[HPforGrownups] Stereotypes /Re: I am so happy, There is a gay couple in canon after all.

[Metylda]

No: HPFGUIDX 178383


--- eggplant107 <eggplant107 at hotmail.com> wrote:

> bamf Wrote:
> 
> > I chalk his clothing choices up
> to age, not sexual preference. 
>
eggplant replied: 
> Dumbledore dressed flamboyantly when he was young
> and when he was old.
> 

bamf here:

What we consider flamboyant now, may not have been so
150 years ago when DD was young (Victorian Era -
everything was flamboyant then!)  What fashions are
popular when you are young are generally what you
stick with when you are older.  Part of it comes from
differences in what is socially acceptable. 

IIRC, and no, I don't have backing for this nor do I
have time to look for it, but I thought JKR said DD
was 150.  That would mean that he was growing up in
the middle and at the end of the Victorian age, where
rich, luxurious fabrics were fine for men to wear.
This is what always came to my mind regarding his
clothing. 

Not that he was gay.   

bamf, earlier:
> > There are many ways she could have
> > answered the question that was asked.
> > A simple, "What do you think" would
> > have sufficed. Heavens knows she gave
> > us enough vague answers BEFORE the
> > books came out. 
> 
eggplant:
> And before the last book came out she said when the
> series was
> complete she looked forward to answering our
> questions more fully.
> When she was writing the books she thought of
> Dumbledore as gay, are
> you saying she should have forever kept that
> information from us? 
> 

bamf:

Actually, yes.  Part of the fun of reading these books
is figuring out what we, the readers, think the
characters are like.  

I'd like her to answer more information on no, really,
how many students attend Hogwarts, what did George do,
why the crappy epilogue. Things that she left out
there that we CAN'T figure out from what she wrote. 
Whether or not a character is gay - well, if the
character is/was then she should have made it clear
from her writing. It is a huge pet peeve of mine that
an author drops a bombshell (for what else do you call
it when the list explodes like that) with no hints of
clues in the book?  As I said in my original reply, I
just took DD to be mysterious, eccentric and unique.
Wasn't that enough?

eggplant:
> When the movie makers asked JKR to look over the
> script for movie 6
> and it had something about Dumbledore getting hot
> and heavy over a
> pretty girl when he was young, should Rowling have
> said nothing even
> though it was contrary to the character she created?
> If she told the
> movie makers that Dumbledore was gay it was only a
> matter of time
> before the news leaked, JKR chose to announce it in
> her own way. 
> 
bamf:

Why is there even a scene with DD getting 'hot and
heavy' over a girl in the movie? 

The fact is, his sexual preference has no bearing on
the story.  IF it did, she should have mentioned it
more.  Unless it's a twist of The Crying Game
proportion, why even bother mentioning it? Why not let
readers read into and take from it what they want, or
why not mention it in the story? 

> Tonks Wrote: 
> 
> > Talk about stereotypes
> 
eggplant:
> The thing about stereotypes is that most of them
> contain an element of
> truth. To pretend that some gay men don't dress much
> more flamboyantly
> than straight men is not being realistic. I'm not
> making a value
> judgment (if someone wants to be flamboyant or gay
> or both that's
> their business not mine), I'm just making an
> observation. 
> 
>   Eggplant  
> 

bamf:

And the problem with stereotypes is that they can be
wrong just as often as they are right.  I've been
called a lesbian because I like traditionally male
things and am not fond of shopping. (Hint: Just
celebrated another anniversary with my husband.)  My
brother-in-law tells my sister what to wear as he has
better taste in clothing.  I know men that sew their
own clothing.  I know women that make armor.  Yes, all
these examples are of straight people.  The few
homosexuals I have known, acted more straight than my
straight friends...

There maybe a grain of truth in stereo types, but that
doesn't mean you judge the whole beach on that one
grain.

bamf

There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast.

*****

Me t wyrd gewf

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