We need them to see that this is not the next Marvel-length franchise to get rich on.

Since I know some of you haven't participated in a media blackout protest before, here's how it'll work:

Don't hype the series / fandom / author / cast up in the lead-up to the series being released. Don't trash it, either. Ignore it. Forget about it. || This means that they won't get good word-of-mouth rates online, which means they will need to really push advertising to get enough people interested.

Don't watch the adverts online. Don't like or comment on the videos, not even with hate or pro-trans stuff. || Engaging with online ads or videos in any way gives them positive data, because it feeds the algorithm & let's them make money from the adverts. We don't want that.

When the series is released, don't watch it. Don't talk about it. Don't tweet about it. Don't post about it. Don't tiktok about it. Don't complain about it. Don't trash it. Pretend it doesn't exist. Ignore it. Forget about it. || They need their launch to earn them money, and even if you're posting about how bad it is, or posting anti-JKR content using the show's hashtags, even if you're watching it in order to know exactly what to complain about & critique, you are still giving them money. They still earn royalties from you watching it, regardless of your intentions. They still get word-of-mouth and clout from you posting about it, even if what you're saying is negative. You know the expression "There's no such thing as bad press"? This is what that refers to. It doesn't matter if you're sharing love or hate for the franchise, because you're still promoting it by saying its name. Also, an overwhelming amount of negative press online can and does lead to other people deciding to watch it to see why everyone is complaining, and arguing about it online, all of which feeds the creators more royalties. We don't want them to earn money from this.

Spread news about other shows & films & franchises & books. Get a fandom which has been dead for 10+ years trending again. Get anime shows & Futurama & ATLA & Adventure Time & Owl House & Over the garden Wall & some really obscure franchises trending across all social media platforms. Get something from the 80s trending in the Top 3 on Twitter. Engage with fandoms you're not even part of. Get BL shows trending in Netflix's Top 5. || This will completely skew analytics online, and it will flood people's dashboards with cmenough content that they won't see promotional content for the series we are blacking out. It will also show spikee data for which genres & shows are more popular & getting more attention & more royalties.

Share media with transgender actors / directors / crew. Share media with LGBTQIA+ storylines. Share pro-trans & pro-LGBTQIA+ content. Share & donate to fundraisers which help Trans & LGBTQIA+ people. Share Trans & LGBTQIA+ history. Show & Share Trans & LGBTQIA+ positivity & love & pride. Do all of this without acknowledging the series or creator we are blacking out. || This will show overwhelmingly positive & inclusive analytics, which will prioritise showing more of the same content. This is what we want the data to show.

Do not give in to temptation to look the show up. Do not look up the cast. Do not look up the directors or producers or executives. Do not look up the soundtrack. Do not put anything remotely related to the series into a search bar of any kind. || Search algorithms still store data, and if enough people look the same stuff up, it will show positive online engagement. We do not want this.

Do not give the actors hate. Do not tag them in hateful content online. Do not abuse them & do not bully them. || This is just unnecessary.

Give the blackout a cool-down period. Continue to ignore it for at least 10 days after the launch. || This forces the show's analytics to fall into negatives. If you suddenly start engaging with something immediately after blacking out the launch, the analytics show a delayed uptake - but it still shows them that people will engage with it, and that they will make money from it. We do not want this.

After the cool down period, mock it. Remember the mocmery that the Velma show got? And you've seen the mockery of the Rachel Zeigler version of Snow White is getting? And how that is impacting the ratings for Songbirds & Snakes because people don't want to watch her, at all, in anything? That is what we need to create on purpose. || If a show gets hate, the creators can use it to feed controversial interest in the show - 'Come watch this to see why people are hating!'. It's as beneficial as positive reviews. They can recover from it. But mockery? Mockery & dismissal is far more difficult to recover from, as it does more damage to their names and reputation. People do not want to be associated with a project which was mocked after it lost them a lot of money. Audiences are also much less likely to engage with a series which has been publicly mocked, compared to hated.

Only mock it for the same amount of time as the cool-down period. || This prevents the series from getting a large spike in analytics.

After this, ignore it. Move on. Talk & post about other stuff. Watch other stuff. || This will result in the show's analytics returning to negatives, and remaining there.

This is a strategy which is proven to work. It has worked for multiple franchises. It is behavioural analytics. It will work for this, but only if we commit to it & get enough people taking part.

All we have to do is:

Do not watch the HBO HP series

Do not post about it online

Ignore it

Do not play, stream or buy any games related to HP

Do not rematch the movies on a streaming service - JKR will still earn royalties from that

Do not post about JKR during the media blackout

Share pro-trans & pro-LGBTQIA+ content & history instead

Support trans creators & actors

Mock the series after the cool down time & then move on

Stick to this method. It WILL work.

And to dispute any attempted justifications for engaging with it:

"But she won't be involved!" || She is listed as an executive producer for the show

"But it's not the actors' fault!" || Actually, it is. The adult actors should know better than to involve themselves with this franchise, and the child actors' parents should know better than to exploit their children's desire to be famous &/ or their love of the series, because the adults should be socially aware enough to know that this franchise will harm their children in the long run.

"But what about my childhood nostalgia!" || What about trans people's human rights & dignity? What about trans children who don't think they'll make it to 18? What about the fact our Prime Minister is selling out transgender rights of his people for Trump? Wht about all of the trans people in the UK who are now facing the possibility of losing more of our rights? What about all of the little trans girls & boys & envies who saw those TERFs celebrating stealing their legal right to identify as their gender, with champagne on national TV? What about trans children who won't be able to go on 100% reversible hormone blockers because JKR funded the vitriol which made them illegal? What about all of the trans women & girls who just lost their legal rights this week? What about our right to legally exist? What about privacy rights and medical & legal autonomy for women & afab people in the UK? What about all the trans people who just watched 21 years of work & progress go down the drain in one afternoon? Are we not worth as much as one of the many memories of your childhood?

Nobody is saying you're not allowed to watch the DVDs or pirate it or read the books or listen to CDs or records of it. Just do not use streaming services for any of it, do not use YouTube, do not talk about it on Twitch & don't post about it online.

We need this franchise to die. We need the producers to see they can't make enough money from this to justify continuing it after the first season. We cannot still be having this argument in the mid 2030s.

We need to get ahead of this right now and stamp the fire out before it kills more trans people.

You understand that buying a Tesla = supporting the Elongated Muskrat & Trump. You understand that buying McDonald's or Starbucks funds Isreal & harms Palestinians. You understand that watching Sandman supports Neil Gaimen. You understand that watching Aquaman funds Amber Herd.

So why is it so hard for you to apply that exact same logic to JKR, when you can see the harm she is causing in real time to real people?

[slitheringghost]

Snape’s home life

These endless debates about the Blacks’ abuse (whether it existed or how severe it was) are interesting because you know which character we actually have no evidence of being abused by a parent, and especially not physically? Severus Snape.

(Which, for the record, I personally think he was, but I’m just trying to make A Point about fandom interpretations of abuse).

There was apparently a Pottermore article saying Tobias whipped Snape, but that’s completely extracanon, and iirc the article wasn’t even written by JKR. This is what is in actual canon:

Snape staggered; his wand flew upward, away from Harry — and suddenly Harry’s mind was teeming with memories that were not his — a hook-nosed man was shouting at a cowering woman, while a small dark-haired boy cried in a corner. . . . A greasy-haired teenager sat alone in a dark bedroom, pointing his wand at the ceiling, shooting down flies. . . . (OoTP)

This is his dad verbally abusing his mother while Eileen cowers, and Snape cries watching them.

