Apparently it was more of an off-the-cuff remark at a live Q & A session ("honestly, I always saw Dumbledore as gay") than an authorial pronouncement. Not that I expect to see her issue a retraction or anything! Why should she? She's entitled to her opinion same as anybody.
But people need to realize, the worth of an authorial pronouncement is relative. The author knows nothing more about a character than was established and can be supported from within the work itself. If we (or Rowling) wish to interpret Dumbledore as gay (or straight, or marxist-feminist) then we can derive our arguments from the text. Impartial observers will judge for themselves what is supported and what is not. No one need get all het up about "oh, she's changing everything up on us after the fact!" Because if Dumbledore is gay, then he was gay long before the press conference.
Not that creators don't try to change it up after the fact. Examples abound of creative types who wax revisionistic on their creations long after the wax has dried. Such musings are interesting, sure! It's always interesting to see how the creative mind works, considers, reconsiders, justifies. It's interesting, but not necessarily valid. At that point, random after-the-fact pronouncements and musings are about as valid as reconsidering who you should have asked to the prom. What's done is done.
I mean, some morons believe that Deckard's a replicant! Ridley Scott among them.
Anyhow. There's no shame in being a replicant. I don't mean to offend any replicants, but is Roy Batty not role model enough? CHRIST, PEOPLE!!
It doesn't matter what the artist thinks: it matters what interpretations the artwork can support.
2 comments:
This is a case of authorial backstory gone mad. Next, we'll find out the Prof. McGonnegal was once an exotic dancer and Snape has an inexplicable paralyzing fear of pears.
It's plain enough to me what the real story is here. Dumbledore is not gay, and Rowling knows it. She's putting this out there as a pathetic attempt to deflect her own deep-seated discomfort over her subconscious attraction to a much older man. She rationalizes it: "If he's gay, then I don't have to deal with my feelings for him."
That's plain enough to me.
Post a Comment