Complicated
On January 1st, we decided to watch the Harry Potter special on HBO as a family. Harry Potter is kind of our thing — not just the books but the movies, too. Josh and I went to the first movie the day before our wedding, and every other movie on opening night. We visited the set outside London for almost 8 hours. I have Ravenclaw robes hanging in my closet.
It should have been a simple decision. We like Harry Potter + we like the movies = watch the special. But, of course, the words of JK Rowling hover over everything, which means that it went from being a simple pleasure to being a complicated pleasure. One that requires discussion before enjoying. Or not enjoying.
The reality is that before the advent of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, probably every artist I liked — and, if we’re being honest, probably every non-artist friend or family member — has had views I’ve disagreed with. I just didn’t know about most of them. I mean, I knew when they shared their views or supported a candidate I didn’t like or gave donations to organizations that do work that negate my existence. But unless their action or words bubbled to the top of the newspaper or a magazine article, I usually didn’t know. But now we know everything. About everyone. Or, at least, we think we do.
So we had a spirited discussion about whether her hurtful, dangerous words on one topic canceled out all of the helpful, supportive thoughts on other topics. Whether Harry Potter was larger than the creator at this point. Should Quidditch change its name. Big questions for what amounts to something that is entertainment for some and life changing for others.
Maybe that was the tipping point. Life changing. We’ve built multiple vacations around these books; taken the kids through London to look for the Ministry of Magic and rode the Hogwarts Express over the aqueduct in Scotland. I read all seven books aloud, my arms wrapped around them during hard scenes. I take to heart Daniel Radcliffe’s words on his Trevor Project letter: “I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you.”
As a Jewish woman, I had to make peace with a complicated reality to read Agatha Christie or teach Knut Hamsun. Life has a way of forcing us to make those decisions over and over again. Some things or people or places make the cut. Others do not. And it’s often personal and inexplicable, even if it makes sense in your own heart.
5 comments
Wasn’t there are fable about golden statues having feet of clay? It’s almost always the case that someone whose work you love has said or done something that violates principles that you hold. How to deal with that information continues to be a struggle…
I love Harry Potter, but I don’t know that any of her new stuff will catch my attention. I really enjoyed Gina Carano’s character on The Mandalorian, but I never need to see her again. I loved everything Mel Gibson did…until his drunken rants exposed him. I keep telling my kid that we won’t have R. Kelly music in our house whenever she starts singing Ignition. I wonder why Chris Brown continues to be popular. And I kind of cringe every time I see that Weinstein logo at the beginning of a movie. But I’d rather know than not know.
I feel the same about Woody Allen’s movies. I still find a lot to enjoy in them, but it’s like there’s a permanent cloud hanging over them now. 🙁
It’s so hard to separate the person from the work, and JK Rowling was just so disappointing because she doubled down. But I love the books and the ideas so much (which is why her stance on trans people, women in particular, is so confuzzling) that I can divorce them. Mostly. I was so mad because they felt tarnished. But, like you said, there’s so many complicated artists out there who produce excellent work but then ruin things with comments and actions, but I think I’d rather know so I can acknowledge the difficult pieces. It’s so much easier when it’s a passing comment and subsequent apology, and so much harder when there no apology and a slew of awful.
It’s a tough one, isn’t it? But I think that any discussion ab0ut the issues at least makes us aware, and we can recognise bias or views we disagree with outside of or even within the piece of work that we love, but we can still appreciate the work besides those flaws. I hope you still enjoyed the special. I did.
What’s different here, I think, is that usually when this stuff comes out, it’s in the past, like 10 year old tweets that resurface, and (often, but not always) the person apologizes, says they’ve changed, etc. JKR has made these comments recently, way after she became famous, and has doubled down and won’t apologize which is awful. I saw the movies and liked them but wasn’t obsessed; I could live without seeing them again and I never wanted to read the books. My 11 yo got really into the books, reading them over and over, a couple years ago. I didn’t have the heart to tell her about the author’s hateful views, yet. Although she probably doesn’t even know who the author is.