The big "literary" news all over the blogosphere is that J.K. Rowlings has outed Dumbledore, the beloved headmaster of Hogwarts and mentor of Harry Potter. Dumbledore is gay.
So should we care?
There is as big a debate in Christian circles about the Harry Potter series as there is about whether Christian kids should be out trick or treating on Halloween. I confess I have waffled back and forth on that one myself. I enjoyed dressing up and going out trick or treating as a kid, back in the days when I lived in a neighborhood where you actually knew your neighbors. But I think our culture is sinking into an unhealthy fascination with death and horror. I digress. Back to Harry Potter.
Some argue the book has good underlying values, others, including the Pope, have warned the values underlying Harry Potter are anything but good. Some don't like the wizards and spell-casting in the books and that's enough for them to keep their children away from it. Others argue that C.S. Lewis had witches in his children's books, so let's not go overboard. Some parents are just glad to have their children read. Period.
I confess, I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books, though I have seen some of the movies and found many marvels of the imagination in them. My nephew loved the Potter books. (He also loved N.J. Lindquist's teen series).
I have been disinclined to read them 1) because I don't think she writes that well, despite the fact that she had displayed a good imagination. I found myself distracted by her overuse of adverbs. 2) Author Michael O'Brien, who I greatly respect, has done considerable analysis of the series, pointing out the underlying dark side to these books.
So....seeing as I have a limited time for reading I want to preserve my time for writers who will either teach me how to write better (by their example) and/or elevate my spirit.
The fact that Dumbledore is gay.....well, some columns are arguing that whatever "backstory" Rowlings or any other author had in her mind about their characters, they have a life independent of the author once they are created on the page.
What I don't like about the announcement is that it sexualizes a character who did not need to be sexualized, especially for 11-year-old readers who do not really need to be thinking about these matters. It smacks of political correctness and of the kind of pressure growing across the Western World to push homosexuality and heterosexuality as equivalent. There's even a story about California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signing a bill into law that prohibits the use of terms like mommy and daddy in schools so as not to offend same-sex parents. There is a not-so-subtle undermining of the biological basis for the family.
LifeSiteNews.com has a host of links on Harry Potter and all the controversies old and new here.
I don't know if these arguments would make me stop a child in my care from reading a Potter book, but it sure would make me have a deep and ongoing conversation with that child. And I would probably then have to read the book myself in order to make sure I could illuminate my points with the same kind of familiarity O'Brien has with the stories. I would not buy a Harry Potter book for a child.
Your thoughts?
Deborah Gyapong's novel The Defilers won the 2005 Best New Canadian Christian Author Award. She covers religion and politics in Ottawa for Catholic and Evangelical newspapers.
She blogs at www.deborahgyapong.com and www.themastersartist.com
3 comments:
What I don't like about the announcement is that it sexualizes a character who did not need to be sexualized, especially for 11-year-old readers who do not really need to be thinking about these matters.
That you think a simple fact of stating that a character is gay is "sexualising" probably says more about your own obsessions than anything else. And it's highly presumptuous of you to declare what you believe other people's children should be thinking about.
It smacks of political correctness and of the kind of pressure growing across the Western World to push homosexuality and heterosexuality as equivalent.
Equivalent how? Nothing in human behaviour is easily judged. It just is.
This is really about your own homophobia and bigotry that, thankfully, is increasingly found only among the ignorant and the marginal.
Deborah,
Thanks for your blog entry.
It is interesting to see how the first commentor on your item is so agressive, and actually calling you ignorant. It is hard to have real discussions about important things when the first thing the other person does is call you a name.
I think there can be discussions about books without feeling that a whole segment of society is being slighted one way or another. We wouldn't want to put pressure on authors to feel every story has to represent every facet of society.
I found myself with three similar thoughts as you when I first heard Rowlings' comment about Dumbledore. The first two don't have anything to do with how one feels about homosexuality.
1) There is no clear evidence in the books of any sexual nature of this character. Indeed, Rowlings keeps all sexuality very low key in the books. When reading the books I thought that was something that Rowlings did on purpose, perhaps to keep her book audience as wide as possible.
2) Authors often have extensive backstories about characters, to help them understand their own characters. Many of these details don't make it into the book, which must stand as a complete whole once published. Sometimes people hope that authors will add extra details when there seems to be missing pieces, but in this case it seems to be a totally extra piece of "information" that does not affect the story.
3) A third comment, which does relate to homosexuality, is that the entertainment community has many gays participating. I wonder if Rowlings was assisted during her writing process by a gay who she now feels is owed a non-specific honouring, by designating or indicating that a particular character is also gay.
Thanks again for offering a forum for authors to discuss such things.
Hi Deborah,
I always appreciate your posts. I think it's important that we always feel free as Canadians to express our opinions on a variety of topics.
Regarding this disclosure by Rowlings, I just have to wonder... why? If this character being gay didn't affect the story in any way, then why bring it up now? By all accounts, it did cause a great sensation, which I would think was fairly predictable. She made other disclosures about the back story of the series that night - maybe she's planning a book that will be a companion to the Harry Potter series- and this was advance publicity?
I know back story is important if you're working on a series - I've done all kinds of genealogies, maps, time lines, etc. But it is what it is - back story. If it is significant, you put the info into the main story; if it isn't, you leave it out.
Dorene
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