harrypottermovieproblems

[harrypottermovieproblems]

An old video essay in which we drank a bottle of wine each and ranted about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Love it? Hate it? Donate to the trans-inclusive organizations listed below. ♥

This video was originally posted in March of 2018, at which time it also featured a visual recording in roughly 144p. Tragically, both participants of said rant are in fact Adults With Jobs, and as such being visibly inebriated on camera was probably a Bad Idea. In addition, like many individuals who grew up with Harry Potter, said participants found their fanship of the author waning, due to The Horrors.

(For these reasons, the original video has now been thrown into the void. We have replaced it with this podcast-style upload for archival purposes.)

Joanne Kathleen Rowling, who professionally goes by her preferred gender-neutral pseudonym of ‘JK,’ continues to use her considerable wealth and resources to target the civil rights of marginalized groups both within and outside of the United Kingdom. Money spent on officially licensed Harry Potter books, spin-offs, and merchandise therefore goes directly into funding and supporting efforts to endanger the lives and livelihoods of transgender individuals worldwide. We all have the collective power to do better with our money.

(In the unlikely event that you’re a kiddo reading this, just remember that Harry James Potter hates bigots and would probably mouth off at the author of his eponymous series at the first possible opportunity. Also, stop reading this and hit the back button. There’s a lot of swearing, drinking, and smoking in the upcoming audio track.)

Donation links for trans-inclusive LGBT+ support networks and charities are below.

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Donation Links for Trans Rights Organizations

Trans Lifeline - https://translifeline.org/

TransFamily Support Services - https://transfamilysos.org/

Ingersoll Gender Center - https://ingersollgendercenter.org/

Trans Queer Pueblo - https://www.tqpueblo.org/

Odyssey Youth Movement - https://www.odysseyyouth.org/

Kentucky Health Justice Network - https://www.kentuckyhealthjusticenetw...

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0:00 - Video Start

0:33 - Disclaimer

0:52 - Hot Takes

1:08 - Things We "Liked"

1:56 - The Writing

3:48 - Whose Fault is This?

6:07 - "It Wasn't Written to Be Read"

6:46 - What Does JKR Really Think?

8:13 - The Plot

9:53 - Plot Holes: Time Travel

11:16 - Plot Holes: Other

15:00 - The Villain

16:41 - The Characters

18:54 - Snape, Snape, Severus Snape

20:42 - Albus Severus Potter

22:42 - Al and Scorpius, Sittin’ in a Tree

23:41 - Draco Malfoy

24:42 - Harry Potter Doesn't Understand Loneliness

27:25 - Harry James Potter

30:20 - Other Shit

31:55 - Harry Potter Quote Challenge

34:43 - Conclusions

35:00 - Credits

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Buy Me a Coffee - https://ko-fi.com/justwandering/

[harrypottermovieproblems]

Harry, Ron and Hermione have officially been cast for the new HBO Harry Potter adaptation!

1) We continue to grimly protest the existence of the HBO reboot in every possible way!

2) Don't be a dick to those child actors. Listen to me. LISTEN TO ME. Not a single person better be a dick to any of those child actors for even a single second.

3) The kid playing Harry is white, so James is white. So the scene of James bullying Snape....

4) DO NOT BE A DICK TO ANY OF THOSE CHILD ACTORS. This is going to be very, very messy, from about ten different directions, for quite a few years to come. Let's make sure they come out of it un-traumatized, yeah?

[harrypottermovieproblems]

Harry, Ron and Hermione have officially been cast for the new HBO Harry Potter adaptation!

1) We continue to grimly protest the existence of the HBO reboot in every possible way!

2) Don't be a dick to those child actors. Listen to me. LISTEN TO ME. Not a single person better be a dick to any of those child actors for even a single second.

3) The kid playing Harry is white, so James is white. So the scene of James bullying Snape....

4) DO NOT BE A DICK TO ANY OF THOSE CHILD ACTORS. This is going to be very, very messy, from about ten different directions, for quite a few years to come. Let's make sure they come out of it un-traumatized, yeah?

[harrypottermovieproblems]

if people criticizing jk rowling specifically and harry potter in general could stop having atrocious takes on canon that would be really helpful

please stop putting yourselves, people whose side of the argument i explicitly agree with, in a position to be easily debunked

like, no, jk rowling did not write seamus finnigan as a character who loved to blow stuff up in some sort of anti-irish hate crime. she didn't write that at all. that was specifically a movie-only thing.

she's written a plethora of awful things over the years, can we please focus on the ones that are real

like do we not all remember how house elf rights were a joke and the snake slave turned out to be a cursed asian lady

[harrypottermovieproblems]

Goodness, we've really come to it, haven't we?

