Because Harry Potter is a marketing juggernaut and recommending people get involved with the franchise keeps the franchise going.
I mean, if you recommend the HP books to somebody, presumably you expect them to enjoy those books - and then they’ll watch the movies, or wear the merchandise, or go to the theme park, or a hundred other marketing tie-ins that ultimately pay JKR royalties.
And then JKR uses that money to spread anti-trans propaganda.
I’m on board with separating the art from the author - there are a ton of shitty people out there, and some of them made good art, and that’s okay. But this is the most famous living author in the world, a woman whose art has given her a tremendous amount of fame and power, and who is actively using her fame and power for evil.
This is a good moral compromise in that it allows you to enjoy the art without the moral complications of commercially supporting a rapist, but I think some people might argue that it doesn’t go far enough and that we should essentially culturally boycott the art as well, that an artist’s reputation rests partially on how their art is perceived, and by continuing to enjoy that art and share it with others, you continue to support the artist in some sense.
Not sure I know how I feel about that argument, but I think it’s an intuition some folks have or an argument they make.
That’s fair. I think because in Gaiman’s case it’s still fresh for me, and really came out of nowhere, so I don’t like to talk about them much.
With JK, it’s so evident in her writing that she had some prejudice that it really didn’t surprise me much, so I internalized that quickly and moved on.
I don’t provide either with my money, and pirate them whenever I want something.
I get what you’re saying, but why not recommend them with the caveat that the other person should pirate them?
Because Harry Potter is a marketing juggernaut and recommending people get involved with the franchise keeps the franchise going.
I mean, if you recommend the HP books to somebody, presumably you expect them to enjoy those books - and then they’ll watch the movies, or wear the merchandise, or go to the theme park, or a hundred other marketing tie-ins that ultimately pay JKR royalties.
And then JKR uses that money to spread anti-trans propaganda.
I’m on board with separating the art from the author - there are a ton of shitty people out there, and some of them made good art, and that’s okay. But this is the most famous living author in the world, a woman whose art has given her a tremendous amount of fame and power, and who is actively using her fame and power for evil.
Don’t be part of that. Walk away. Read one of the dozen better young adult books about schoolkids in magical worlds that she was “inspired” by instead.
And my god, the irony that Neil Gaiman’s “Books of Magic” series was one of the sources JKR ripped off…
This is a good moral compromise in that it allows you to enjoy the art without the moral complications of commercially supporting a rapist, but I think some people might argue that it doesn’t go far enough and that we should essentially culturally boycott the art as well, that an artist’s reputation rests partially on how their art is perceived, and by continuing to enjoy that art and share it with others, you continue to support the artist in some sense.
Not sure I know how I feel about that argument, but I think it’s an intuition some folks have or an argument they make.
That’s fair. I think because in Gaiman’s case it’s still fresh for me, and really came out of nowhere, so I don’t like to talk about them much.
With JK, it’s so evident in her writing that she had some prejudice that it really didn’t surprise me much, so I internalized that quickly and moved on.
I don’t provide either with my money, and pirate them whenever I want something.