J.K. Rowling needs to stop messing with Harry Potter - A general STFU J.K. Rowling MegaThread <3

[NG 070]

JK tried to do serious adult fiction that had nothing to do with Harry Potter, and that completely flopped like a lead balloon.

She's a one trick pony, through and through.

 

[Zaryiu]

JK tried to do serious adult fiction that had nothing to do with Harry Potter, and that completely flopped like a lead balloon.

She's a one trick pony, through and through.

And even then her one trick is pretty overrated

 

[MemeGray]

She's a one trick pony, through and through.

And that pony is a Frankensteins monster made up of the worlds most famous racehorses.

Rowling doesn't get enough shit for all her "original" ideas.

 

[Faggot Gift]

And that pony is a Frankensteins monster made up of the worlds most famous racehorses.

Rowling doesn't get enough shit for all her "original" ideas.

This last is the situation, as I see it, between my A Wizard of Earthsea and J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter. I didn’t originate the idea of a school for wizards — if anybody did it was T.H.White, though he did it in single throwaway line and didn’t develop it. I was the first to do that. Years later, Rowling took the idea and developed it along other lines. She didn't plagiarize. She didn’t copy anything. Her book, in fact, could hardly be more different from mine, in style, spirit, everything. The only thing that rankles me is her apparent reluctance to admit that she ever learned anything from other writers. When ignorant critics praised her wonderful originality in inventing the idea of a wizards’ school, and some of them even seemed to believe that she had invented fantasy, she let them do so. This, I think, was ungenerous, and in the long run unwise.

RIP Ursula K LeGuin, an actually great female writer.

 

[XYZpdq]

It's almost like Dumbledore being gay wasn't in anything before JK spergout because it didn't exist then and even then had nothing to do with anything in the story, almost like JK pulled a retcon to get attention

I forget if it was this thread or a different one I've mentioned it before, but iirc Gay Dumbledore first surfaced in one of the first few movies. There was some dialog in the screenplay about an ex-gf that Rowling nixed without getting into why at the time.

The series certainly went downhill as it got further from Wizard Kids At Wizard School and her ghost writers got worse, but I'll give her Gay Dumbledore.

 

[Krokodil Overdose]

Is there a reason that she can't just retire to one of her mansions, buy herself a title and raise horses, or make wine, or whatever the hell it is rich Britbongs do when they're not getting involved in bizarre sex scandals? She's going the route of George Lucas, but without the eye for aesthetics.

 

[Zaryiu]

I forget if it was this thread or a different one I've mentioned it before, but iirc Gay Dumbledore first surfaced in one of the first few movies. There was some dialog in the screenplay about an ex-gf that Rowling nixed without getting into why at the time.

The series certainly went downhill as it got further from Wizard Kids At Wizard School and her ghost writers got worse, but I'll give her Gay Dumbledore.

I thought she only started writing the movies withe first the first one of the prequels?

 

[XYZpdq]

I thought she only started writing the movies withe first the first one of the prequels?

iirc she was in an overseeing position on the Harry Potter movies so that if they started putting in something that would clash with plans for later things (>implying planning on the later books) she could speak up and head them off at the pass, but yeah she didn't write the screenplays beyond a few "do this, don't do that" notes until that recent one.

 

[BScCollateral]

RIP Ursula K LeGuin, an actually great female writer.

In Rowling's defense, I suspect LeGuin vastly overestimates the ability of a mainstream critic to accept information.

Giving a reporter a fact is like throwing fried chicken at a cow. It doesn't understand what it is, or what to do with it.

 

[XYZpdq]

I suspect LeGuin vastly overestimates the ability of a mainstream critic to accept information.

I forget what it was but she had some amazingly passive-aggressive bitchy thing at Miyazaki's son related to his Earthsea movie. Like exactly the sort of thing that would kick a Japanese square in the balls.

 

[BScCollateral]

I forget what it was but she had some amazingly passive-aggressive bitchy thing at Miyazaki's son related to his Earthsea movie. Like exactly the sort of thing that would kick a Japanese square in the balls.

Didn't see that one, but my impression is that it wasn't a well-regarded film.

