Can 'Death of the Author' apply to JK Rowling?

Like Greg said, the main issue is in the financial support that Rowling gets with every purchase of a Harry Potter product. She profits off of everything that is produced within the license of Harry Potter, which is why death of the author is not applicable in this case. The money that she gains from these books fuel her philanthropy, which has, historically, been transphobic. The secondary issue is that there are a great many people out there who find it very hard to disengage from Harry Potter products, especially those who grew up with the books and the movies. The books and the movies have become entrenched in the pop culture of the 21st Century. The only way that Rowling can truly not profit from her toxic views, ultimately, is if people stop reading her books, and watching her movies, and playing her games. Like Lindsay said: JK Rowling is an active participant in the mythos of Harry Potter and we cannot cry death of the author as long as the author is still getting money from her work and giving it to shitty people.

I think you're right in philosophical terms, but most of the controversial authors you've listed are long dead, and there's nothing in the text of Harry Potter (as far as I ever saw) that reinforces Rowling's apparent position on trans people. Avoiding purchasing her work is about money and support in the here and now. I'd be fascinated to read Mein Kampf at some point, but if Hitler was still alive and collecting royalties, I wouldn't feel right buying it.

Greg Willickers

I disagree with Lindsay Ellis when she says that reading JK Rowling "empowers transphobia" for the same reasons I disagree that video games "empower violence". Read them all! Read the Bible, but read the Quran. Read Ayn Rand, but read Nietzsche. Read Seneca. Do it. Read both Friedman and Marx. Read Mein Kampf if you can get ahold of it. Then THINK on all of it. If you believe everything you read, if you believe everything you think, this is not a flaw of the book. Even fallacious reasoning should have the power to bring conceptual clarity, should you actually have the intention of deriving some. There is no book I would burn. None. Let all views be seen for what they are and be free to stand or fall in the minds of each according to their own merits or lack thereof. What a tired trope is tyranny! If even memory burns these pages, history repeats and ground is uselessly retread instead of conversations advanced. May all stand in the sober light of day, even ..if not especially.. the fallacies.

JtheFool

Important vid. That said, I don't particularly engage with Harry Potter, and am less invested than other people are, but whether, say, I reread books I've already paid for and can't return seems like it should have no impact upon Rowling's power--except, maybe, over myself, especially on levels I might not be fully conscious of. But I don't think that rises to a level of active harm, especially like, being otherwise cognizant of the awful beliefs she promotes. If I then go out and discuss the books, or write about them, play games, etc, that would be something else entirely. The thing is (if there is a thing) it kind of lends itself to joining a greater fandom and making yourself heard within it, right? So, especially for people for whom this work is near and dear to them, it's hard. I would not want to be a hardcore Harry Potter fan right now.

Eli Bildirici

I hate to say it but I kind of emotionally let go Harry Potter a long time ago before this happened. I could tell she was going down this nonsense road when she started answering every stupid Fanboy question.

Lindsay, I'm a new fan. I've been enjoying your content, but I hadn't been thinking about buying your book. Until this video. So, far from alienating potential buyers—at least in this case—you've won one.

In case it helps, K.A. Applegate has a trans daughter and she's very much NOT a transphobe or a TERF.

Jubei

It was certainly a weird feeling when I found out who Card actually was after devouring those books. I couldn't bring myself to read the books that came out after I found out he was a bigot, even though I really loved them. The feelings for JK and Potter were much stronger, though, as someone who was working on a Harry Potter themed product. It was very alarming and demotivating when this began happening. While I'm still proud of the work we did, the joy I take in the product is greatly diminished as I was directly lining her coffers. I'm still unsure about how I feel.

Aaron Porter

I think the George Lucas comparison is pretty apt. He could go full TERF today and no one would really care because he has no impact on Star Wars whatsoever. Whereas Joanne is still actively involved with working on Potter related projects. Personally, I’m okay with holding onto my copies of The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Deathly Hallows. There are still good things that I took from them that Joanne going full TERF can’t ruin. In particular is how Harry handles the aftermath of Dumbledore’s death and the revelations about things in his past. That arc was particularly helpful after the allegations against Chris Hardwick (who *was* a personal hero of mine) surfaced. Because you heroes are human, and have a past, and can let you down. But you can still learn good lessons from them that can be separated from their actions or beliefs. Harry’s struggle against the dementors in The Prisoner of Azkaban was also a really helpful in light of my own struggles with mental illness. So I’ll keep the books, but I’ll probably put some duct tape over Joanne’s name on the cover.

