One reporter reacts to JKR's revelations

[sistermagpie]

churchmouse:
 First Dumbledore
> coming out of the closet, really being thrown out by the author,
> changes the story substantially, Dumbledore is the HEAD MASTER,of a
> school, and he takes particular interest in Harry.  The Greeks 
thought
> the most ideal love was between a teacher and his student, women 
were
> just for procreation.  Well, guess what I am not an accent Greek 
and I
> am not amused.  If anyone has noticed the Greek civilization ended
> badly. 

Magpie:
I'm sorry, are you suggesting that because she said she always 
thought he was gay that that has something to do with his particular 
interest in Harry? He's particularly interested in Harry because 
he's The Chosen One and The Boy Who Lived. And she said she thought 
he was gay, not that he was ancient Greek. (And I wouldn't be too 
snotty about their civilization.) She's not the one who suggested 
he's perving on the underaged boy. 


churchmouse:
However, as a fan I feel
> betrayed because she started the series to get YOUNG children,to 
read,
> especially boys.  Even the choice bothers me; I could have seen
> Gildaroy Lockheart as gay even Hoarse Slug horn But Dumbledore, 
What
> purpose did that serve?  

Magpie:
She said he was infatuated with Grindelwald. That's the only thing 
it really affected. It didn't seem to have a purpose other than this 
is the way Dumbledore's character was in her head. There's no 
purpose in Myrtle being a lech but that's the way she is.

Do I want to know why you'd be okay with Slughorn or Lockhart being 
gay somehow more than Dumbledore? Why are those the two "you could 
see" but there's a problem with Dumbledore? Because Lockhart's a 
vain pompous guy obsessed with appearance and Slughorn's a prissy 
glutton? Why is there more of a problem with Dumbledore? He doesn't 
seem any less believable than those two to me.

churchmouse:
The editor was right the story was better
> without all of this, 

Magpie:
Luckily the story itself is still without all this. Though I 
personally don't think knowing that Dumbledore was in love with 
Grindelwald would make the story any worse. It would just slightly 
change our understanding of his motivations there. And contrast him 
to Snape in that remember Dumbledore chose his ideals over the man 
he loved.

churchmouse:
Universal is spending about a billion dollars to
> build Hogwarts and Hogmead village, they have a court case, it is 
not
> family entertainment anymore.  

Magpie:
Well, not some families anyway. Many families would have no more 
problem with it than they did before. The books remain exactly the 
same as they always were, after all. It's not like homosexuality and 
families can't exist together. Gay people have families.

churchmouse:
I wonder how WB is going to handle this
> in the movies, carefully I hope.  It just goes on and on, a few
> careless words and whatever good she did with the series 
destroyed.  I
> am so pissed.  Thanks, Constant

Magpie:
I don't see why WB has to handle anything carefully at all. They're 
not filming her interview comments, they're filming the books, in 
which there is no homosexuality at all that we see anywhere. They 
don't have to deal with this any more than they deal with Neville 
marrying Hannah Abbot or better yet any more than they have to deal 
with the death of Arthur Weasley--it didn't make it into the books.

But if she's destroyed whatever good she did with the series with a 
few careless words, the series must not have been much good.

-m