If you had told me fifteen years ago that JK Rowling would finally say something in criticism of the films and it would engender nothing in me but virulent disgust for who she has chosen to be and solidarity for those she is criticizing....

[harrypottermovieproblems]

casting a black man as Snape would be fine if the show were able to handle what that means for the series. however, doing so would establish that a black man is: 1) the first season’s main antagonist and abusive to harry for the entire series, 2) canonically made fun of for his nose and hair, 3) tormented for fun by james and sirius, and 4) as an actor, going to receive an unprecedented amount of vitriol from the most disgusting sect of a fandom already led by a proudly bigoted author. i don’t care that HBO is largely responsible for the last two decades of prestige television. they are not equipped to handle such a complex addition to the story or defend the actor who will inevitably face the worst of the backlash

[harrypottermovieproblems]

It's been confirmed, so once again -

I find it interesting that production thinks it is a good idea to cast a handsome Man of Color as a canonically unattractive, prejudiced, perpetually antagonistic, former hate group member who essentially joined the Wizarding version of the KKK and who is mainly remembered as an incel who regularly bullied children, including the child of the (presumably white, though this casting is yet to be seen) woman who was the object of his unwanted affections and for whose murder he was partially responsible.

Severus Snape, of course, is a complex character who deserves (if any of these characters 'deserve' anything when HBO HP will, again, be funneling money into the pockets of the anti-trans movement in the UK) to have his story told in a nuanced way. He is still a character who signed up to be a Death Eater, which has always been Harry Potter's allegory for a violent white supremacist hate group.

Time will also tell whether James Potter and company will be cast as actors of color, or whether the bullying flashback in OotP is about to take on a wholly new implication despite, and I cannot reiterate this enough, Severus Snape being the one who eventually joined the genocidal hate group.

We have yet to see whether the remaining Harry Potter fandom at large reacts to this casting decision with any more grace than racist Lord of the Rings fans did on release of the Rings of Power TV series or Star Wars fans did at any point within the last decade. I hope for Essiedu's sake that the mistakes of the past are not repeated, and wish him peace and protection in the face of the potential onslaught to come.

With the creation of this show obviously already stirring controversy from LGBT advocates, I can't help but wonder if this news has been dropped as a distraction, or even a sacrificial tidbit, so that the ensuing backlash from awful fucking people will allow production to decry any criticism of the new show without having to re-address JKR's ongoing opposition to both science and basic human rights.

Once again, I hope that this is not the case, because Essiedu specifically and indeed all actors from marginalized groups generally deserve much, much better.

[x]

[harrypottermovieproblems]

why what happened with the hbo hp series? 👀 (this is re. your monkeys paw post, I will never watch thay show or support it in anyway but I'm always here for some tea spilling 👀)

Hullo!

Sorry for any confusion there, but I just meant it quite generally -

A number of fans, myself among them, spent years wishing for a new, long-form adaptation of the books. You might even say we spent decades.

Now we're getting it, but it's putting money directly in the pocket of a known bigot who spends zero minutes of her day discussing the ways in which she could improve the areas of her books that have not aged well and 385789796389562895 minutes of her day stepping on the most vulnerable members of society.

But if I do ever hear some real tea, I promise I'll share. ;)

xoxo

[harrypottermovieproblems]

I just saw a rumored Sirius Black casting, and it is literally impossible to adequately explain the reaction that ran through my body.

Do you have any idea how excited we'd have been about this ten, twenty years ago? How hopeful? A big-budget, long-form opportunity to not just improve on the films, but improve on the books?

The discourse about every actor who accepts a role in the reboot, every creative who works on the series, every change from or addition to the original story, every stupid paycheck that inevitably heads JK Rowling's way, is already exhausting simply in prospect.

It is so, so infuriating to see someone with huge financial resources and cultural influence use them to inflict suffering on the world; it's so frustrating to see people robbed of joy because what they used to love has soured so completely.

I've cycled through every possible emotion and ended somewhere near fury.

The HBO Harry Potter reboot and the way it epitomizes the curse of The Monkey's Paw needs to be studied.

[harrypottermovieproblems]

The HBO Harry Potter reboot and the way it epitomizes the curse of The Monkey's Paw needs to be studied.