Thank you for sharing your stance on this. I have one potential rebuttal/clarification question, though. I understand that even if someone no longer buys books/merch/etc. they can still be supporting JK, but what about things such as Harry Potter and the Sacred Texts podcast and other properties that still enjoy and examine the books, but are very critical and open about their disagreement with JK as a person? Where would the line be on that end?

Hi Lindsay, I've loved your video's for a long time. Seeing your comment, and this video inspired me to become a patreon of your. As a trans woman, I greatly thank you for standing up for our existence.

Look, she says stupid things on twitter. I don't see how that impacts her work at all. Many writers are assholes in their private lives, it just happens this one is what many consider an asshole in public. It's a shame she is not as considered in her public comments as in her published work, but anyone desperately trying to find transphobic sentiment in her work just because of her recent remarks is on a wild goose chase. Her work should stand on its own merit and it is a fine body of work. She is not going to become impoverished or change her views, or even reduce her influence by twitter readers boycotting her books. But you can do it if it makes you feel better. However, we can go down this rabbit hole and question the ethical nature of a number of products we use everyday, not just books; clothes, food, cars, basic technological goods like smartphones etc. There is great evil in this world, but somehow I don't think JK Rowling saying dumb things on twitter is at the epicentre. I think it's a case of misplaced priorities. Take the abuse of workers in Foxconn that goes into every IPhone; take the blood, money and suffering that goes into meat production, take the slave-wage labour for picking fruit and veg, take the sweatshops in Turkey and Asia that produce all our clothes and textiles, take the noxious gases produced by cruise ships, the environmental degradation of mineral mining for batteries abroad and fracking for natural gas at home. You can never take a principled enough 'stand', and arguably these choices matter more than one person on twitter. I read all her books btw Harry Potter 7 times over in the end. Watched a couple of her recent Fantastic Beasts films, liked the first, hated the second. She's just a writer with opinions. You may not like her opinions; these opinions may deeply offend you and be perceived to cause great harm in this case to trans people. But tweets are just tweets; 140/280 characters of not very much. You can see what matters to an author through her work and I don't see a hateful person in that work. Or a vindictive, exclusionary person either. I see a person embracing people of all different types, species, magic. Sure, she seems a troubled woman in public. But I just don't buy that she's evil.

Hi Lindsay, this is my first post and I wanted you to know that it was seeing this video on YouTube (and the comment you posted there as well) that made me decide to support you as a Patron. You're 100% correct about the fact that JK Rowlings has significant influence *because* of her works, and you simply can't separate the two things out from each other and use "death of the author" to justify continuing to support her through her works (although to be fair, it's fairly easy for me to say that since I never actually read the books and only ever saw the movies). I'd like to add an additional thing, I'm a straight cis white man, it's incredibly easy for me to just shrug off these problems and think that people are just making something out of nothing when it's something that I know cannot actually impact me. But that's also *why* it's important for people like me who state that we support trans rights (though obviously not just limited to that) to also stand up and make sure that we say that it's important. Right or not, people like me are given a disproportionate voice, and those of us like me who have that voice to push for acceptance, tolerance, and equal rights for everyone. I don't want to be a Cis "moderate" (to borrow from Dr. King) and I'm glad that you feel the same, Lindsay.

Elliot C Kaufman

I especially like it because the name was chosen, in part by her publisher, to hide that she's a woman to prevent any marketing difficulty. She's perfectly well aware of how being a woman damages credibility, but this means no empathy at all for how trans viewpoints are marginalized in a much worse way.

Crescent Minor

I read the books, played the games and watched the films as a kid, so yes I had a lot of great memories that came from the HP universe. Now, knowing what RK is really like. I have made the choice to not support any HP works ever again. But yeah as you say the signs where there. Plus JK doesn't have a good track record when it comes to the Asian characters she creates.