 

[Mrs Paul]

apparently even Lupin's actor thought he was gay when he first read the PoA script (IIRC Cuaron also thought Sirius and Lupin were meant to be gay)

Cuaron told Thewlis to play Lupin gay without Rowling's knowledge, IIRC.



(Sorry, that should be withOUT Rowling's knowledge)

 

[XYZpdq]

Didn't see that one, but my impression is that it wasn't a well-regarded film.

Yeah consensus I saw was Hayao was concerned Goro wasn't ready for primetime and they were just using him for the name.

dug it up

Mr Goro Miyazaki asked me just as I was leaving, "Did you like the movie?" It was not an easy question to answer, under the circumstances. I said: "Yes. It is not my book. It is your movie. It is a good movie."

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

The series certainly went downhill as it got further from Wizard Kids At Wizard School and her ghost writers got worse, but I'll give her Gay Dumbledore.

Besides, people lose their shit if you tell them a character is NOT gay to just about the same degree anyways. How DARE S.E. Hinton do it!

STAY GAY, PONYBOY: ON LGBT INTERPRETATIONS AND AUTHOR TWITTER BATTLES

In this case, however, S.E. Hinton’s reactions show that she’d rather not change a word of her original hit. She would rather stay with the original theme of innocence lost, and family troubles. Also, the mere suggestion of a change puts her on the defensive. That lack of grace shows less tact than her denial that Ponyboy and Johnny are part of the LGBT spectrum.

I mean, what the fuckity fuck is an author supposed to do?

 

[omori]

I've read enough Harry Potter to know that Harry wouldn't give a rat's ass about Israel. Hermione was written to be a prototype SJW in book 4, crusading for the poor minorities to be their voice while simultaneously hushing them when they felt uncomfortable about it. But then Rowling was self aware then.

I fully suspect she's doing this to drum up money because Casual Vacancy was such shit and brought zero income.

 

[Inigo]

Another reason why Tolkien's work is infinitely superior in every way

He had the common courtesy to die before he thought of changing his works years after they were published

You do realize the Silmarillion exists? lol.

I'll never understand why you booty blasted LOTR fanboys who dismiss Harry Potter as not being up to Tolkien's standards. They're both good in different ways.

 

[Someone in a Tree]

Tolkien also retconned the circumstances that led to Bilbo getting the ring in The Hobbit to make it match the characterization he gave Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. Getting back to the subject of Rowling, I wonder if she'd still be this involved in ancillary Harry Potter projects had The Casual Vacancy been better received, potentially leading her to write more adult fiction under her own name.

 

[Inigo]

Tolkien also retconned the circumstances that led to Bilbo getting the ring in The Hobbit to make it match the characterization he gave Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. Getting back to the subject of Rowling, I wonder if she'd still be this involved in ancillary Harry Potter projects had The Casual Vacancy been better received, potentially leading her to write more adult fiction under her own name.

I suspect she's being pressured into doing it by movie studios, actually. Otherwise she would just write more books.

 

[Someone in a Tree]

I suspect she's being pressured into doing it by movie studios, actually. Otherwise she would just write more books.

Why would she be beholden to them, though? Surely she has enough power to walk away from the series if she doesn't want to be involved. The studio can make their movies and she can write her books. The Potter books are popular enough to weather whatever bad attention a shitty movie can bring. The only thing I can think of is if it's like a Hannibal Rising scenario and she thinks she's protecting the IP rather than just being a party to its degradation.

 

[omori]

Why would she be beholden to them, though? Surely she has enough power to walk away from the series if she doesn't want to be involved. The studio can make their movies and she can write her books. The Potter books are popular enough to weather whatever bad attention a shitty movie can bring. The only thing I can think of is if it's like a Hannibal Rising scenario and she thinks she's protecting the IP rather than just being a party to its degradation.

Years and years ago she talked about writing an encyclopedia for the series shortly after deathly hallows was released and have that be the final thing she did that was Harry Potter related. Instead that encyclopedia became Pottermore, something she could constantly update whenever the thought struck her instead of the definititive encyclopedia.