One reporter reacts to JKR's revelations

[Carol]

Carol earlier:
> > I highly recommend it because it's clever and because it
articulately expresses a point of view that perhaps has not occurred
to JKR, who seems to view her books and characters as her own
exclusive property, not realizing that propietorship over the
interpretation of a character ceases with publication. 
> > 
> 
> Pippin:
> Really? So who controls the interpretation of Albus Dumbledore at
the Harry Potter theme park to be? Sorry, but the characters don't
just exist inside your head, they've been franchised.  I for one am
very glad that JKR asserts control over how they are portrayed, not
some corporate hack.

Carol responds:

I'm not talking about the theme parks--which will no doubt present the
Warner Brothers versions of the characters, sets, and costumes--or the
films, for that matter. I'm talking about the process of reading, the
relationship between the reader and the book, which is also what the
writer of the article was discussing. I'm also talking about the
effects of JKR's post-publication announcements on *any* reader's
interpretation of the books, not just my own. (Do you see DD
differently now that she's made that announcement? I suspect that you
do. I don't see how any adult could read her answer to the DD in love
question and not rethink both DD himself and the DD/GG relationship,
both of which we previously interpreted solely based on what's in the
books--unless we factored in "the epitome of goodness" and accepted or
rejected it, as we can't so easily reject information that she
presents as "fact.")

BTW, you mentioned on the main list that JKR's message includes
questioning authority (which, of course, most of us picked up on
whether we agree with that message or not). I meant to include that
remark in my previous post but forgot, so I'll bring it in here
instead. Does JKR mean that readers should question authority unless
*she's* the authority, in which case, we should regard the characters
as hers instead of the general public's or the world's? Or does she
mean question authority, period, in which case her own pronouncements
are also subject to question?

Carol, still recommending the article and hoping that Pippin will read
it if she hasn't already done so