Another clip I animated from the Harry Potter audio books for fun.

Like it's one thing if you have someone who's said or done some "problematic" things in the past. It's one thing for a media figure to be beloved by annoying MAGA chuds but despised by anyone even a hint left of center. It's one thing to consume art from someone who was a monsterous bigot in their lifetime but has long since passed.

But with Harry Potter it's just.... nothing. There's not even a conversation to be had. Aside from people who are online enough to care, everyone else just carries on as before. There is no cancelation to come back from, there is no smaller audience the work is restricted to, there is nothing to contend with unless you're friends with a specific kind of person. I still see people on dating apps who put BLM or ACAB or some other progressive slogan in their bios, but list Harry Potter as their favorite books. There is no shame in this. They see no contradiction because to them it is a non-issue.

Rowling is the face of a hate movement and most people who like her work don't even realize it. They don't have to realize it. And if they did, they probably wouldn't understand why what she's saying or doing is wrong.

I’ll bite. What’s the difference between those two?

“Fuck canon I do what I want” is just an approach to fandom that can mean any of the following:

I am not particularly concerned with being canon-compliant in my fanworks and headcanons.

I am not personally motivated to have an extensive knowledge of the canon I’m fannish about.

I will freely rewrite, overwrite, or just plain ignore part of canon that I don’t like.

All of which are, again, fine. Fandom is transformative. Rewriting and reimagining the text is part of what we do.

Death of the Author is a critical framework based on the 1967 essay “La mort de l'auteur” by French literary theorist Roland Barthes, and posits that a text should be interpreted without regard for the author’s intent. (It’s worth noting here that like all critical frameworks, Death of the Author has its limitations, and I’m not going to get into arguing for or against it here–only that it’s a theory that exists.)

Obviously, there’s some potential overlap between these two ideas. But the critical difference, as I see it, is that Death of the Author is not about discarding or rewriting the text; it simply suggests that once the text is out there, it exists unto itself separate from the author, and the author’s intended meaning is no more authoritative than the interpretation of a reader/viewer/audience member.

because

they’re

great

The dark lord

The four hogwarts founders

And my personal favorite