Sexuality! and Poor Writing! - JKR's Mistake

[Mike]

> bboyminn:
> 
> Well, I'm taking a different approach too. One thing people 
> keep forgetting is that Dumbledore is well over 100 years old,
> I think he is past the raging hormones and compelling sexual
> urges stage of life.

In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/34190
Mike wrote: 
Dumbledore wasn't written as gay, he wasn't written as straight, as 
Tonks_Op has said many times DD was written as asexual - he had no 
sexual orientation in canon.



> bboyminn:
> Exactly how should a 120 year old man express his gayness in
> the story? What relevant statement could have been made that
> would have fit with the story as it stands. Remember this
> is not Dumbledore's story, it's Harry's.

In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/34190
Mike wrote:
I disagree with those that say there was no place to insert DD's
sexual orientation if JKR wanted to. Here's one possibility:
DH, Ch 35, p 716 in US Ed.:

"Grindewald. You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry,
inflamed me. Muggles forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant.
Grindewald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution." [I
fell in love with the man as well as the ideas]



> bboyminn:
> Also, Dumbledore being gay is only very mildly relevant to 
> the story, and is, in fact, completely unnecessary. 

In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/34203
Mike wrote:
On the other hand, including DD's gayness really adds nothing to the
story for me.



> bboyminn:
> JKR answered a question about off-page backstory, and I 
> think off-page is exactly where it should be. I'm sure
> hundreds of Slash writers would be delighted to discover
> that in the backstory, Sirius and Remus were lovers, but
> delighted as they may be, it has nothing to do with 
> Harry's story, and it is Harry's story that we are here to
> read.

In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/34196
Mike wrote:
But writing DD into slash is not like making a canon assumption that 
he's gay. After all, there are plenty of Harry and Draco slashes 
written and there is zero canon that either of them is anything other 
than Het, is there?



> bboyminn:
> 
> Once again, I say, people can't both want to know and not
> want to know. People definitely do want to hear JKR's 
> vision and version of both the back story and the front
> story. 
<SNIP>
> 
> But, if I ask, and don't like the answer, is that my fault
> or JKR's? And does her answer really circumvent my own
> beliefs? Am I not still free to write my own HP fan fiction
> in  any way I choose? Am I not still free to reject her
> vision, and envision the characters and setting as I 
> see fit. 

In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/34190
Mike wrote:
I don't include JKR's interviews as canon... So, the Gay!DD answer 
changed nothing for me.



> bboyminn:
> JKR, in saying that Dumbledore was her character and she is
> therefore free to envision him as she choses, I think was
> a defensive statement to questions by muggle reporters 
> that implied, 'how dare she say such a thing'. Her response
> was 'screw you, I created Dumbledore and this IS his 
> backstory, take it or leave it'.

In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/34203
Mike wrote:
JKR's mistake... was her declamation that Dumbledore is her character 
and that he is what she says he is. That was insulting to her 
readership, IMO, and denies the primary benefit one gets from 
reading -- of being able to create a world of the mind to illustrate 
the written word.



> Steve/bboyminn:
> Personally, I think too much is being made of the whole thing,
> but on the other hand, it has kept the discussion going for
> days. I mean, if it wasn't for Dumbledore being gay, /what
> ever would we talk about/?

In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/34201
Mike wrote:
Besides, there are more interesting aspects about DD's personality,
that *were* shown in DH, that are more deserving of discussion than
his unwritten sexuality, IMO. 


Mike now:
Personally, I think there are a lot of things to discuss about 
Dumbledore specifically and the HP series in general after the last 
canon, besides some non-essential piece of backstory trivia that 
sheds little to no light on the story. 

I think the antagonistic feelings towards DH that were expressed on 
Main, after the release, drove its share of people off the list. I 
also wonder how many people left the list because of the vitriolic 
debate spawned by JKR's gay!DD comment. Short term volume, long term 
decimation of readership and posting. I think JKR"S utterence has 
done irreparable harm to the franchise, all aspects of it.

JMO,
Mike