“How are things at your house?” Lily asked. A little crease appeared between his eyes. “Fine,” he said. “They’re not arguing anymore?” “Oh yes, they’re arguing,” said Snape. He picked up a fistful of leaves and began tearing them apart, apparently unaware of what he was doing. “But it won’t be that long and I’ll be gone.” “Doesn’t your dad like magic?” “He doesn’t like anything, much,” said Snape. (DH)

Here again, the focus is on the conflict and fighting between his parents rather than Tobias’s treatment of Snape.

Snape’s response and agitation here certainly indicates a bad home life - but witnessing your father constantly scream at your mother is still extremely scary and traumatizing. And would lead to the child feeling unsafe in the household, regardless of if it was directed towards him. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these are the only canonical allusions to Tobias's abuse that we have. (I suppose Snape's hatred of Muggles is another, but that could happen with far less severe abuse too - i.e. with Tom Riddle).

But there is no confirmation that Tobias’s abuse extended to Snape. (And we don’t even have evidence of Tobias physically abusing Eileen, much less Snape.) “He doesn’t like anything much” does indicate a bad relationship between Severus and Tobias too, but the actual severity of it is ambiguous. And it’s not always necessary that the abuse is inflicted on both spouse and child, and we have a very glaring example of this in canon - Barty Crouch Jr.

Crouch was abusive to and hated his son but deeply loved his wife. We have Barty Jr. saying “He loved her as he never loved me”, Crouch Sr. risking his job and reputation and even the possibility of being sent to Azkaban himself to give Mrs. Crouch her dying wish of freeing Barty Jr., Winky’s ability to guilt trip Crouch Sr. into letting his son attend the Quidditch match using his love for Mrs. Crouch, etc. We even have Mrs. Crouch crying as she witnesses her husband’s cruelty towards her son, just like Snape was crying while he witnessed Tobias abuse Eileen.

While Lily asks "doesn't your dad like magic?", Snape doesn't really confirm that as being true; magic clearly wasn’t banned in the house the way it was for Harry (due to the Dursleys’ hatred of it as much as the Statute), since Snape came into Hogwarts knowing a lot of magic, and it seems like Eileen had taught Snape a lot about the wizarding world as a child, and we see him use it to shoot down flies in his bedroom.

And “He doesn’t like anything much” is MUCH tamer and much less violent of a statement than “My mother had no heart, she kept herself alive out of pure spite”, “How she hated him, what a disappointment he was”, everything Walburga’s portrait says, the abuse getting to the point that Sirius ran away and then was blasted off the tapestry, Walburga blasting her brother off the tapestry for merely helping Sirius financially, Walburga being textually compared to Umbridge, Walburga’s portrait stretching clawed hands as though to tear at people’s faces (a clear allusion to physical violence), etc etc. We have MUCH more detail about the Blacks’ abuse than Snape’s.

So where exactly are y’all getting “Snape’s abuse was worse than Sirius’s/Tobias beat Severus/Tobias was physically abusive and Walburga and Orion weren’t/Walburga and Orion were better parents than Tobias, etc” from? Because it sure as hell isn’t canon!

As I said, I personally view Snape and Eileen as being physically abused by Tobias and think it’s implied in the text, but this shows the double standards for Snape vs. Sirius / view of the Black family as a whole.

(And this matches fandom's constant tendency to portray privilege and abuse as mutually exclusive, and framing severe domestic violence as Something Only Poor People Do And Aristocrats Would Never Because They're Above That. This is not the hot anti aristocracy take that y'all seem to think it is, lmao)

[micah-of-the-psychos]

I'm begging and screaming for the people that say "attachment doesn't mean love" to rewatch the Prequels. You don't even have to rewatch the fucking Clone Wars. It is literally the most obvious thing that attachment, yes, does in fact mean love. No, Anakin saying "Jedi are encouraged to love" in AotC does not prove you right, it's him saying "well technically I'm allowed to love" in a very tongue-in-cheek manner, blatantly implying that he's actually breaking the rules (on another note, some people on here really like flip-flopping on whether or not Anakin is a reliable narrator, and it seems to solely depend upon whether or not they agree with what he's saying). It's about as subtle as a semi truck. Plus, the entire time that he's married to her he has to keep his relationship secret because his relationship is, y'know, forbidden. He has to hide that she is pregnant because his relationship to her is, in fact, forbidden.

Since y'all love bringing up what George Lucas said about what attachment actually means, riddle me this: why would he write an entire forbidden romance subplot contingent on the Jedi forbidding things like romantic relationships if the Jedi didn't, in fact, forbid romantic relationships? There's two options here: either George Lucas is an even worse writer than we thought, or he's doing the interview version of retconning shit on Twitter. Since people ignored JKR even before she became prolific bigot, I think it's safe to assume most people think Word of God means jack shit if they're actively retconning core aspects of their work. So Lucas's word is utterly worthless in this argument regardless of his intentions.

Another blatantly obvious bit of proof that attachment=love is the fact that Jedi can't have relationships with their birth family. Full stop. There is no ambiguity to whether or not this is true, there is no George Lucas interviews for you to hide behind; this is irrevocably canon. And there is quite literally no legitimate excuse for the Jedi to do this. All excuses for this, canonical and fandom, circle directly back to "attachment is forbidden", and it is so painfully funny to watch the few people willing to defend this. Most don't even try though, and just ignore this issue entirely, because it is a glaringly obvious contradiction to their glorified headcanon on attachments that they so desperately want to uphold.

You know, I remember back when people on TikTok were freaking out about people not having media literacy. And I remember thinking during that entire time "You guys thought people ever had media literacy?" This portion of the Star Wars fandom in particular is walking proof that media literacy never died, it was already dead the second humanity invented storytelling.

Some disclaimers because some people in this fandom are particularly fond of using straw men and ad hominem, as well as just trolling:

-I don't think the Sith are good guys. You should watch me play KOTOR 1 and count the amount of times I call the Sith assholes, dumbasses, or scum. I very much hate them.

-I don't think that Order 66 was justified. This really shouldn't have to be said, but some people on this platform have rendered this necessary.

-People can headcanon that attachment and love are different things. My problem is when people start treating it as canon and try to force other people too as well.

-Criticizing the Jedi does not mean I am criticizing Buddhism. Even if it did, I will criticize any religion I damn well please because the "It's My Religion" card immediately loses validity the second you physically or psychologically harm other people, especially children. However, the Jedi philosophy on attachment and the Buddhist philosophy on attachment are different, so this argument doesn't hold any water to begin with.

-You are free to like the Jedi. I encourage you to do so. I am not, and never will tell you that you can't.

-I really shouldn't have to make these disclaimers to begin with, but since this is the internet and people don't read the words on the page anymore, I unfortunately have to spell shit out with crayon.

Also, I can and will use the block button. If you engage in bullying or harassment, engage in bad faith arguments, or otherwise say fundamentally false or incredibly stupid shit, I will block you. If you can't handle that, then don't engage with this post. I am not making this post in hopes that you will actually listen to me, because the people that this is directed at don't listen, and don't want to. If you truly disagree with what I've said in this post on such a fundamental level that you need to make a long-winded reply about how everything I've ever said is wrong, please just scroll — dealing with that shit is actually exhausting.

