Harry Potter Author, J.K. Rowling, Says Dumbledore Is "Gay"

Here's the story: Rowling Says Dumbledore Is Gay

Here's a quote:

J.K. Rowling, author of the world-wide best-selling Harry Potter series, met some of her American fans Friday night and provided some surprising revelations about the fictional characters who a generation of children have come to regard as close friends.

In front of a full house of hardcore Potter fans at Carnegie Hall in New York, Rowling, sitting on the stage on a red velvet and carved wood throne, read from her seventh and final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," then took questions. One fan asked whether Albus Dumbledore, the head of the famed Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, had ever loved anyone. Rowling smiled. "Dumbledore is gay, actually," replied Rowling as the audience errupted in surprise. She added that, in her mind, Dumbledore had an unrequited love affair with Gellert Grindelwald, Voldemort's predecessor who appears in the seventh book. After several minutes of prolonged shouting and clapping from astonshed fans, Rowling added. "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy."

My thoughts:

Sad and disappointing. This will only encourage people who were already critical of the books.

Before this news about Dumbledore, I never had a big problem with the Harry Potter books, and I'll admit that I've read them all.

I never understood why Catholics went along with fundamentalists in fearing the magical elements of the series. I know people have compared the books to The Chronicles of Narnia and even The Lord of the Rings trilogy (and, I suppose The Hobbit), primarily because those books also involve magic, but I hold those works in higher esteem.

Here's what has always confused me (before the Dumbledore bombshell): Why are fundamentalist types so bent out of shape about Harry Potter, while not uttering so much as a peep of protest about The Wizard of Oz?

The Wizard of Oz has "good witches" and "bad witches" and contains imagery rooted in Theosophy and the occult (crystal balls, etc.). L. Frank Baum, the author of the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and it's thirteen sequels, was a theosophist.

The quote below is taken from The Wizard of Oz as a Theosophical Allegory:

At a faculty colloquium presented by David B. Parker, Assistant Professor of History, at Kennesaw State University, he suggested a relationship between certain themes, episodes, and characters in the Oz stories and L.Frank Baum's theosophical beliefs. Theosophy was a sort of New Age occult religion that was popular among certain groups of people a hundred years ago; Baum was a theosophist. Parker explains that the basic tenets of theosophical thought are relatively simple and included such notions as cosmic unity, planetary chains, human evolution within seven planes of existence, reincarnation, etc. It was upon re-reading Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that led Parker to discover the relationship between Baum's Oz writings and his theosophical beliefs. Parker states that given its closeness to Asian religion, theosophy might help explain Baum's "dainty China country", the title of one of the chapters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Through more research, David Parker came across John Algeo's work on Baum and theosophy. Finally, Parker gives some specific examples to illustrate how Baum's belief in theosophy could have several other implications for his writings. These include: 1) Many early theosophists were feminists and theosophy stressed a basic equality of the sexes. And, most of the major characters in the Oz series were female; 2) One can see a similar possible theosophical reflection in Baum's anti-intellectualism. For example, as Parker explains, the Scarecrow, who mistakenly thinks he needs brains ("head-learning"), actually gets by very well without brains, and is in fact the "smartest" of the travelers on the Yellow Brick Road; 3) The theosophical belief in reincarnation can be seen in how Baum's characters sometimes change identities which is the case of Tip, the young boy who is the main character in The Marvelous Land of Oz. At the end of the book, Tip is transformed into Ozma. And, furthermore, as Parker points out, "Ozma" is similar to "Atma", the theosophists' name for the Spirit, the highest level of man's evolution; and 4) Colors were also important to early theosophists says Parker. Charles M. Leadbetter, an important shaper of early theosophical thought, came up with a list of colors and their correspondences with the astral body. Yellow meant "intellect" while emerald green stood for "versatility, ingenuity and resourcefulness". So, as Parker explains, Dorothy on her quest, follows the Yellow Brick Road (intellect) and discovers, at the end, only a humbug (the Wizard)--"head-learning" alone is useless. Only after Dorothy applies the lessons of the Emerald City--"versatility, ingenuity and resourcefulness, applied unselfishly"--does Glinda tell Dorothy that she always had the power to return home.

I've known people who've banned Harry Potter from their homes, but have never thought twice about The Wizard of Oz.

Why the inconsistency?

Any thoughts?

Comments

[mrsbourno]

I can't believe that religious fundamentalists are getting so worked up over this comment Rowling made. In the story, the only relevance Dumbledore's sexual preference has, was that he was infatuated with Grinlewald when he was 18. That infatuation caused him to do things against his better judgment and ultimatly lose the people he loved more than anything. His actions during that short time were a mistake he regretted and paid for every day for the rest of his life.
People on both sides are using this comment as a lightning rod to prove their point. The religious right are using it to condemn the Harry Potter books outright, because there is a(privately)gay character in a teaching position. Meanwhile the gay-rights supporters are using it to make their lifestyle seem more normal. Both sides need to get off their high horse and realize Dumbledore's feelings for Grindlewald (love, friendship, whatever), are portrayed as a bad thing that caused him heartbreak.

[JMC]

Children don't understand death? Don't hand me that. I've known kids as young as 4 completely understand what it means to die. If small children don't understand death, whose fault is it?

When I was in the third grade, one of our readers was "This is Our Town" from the Faith and Freedom series. It told the tale of a riverbank town struck by a terrible storm that caused such flooding to the point that the town had to be evacuated. It told of the children's experiences living in a shelter. It told about what they found when they got back to the town, including people who had vanished in the storm and were never found. It was stated explicitly that the people were probably dead. Yes, the word "dead" was actually used.

Some people are probably shuddering at the thought of such a horror story being told to an eight-year-old. We need to stop sheltering our kids. They need to be aware that such things do happen.

Why did we stop teaching younger children about death, anyway? Perhaps it's because our culture lionizes youthfulness, engendering an attitude that tries to avoid aging at all costs, and ignores death as something that happens to other people, but not to us. We are no longer comfortable talking about death. Our children remain ignorant of death until something happens to draw their attention to it, and then parents have a traumatized child on their hands. I draw a parallel: The justification the proponents of "sex-ed" gave back in the early 1960s. Parents weren't comfortable talking about sex, so they weren't telling their children about it, and so on and so forth.
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Such gross underestimation of a small child's intelligence and capabilities is a very sore spot with me. People just don't realize how much they can cripple their children by doing that to them.

[dino]

Right, JMC. Being an unmarried adult doesn't automatically indicate homosexuality. Part of the American English lexicon is the term "old maid aunt", and Prairie Home Companion's reference to "bachelor Swedish farmers", niether of these have sexual overtones to the average person.
I only read the first Harry Potter. Not being much for fiction as a whole, it did not spur me to read subsequent Rowling books. This new revelaton will not make a difference to me.

[Mona Alona]

Many Catholic schools in the Diocese of Orange stock Harry Potter books on their shelves. Parents have complained about the books quoting the Pope and Gabrial Amorath but the principals have ignored the complaints.

[neal]

I dont realy care weather or not the guys gay. I do find it odd that she says so so late though. Id like to hear her religious views.