Read about how J. K. Rowling announced it in Carnegie Hall.

 “‘DUMBLEDORE IS GAY’ is quite a headline to stumble upon on a Friday evening, and it’s certainly not what I expected,” added Potter fan Patrick Ross, of Rutherford, N.J. “(But) a gay character in the most popular series in the world is a big step for Jo Rowling and for gay rights.”

 I'm not sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, I love that Dumbledore is gay and that it had the potential to be everything the article claims ("a big step," "wonderful strides")... but what disturbs me is this: that nothing in the Harry Potter Universe indicated Dumbledore was gay other than J. K. Rowling announcing it.

Potter readers had speculated about Dumbledore, noting that he has no close relationship with women and a mysterious, troubled past.

I feel like J. K. Rowling (if this was, indeed, an intentional move conceived long ago in Book One) was too afraid to write anything that would indicate that Dumbledore was gay for fear of alienating readers and creating what would ultimately be perceived as an "unhealthy" bond between Harry and Dumbledore. But now that the series is completed, it's okay to come out of the closet. I feel like it's a cop out, to be honest. And I don't feel like this sends that positive of a message about homosexuality--yes, Dumbledore is a gentle, patient, wise, respected and beloved character, but what message is this text now sending about homosexuality? That you cannot truly be yourself until the end of life, until the end of a series? That your lifestyle has to be guarded like Dumbledore's many well-kept secrets?

This summer, in my Victorian literature class, we were talking about Sarah Water's Fingersmith and queer theory. Professor Tongson brought up the concept of shame being a component of queer theory. Now, I can't think of any text that better highlights this idea than the Harry Potter books. This makes me sad--but an idea just occurred to me: what if this means, finally, we have a character who is a fully realized, three-dimensional character and not a caricature, in a mainstream text that just happens to be gay? Is this a good or bad thing? I can see it being a positive because it takes the emphasis away from sexuality and we get to experience Dumbledore without labels. But I can see it being a negative because it sends the message that you cannot fully be free to express yourself.

I feel very conflicted about this.

Labels: harry potter, literary analysis, news, queerness

( 3comments )

at October 22, 2007 4:30 PM  Lorie said...

I thought Coell from my LJ friends list had some good thoughts on the issue.

I'm not sure where I fall in thinking about it either. It's kind of cool that she could think of Dumbledore being gay, and say it so casually and matter-of-factly. Like it was such a given and no big deal - not even worth mentioning. But then she also seems to be taking the coward's way out, saying it now. She can get her applause for it, but that "troublesome" issue of homosexuality will stay far away from her actual books.

 

at October 22, 2007 5:18 PM  Jillydreadful said...

Thanks for the link... A brief aside: I envy that blog's readers because people disagree but don't sling namecalling around, unless directed at cunty J. K. Rowling. I wish people who disagreed with what I said were more like that.

Anyway...

The heteronormativity always irked me. Like, I wondered if Draco was gay, because he let Pansy Parkinson pet his hair but he never out-an-out dated a chick. But then in the epilouge, everyone is straight, even Draco, and the species has properly propagated itself. Another brief aside: I honestly don't think the epilouge was necessary. It read as if J. K. Rowling was writing her own fan fiction, to be honest.

Anyway, yeah, the heteronormativity... that's the thing about the Harry Potter series in the end, though, right? That all THOSE opposite-sex-couples are mentioned but the non-normative ones either aren't mentioned (Dumbledore) or don't work out (Hagrid/Maxine=unrequited, Remus/Tonks=dead).

Blah. I wonder if it's just a ploy on her end to get more book sales by saying Dumbledore is gay--because now there will be people who weren't interested in the series who will read it now for either: 1) decoding the would-be spectacle or 2) solidifying Harry Potter as a worthy text for academic scholarship.

Any way you shape it, J. K. comes out cunty.

 

at October 25, 2007 4:40 PM  Natalia said...

I like your commentary, but I wonder if you're right about people reading it who were not into it before in order to "solidify" HP as a "worthy text for academic scholarship." I feel like HP will definitely be analyzed as a text in English Departments in the future (kind of like how we read 19th and 20th century popular fiction), but I don't know if that really has anything to do with Dumbledore's orientation.

But then again, what do I know? :)