JKR messed up........ no/yes.

[prep0strus]

No: HPFGUIDX 178381


> Tonks:
> Yes, I think she messed up. I have been very upset by this whole 
> thing. And, NO, is has nothing to do with my own views of 
> homosexuality. I am a liberal on that topic. It has to do with first 
> the fact that DD has never told us that he is gay. Which means 
> either that Rowling is right and she 'outed' him and it was not her 
> place to do that.  Or he is not gay and Rowling is just reading into 
> his lifestyle like so many other people do with adults that are  
> perfectly content to live celibate lives, perhaps for spiritual 
> reason or otherwise. Either way, Rowling is wrong. That is the only 
> way I can cope with this. I see DD as a biological het male who has 
> chosen to be celibate. He is very intelligent and has more important 
> and more exciting matters on his mind than sex. And maybe one of 
> these days he will notice me and we will ride off into the sunset 
> together as celibate 'lovers', which is a spiritual concept. I am 
> not giving up hope. That old Lupin guy never wanted me anyway. 
> lol. ;-)
> 
> Tonks_op


Prep0strus:
Now this confused me a little bit.  You're saying that you disagree
with her saying he's gay because she's either outing him without his
permission or she's outing a straight guy? I'm baffled, cause, it's
just... he's fictional.  And she created him.  And not even like one
could say God created us... he is actually a fictional creation, with
no will or desires other than those given to him by a... real person.

There are a lot of different opinions - I understand those who think
that anything not in canon doesn't count, that readers can and will
always put their self and their own opinions into characters in
addition to and in spite of authorial intent, that it is possible to
read the book still as DD being straight...

But I don't think JKR can... go against the will of one of her
characters.  Dumbledore never told 'us' anything. HE never gave
permission to watch his private moments with Harry, and neither did
any other character 'allow' us into their private worlds.  Now,
whether or not JKR should have included his orientation in the books
if she had a set opinion on it is one thing... but I don't think she
can 'read into his lifestyle'.  Anything in canon, she created.  That
lifestyle, SHE created.  It is a lifestyle that does not have to be
read as a straight or gay lifestyle.  But if she 'always thought of
Dumbledore as gay', well, then she's not reading into a third party's
lifestyle the way the gossip pages do to celebrities... she's
describing the person she had in mind as she created what she created.

Your opinion of DD is valid from what is given in the text.  No one
can canon dispute that.  But it's clear that JKR's opinion is valid as
well, and can be read that way - she's not contradicting canon.  She's
describing her thought process behind what we see on the page.  How
much we choose as fans to internalize and accept in the books may be
our choice, but... I was entirely bemused by the idea that somehow she
and we were somehow invading DD's privacy.  Cause... fictional.  I
think an author has a right to tell us anything she wants about a
character she created.  I'd prefer she do it in her writing, rather
than in her publicity tours, but either way, he's just as fictional.

Of course, at the end you're very amusing and it makes me wonder if
perhaps the entire post wasn't a tongue in cheek comment on the whole
sordid discussion, but it didn't read that way to me.

If I'm misunderstanding, please, correct me, because I'm sitting here
with a silly confused smile thinking... fictional.

~Adam (Prep0strus)