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comment by elizabeth
elizabeth  ·  1901 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The wonderful, weird world of wizard rock

A thing a have noticed about Harry Potter fandoms, is that there's a disproportionate amount of queer folks that are really into it. The book never once mentions anything LGBT related. It's not like the wizzarding world is super accepting of anything out of the "norm" either. They're all about traditions and old ways of doing things, so I don't know how positive their stance on gay peeps would be anyway.

Maybe it's just the escapism of another world beyond ours that is the appeal? Why it resonates so strongly to a specific niche of people is a bit of a mystery to me.





veen  ·  1901 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Having a bunch of friends in or near Quidditch teams (my roommate went to the European Cup twice), I have also noticed that. There is also lots of drama / toxicity, which is even more puzzling.

kleinbl00  ·  1900 days ago  ·  link  ·  

1) it gives you that "sports" kick without having to participate in any of the sports the people who don't like you participate in.

2) The "fairness" of most sports is core to their playability and comprises the majority of arguments over rules. The "fairness" of Quiddich is taken to be nonexistent - that whole "find the snitch and win" thing is inherently unfair as it makes all other efforts pointless and there isn't a match in the whole of the wizarding world that has any fairness to it.

So. It's going to attract people who want to play sports, but not with people who play sports, and who are attracted to unfairness. Nothing puzzling about it.

user-inactivated  ·  1900 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Them kids need to discover volleyball. It's easy as all hell, no contact and you can socialize with the normies.

user-inactivated  ·  1897 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Failing that, Touch Rugby - similar in that the ball can't touch the ground, plus height is no serious advantage!

user-inactivated  ·  1900 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Well, Dumbledore is gay. We can't forget about that crucial detail.

elizabeth  ·  1897 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Meh, whatever bullshit JK says on twitter that's not written in the book is just PC-Washing of the text and often total shit literally

Funny how SJW she can be, while Goblins are a total antisemitic caricature.

user-inactivated  ·  1897 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Christopher Hitchens agrees.

I love that review. When I was a kid, I read Harry Potter first. Then I read Phillip Pullman right after. And I'd agree with Hitchens - The Golden Compass is infinitely better, more thrilling, and sends a better message. I only read Harry Potter to get points in the MS Read-a-Thon.

Just to clarify - I think JK is profoundly stupid. You're right - her beliefs are rooted in a very simplistic view of the world. But if kids are willing to sit and read 700+ pages of books it won't be very hard for them to move up.

Holy hell, I think I should do a standalone review of His Dark Materials. That shit was tight.

user-inactivated  ·  1897 days ago  ·  link  ·  

My partner just got me a copy of Northern Lights as I admitted I'd never read the series. Am just getting into it now!

Also damn Hitch was good at that. Loved reading his thoughts.