Is J.K. Rowling just looking for attention?

Question

Firstly let me clarify that I am not even nearly a Harry Potter fan, but why the hell would J.K. Rowling make a statement about the headmaster being gay after all of the books have been written? This new "twist" will now never be explored because there won't be any new books, so why the hell say something like that? Is she missing the spotlight now that she's done writing??

Answer 1

I think so.She just wanted to spark controversy so people would buy more books.
The key word here is AFTER the books were written.
There is no way she would have done this BEFORE the last one came out!

Answer 2

Actually, I don't think the spotlight was ever taken away from her.

When a woman has more money than the Queen, good chance she'll be the center of attention for a while. Especially since she's thinking about writing more.

Now if all the movies were already made - I'd say you'd have a point. Because the Harry Potter craze will die down. But fans still have those movies. I just don't think Rowling would attract more attention to herself.

A fan asked her a question about Dumbledore's true love, and Rowling provided a simple and honest answer.

Answer 3

I totally disagree with this theory.
First of all, the movies should really have nothing to do with it. His being gay is not anywhere in the books, nor does it have anything to do with the plot/ storyline, so how could it affect the movies? There won't be anything different about them now. His being gay is completely after the fact. I think that JK is true to her characters and her fans and that the integrity of her characters means way more to her than selling a few extra books. The lady already has more money than the Queen of bloody England, I don't think she's going to make up something random that she totally doesn't believe or is false, just to make a few more $$. I just don't. She has poured her heart, soul, and imagination into these books over the last 10 years, she has lived and breathed Harry Potter, so if it wasn't something that she had thought of before and made part of his character if just in her own mind, I TRULy believe she would not have said it.
Besides only the hard core HP fans really care (and of course all the crazy extremists, but that's another matter entirely) and true HP fans already have the books and have read them and seen, and will see, the movies. I don't think that THAT many people are going to go out and buy HP books 1-7 to read them all when they never even mention Dumbles gayness or even have homosexual undertones through any of them, just because she now says one of the characters is gay. Seriously


I think it's great that he is by the way. Not just because he was gay, but because he never had a relationship or partner or anything romantic through all the books, nor was it even hinted at, so to know that he had true love once, and was forced to kill him for the greater good, and then never loved again, well, that's just kind of sad and romantic and sweet all at the same time. I don't care what sexuality was involved, love that great is just.....epic.

Answer 4

Authors know a lot about their characters that never show up in the books. Rowling is the kind of author who creates a lot of backstory for her characters, so likely this is something she has known about Dumbledore all along.

She was doing an author appearance, and someone asked her specifically about whether Dumbledore was gay. She answered with the truth according to the character profile she created for that one character. If no one had asked, she wouldn't have mentioned it.

It's not like she called a press conference just to announce Dumbledore's sexual preference.

Answer 5

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 scholars 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

Answer 6

That was my thought when I first heard about this.

After all, were there any unanswered questions that would even be influenced by Dumbledore's sexual orientation? Was it ever even a topic or question in the books? (and in a series of books aimed at pre-pubescent kids no less) There's nothing in the books that changes because of this - no great insights or alterations in the story. Sure, Rowling says the books have a strong theme of tolerance in them, but the examples were always along the lines of race and ancestry.

If anything, Rowling's books are a cautionary tale against facism, and a certain movement that swept Europe about 70 years ago, resulting in one of the largest and most apalling acts of systematic genocide of the 20th century.

(makes me wonder if the wizarding world is even aware of what's happening in the muggle world..otherwise, punks like Voldemort and his lot would have long since been relegated to the fringes of society, if not outright killed...)

Answer 7

I think she had some personal reason for wanting the book to have a gay character portrayed in a positive light. However, having him outwardly gay would have affected sales, and also would have cause some people to enter the book with a negative bias towards him. By "outing" him afterwards, she may be hoping to change a few people perceptions about gay people.

Answer 8

Because she is trying to fade out of the spotlight.

I think she is sick of all the publicity. She has made all the $$$ she could possibly want. She is telling the world to leave her alone now.

I would more than happy to do this. I like Harry Potter movies, but it is so commercialized now, I refuse to buy anything with the Harry Potter name on it.

I could care less about Dumbledore's sexual orientation. By making that statement, she has chosen to make this book inappropriate for children....after all that money she made off of kids all over the world.

Pathetic, but I really don't have any interest in what happens to her anyway.

Answer 9

I don't think she is attention seeking, and I don't think she likes being in the spotlight either.
I thought she revealed the Dumbledore gay thing at an interview in which someone asked if he had been in love or something like that.
Maybe she didn't say anything before in case homophobics didn't buy her books?

Answer 10

Does Mr. T Really Pity the foo?
Does Arnold Jackson truely want to know What you talking bout' Willis?
Does The Roadrunner always get away from the coyote?
Does Micheal Jacksons song 'Beat it' make you feel guilty when you hear it now?

Exactly!

Answer 11

She probably announced it afterwards to avoid any more backlash on her books than she recieved with the whole "Potter leads children to witchcraft" fiasco. If you read the books, you would probably pick it up. It's not obviously stated, but the underlying tones of it are definitely there. It's not even really a "twist" since Dumbledore is practically missing throughout the last book. It's more a statement on *what* he is that has nothing to do with *who* he is.