Dumbledore...gay??
Oct. 25th, 2007 07:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
burendasan4(Note for those who say "who cares??": In the universe of Harry Potter, (which I, along with millions of other people like to retreat to now and then), I care. So if you think this is a waste of time, then don't read)
So when I first heard this past weekend that Dumbledore, a major character in the Harry Potter series, was gay, I thought it was a hoax. I mean, J.K. Rowling might have touched upon love and romance, but not sex or sexuality. But my friend (who doesn't read the series) showed me the article on his cell phone's web browser and sure enough, it wasn't a hoax. Since then, it's been everywhere in the news.
The "announcement" seemed to sort of...come out of nowhere. I mean, when it came to Dumbledore, I never even really thought about his past love life, let alone his sexuality. He seemed to be a character that was beyond all that. Now, even though I haven't read Harry Potter slash fic in years (yes, I admit it! I've read it before!) I'm pretty darn sure that there have been plenty of Dumbledore-(insert male character here) pairings in the past (now with Rowling's announcement, just watch the number of Dumbledore slash fic skyrocket and elaborate more on his past love/sex life and relationship with Grindenwald). And many of you might say "DUH! It was obvious he was gay!" but as I said, in spite of any insinuations to the fact, I never really thought of him in that way.
But like almost everybody, it doesn't bother me at all to know that Rowling intended for this character to be gay. I think that it shows Dumbledore in a more human light (which was done in book 7 as well). Some have expressed disapointment that Rowling never made it very explicit in the books, but then again Rowling was never really explicit with anything when it came to love/sex/romance (that's what slash/fan fic is for, I suppose ;-))
There is this very interesting article where the author argues that Rowling is divulging too much as far as the character's background stories, taking away the readers' ability to speculate on things unsaid or not shown in the books. I think the author has a point. Part of the fun of truly enjoying a story is the speculation, sort of the make-believe within make-believe, creations of the mind that are truly one's own.
I step back and find it amazing that the sexuality of an imaginary character has been discussed in the news for several days now. It just goes to show the power of our imagination and how we are willing to believe in a made-up world that in many ways, is a reflection of our times, but is a place where truth and justice wins in the end.
So when I first heard this past weekend that Dumbledore, a major character in the Harry Potter series, was gay, I thought it was a hoax. I mean, J.K. Rowling might have touched upon love and romance, but not sex or sexuality. But my friend (who doesn't read the series) showed me the article on his cell phone's web browser and sure enough, it wasn't a hoax. Since then, it's been everywhere in the news.
The "announcement" seemed to sort of...come out of nowhere. I mean, when it came to Dumbledore, I never even really thought about his past love life, let alone his sexuality. He seemed to be a character that was beyond all that. Now, even though I haven't read Harry Potter slash fic in years (yes, I admit it! I've read it before!) I'm pretty darn sure that there have been plenty of Dumbledore-(insert male character here) pairings in the past (now with Rowling's announcement, just watch the number of Dumbledore slash fic skyrocket and elaborate more on his past love/sex life and relationship with Grindenwald). And many of you might say "DUH! It was obvious he was gay!" but as I said, in spite of any insinuations to the fact, I never really thought of him in that way.
But like almost everybody, it doesn't bother me at all to know that Rowling intended for this character to be gay. I think that it shows Dumbledore in a more human light (which was done in book 7 as well). Some have expressed disapointment that Rowling never made it very explicit in the books, but then again Rowling was never really explicit with anything when it came to love/sex/romance (that's what slash/fan fic is for, I suppose ;-))
There is this very interesting article where the author argues that Rowling is divulging too much as far as the character's background stories, taking away the readers' ability to speculate on things unsaid or not shown in the books. I think the author has a point. Part of the fun of truly enjoying a story is the speculation, sort of the make-believe within make-believe, creations of the mind that are truly one's own.
I step back and find it amazing that the sexuality of an imaginary character has been discussed in the news for several days now. It just goes to show the power of our imagination and how we are willing to believe in a made-up world that in many ways, is a reflection of our times, but is a place where truth and justice wins in the end.