[necromosss]

I’ve followed you since 2020, through SWTOR and D&D and BG3. The imp trio are some of my favorite original characters by any creator. Your art style absolutely captivates me, and I love your sense of humor. I’ve really admired you as an artist and thought you were generally wonderful.

So seeing that you’ve been posting about Harry Potter up to the year 2023 absolutely breaks my heart. I know that you don’t owe your followers transparency about what other media you engage with, and that you’ve attempted to distance yourself from the franchise. But on the other hand, as a transgender person, I feel deeply torn. I genuinely want to keep following you, but the fact that you can still give any time or attention to that media and the person behind it just makes me feel awful.

I know that leaving behind a character you’ve invested years in wouldn’t be easy. But I really, sincerely hope that someday it will no longer be worth it. No matter how much you love a character, they’re not real, and the harm Rowling is doing with the platform you’ve helped give her is very real.

Hello anon, Thank you so much for voicing your thoughts out. I really appreciate you doing this and I understand your concerns and disappointment. You have ALL the rights to be disappointed! But please hear me out on this one (it is absolutely ok too if you dont!):

I absolutely, 100% in utter disdain about the fandom and that person. Heck, they supported the blue-white flag and i have zero tolerance for that (Palestine WILL be free). To say all love that I hade for the franchise died. (A lot of it was inconsistent and fucking awful anyway.)

and as you said; my characters are fictional, and in that regard what I did was to make a whole new worldbuilding of myself. And places my old OCs in there. (I hate the thought of using the old fandom, I really do. We are hating the same thing here). Was my world inspired by the 'original' world building? Yes. But does that mean I support them? Heck no. If anything, It is under my SPITE that want to STEAL the good ideas from there and make it my own. To my eyes they have lost the entireity of those rights and I will steal it for me and my friends. and mark my words and emphasize with the utter hatred: I WILL TWIST it to the thing that THAT person HATE THE MOST.

If you're curious, I have an entire world made to scratch. The only thing that is similar are just the 'houses' (which is to my knowledge, is a common thing in UK schools, but correct me if im wrong)

So fuck JKR really. I want them to go to the ground and to the bloody dust. Me and my friends in this RP are also sharing the same thoughts in this matter. We spite them, and we want just want to rip the good things out of their bloody, rotting hands.

But regardless if you want to leave or not, it really is up to you. I have no rights to keep you around, and you 100% SHOULD prioritize your own comfort first. Thank you anon, and I really appreciate your support of all this years 💖

--------

Oh and before anyone asks "Why dont you make an entierly different setting" Oh but I do! I have tons of world buildings, one of my pride and joy is KLIEVERDE UNIVERSITY where you can literally check the world here:

Mysthaven is placed in THE SAME worldbuilding as KU does. Just different campus, different aesthetics. There are other tons of other campuses in that worldbuilding too, so its not just one RP, really. (i try to make do! >.<)

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Unless I missed something, it seems you don't have anything about Rita Skeeter in your HP masterposts (other than "what if JKR was Rita").

I'm wondering what you think of her? I feel like I barely even remember her in canon, but fanfic uses her for everything under the sun.

You know, I think you're right anon.

Generally, she's unscrupulous as hell and will do nearly anything to chase down a story regardless of the devastation it may cause an individual (see her roasting a 14-year-old girl in a national paper to people who otherwise would never have heard of Hermione Granger but then only knew her as WHORE, including Mrs. Weasley who for a year thought Hermione was a gold digger), incredibly hard working and ambitious, very thorough with her sources, and has an unfortunate tendency to be... not wrong a lot of the time.

Say what?

Yes, I know, I know, she uses the quotes quill which is clearly intended to exaggerate a person's reactions to whatever she's saying (and infuriate them so they'll say more things to her face while they're flustered) but the woman is meticulous with her sources.

The Dumbledore book was extensively researched, with letter evidence, interviews with everyone Dumbledore had pretty much ever known in his life, and it turns out it's... pretty much... entirely... correct...

We learn that the reason Rita knows all this information she shouldn't is that she's been wiretapping (well, being a bug in a room). And that's the thing, she doesn't make things up, she does put them in the worst/most scandalous way possible (e.g. misconstruing Hermione and Harry's friendship into being romantic and theorizing what Hermione gets out of this relationship) but it's not wholesale made up.

So, I actually like Rita as a character. The woman will ruin you for a story, and is absolutely vicious and manipulative as hell, but she's just so interesting.

(And JKR clearly despises her, to a hilarious degree, Rita represents all of JKR's hatred of the British tabloids in one human form that she calls ugly.)

[maxdibert]

Hello!! I love your blog so much, super enjoyed your Snape analyses 🫶

If I may ask, what is your opinion of the notion of "Snape didn't love Lily enough to give up dark arts for her"?. It's something I see a lot when people take badly about Snape, and especially, with JKR (👎) having said that Lily would've loved if he wasn't so enamored with dark magic.

Thank you very much! 😊🫶

I find this utterly ridiculous. I don’t understand all that nonsense about “dark arts are horrible.” So many things in the lore require dark arts, many solutions come from dark arts, and, in general, dark arts are necessary in that society. Sure, maybe in the context of the ’70s generation, dark arts were seen as a red flag, but Lily literally downplays the bullying Severus suffered just because “at least the Marauders don’t use dark arts.” Like, what kind of argument is that? Does abuse hurt less depending on the weapon used? Is it less of an issue if I shoot you rather than stab you? Honestly…

Look, no one should have to change who they are or what they like to be loved—that’s utter nonsense. You don’t have to change for anyone; love doesn’t work like that. Obviously, there are limits—if you’re an alcoholic, for example, then yes, it’d be good to go to rehab. I’m not talking about extremes like that. But when it comes to personality, no one can demand that you change. No one has the right to tell you how you should be or think and then reproach you by saying, “if you don’t change, it means you don’t love me enough.” That’s trash—it’s control, it’s trying to mold someone into your image, and that’s not how it works. Either you like someone for who they are, or you don’t. But this “oh, if only they were this way, maybe…” Well, then you don’t like that person; you like a completely different type of person—and that’s fine, but let’s not make excuses.

“If Severus hadn’t liked dark arts, maybe Lily would have loved him.” Okay, well then, there was no way Lily would’ve ever loved him because Severus is who he is precisely because he liked dark arts. He liked them before he got involved with future Death Eaters, he liked them when he allied with Voldemort, and—most importantly—he still liked them after leaving Voldemort. It’s part of his personality and identity, regardless of his life stage or what side he’s on. A Severus who didn’t like dark arts wouldn’t be Severus; he’d be someone else entirely.

The issue with how love is often perceived stems from this toxic, traditional ideal of romantic love that we’ve been conditioned to accept. It establishes patterns of behavior that involve losing or giving up our individuality for the sake of our partner, and that’s not how it works. If Lily didn’t like the dark arts, then she and Severus were never going to have a future. He can’t demand or expect her to tolerate something she despises, and she equally doesn’t have the right to expect him to give up something that’s important to him. Similarly, Severus didn’t need to stop being himself to win over Lily—he needed to find someone who didn’t care about his interests or who was compatible with them.

