Fandom Snowflake Challenge #3

[tjs_whatnot]

 Challenge #3

In your own space, talk about a fannish opinion you hold that has changed over time. 

 

So, remember in the last challenge when I said I was waiting for a different challenge to talk about my origin story? This is the challenge I was waiting for. And, yes, this is going to be another post about Harry Potter. I’m thinking it might be my very last one. Ever.

 

I used to never think I could say that because who I was as a writer, a reader, a friend and a person--even a queer person was tied up to that fandom. And it still is, but not to the franchise itself. And that hasn’t been for a long time. I’m not going to repeat myself and will link to a previous Snowflake where I talked about Harry Potter Despite It All (I forgot just how long JKR has been a piece of shit).

 

But, that’s just it. I had dismissed her, left Twitter because of her (and Elon and just *waves* everything), and hadn’t really realized that she’s gone past doubling down, she’s turned being a hateful, misinformed, entitled devil into her whole personality.

 

And then I saw this video: 

 

And it hit me like a brick. Or more, cemented something I have been thinking about for a long time. It was this part:

 

If you can't do that (let the HP IP die/ take HP out of your bio) you're sending a message to the queer community that your allyship has limits.

 

It was that, and the actual tweet that he highlights in this video that is making me question what I'm even doing with my fandom life. I don't want to fight about HP. I don't want to stop people from doing what they're going to do, but I am going to change how I interact with the source, while also still loving all my queer-writing, queer-being HP friends. 

 

That is the only reason I'm not going to be deleting my stories, or walking away from them. They helped me define my queerness, they were gifts written to other queer people who wanted to see themselves in mainstream media and were afraid they never would. I like to think they can continue to be that. I am going to address it though, either in the stories themselves or in my profile. But yeah, definitely a fannish opinion that is ever evolving. And I kind of hate JKR for that. 

Comments

[sherylyn]

YES. Soooo much YES to what you wrote! I hate what JKR has done to those memories, and all those beautiful moments that happened. What I hang onto, though, was that those moments weren't actually about *her*, for the most part. Yes, we came together b/c of things she created, but it's what those stories were about — the *values* that they shared — are what drew us into those close relationships with other people. Some of my best friends are from all over the place, and they're the ones I got together with in Seattle last year — over 20 years after we started an HP fanfic site together. We've left it in tact, but with a disclaimer on the front page about JKR, b/c she's an absolute ass, to put it mildly.

I love that quote you found, and overall agree with it completely. I love what HP gave us... but JKR's horribleness has just messed with so much of the actual enjoyment I used to get from it, and to me, that's also a "crime" she's committed ;-P

[gingicat]

Co-signed. So much this.

[tjs_whatnot]

I hate what she's done to this Fandom too. I wish the world can see that when some of us say we love HP, they'd see the characters we created, the characteristics we molded to fit our Othered perspectives and told each other to not feel so alone and ignored. How we transfixed it to mean so very much more. But they can't, and I can't explain it, so the least I can do is table my thoughts and feelings for certain people and places that won't see it as a betrayal of my queerness and an acceptance of her warped and horrendous reasonings.

❤️❤️

[sherylyn]

As much as a non-queer person possibly can, I fully understand what you mean. One of my dearest friends — and co-founder of our site — is a queer Black woman whose partner is trans. Yes, we also have other fandoms we enjoy, but there's something special about that history we share. Trying to somehow "balance" those things is just fucking hard, no matter how anyone does it.