Dumb article. The world is shit enough as is. Let people like what they like.
ItIsUnfair on
I think people are moving on already, without any guidance from journalists. There are already way less potter-heads or such today than five or ten years ago I think.
Growing up and changing taste isn’t really something you can tell someone else to do. It’s something they just discover that they somehow did, often without intention, a few years after the fact.
ForbiddenLibera on
Cringe culture is dead, let people have fun as long as it’s not hurting anyone etc etc.
alexagente on
I’m not saying that there aren’t plenty of Potterheads that need to grow the fuck up but enjoying something from your childhood as an adult is not a crime.
PrairieCanadian on
Is Margolyes talking to fans about this or to journalists that are asking the same questions after all these years?
I’m wondering if she’s having the journalists on and is still kind to fans on the street. I don’t know.
emptyhellebore on
For crying out loud, reading a book originally marketed for children is not bad for you. It’s not eating a stick of butter.
I’m never letting go of my childhood loves. I don’t live there all the time, but I revisit often for reason number one: some of those childhood favorites still make me happy. And if someone has an issue with that too bad.
GraniteGeekNH on
> “No other children’s books inspire the same fanaticism.”
Gollum cries: “My precioussssss – my preciousssss”
Winnie-the-Pooh says “You are a writer of very little brain”
The Wizard of Oz looks behind the curtain, is not impressed.
One_Doughnut1952 on
I’d say she’s a cranky old woman who’s forgotten it’s important to nurture your inner child. And, maybe…just maybe, she was irritated with journalists asking her that question.
Nofrillsoculus on
I’m all for letting people enjoy things, not so big on supporting and platforming transphobes.
I was a massive Harry Potter fan as a kid, I’m never giving Rowling another cent.
PartyOperator on
I disagree. Adults shouldn’t feel shame for liking these books any more than they should feel shame for liking being tied up and spanked in a grimy dungeon. Consenting adults in private should be able to do what they want.
It’s kids we should be wary of introducing these books to.
>Ask yourself: what are the Harry Potter books actually about? A plucky kid who goes to wizard school and fights a kind of wizard Hitler. It is not that deep. Like most children’s books, the franchise offers, at its core, moral instruction, clear and easy-to-grasp lessons about the importance of kindness and the inevitability of death. The thing is, by the time you’re in your twenties and thirties, you should probably have worked a lot of this stuff out. (Don’t carelessly wave your wand at innocent people, for example – you should know that by now.)
If that’s all it was about, it would be a much less of a problem. Fun escapism with wholesome moral lessons. But of course Harry Potter has never been about teaching kids the value of kindness. The core lesson Harry Potter teaches is: many kids (especially boys) may feel unloved and vulnerable. The solution is to embrace extreme violence. Only by learning to suppress your emotions and channel your sense of alienation into destroying your enemies will you be truly accepted. As a white man, you were born with special powers and it is your destiny to dominate your peers. Become part of the patriarchy and enforce traditional values by giving up your individuality to a thinly veiled allegory for institutional Christianity and only then can you maybe make the world a better place.
10 Comments
Dumb article. The world is shit enough as is. Let people like what they like.
I think people are moving on already, without any guidance from journalists. There are already way less potter-heads or such today than five or ten years ago I think.
Growing up and changing taste isn’t really something you can tell someone else to do. It’s something they just discover that they somehow did, often without intention, a few years after the fact.
Cringe culture is dead, let people have fun as long as it’s not hurting anyone etc etc.
I’m not saying that there aren’t plenty of Potterheads that need to grow the fuck up but enjoying something from your childhood as an adult is not a crime.
Is Margolyes talking to fans about this or to journalists that are asking the same questions after all these years?
I’m wondering if she’s having the journalists on and is still kind to fans on the street. I don’t know.
For crying out loud, reading a book originally marketed for children is not bad for you. It’s not eating a stick of butter.
I’m never letting go of my childhood loves. I don’t live there all the time, but I revisit often for reason number one: some of those childhood favorites still make me happy. And if someone has an issue with that too bad.
> “No other children’s books inspire the same fanaticism.”
Gollum cries: “My precioussssss – my preciousssss”
Winnie-the-Pooh says “You are a writer of very little brain”
The Wizard of Oz looks behind the curtain, is not impressed.
I’d say she’s a cranky old woman who’s forgotten it’s important to nurture your inner child. And, maybe…just maybe, she was irritated with journalists asking her that question.
I’m all for letting people enjoy things, not so big on supporting and platforming transphobes.
I was a massive Harry Potter fan as a kid, I’m never giving Rowling another cent.
I disagree. Adults shouldn’t feel shame for liking these books any more than they should feel shame for liking being tied up and spanked in a grimy dungeon. Consenting adults in private should be able to do what they want.
It’s kids we should be wary of introducing these books to.
>Ask yourself: what are the Harry Potter books actually about? A plucky kid who goes to wizard school and fights a kind of wizard Hitler. It is not that deep. Like most children’s books, the franchise offers, at its core, moral instruction, clear and easy-to-grasp lessons about the importance of kindness and the inevitability of death. The thing is, by the time you’re in your twenties and thirties, you should probably have worked a lot of this stuff out. (Don’t carelessly wave your wand at innocent people, for example – you should know that by now.)
If that’s all it was about, it would be a much less of a problem. Fun escapism with wholesome moral lessons. But of course Harry Potter has never been about teaching kids the value of kindness. The core lesson Harry Potter teaches is: many kids (especially boys) may feel unloved and vulnerable. The solution is to embrace extreme violence. Only by learning to suppress your emotions and channel your sense of alienation into destroying your enemies will you be truly accepted. As a white man, you were born with special powers and it is your destiny to dominate your peers. Become part of the patriarchy and enforce traditional values by giving up your individuality to a thinly veiled allegory for institutional Christianity and only then can you maybe make the world a better place.