Love isn’t about giving things up; it’s about finding someone who is compatible with what you bring to the table—whether because they have no issue with it, share those interests, or have their own qualities that balance yours. That’s it.

If you have to change or mold your personality for someone else, then what you have isn’t love—it’s a farce.

[latelylately]

i read le guin's essays on plagiarism and influence and content (https://www.ursulakleguin.com/bvc-art-information-theft-and-confusion-part-two and https://www.ursulakleguin.com/bvc-art-information-theft-and-confusion-part-one)

which were really good and i enjoy her dunking on JKR.

she didn't elaborate much after this sentence but she uses the word "play" as a way of describing what authors do when creating new works influenced by others and i think it is underrated and deserved like 5 more paragraphs. it kind of underpins the difference between copy-stealing-iteration and influence-inspiration-iteration.

if you know me you know i have complex and disagreeable pomo baby opinions on plagiarism. but i think le guin has matured my opinion on this because i agree with her distinction between art and "content" although in the moment the two may be hard to distinguish (or in a different light, one and the same).

i still struggle with this philosophically. i've always been made very nervous by the concept of plagiarism---ive spoken about this with another autistic friend of mine and we share this opinion. with a sample size of exactly 1.5 (questionable self diagnosis is a half point here) i feel like this might be a distaste for what i see as a nebulous and ever-changing social concept, and that is why I find it disagreeable and anxiety-inducing.

before i continue: clearly, it is morally wrong to steal. copying entire passages of work and passing it as your own for profit and at the detriment of another author is something I'm not going to philosophize about because its obvious enough it's unethical.

what I struggle with philosophically is the line between where collection and curation ends, and art begins. Is a vibes blog original work? Kind of, but most people would say not. Is a moodboard? Closer to original work, sure. What about collage? Or whatever shit Duchamp and Andy Warhol were on? Those things are accepted as art because we say they're art, and that's how art is defined. And where's the line between a moodboard and a collage? It is a socially enforced age/reputation/gender-based line where a 16 year old girl making a fit check meme with stock images for a tiktok is not art but a 40 year old accomplished artist making a collage from found photos is? I don't know!

I also think the fact that we see "internet content" as an endless reservoir from which to draw from (or at least people who scraped that data to train generative AI) speaks to the lack of ownership that is inherent to anything you make. Part of art making is sharing, and once you share something, you can't own it anymore. No matter how much you try---watermark your art, ask people not to repost it, ask people not to kin your OC's or whatever---people will use and take the thing you've made with no regard for you, the person who made it, because it spoke to them and now it's theirs. Regardless of the ethics of this, I think it's an indisputable fact that the internet has shone a light on how we can sometimes operate like magpies. So what does that say about ownership and art?

Most likely I only have this opinion because I've never been the victim of large-scale impersonation and art theft. But then again, that's not really what I'm talking about. I'm talking about how once your art gets into public domain, it's public.

I have a lot more to say about the concept of "information" and also the ethics of generative AI but my thoughts are half-formed shitty little turds so I'll stop

[chaztalk]

Yes, yes I know this is hella long, so just scroll to the bottom if necessary

TLDR: I’m a Romione shipper and here’s why I don’t like Hermione

I can understand the criticisms of Hermione’s character, but this is more like “I don’t like what the particular things Hermione did” rather than actually analyzing her character. Also that last sentence in the first paragraph, you could really say about any of the Golden Trio, receiving very few consequences and actually learning from them.

Cuz the actual truth behind JKR’s writing of Hermione is a product of being JKR’s self-insert and even though, she is a main character in the series, the author doesn’t necessarily care about her because we know next to nothing about her life as a muggle, her parents, and her personality outside of magic.

And OP stated that Hermione doesn’t face consequences in the series, but that, however, is not entirely true. She turned into a half-cat after not being cautious enough/making sure that she used a human hair instead of a cat hair. She was given the silent treatment until she apologized about her cat. In OOTP, at the DoM, she was hit by a dangerous curse because she was distracted by doing a celebration mid-battle. And in HBP, she was allegedly sexually assaulted if she didn’t run away from him.

So now let’s break this analysis down:

PS- they name none of her strengths, only her “flaws”. I don’t understand how being a rule follower is really a flaw. And her. Close-mindedness comes actually later in the series (opinions about centaurs and Divination). She froze under pressure once. Being socially awkward for 11/12 year old isn’t really out of the ordinary and doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a sign of a complex character.

CoS- Hermione’s 12-13 years old. It’s normal to develop a crush on someone, regardless on who the actually person they have a crush on are.

The one positive most people give Hermione is that she’s book smart. So I don’t understand how it’s hard to believe Hermione was able to brew polyjuice potion when you just have to read the steps to make it.

And even though, she figured out the mystery, she didn’t win a thing unlike Harry and Ron.

“Ron’s influence is working”. What? How come they never elaborate on things like this?

PoA- I also don’t understand the claim that most people would side with Hermione in the Crookshanks/Scabbers fiasco. Harmione shippers and Hermione stans are in the minority here.

GoF- Now this is just someone pissed off that someone else was interested in Hermione and Hermione decided to go with him instead of Ron

A character flaw in Krum? He can’t hold a conversation with a girl.

OOTP- Hermione’s “snipy” towards Ron because he’s a terrible prefect that gets easily walked all over by his twin brothers who are the biggest rule breakers (and possibly because she wanted Harry to be prefects with her instead of Ron 😃)

HBP- or how about feeling empathy for both instead of one over the other. Like this: “I understand why Hermione attacked Ron because it was one of the times her emotions controlled her. But that’s no excuse for the attack when Ron is kissing another girl when they aren’t together”. Not hard. And it’s why Ron and Hermione are incompatible imo.

DH- she does 90% of the preparations for the hunt because Mrs Weasley made it hard for the Trio to work together. And Hermione is no doubt the brains of the group.

“She rescues them from the ministry”. And Splinched Ron in the process, no? So, wouldn’t really say she’s perfect under pressure.

The most crucial one is Hermione staying with Harry and Ron leaving. What do you want her to do? Also leave? She’s a muggleborn, and muggles are being murdered left and right by DEs.

In conclusion, Hermione doesn’t have an arc. An arc to me is an obstacle a character has that builds character development in them. No Harry Potter character has that kind of arc.

I’ll be waiting for the “Ron’s a disappointing character” analysis post, with it just being complaints about how the “narrative” hates Ron lol

[chaifootsteps]

I think you may have deleted the post, but I wanted to talk about that insta story Amir posted with the lesbian flag fan and the “#king of the lesbians” comment.

I want to start by saying I don’t know Amirs gender identity or sexuality. Everything I could find stated that Amir’s pronouns are he/him, but there are he/him lesbians, and there are also trans lesbians who aren’t out yet, and still pass publicly as male. I don’t know if Amir identifies this way, and don’t really want to say anything super critical that would pressure him into coming out if this is the case.

I know a lot of helluva criticals are also a bit critical of his online presence, but he does seem to have acted as a pretty good ally, and talked about how **requiring** pronoun disclosure for work can accidentally have the side-effect of forcing people to out or mis-gender themselves, which is a good point.