Chris

It's a calculus we all have to make in our daily lives - what are you willing to accept in order to get what you want? An example might be learning that your best friend is cheating on their spouse & family. Your not personally affected by it, in fact, you enjoy this friend's company a great deal and value their friendship. You've tried dissuading the friend from doing this, but they're keeping at it. What do you do? Keep your mouth shut and continue the friendship? End the friendship? Yes, JKR has far more power, but it still boils down to you having to make a value/moral decision on what you're willing to have in your world.

Tamashi Toh

China Mieville had a good line once about how the book is independent of it's author in an abstract way, but it was also written at some point by someone who existed in definite social arrangements and with definite intentions. Our engagement with a work is also mediated by our own lived realities and material positions. Trying to remove the actual people and real world circumstances from a text is nonsense because these are works made and experienced by human beings. This can't ignore the fact that a work is more than its intentions though, and more than it's author. There's not an unbending standard that can be applied to anything.

Hedrigal

No judgement, because it was unscripted, but this video really felt blurry to me on whether you were talking about activism or personal journey or philosophical scholarship, and I do think the distinction matters here. You touched on something important in the beginning, but then kind of lost track of it: the number of people whose buying habits this is going to effect is minuscule. Boycotts in general are only damaging to small entities who are close to the edge financially. Personally, I'm going to avoid letting her get any more of my money, as I'm sure most of the people who watched this video will, but suggesting that it's...'socially productive' is like thinking riding your bike to work will fix climate change. It's a good choice, go ahead and do it, but that is not where the actual battle is being fought. Activists wasting time and energy on the "personal responsibility" angle instead of large scale structural changes has done a lot of harm to our planet, and in the case of Harry Potter, I'm worried about the left forcing people to "choose" between liking Harry Potter and accepting trans people. The general public is BARELY tolerating trans people as it is, and now we're going to ask them to give up a beloved cultural touchstone? Talk about a recipe for failure! And a recipe for far-right radicalization. Think of how much kids (and adults) love Harry Potter and then imagine that love being used as a funnel to take them down the far-right rabbit hole. It is a nightmare. You are correct to be scared, but giving up our claim on Harry Potter and giving it over to the author's will is like surrendering before the battle starts. We have to reclaim it. Think of Harry Potter as Yankee Doodle and imagine how wonderfully aggravating it would be to the author if we used it for our own pro-trans purposes. If there were a strong trans-positive fan community, we would not have to ask anyone to choose between their conscience and their entertainment, it would just be a matter of choosing between legal and torrented copies of her work...a much easier choice! And if they make the right one they will be immersed in an accepting, loving, pro-trans community that could potentially help counteract some of the right-wing radicalization by using fan fiction and critical discussions of the work. Recently two Harry Potter fan sites denounced the author. That is a good start, I just hope extremists don't try to shame and harass fans who are trying to navigate this difficult time without surrendering to the author's bigotry. Not because of larger philosophical truths about how author and reader interact, but because it is a losing strategy in the culture war.

You look traumatized. I tried to listen to Orson Scott Card interviews to get a sense of the man after this. Mainly, he just likes to filibuster, brag, and trash-talk other authors. I couldn't listen long enough to hear anything offensive. On JK Rowling, she seems to sincerely believe that she is on the right side of history. I doubt very much that she'll change.

Dean Hacker

I think a huge problem with death of the author with regards to Rowling is how much she has always been central to her work. Maybe there were some people who read the books, noted the name in passing, and moved on, but generally there was a celebrity about her that makes her impossible to ignore. I liked Harry Potter, but for me the formative book series of my childhood - the one that still affects how I think about the world - was Animorphs, and other than the personal note she wrote at the end of the last book (think carefully about war because it's incredibly destructive and PTSD is real) I can't tell you anything about K.A. Applegate (except that the K is for Katherine, if that counts). Whereas even without ever trying I know way too much about Rowling. So: even if you can death of the author, you can't do it to HER.

