Where do we stand on Harry Potter?

[Deset Gled]

In another thread, a poster asked that mentions of Harry Potter be placed in spoiler tags, and also intimated that references to the franchise might be considered a microaggression. The discussion was shut down by a mod as off topic, but this specific request/issue was not addressed.

So, where do we stand on Harry Potter? Verboten? Requires a trigger warning (i.e. spoiler tags)? Free to discuss as we have in years past? The books/movies are okay but the author and new video games aren't?

Guidance and discussion would be appreciated.

 

[Umbran]

The moderation staff has not discussed the matter, so there is, at the moment, no official position.

But, the issue is probably handled better from a different direction. How do each of you feel about discussing the work?

This site comprises a community - you don't have to make a decision on it overall, when you can think about it with respect to people in your community.

JK Rowling has taken an anti-trans stance, and stated that she feels the money she continues to take in is implicit agreement with her position. Think a bit on how that probably makes our trans posters feel. Do you actually want to enjoy yourself talking in front of them about it? Are each of you comfortable with doing that?

As for the game, my Jewish friends continue to speak against its anti-Semitic elements. Do you want to hold an enthusiastic discussion on the game while dismissing how it likely makes Jewish posters on the board feel?

How do YOU want to treat people in your community?

 

[Blue]

I won't bring it up, or normally engage in discussion about though this meta topic seems appropriate. However I will also not go looking for discussion about it so if people go off in a virtual corner - e.g. a dedicated thread - I won't barge in and threadcrap.

Separating the art from the artist is an interesting philosophical debate I wouldn't mind having in the abstract, but as she is actively making money from these there is no separation currently.

Abut the closest I get to that particular intellectual property right now was to be sorry when Robbie Coltrane passed last year, even though the only role I knew him was was his interpretation of Hagrid.

 

[Parmandur]

As for the game, my Jewish friends continue to speak against its anti-Semitic elements. Do you want to hold an enthusiastic discussion on the game while dismissing how it likely makes Jewish posters on the board feel?

...what game is this...?

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

...what game is this...?

Hogwarts Legacy. Apparently there's a plotline in the game that goblins are kidnapping wizard children to use their blood for evil rituals. And, given the already antisemetic themes of Harry Potter Goblins, some people have taken to calling Hogwarts Legacy "Blood Libel: The Game".

 

[Gradine]

...what game is this...?

That would be Hogwarts Legacy. The original director hired on it is, among other unseemly things, antisemitic, and there's a lot of references to it in the game, some subtle (references to Goblin uprisings in the same year as historical genocidal pogroms alongside traditional Jewish musical instruments also associated with goblins), and some incredibly overt (Goblins basically suffer under Blood Libel in the game's setting). Considering the books and movies were already in thin ice themselves over their depiction of goblins, there's a strong sentiment that a lot of what might be easily brushed off as confidential is in fact anything but

 

[Parmandur]

Hogwarts Legacy. Apparently there's a plotline in the game that goblins are kidnapping wizard children to use their blood for evil rituals. And, given the already antisemetic themes of Harry Potter Goblins, some people have taken to calling Hogwarts Legacy "Blood Libel: The Game".

That would be Hogwarts Legacy. The original director hired on it is, among other unseemly things, antisemitic, and there's a lot of references to it in the game, some subtle (references to Goblin uprisings in the same year as historical genocidal pogroms alongside traditional Jewish musical instruments also associated with goblins), and some incredibly overt (Goblins basically suffer under Blood Libel in the game's setting). Considering the books and movies were already in thin ice themselves over their depiction of goblins, there's a strong sentiment that a lot of what might be easily brushed off as confidential is in fact anything but

Well...that's terrible.

 

[Imaculata]

I think any fantasy property should be open for discussion on these forums, as long as the discussion focusses on the property itself, and not their problematic author.

We discuss Call of Cthulhu here, and Lovecraft was a massive racist. We all acknowledge this, but focus on discussing roleplaying in a mythos setting, without supporting any of Lovecraft's repugnant ideas. I don't see why Harry Potter would be any different. Yes, its author is still alive and still very much trans phobic. But lets focus on the art, not the author.

Enjoying Rowlings works is not an endorsement of her trans phobic ideas in my view. Just as it is fine to enjoy the works of Lovecraft and to listen to the music of Michael Jackson... even though they carted a giant painting out of his estate, that set off all kinds of creep alarms. Seperate the art from the artist.

 

[AnotherGuy]

I think any fantasy property should be open for discussion on these forums, as long as the discussion focusses on the property itself, and not their problematic author.

We discuss Call of Cthulhu here, and Lovecraft was a massive racist. We all acknowledge this, but focus on discussing roleplaying in a mythos setting, without supporting any of Lovecraft's repugnant ideas. I don't see why Harry Potter would be any different. Yes, its author is still alive and still very much trans phobic. But lets focus on the art, not the author.

Enjoying Rowlings works is not an endorsement of her trans phobic ideas in my view. Just as it is fine to enjoy the works of Lovecraft and to listen to the music of Michael Jackson... even though they carted a giant painting out of his estate, that set off all kinds of creep alarms. Seperate the art from the artist.

Keeping to this line of thinking - the community does discuss with fondness many of the works of Joss Whedon, even with all that has been revealed about his disturbing behaviour behind set.
Interestingly my own relationship with Joss's work is not his TV series, although I've seen the Avenger movies, but rather his Astonishing X-Men run which I enjoyed so much when I borrowed and read my friend's copies that I went out and got my own.

 

[Andvari]

I think he's alright. Not a big fan of that Voldemort guy, though. I think he's bad news.