Fandom Snowflake Challenge #3
Jan. 7th, 2025 08:41 pm 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.