[harrypottermovieproblems]

Harry doesn't have his mothers eyes wrong when Daniel had an allergic reaction they found a woman with blue eyes for Lily. Just forget child Lily with brown eyes it was a mistake, she was hardly even in the films. A small appearance in the final.

Hello!

I'm so sorry, but I'm not entirely sure what any of this means.

xoxo

[harrypottermovieproblems]

something very specific the movies do that pisses me off is not including subplots but then referencing them in later movies. e.g. barely touching on the marauders in PoA but then referring to Sirius as Padfoot and Peter as Wormtail in GoF onward. And the thing with Filch being a Squib isn't that important but they don't include it in CoS, but then Draco calls him a Squib in HBP. at least be consistent!!!

Hello!

It's admittedly been 800 years for me, but you're probably right.

xoxo

[harrypottermovieproblems]

On Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape (HBO Harry Potter)

As HBO's Harry Potter series rolls into pre-production - a sentence that, ten years ago, would have undoubtedly brought me extreme joy but in 2024 simply makes me regret the money that will be flowing into anti-trans politicians' bank accounts because of it - casting rumors have started to leak out.

The first of these is that I May Destroy You's Paapa Essiedu is being courted for a role as Severus Snape. As a former ardent Harry Potter enjoyer, I have several things I would like to say about this, and will do so in the form of a likely incohesive yet numbered list.

I've never personally seen Essiedu's work, but I hear that he is an exceptionally talented and charismatic actor, and I wish him well.

Unfortunately, I will likely be judgmental of any actor who decides to condone JKR's bigotry and ongoing wealth by signing on to this project.

I'm enthusiastic (or would be, if I could be enthusiastic about HBO HP to begin with) about the idea of introducing more actors of color to play Harry Potter characters. I was a long-standing proponent of a WoC Hermione, including the casting of Noma Dumezweni in the unfortunately atrocious Cursed Child, and also of a mixed-race Harry.

I find it interesting that production thinks it is a good idea to cast a handsome Man of Color as a canonically unattractive, prejudiced, perpetually antagonistic, former hate group member who essentially joined the Wizarding version of the KKK and who is mainly remembered as an incel who regularly bullied children, including the child of the (presumably white, though this casting is yet to be seen) woman who was the object of his unwanted affections and for whose murder he was partially responsible.

Severus Snape, of course, is a complex character who deserves (if any of these characters 'deserve' anything when HBO HP will, again, be funneling money into the pockets of the anti-trans movement in the UK) to have his story told in a nuanced way.

He is still a character who signed up to be a Death Eater, which has always been Harry Potter's allegory for a violent white supremacist hate group.

Time will tell whether this casting will be representative of the series as a whole; that is to say, whether there will be enough actors of color within the show in general so as to make casting a Black actor in this specific role no longer problematic.

Time will also tell whether James Potter and company will be cast as actors of color, or whether the bullying flashback in OotP is about to take on a wholly new implication despite, and I cannot reiterate this enough, Severus Snape being the one who eventually joined the genocidal hate group.

We have yet to see whether the remaining Harry Potter fandom at large reacts to this casting decision with any more grace than racist Lord of the Rings fans did on release of the Rings of Power TV series or Star Wars fans did at any point within the last decade. I hope for Essiedu's sake that the mistakes of the past are not repeated, and wish him peace and protection in the face of the potential onslaught to come.

With the creation of this show obviously already stirring controversy from LGBT advocates, I can't help but wonder if this news has been dropped as a distraction, or even a sacrificial tidbit, so that the ensuing backlash from awful fucking people will allow production to decry any criticism of the new show without having to re-address JKR's ongoing opposition to both science and basic human rights.

Once again, I hope that this is not the case, because Essiedu specifically and indeed all actors from marginalized groups generally deserve much, much better.

xoxo

[harrypottermovieproblems]

Hello, all!

We find ourselves at a funny little crossroads today. There is officially an HBO television adaptation of Harry Potter in the works, one with a clearly stated commitment to open casting that could create an inroad to character representations aligning with a great many fans' longtime hopes and dreams for Harry and Hermione especially. Ten years ago, this would have been everything we could have ever hoped for in this fandom. Today, news of this new television show cannot bring joy.

The movie adaptation has brought many book fans a great deal of frustration over the years (hence the creation of this blog); while being greatly beloved by an entire generation, it simultaneously dropped the ball in many areas focusing on characterization and worldbuilding. And yet the faces of that film franchise - the actors of the main trio especially - have been invaluable voices in the public struggle to push back the flood of anti-trans rhetoric free flowing from JK Rowling's social media accounts.