Despite knowing all of this, as a nonbinary lesbian, seeing that post did make me anxious. I think it’s mainly because, even if Amir IS a lesbian (and I know some people may even laugh at that thought, or act like that could never happen, but the truth is we DO NOT KNOW Amir, and do not know anything about his inner life or identity that he has not explicitly shared) but even if he is a lesbian, seeing *anyone* proclaim themselves “King of the Lesbians” just sets off alarm bells in my head.

I think its most likely because since I don’t know if he’s part of the community or an ally, it feels very much like someone claiming to speak for us or be representative of lesbians.

And I’m VERY sensitive of celebrities or people with influence claiming to speak for us or have clout with us—especially since JKR started using lesbians as a shield against all criticism of her transphobia.

I know I’m probably overthinking all of this—over something I’m pretty sure was posted as a joke (and I don’t even know if the “king of the lesbians” caption was made by Amir himself, or a social media manager).

But. Idk. Regardless something about that post just gave me a real big ick. My initial reaction when I saw that post was “no, you’re fucking not. If anyone is king of the lesbians it’s Tracy Chapman, not you.”

It’s something minor, and I know I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, but I can’t help but get frustrated by it. I want to say, “okay, what the hell have you done for us then?” You don’t just announce that you’re a gay or lesbian icon. It’s something that is earned and given to you by the community. Even if you are a part of the community I still think it’s something that has to be earned.

I know I’m just rambling now, but I wanted to let you know that yeah, that post was not okay with me either. I think I would have even liked the post if it had said something that was more supportive of lesbians like “let’s go lesbians!” Or “shout out to the lesbian fans!” Or something.

Anyway. Thanks for letting me vent. I know this is probably ridiculous to vent about but I wanted to get these feelings out, and didn’t feel safe talking about it on my own blog.

Nah, it's an entirely valid frustration. There are ways to show solidarity and that wasn't it, and also high five for recognizing Tracy Chapman as the queen of the lesbians she is.

(For the record, I deleted that post because apparently it's not yet common knowledge just how incredibly fucking creepy Amir is. Someday.)

[blankd]

(not to detract from, but inspired by recent revelations about certain male authors)

rambling about Brandon Sanderson, the author, the mormon OR "If he's So Nice Why's He Proudly In This Shitty Cult"

it's always weird to me when people praise brandon sanderson by saying he's a professor at BYU, a college that is a literal institution of mormonism

like, even IF we ignore that whole "mormonism is a cult" bit (a TALL ask HONESTLY!!!), how is it not seen for the intellectual dishonesty that it is?

but a greater oddity to me, is that for how vocal people are to call for the rightful boycott of JKR for her open transphobia, that same crowd sees no hypocrisy in buying sanderson's shittillion books- even though he's comfortable enough to disclose his yearly tithe of !!10%!! of his income going to the mormon institution

"but he's a nice guy! he's changing the mormon faith from within!" matters of faith are tricky, but you cannot say something is "correct" while 'vocally' seeking to change it. Unlike government, faiths can successfully splinter to (better) represent the totality of your morals- mormonism is ALREADY a split from a different faith, what's another?

Sanderson is also rich enough (literally) and has enough fan support that he is in the rare position to do well on his own (see any of his insta-funded multimillion kickstarters).

this leaves us with some very broad (albeit simple) interpretations for What Is Going On:

-sanderson is powerless against his own faith, he is under the sway of the mormon cult or someone within it; if this is true, he cannot effectively change it (as he is powerless)

-sanderson is an idiot, naive as a newborn and just as easily tricked; he claims to care and in his ignorance, continues to directly fund an unkind organization because he promised he would!!

-sanderson is doing a PR sleight of hand because it is good business, the magician does his tricks, but he is not lying, it is an acceptable performance to make card and coin disappear and reappear where they may

I'll never know the answer, but maybe these words to the void will cause something. But regardless, if you unironically call yourself a "Sanderfan", please reflect on your parasocial relationship.

[messrsrarchives]

Just lasted three days on marauderstok to see what it was like and oh my? Why is it so mean over there?

three days you're so brave i feel ready to welcome you back here with a nice pint and some sleep meds.

this might have been a throwaway rhetorical question but i'll answer anyway because we all know i've thought about this a lottttt, so i have five reasons:

1) lack of anonymity

tiktok allows you to see the person, their name, their appearance, even their mannerisms if they're speaking etc, you know the person. that being said, of course, you only know as much as they are willing to give. but because you are *seeing* them, i think you naturally assume that this is all they are and it opens up that connection for negativity. it's easier to take it from "i don't like this headcanon" to "this person pisses me off"

and it's an unequal balance a lot of the time between commenters on private accounts, or even people posting faceless content, where they have more anonymity and therefore say what they want. it feels safer to drop a hate comment when you're private, and someone public who shows their face is an "easy target"

2) traction

there's two parts to this - the hierarchy and the algorithm.

algorithm wise, hate gets more traction. i.e the recent trend of "what's a (character) headcanon that you hate", you're going to get a lot more comments than "what's a headcanon you love". people get more traction when they say something hateful because then people argue in the comments, their video gets boosted and boom, traction.

the hierarchy is a bit more complicated and varies person to person but how i see it on tiktok is: faceless accounts (i.e carousels or editors) -> rec accounts -> whatever the fuck i do -> cosplayers -> fanfilm "actors" (cosplayers, fandom is not a job like acting is, regardless of your skill). and even then this varies because of followers etc but the hate follows up. and maybe that ties into anonymity as well actually but i think the main thing is that the more "content" you're "producing", the more hate you get from people who dislike it - "customers" who dislike the "product" they've gotten.

these two tie together a lot because people view likes and followers as desirable so they become more hateful to get up the hierarchy, and they're hateful to those that are already up there even when they put them there. it's very complicated and dumb but to sum it up in one word: capitalism :/

3) algorithm

tiktok has a looser algorithm. you can "curate" your fyp and you can "curate" your space, but it isn't secure. you will get things you dislike esp if, say you hate jegulus, the video has #marauders and #jegulus, and you've liked a lot of #marauders stuff, the jegulus video will come up because you can't block # on there.

but that doesn't explain the hate, what does is the fast-paced algorithm and how that affects attention span and empathy. yes, i sound like a grandad saying "it's the damn phones!!!" but it is. you can watch a video and scroll, and by the time you make it two videos down, you've forgotten what the first one was. it's very fast-paced and i think that adds to how comfortable people are sending hate. once they scroll, they forget the video, but the poster won't forget the comment as easily.

4) separation

in a fandom space, i think tiktok feels very separate to the writers. which sucks on one hand but also,,, i'm glad a lot of them aren't over there. because tiktok views their fics as a product and are horrible about them. but that separation aids to that negativity because you assume they won't see it. the same with "bigger" accounts, pepple assume they won't see their one negative comment but they will.

there's also, conversely, a lack of separation on tiktok. this is most relevant i think to my jkr discussions where marauders spaces and potterhead spaces overlap. and yes, i'm generalising, there are fans on both sides that hate jkr and fans on both sides that support her, but that mixing adds to the latter. you'll see content from universal on your fyp and repost it, and then it's in marauders spaces, or you'll see someone posting marauders merch and repost it because marauders, and the two are now so intertwined that you can't separate pro from anti even with the disclaimers in bios.

the reason it doesn't add to the former - no matter how much you try - is that tiktok, because of its fast-paced algorithm, isn't built for long form discussion.

which. yeah. oops, sorry. tried to rectify that, but tiktok isn't built for the kind of discussions people have over here, so no positive change really ever comes, just negative change.

