The reply title we've seem to have adopted amuses me more. Bwahaha.
I agree with Rev, there might simply have been no elegant way to present the information in the books - if that truly was her intent. I mean, not everything an author plans actually makes it to paper. Sometimes it's better to leave things out or unsaid.
However, it's still possible it was kept from the books because it might have affected sales.
It's true that people who'd object to homosexuality would probably also already object to magic and wizardry and such.
But it's also a fact that there's a lot of folks who are fantasy fans themselves, or don't mind purchasing fantasy books for their children... but would be turned off by an overt homosexual character.
Hell, my own family is an example. A good number of 'em are serious Christians. And they're also Harry Potter fans. They're fine with the concept of magic in fiction, because, well, that's fiction. But when you have a homosexual, possibly homoerotic plot going down, that crosses over into the realm of a distinctly moral or societal-commentary message... which is going to bother some people. I know it'd bother a lot of my relatives, who are - otherwise - fans of the series now.
In fact, now that Rowling's come and said this, that's probably enough to make my family look akance at the series. They probably ain't gonna flip out and stop reading the books (or watching the films), but it'd put a dampener on their enjoyment.
Understand, I'm not talking about bigotry here. I personally believe everyone should be accepting of homosexuality - but it's much harder to approve or endorse it. And thus it's going to make a lot of people uncomfortable, reading something with a distinct homosexual overtone.
And before you say, well, then people should get with the times...it's not that simple, is it?
-- Acyl
I agree with Rev, there might simply have been no elegant way to present the information in the books - if that truly was her intent. I mean, not everything an author plans actually makes it to paper. Sometimes it's better to leave things out or unsaid.
However, it's still possible it was kept from the books because it might have affected sales.
It's true that people who'd object to homosexuality would probably also already object to magic and wizardry and such.
But it's also a fact that there's a lot of folks who are fantasy fans themselves, or don't mind purchasing fantasy books for their children... but would be turned off by an overt homosexual character.
Hell, my own family is an example. A good number of 'em are serious Christians. And they're also Harry Potter fans. They're fine with the concept of magic in fiction, because, well, that's fiction. But when you have a homosexual, possibly homoerotic plot going down, that crosses over into the realm of a distinctly moral or societal-commentary message... which is going to bother some people. I know it'd bother a lot of my relatives, who are - otherwise - fans of the series now.
In fact, now that Rowling's come and said this, that's probably enough to make my family look akance at the series. They probably ain't gonna flip out and stop reading the books (or watching the films), but it'd put a dampener on their enjoyment.
Understand, I'm not talking about bigotry here. I personally believe everyone should be accepting of homosexuality - but it's much harder to approve or endorse it. And thus it's going to make a lot of people uncomfortable, reading something with a distinct homosexual overtone.
And before you say, well, then people should get with the times...it's not that simple, is it?
-- Acyl