HBO defended J.K. Rowling’s involvement in its upcoming “Harry Potter” TV series, emphasizing her creative contributions and her right to express personal views despite controversy over her anti-trans statements.
Rowling’s outspoken gender-related beliefs have deeply divided the Harry Potter fanbase, with some advocating for boycotts and others finding ways to reconcile their love for the franchise while opposing her views.
Despite fan backlash and fractured enthusiasm, the “Wizarding World” franchise remains commercially strong, and Rowling appears unfazed by criticism, continuing to focus on her advocacy and involvement in the new series.
Well, yeah, she has a right to free expression.
We have the right to ostracise her and anyone exposing the kind of bigotry she expresses. That’s up to and including HBO or it’s affiliates
But, separate from that, her involvement is a disappointment on quality level. As much as I love the books and goddess movies, the woman is a mid tier writer. Which is still better than most people, but if she’s influencing production decisions along her established works, then the new stuff will be just as flawed as the old because she’s run out of new ideas and is coasting. She’s neither necessary nor useful to a series based on an established set of books
She’s neither necessary nor useful to a series based on an established set of books
Do you think it would be possible to make the series faithful to the books (or at least more than the films were) without her involvement?
Yes.
How is it that hard? I’m assuming the producers, directors, script-writers and so on can read. The books are not that long (even Phoenix is not that long in the grand scheme of things).
The only reason to get her involved is to provide “extra” background detail that doesn’t appear in the books at which point they have stopped being faithful to the books and are just made up bollocks.
So either you have a series that is faithful to the books, or faithful to her original vision which will be nothing like the books we all know and (I would assume) love, or we get a series that is something like the films which I happen to think were great and – in places – a vast improvement on the books.
Well that’s entirely put me off.
Not because of her bigoted rants. I would imagine that isn’t going to show up in the show all that much – I can’t imagine how she can work it in without making it overly obvious.
No – my problem is that Secrets of Dumbledore was crap. I mean REALLY bad. So if she brings her “special touch” to the series the way she did with that then god its going to be appalling.
Was she the reason Fantastic Beasts failed, though? (Genuine question, as I haven’t seen the films yet)
I have no idea.
But she wrote all three screen plays, and for me they were just ill conceived as a way to tell the Dumbledore/Grindelwald story. And the last one was particularly bad as a film – the story, the production… everything.
She’s got a right to fuck right off and to stfu.
Fans going to continue the status quo by enabling hate, as usual.