5) social media in general is mean.

that's it. that's the whole point.

but yeah !! that's a few of the reasons i've deduced !! again, i sound like i complain a lot but generally tiktok was LOVELY and i met so many incredible people. unfortunately for everyone else, my degree is lit and politics and i can't engage in a fandom space without analysing it. engaging in discourse? no. studying the discourse.

but to summarise? tiktok is just very,,, capitalism based. not necessarily just with money (but yes, fanfilms i'm looking at you and your 50k start ups) but also just traction and the constant race to the top.

which is so sad because half the people "at the top" didn't even want to be there, people simply liked their stuff then got mad when they weren't sitting on this crafted pedestal "right"

but mostly, tiktok tends to view fandom and fandom content as a product. fics aren't shared with them, they're produced for them - which is very gross and icky (again, fanfilms im looking at you but i'd ramble on if i elaborated on this point oh i'm doing it anyway okay but !! paying for this film to be produced? asking fans to donate so you can make this film directly contributed to this who product mindset. and yes, people donate willingly so but sigh. i'd much rather get the film then donate if i see fit than have to pay to receive it? and i think that faction of fandom being so big on tiktok really messed up the fandom ideology over there)

sorry i'll shut up. tldr; capitalism :/

[hollowed-theory-hall]

detentions: what do you think about them?

I assume this is in the context of Harry Potter because otherwise, I can't say much as my school didn't really do detentions. I'm gonna talk about detentions in HP and a bit about what my school did instead.

Now, detentions vary between the books quite a bit (probably because the Wizarding World & Hogwarts changed in JKR's mind), so, I'll outline the different types of detentions and what I think about them in general. I will not include detentions like with Umbridge or the Carrows, since that clearly isn't what's supposed to be happening at the school by the point we see in canon.

Ridiculously Dangerous Detentions

This sort of detention only really appears in book 1, probably so JKR could have Harry in the forest and see Voldy munching on a unicorn.

“I shouldn’t be too friendly to them, Hagrid,” said Filch coldly, they’re here to be punished, after all.” “That’s why yer late, is it?” said Hagrid, frowning at Filch. “Bin lecturin’ them, eh? ‘Snot your place ter do that. Yeh’ve done yer bit, I’ll take over from here.” “I’ll be back at dawn,” said Filch, “for what’s left of them,” he added nastily, and he turned and started back toward the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness. Malfoy now turned to Hagrid. “I’m not going in that forest,” he said, and Harry was pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice. “Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts,” said Hagrid fiercely. “Yeh’ve done wrong an’ now yeh’ve got ter pay fer it.”

(PS)

From the later books, it appears this sort of detention isn't normal. And for good reason. I mean, it's bizarre to send 11-year-old kids whose only defensive ability is shooting red sparks to spend the entire night in the Forbidden Forest, where something is killing unicorns. Yes, Hagrid is with them, but technically Hagrid isn't allowed to carry a wand and even if he is there, the group gets separated so Hagrid isn't with them at all times.

I assume this was a special case detention and not the norm. Likely personally requested either by Hagrid or Dumbledore for various possible reasons. Regardless I consider this one an outlier that shouldn't be counted since there is something deeper and more specific going on in this particular detention.

I'd also want to note:

“What — what are you doing?” said Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the bouncing ferret’s progress through the air. “Teaching,” said Moody. “Teach — Moody, is that a student?” shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms. “Yep,” said Moody. “No!” cried Professor McGonagall [...] “Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!” said Professor McGonagall weakly. “Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?” “He might’ve mentioned it, yeah,” said Moody, scratching his chin unconcernedly, “but I thought a good sharp shock —” “We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender’s Head of House!”

(GoF)

That I find McGonagall's outrage funny here. I mean, yeah, a student could get hurt badly as a bouncing ferret, but so could four 11-year-olds you send to spend the night in the forest filled with dangerous, lethal creatures that is coincidentally right next to the school.

What Hogwarts Detentions are Actually Like

So, the Forbidden Forest one, as I said, was a unique exception but what does a normal student’s detention look like?

It looks like manual labor:

You will be polishing the silver in the trophy room with Mr. Filch,” said Professor McGonagall. “And no magic, Weasley — elbow grease.”

(CoS)

It was, as Harry had anticipated, useless, boring work, punctuated (as Snape had clearly planned) with the regular jolt in the stomach that meant he had just read his father or Sirius’s names, usually coupled together in various petty misdeeds, occasionally accompanied by those of Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. And while he copied out all their various offenses and punishments

(HBP)

Cleaning trophies, sorting detention records, signing photos for Lockhart — basically something boring and manual that wastes your time. This is pretty normal as far as detentions go (I think, again, my school didn't have them), but from what I read/saw/heard detention is a time you are supposed to spend quite at school, being supervised and not having fun while not being hurt. So, yeah, the Hogwarts detentions we see mostly fit the bill (save for Lockhart who keeps Harry in detention way too late, but, that's a Lockhart problem).

Now, do I think this is an effective punishment that doesn't harm students unnecessarily but still deters them from further wrongdoing? Not particularly.

I mean, we see students like the Mauraders, the Weasley Twins, and even Harry and co aren't at all deterred from their behavior by the school's punishment system. I mean, after book 1, most characters don't seem to care about detentions and house points.

So, detentions seem to be kinda useless since they waste time for the teacher and the student, and the student doesn't seem overly affected, at least, not the ones we follow. I'm not really an authority over disciplinary punishments in schools, and at the end of the day a student with a strong enough will / doesn't care about staying at school, wouldn't care for any punishment and you'll need to improve behavior by a method that isn't based on punishment. Fear is a motivator that can only get you so far.

I mean, Sirius mentions he and James had too much fun in detentions together and that's why teachers separated them to actually punish them. And then, James and Sirius made the two-way mirrors and still had fun in detentions.

This is why detentions never deterred them from anything. It's a relatively soft punishment, and if you don't mind sitting around, it's hardly a punishment at all. That being said, I am incredibly opposed to corporal punishment.

What did my school do

As I mentioned, I'm no expert in student discipline, but I can talk about my own experiences. My high school was a weird semi-private school and didn't do detentions (when I'm saying weird, I mean weird. We had peacocks walking around between the buildings like at Malfoy Manor. Sometimes, they got inside the buildings. Who needs hall monitors when you have hall peacocks. We also had school goats, and one of them attacked my mom once). We didn't really have punishments at school at all. Teachers just told us very clearly: "If you enter the classroom, it means you're here to learn. Don't want to learn, stay outside," and that was kinda it. You weren't punished for skipping class besides low grades, so it made behaving well in class a student's responsibility. You won't be punished, you'd just be told to leave and your grades would be what suffers.

Class was a pretty freeform kind of environment as well with most teachers. Like, students with hyperactivity were allowed to pace at the back of the classroom during lessons, students could sit on the window seal if they were more comfortable there, you could come and go from most of the classes as you pleased (especially in the final two years), and on nice days, sometimes, we'd have our classes outside on the lawn. Most classes acted more like discussions rather than just a teacher lecturing at you. I had classes where the teachers told me I could just skip since I'm ahead of the class and I'd use these hours to do homework in other subjects. I had a classmate who despised one of our teachers personally, so she made an agreement with him that he'd not arrive at her classes, study on his own during class time and only arrive to do exams. Because this is how the school operated, we didn't really have displanary issues in classes, hence no detentions.