Eileen Nguyen

I agree a thousand percent and one big thought comes to mind now: How is Universal Studios theme parks going to handle this? The theme parks have already taken a hit from COVID-19, which is to be expected, but they spent billions of dollars on their Harry Potter themed locations. Even if you read the books as an adult, or aren't attached to them or the films, the merchandising of this particular franchise probably has impacted you in someway, somehow. I really appreciate you doing this, Lindsay. This really is a situation that affects multiple aspects of our society when it comes to media we consume and entertainment we love. I know I can't support anything any longer that will give her more power. The reality is that she created it, I guess, even if we don't like it, we have to let her destroy it. I don't think there is enough of us horrified by her to put a dent in her power; she may not be able to destroy the value of her own work or its influence. But it's forever tainted now.

I want to think that her calling J.K. Joanne is a low key shade in Joanne not wanting to call trans people by their preferred name.

Great nuanced take as per usual. This has been a really tough one for me because HP is literally the book that got me into reading. Not only was it formative, it’s what awakened me to a plethora of fantasy and sci-fi stories that also proved extremely formative. And the series itself represented and helped shape a lot of my views on why I was so against bigotry and racism that I saw imbedded in the institutions that make up our society. And to then have JKR come out like this...yeah, it just sucks. And it’s that same sense of confusion that I also felt after Enders Game of “how can you not see you’re blind to the very things you so beautifully highlight in your stories?” Hp is a tough case too because for many around my age range, I literally grew up with the books. Started a bit younger than Harry, ended the last book one year older. The books were more than just fun stories to me. I reread them so often that when I go back to one, I’m not just retreading the story, I remember specific life events that happened when I was retreading that specific chapter years ago. Not to be that nerd, but I also work in entertainment and am currently trying to make a living telling my own stories, and HP was absolutely an influence on why I picked the profession I did. It was something I wanted to share with my kids (should I ever decide to birth spawn into the hellscape that is our world.) And now...all of that feels ruined. The phrase “you killed my childhood” is comically overused today, but in a way I do feel a piece of what formed my childhood is...sickened if not dead. And that just sucks. Granted, I have it a lot easier than the trans people who’s lives and ability to live as themselves are put at risk by JKR normalizing misinformation and hatred towards them, but I suppose I’m taking the time to write this overly long comment that not many will read to try and explain why I also get why this is so hard for so many people. Because for a lot of us these books were more than just a part of our childhood, they were a massive influence on how we shaped our view of the world. It's honestly not all that dissimilar a feeling to when you find out that a favorite relative who helped raised you turns out to be racist. And it's hard to reconcile the person who taught you so many life lessons you still value to this day with actions they are taking that often times are in direct contradictions of the things they taught you.

It was surprisingly easy for me to let go of Harry Potter, even though my mom read the books to me and my siblings when we were kids. I feel like it should matter more in my big web of nostalgia. I'm glad that it doesn't. You're right that Rowling's probably never going to change, and that's reason enough for me not to support anything in which she's been involved.

Charles Kieser

Also, thank you so much for explaining why this is a big deal -- as someone who was never really into Harry Potter, and who was also never really into twitter, the furor has confused me. This lays it out nicely!

Lanth

I'm glad you said this. I agree.

Michael Pureka

Frankly I like this kind of videos. About "smaller" subjects. No script (or just few ideas on a paper), minimal editing. I'd like more videos like this, aside the "big ones".

Rork

My continued decision to stay off social media (both reading and writing) continues to serve me so, so well, especially in these trying times when everyone seems to be at their all-time worst.

Lanth

Fair play to ya!

John D Ruddy

Honestly I'm just uncomfortable around anything Harry Potter related by this point because I keep being reminded of her, which I suppose makes it much easier for me to disengage entirely from the franchise. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, Lindsay.

Silv

I really appreciate the fact that you chose to release an unscripted video despite the fact that it's not your usual style. I honestly wouldn't mind this kind of video from time to time interspersed between the more heavily produced ones.

Jubei

Thanks for using your platform to speak out on this Lindsay.

Lauren Steely

I watched this when first uploaded to YouTube and it was really good to hear your take on things. As you can probably guess from my pfp but I’m unfortunately one of the ones affected by what she is saying and I’m terrified of the effect it’s having on politics over here in the U.K. It’s such a devastating blow for me too as HP was such a core part of my identity during my teenage years. I can’t enjoy her work any more.

Bonnie Fiddis