I guess all the Christians were right all along regarding the Harry Potter series! Harry Potter sets a bad example for children worldwide.
2007-10-22 03:05:34 · 24 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Last Friday night in a talk at Carnegie Hall, New York City, author J.K. Rowling announced that her character, Dumbledore, was 'gay' and had a love affair with wizard Gellert Grindelwald. How incredibly revolting!
2007-10-22 03:27:04 · update #1
I think that everyone is overlooking the most obvious answer.
JKR waited until now to unveil this little tidbit because she wants to sell more books.
She and her publishers are obviouly trying to get their readership excited in her books again.
Its business, pure and simple...if she can get people to dicus/argue about it, someone who threw out or gave away their copies of the book(s) will have to buy new ones.
2007-10-22 03:56:36 · answer #1 · answered by Jonny B 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Um I really don't think it's that big of a deal, honestly. So what if Dumbledore was gay? It's not like there was anything outwardly gay about him that would have influenced an entire generation of children to be gay. Plus, it's just a random fact that she revealed after the series was over, like how Harry went on the be head of the auror department at the ministry of magic. It doesn't matter. And by the way, if you think that preventing children from reading Harry Potter will stop them from coming into contact with anything gay-related, then you're wrong. I'm sure they know pleanty of people (depending on age) who are gay, homosexuality is in the media, etc. It's not that big a deal.
Plus, Harry Potter is only like, the best thing EVER! =P
2007-10-22 11:08:27 · answer #2 · answered by Tomboy with girly tendencies 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Most likely, JKR knew from the very beginning what Dumbledore's orientation was. However, it didn't become an issue until:
1) Someone working on the script for Half-Blood Prince wrote a line of dialogue with Dumbledore referring to a girl from his past, and JKR needed to explain why that line wouldn't work, and
2) At the Q&A session Friday night, an audience member asked if Dumbledore had ever been in love.
By and large in all seven books, Dumbledore's orientation is a non-issue. But in Deathly Hallows, it explains a lot about Dumbledore's past interactions with Grindelwald:
- Why he and Grindelwald became friends so fast (Dumbledore had a crush on him)
- How Dumbledore got sucked into buying into Grindelwald's anti-Muggle teachings (Dumbledore was in love, and love tends to overlook the flaws of the beloved)
- Why Dumbledore took it so personally when Grindelwald went to the dark side (A betrayal by someone you love cuts deeper than a betrayal by a stranger)
- Why Dumbledore went to the extra trouble of defeating Grindelwald and leaving him alive, rather than killing him outright.
2007-10-22 10:54:16 · answer #3 · answered by Navigator 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
why does it matter that Dumbledore is gay?
I think she didn't announce it before is that people stearotype gay men as being weak. And from the books Dumbledore is not.
And what in the world does that have to do with the books setting bad examples for children? It doesn't.
If you don't like the series now because Dumbledore is gay, then I feel sorry for you. You need to grow up
2007-10-22 10:26:10 · answer #4 · answered by c_greiff 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Your biases to one side, I don't think that JKR has an agenda, or is seeking more publicity. According to the story I read, she had told the writer of the screenplay for HBP that Dumbledore was gay because there was mention of a female love interest in the screenplay and she had to set them right. Having done that, she might as well have made it public, since it would have eventually come out anyway--she could control when and how it was done. and in any case, this story came out because she was directly asked if Dumbledore loved anyone.
Throughout the series, we know Dumbledore as a tireless and seemingly single-minded fighter against Dark Wizards (at least from Harry's perspective; we do have to remember that Albus is also a great teacher, an alchemist, and important theoretical Wizard--remember the tools and instruments he made himself). But how did Albus become that way?
We learn much about this in DH, with Arianna's story, Aberforth's story and the story of the friendship between Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. In reading DH, it was clear that Grindelwald seduced Dumbledore on a number of levels; intellectually, ideologically, and, by JKR's new revelation, emotionally. We don't know if that seduction was sexual as well, and I'm not sure it is important for us to know.
The revelation completes the picture for us of a man who felt betrayed, injured by one he loved, ashamed at how far he went from rational thought and behavior, how far he really was from what he thought he was.
The up shot is that we now know more completely Dumbledore's motivations for fighting Dark Wizards--his shame at his own tangential contribution to Grindelwald's career, his reluctance to fight him, and, when Voldemort rose, his determination to not to repeat his prior mistake of inaction and to fight Voldemort from the start.
So in summery, It was part of the way JKR viewed Dumbledore and understood him. I don't think it was something that would have come out voluntarily--more likely something that would have made a scholarly article 50 or 60 years from now after she was gone and literary scholar had access to her full notes (assuming she left them to be investigated).
BTW, there is some inkling of this in DH, where Rita Skeeter talks about devoting a chapter in her book about Dumbledore to the Dumbledore/Harry relationship. This is not to say that there was anything improper--but that JKR did put out a hint.
wl
2007-10-22 20:06:41 · answer #5 · answered by WolverLini 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
people are reading too far into it.
JKR never actually said the word 'gay'
she said he was infatuated with Grindenvald (?) but in the sense that Albus was a teenage boy who was friends with a 'bad boy' and was he himself walking that line between good and bad. He was fascinated with that dark Mystique.
And no. i disagree. Harry Potter sets one of the best examples for children, the same examples Christians set.
Good vs Evil... check
Good Triumphs... check
be True to your friends and family... check
respect life... check
love conquers all... check
hmmm...
it seems to me that the ONLY reason you can find to bash this book is that there is magic... but (i don't care how many thumbs down i get for this) isn't that what you worship anyway? who cares that it's normal people using magic instead of (or along with) God?
No matter WHAT the fan-fic writers say, there is no gay propiganda in the book.
besides, even if Dumbledore WAS gay, what do you care? it's not like it's affecting you in any way right?
Does this knowledge suddenly make you want to go make-out with the nearest same-gender kid you can find?
I didn't think so...
Or do you find yourself with a craving for human sacrifice because they use magic.
I didn't think so...
books don't set examples. They emulate current society. So you can take your anti-book propaganda and shove it... up your nose. XP
2007-10-22 10:43:51 · answer #6 · answered by ichigo_li2 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
She didn't announce it because it doesn't matter too much and it had never come up before. She was reading and editing a script for the movie and saw a scene with Dumbledore and a girl who had been in love with him. She had to tell people that Dumbledore is homosexual as a reason for wanting that scene to be cut out.
2007-10-22 10:16:15 · answer #7 · answered by Mac 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Harry potter sets a bad example? If anything i think it might set a good example, there are loads of children out there that are too scared to annouce they are gay, prehaps Dumbledore being gay might help, shows them they are normal. I'm sick of readong about how people hate the fact Dumbledore is gay and had relationships, theres nothing wrong with it and if you were gay you would understand that.
2007-10-22 10:46:20 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Not being Jo Rowling, I can only answer with my own opinion. I don't think the series sets a bad example for children, but I also fail to see why the announcement of Dumbledore's sexuality had to be made at all. He was perfect just as he was.
2007-10-22 10:09:54 · answer #9 · answered by flexiblewill 3 · 3⤊ 3⤋
Oh my, yes - with its themes of courage, loyalty and doing the right thing in the face of seemingly impossible odds, the Harry Potter series is certainly a threat to society as we know it.
2007-10-22 10:20:05 · answer #10 · answered by irish1 6 · 5⤊ 0⤋