Any sort of fighting or bullying that got to the staff was punished by an immediate suspension, during which your parents were expected to be the ones to dish out the punishment they found appropriate. You only got 3 suspensions, anything suspension-worthy you did after that almost always got you expelled, and that'll be the end of it. So, that wasn't much of an issue either. I actually don't really know of bullying that happened at my school (at least nothing extreme and targeted. Mean comments flew about for sure, but no one really cared, everyone was making fun of everyone pretty equally. The school only got involved when things got violent or verbally extreme. Like, calling someone a 'shithead' here and there doesn't count), I heard about fights, and even was in one, but not bullying. The fights were not a common occurrence either, most students (and teachers) were just pretty chill, especially in the upper years.

So, yeah, that's what I have to say about detentions.

[numberonenarinderhater]

Sending this again just in case the question I sent got eaten

I kinda find it sorta wrong that the fandom at larges idea of a happy ending for the lamb ( or as happy as it can be bc of the circumstances ) always involves Narilamb and redeeming the Bishops/letting the Bishops stay in the cult

Ik the lamb is like essentially a blank slate but it feels kinda gross that the fandom kinda makes them not have much agency of their own outside of Narinder/Narilamb

Idk if I’m explaining it well but like I wish there were more “ happy” endings for the lamb ( or as happy as it can be ) and that doesn’t involve Narilamb, Redeeming Nari and/or Redeeming the Bishops

I did get the previous message, no worries! I was at the library today bc I am always expanding my mind (drawing also I work there so I was visiting on my day off) so I haven’t cracked tumblr open today since this morning.

Getting into this is actually a bit of a deep hole to travel down and we need to talk about why Narilamb and mainstream fanon is as popular as it is in this fandom. Allow me to answer this in the most long-winded way possible, in list form:

1) The Formula Works

I feel like people conflate “video game protagonist that is designed for the player to inhabit” with “vehicle for me, my interpretations, and my fantasies only”. It’s always a useless debate to “”decide”” anything about this kind of video game protagonist but we seem to fall into this argument alllll the time.

However. A character has its own functions, it’s own design purposes, and it’s own reasons for existing the way it does, regardless of how easily we can project onto them. A lot of them have an implied agency that allows us to relate to them.

Link from Legend of Zelda is a great example- they’re designed to be the perfect audience stand-in with an ambiguous gender expression and age and rarely any dialogue. However we still assume that each iteration of Link has a different personality and has different relationships with others. Link makes choices that we don’t really control and we generally assume that Link is motivated to do good. Because of that, there are certain things we have a hard time imagining Link doing (for example, running around screaming slurs and pissing in the faces of every Hyrulian villager they meet) even if you, the player, act like a jackass in the game.

Lamb doesn’t have alot of this implied agency- which isn’t a problem, mind- we just never see them make a lot of their own choices. The Lamb is also not strictly a hero that we assume is motivated to do good. Players decide how comfortable they are with punishing, killing, or cannibalizing others. That makes it easier to assume the Lamb’s motivations as one likes.

This is a great idea for a video game’s player character, as history generally shows that enabling audiences to fantasize about your art makes it way more popular for a very low cost on your end. Take hogwarts houses for example (or don’t, I hate JKR too), or vampire clans with similar powers and guiding principles, or even schools of magic that reflect a spell-caster’s personality. People like to take part in a world and a blank, almost motivation-less character lets people take the wheel on what kind of person they want to be. Not to mention it’s fertile ground for shipping (whose to say the Lamb wouldn’t date Midas if I just decide that it makes sense?)

2) It’s lame but it’s easy

Narilamb is a natural combination when you think of it this way. Neither one has a lot of implied agency and they’re arguably the two most important characters in the game. Narinder has a lot more implied agency but what exactly did Narinder do with his time before he got imprisoned? What does he like? What would he want to do with his life as a mortal? No one can say for sure so fans are free to imagine.

The two of them result in a boringly blank but easy to edit combination of the two “main” characters. It’s obvious but their dynamic can look like anything- which is appealing to people who want to consume romance but don’t like what mainstream media has to offer for one reason or another. (Aka, the majority of users on here).

You can see this evidenced by the regurgitation of popular romance tropes in Narilamb. The brooding loner asshole turned gentle lover by the love of another. The ever-patient lover who knows, by some divine providence, that they can turn the asshole into putty with the right moves. Sprinkle in a bit of Tumblr’s favorite hits:

the “chaotic” hero (lovable and fun but unconventional and even violent)

the “straight man” (the one who can react to the chaotic hero’s antics with shock or annoyance)

the “enemies” to lovers (why they’re enemies and how serious this rivalry is almost irrelevant)

the blasphemous divine (religiously traumatized enough to be hip with the kids but not so renegade as to actually say anything of substance about that. Just enough to inspire bad poems about pomegranates and honey and things like that)

Mix it all together and you have the ideal, white bread flavored Tumblr-approved romance!

3) “Fix-it Fic” Logic

Back to your actual point: the ending thing.

People like the idea of this ending bc it’s fluffy, uncomplicated, but still allows them to edit small details. Tumblr fandom has a generally difficult time accepting unhappy endings, ambiguous endings, or even just endings more complicated than “everything turned out just fine for absolutely everyone”. It’s a comforting fantasy and this tradition of ours arises out a long history with dissatisfaction.

If you’ll allow me to editorialize, I think we as a community are used to being in conflict with the source material. It wasn’t that long ago that we were the butt of all the jokes when it came to fan culture. When things didn’t work out for our favorite pairings it was more than just disappointing, sometimes it was a personal attack from the creators. And this isn’t me pulling red string out, this is documented fact.

Once Sherlock BBC and Supernatural and Hannibal and Merlin and [insert whatever else] all turned out to be a flaming let-downs for the girls and gays I think we started to associate the idea of “bad endings” with the idea of “punishment”.

We started to turn to each other and say “Sad things only happen to characters we love because they don’t want us to be happy. What’s more, we can fix it. They don’t get to ruin our ending.”

This was a fine enough response to the endings that genuinely were bullshit but I fear that it’s all we do now. Things that are meant to be read as tragedies or relationships that aren’t supposed to work out aren’t being given the room to be interpreted the way they’d like to be. Take things like the Hunger Games, the Magnus Archives, Hannibal (the series), and… *checks notes*… retellings of tragic Greek myth? Apparently?

It’s become kind of heretical to point out the fact that these ending are- and are supposed to be- upsetting and disturbing.

🚨‼️THAT IS NOT TO SAY…

That writing a new, happy ending is wrong. Rewriting an ending or writing your own ending is a valuable way of engaging with art! While we should respect tragedies and sad endings for what they are that doesn’t exclude us from writing our own versions of events either.

It’s just that I don’t really see a lot of people making the effort to hold these two ideas in their head at the same time.

4) In conclusion:

I think the fandom would like to forget that there is no “happy” ending for the Lamb. There is no “fixing it”. The other sheep are all dead and will never come back and it’s Narinder and the Bishops’ collective fault. Constructing a “happy ending” for these characters lets us feel that these uncomfortable things can be forgiven and that everything will work out somehow.