On the other hand, we finally have a long-form adaptation of the series on the horizon, but it comes less than fifteen years after the end of the original movie series and therefore inevitably falls into the exhausting position of being yet another franchise remade too soon. And most importantly, of course, the main and inescapable effect of its creation will be lining the pockets of a woman who has been actively and enthusiastically supporting bigotry against women - both trans and cis - in society and in politics.

There have been rumors that Warner Brothers is trying to buy the rights to the entirety of Harry Potter from JK Rowling, and if true, it has to be admitted - ironically, given the nature of this blog - that I hope they succeed. If the choice is between lack of artistic fulfillment in the portrayal of a fictional world or real-life financial support of a woman actively making the world a more dangerous place for vulnerable populations, there is only one choice to support.

A few years ago, I started writing a detailed post that was a general post-mortem on our collective fanship of JK Rowling, and never completed it due to general feelings of exhaustion, disgust, and feelings that it was redundant. But briefly:

Many years ago, JK Rowling made a post on her personal website about her portrayal of Aunt Marge's bulldogs. She was dissatisfied with how she had written them, because she hadn't known a lot about bulldogs at the time and hadn't taken the care to portray them in a way that did them any justice. While she meant no harm, she's since learned better and wishes, in retrospect, that she had portrayed them differently.

When I think about JK Rowling, I think about that post a lot.

Even before her newest and most outspoken TERF era, even prior to all of the issues involved in the Fantastic Beasts spinoff series, JK Rowling wrote a beloved children's series that was seen as highly progressive upon publication but also contained a number of elements that have aged, shall we say, very poorly. Some of these were markers of the time when Harry Potter was originally written - many things from the 90's have aged badly - and some of them are down to the personal ignorance of the author, whether or not you assume that ignorance came hand-in-hand with malicious intent.

She could have spoken out about this if she wished - you know, like she did with the fucking bulldogs, to say that she had no ill-intent at the time but that would write these elements differently today if she had the chance - but as far as I'm aware, she has not. In fact, despite having endless wealth and resources at her disposal now, as opposed to the original start of her writing journey as a single mother scribbling ideas on cafe napkins, her portrayal of delicate issues of things like race, gender, and sexuality in her writing has only gotten worse.

The 'JK Rowling was always a secret conservative' rhetoric is strong, especially on Tumblr, and while I understand it, I genuinely think that it is misguided. The woman spent most of her life voting in favor of and speaking out for leftist and progressive politics. We (progressives) are not immune from propaganda, radicalization, or being raging fucking bigots. However she votes now, whatever idiots she is friends with now, the call very much started from inside the house on this one.

So, to circle back to the original point of this post:

This new HBO television series, in a best-case scenario, could take all of the tone-deaf sociopolitical issues with the original novels and fix them. It could take all of the creative issues with the movie franchise and fix those too. It could give us a diverse cast and tell an emotional story that does credit to what so many people held dear about the book series while growing up.

(I doubt it will, but it could.)

And yet this would still be a thing that on some level brought me no joy, because at the end of the day, it would also be putting pallets and pallets of cash into JK Rowling's pocket as she continues to dig her way down the conservative rabbit hole instead of fixing any of the mistakes of her early writing career.

Gross.

xoxo

[harrypottermovieproblems]

An HBO television adaptation of Harry Potter is apparently in the works.

….This would have conceptually been thrilling news even five years ago, but even putting JK Rowling’s support of anti-trans conservative legislation and other issues aside, it’s only been a decade since the movie series ended.

Surely it’s ludicrous to reboot it this quickly?

[harrypottermovieproblems]

I’m re-reading the Harry Potter books and it’s funny how much Harry and Hermione are vying for Ron’s attention (in contrast with the movies). Don’t get me wrong. Harry and Hermione are best friends too. But it’s obvious that Ron is their favourite. 

[harrypottermovieproblems]

The rejection of traditionally masculinity in the HP book character designs is a worldbuilding feature that would beautiful to see on screen. Dumbledore with flowing flamboyant robes, 28-year old Lockhart in vibrant punk robes, 35-year old Sirius with long tousled hair who dresses relatively casually - they're all GOOD character designs. Instead, the movies give both Sirius and Remus hideous moustaches and facial hair, dress them formally - the opposite of how they're depicted in the books. urgh

Hello,

The loss of the unapologetically magical aesthetic, even if it was at times played for laughs, does truly hurt the vibe and look of the films, I agree!

xoxo