Perhaps pairing up Narinder and the Lamb makes all of those things even easier to forget.

TL;DR:

You’ll probably hear alot of naysayers and detractors complaining that we’re ruining all the fun and not letting them make silly content and happy endings about their blorbos in love. My argument is that I am just stating what the text has already told me and I think that we can make silly content and accept uncomfortable themes in our media. Or that we can have a complicated, but hopeful ending if we find that more compelling.

[hprambles-blog]

So, you're going to hear from an actual Harry Potter fan now, one who participates actively in the fandom, both by fan activity and financially, as I think it's important to state why fans like myself are doing what we're doing: Which is why we still support Harry Potter when we FULLY understand what's going on.

So in all honesty? I see the anti Harry Potter crowds on here screaming at people to boycott Harry Potter, and for me at least, its falling on deaf ears. The truth is, yes I am a Harry Potter fan and when people say being a fan contributes to JK Rowling's campaigns again marginalised groups, it doesn't really mean anything to me. Jkr can use the money how she pleases, its her money.

I'm not trans, I am LGTBA+ and as a Brit, the Harry Potter series is deeply ingrained in my cultural identity and personal history; my involvement in the fandom spans over two decades, beginning when the fifth book came out. My parents took me out as a child to the midnight releases, we see the movies on opening day or advanced screenings. I am younger than Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint, but Because I was raised in a household that loves Harry Potter, it's always there. At Christmas, it's there; at birthdays, it's there. Nothing on TV? Stick Harry on.

When these blogs scream that if you pick Harry Potter, it means you don't care about trans lives? I personally don't know any trans people, but its their choice to what lifestyle they lead that makes them happy. Its my choice to be happy too and Harry Potter is that happiness. So Harry Potter or random trans people ive never met? Well im going to pick the fandon obviously.

Disclaimer here too: If I did know them personally, its still not my problem. Other people's happiness isn't my responsibility.

Harry Potter is deeply engraved in everyday life. The movies stream on their own channel during school holidays, our supermarkets and retail stores alike sell Harry Potter merchandise, from Pyjamas to food. Do you know how fast Harry Potter Pyjamas sell out at Primark here? Faster then blinkingnl.

The casting for Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagal, Hagrid... it was on the evening news as a main story. Harry Potter is not going away. There is a very, very, very large silent majority who love Harry Potter, regardless of their feelings forwards JKR, they are both anti and pro, but they all love Harry Potter just the same. Its these people who are behind the studio tour being booked out months in advance, its these people who keep Cursed Child running, its these people who visit the Univeral Harry Potter land.

The truth is, we know what being in the fandom means, and… we just don't care, and we continue anyway. Does that shock you? This is why Darry or the Marauders can trend even above trans issues in here. That's just the way it is. You can screaming yourself horse but nothing is going to change that. Sending hate to fandom

I'm a Hufflepuff, the good house so to speak, and when I wear any Harry Potter merch in public, I feel no shame. I never have people screaming at me or giving me evils. Im just a person wearing Harry Potter merch, its more likely I'll be complimented and asked where I brought it from. I think the anti Harry Potter crowd likes to believe we are in the outskirts of society, like people coming out in public with something unclean and unholy, but the reality of the situation is this: Harry Potter is still very accepted and normal.

I know the majority of people actually feel this way. In Discord groups and on Harry Potter fan pages on Facebook, many fans share these views but won't say anything publicly on a Tumblr blog. I myself have reported back a number of Anti Harry Potter content to my fellow Potterheads on these groups, some which have thousands of members. They get laughting faces and we have admins running the page, these posts don't ever get deleted, but anti Harry Potter ones do.

I know this may not suprise some and shock others, but its the honest truth.

🐛

[azaharinflames]

My mum is the same age as JKR, so for anyone who is saying that this is a natural trend among the older generation, I'd like to share something my mum sent me earlier in response to the news.

JKR does not speak for her generation. She doesn't represent the majority view. The ONLY reason her views have taken hold so much is because of a) her money and b) her cultural presence.

For any trans person reading this, particularly British trans, there are so many more men and women who support you than hate you, including the people who grew up in the same cultural zeitgeist as JKR.

!!!!!!

Incredibly important to read this.

Hate tends to be louder than love or support, unfortunately. And the issue here is that the people who actively hate and discriminate against trans people are, currently, in a powerful position that can create a lot of harm long-term. I do not mean to be cynical here, and please know that I do think this message is important. But I do understand the feelings of despair because, for as much as trans people can have a lot of support from their communities, the glaring and terrifying issue here is that those people cannot change what horrible, vile persons like JKR are currently doing.

Regardless, if any trans person is reading this: know that in this blog you will always be loved and supported. We can do better. We should do better. Please know you will always find a supporter and a defender in me. I love you. I'm so sorry you have to go through this. It's not right.

[merlinsleftit]

just curious - why post in a ship tag complaining about the ship? you knew people were going to be upset regardless that you did that but also isn’t it…unnecessary? like, at the end of the day, fanfiction and ships are fiction for a reason. sometimes it’s fun to imagine the impossible and to imagine au’s - and to hate an entire fandom for it seems excessive and quite frankly, rude. i’m not saying dramione is the end all be all bc yeah, some characterizations are so ooc that it’s just like why bother. other times it’s like wow this is really good, but these things can also be related to any other fandoms.

idk, i mean we are all entitled to our own opinion, of course. i guess it just rubbed me wrong way that you’d post something shitting on a ship you so clearly hate and posting it in said fandom.

its not just about "let ppl have their own ships and opinions" it's about hating on the canon and making up their own ships and characters just bcs they didn't like the original one. i totally get whatever jkr said upset a lot of ppl and that's absolutely normal and right thing to do and im not here to defend her or something. i usually separate the art from the artist bcs harry potter always had a special place in my place and i have always loved the canon. i think the hate on canon characters and ships started more after jkr transphobic jokes. ppl are romanticizing toxic characters and toxic ships to go against jkr and i have seen these in so many fanfics. they mainly do it to show that they do not care about the canon or they are against it but they still wanna like it somehow.

saying how some characters should've done this or that in the canon is absolutely bullshit. obv the characters had no idea this will be consequences. nobody is perfect but isn't that what makes a series relatable in some way? every characters had flaws and every character resembled somebody from our daily lives. hating on the canon characters to just make your fav character look like a saint is hypocrisy.

the main reason why the percy jackson fandom is less toxic than hp is bcs they like their author and we don't and they accept their canon the way it is bcs they like their author. i get y'all don't like jkr and neither do i but i dont go out of my way to change the canon bcs i just don't like her.

these new ships and characters are scaring new fans away from canon bcs some of y'all convinced them that fanon is somehow 'better" and when these so called "fans" come on here to share opinions that they've based off of the misinformation they've been fed, they will be unprepared to handle any kind of backlash they may face except their usual "let ppl have their own ships" or "its just fanfiction"

also i use the tags bcs i want ppl to know the misinformation they've been fed by the new genz fandom and how they think shipping random characters don't affect anyone but in reality, it does. i mean literally see how many ppl have been influenced by meneclad and how they think dramione is endgame and how jkr wasted their potential. they never even had any real chemistry in the canon so there was nothing to wasted on.