New video!

WB decided to play some copyright games lol. The link there still takes you to the video though. :)

New patreon and now I can let you know that this video ended up making me sob so hard my partner came upstairs to check on me. In a good way....I think it might have given me the strength to finally reread the books, something I used to do at least yearly and my mental health sorely misses, with spite for the author and love for the books in my heart at the same time.

Amanda K

thanks for the cool videos james! but happens with this vidéo? why it was removed?

Thank you, James! You made me cry, in a good way. I got into Harry Potter when I was a teen and still listen to the audio books once in a while and watch fan theory videos. I agree that this world belongs to the fans, so we keep it alive the way that we want to. I hope that maybe you can somehow keep the world of harry potter in your heart without keep being hurt so much in the future. I dont know if you know what I mean, I just wish you the best. Thanks again.

Ironically, I really started getting the first, “um, wait” inkling that Rowling wasn’t really as accepting as she, and the world, claimed when she said Dumbledore was always gay and I saw a comment on a forum saying, “well, good of her to include gay people in the work, and I like how being gay never came up. I prefer stuff like that doesn’t get brought up and stays hidden.” And it made me realize how she tried to both out a character and leave him in the closet just to play both sides and get as much praise as possible. After that, the signs became much more obvious, although I still stuck with the merchandise side of fandom for awhile, hoping I was just being too hypercritical.

Courtney Rayle

Wonderful video. Very sorry if it was difficult for you to make, given the way the subject matter affected you personally growing up, but thank you for making it. I know of many people who are... let us say, being critical of other former fans for abandoning aspects (or the entirety) of the series, and the way you approached both sides of that was well done and respectful and exactly how we should all be doing it. I have the unique perspective of not actually growing up with the books, but certainly having them be influential on me. I was born at the end of 1981 and am 39 years old right now and did not get into the series until I saw the first movie, noticed it was based on a book, and decided to pick up the series. I was 19 then. The interesting thing for me was the connection it gave me to other people. In the same sense of a bunch of anime fans at a convention being able to talk about DBZ, or someone flashing the Vulcan hand wave across an engineering lecture to let you know they appreciated that joke you threw into your presentation, the world of Harry Potter and Hogwarts is one of those things people just GET, and you don’t have to worry too much about someone not getting a reference, even when you are just out and about. And THAT, for me, was what the series was about. I reread all the books before the last came out, and actually... like, I knew the story, but Snape’s abusiveness, the ignoring of the Dursley’s actions, etc, really bothered me in an odd way, and I realized that while the books started the world, what I REALLY loved about the series was the fans and where they took it and how they made the characters and rules better and how they fixed problems and... ...and that was when it hit me that I didn’t really care for Rowling’s version of things. I was grateful that it existed to give a jumping off point to costumes and fanart and fanfics and people bonding and satirical musicals and all that, but the original source? Not that important to me. So, for me, Harry Potter is kind of like Lovecraft in that the original is highly flawed in my eyes and perhaps not worth going back to, but the world the fans have made from it is exceptional, and I’m always going to be a fan of THAT and appreciate it. I too am in the “unlikely to be buying any more merchandise” camp, but I can understand those who do and those that have abandoned the franchise completely, and those in between.

Courtney Rayle

Another amazing video. I normally watch videos on my second screen whilst doing other things on my main screen, but there's just something about your videos that makes me sit for however long it is and just watch and listen. The topic of Harry Potter and JK Rowling is such a sore spot for a lot of people. I also grew up with Harry Potter, I also forced my parents to drive me the hour or so to the closes bookstore for midnight releases. I spent my early teens writing HP fanfic. I spent my youth on a swedish HP fan forum and met people there that I know to this day. The franchise was a huge part of my childhood. As an adult however, I very much see it as a part of my childhood, and nothing else. I have a lot of close friends who are trans, and I am somewhat questioning myself, and for me I have left all of Rowling and HP behind. It's complicated, however. Just like you describe in the video, I also have trans friends on both sides - some who have completely removed any HP from their lives, and some who have thrown themselves deeper into the fandom, partly to spite Rowling. The part of the video where you talk about monterarily support Rowling or not is interesting. Like you say, she's already extremely wealthy, and a few "not going to buy" isn't going to make a difference to her life. That's why I like to look at the whole thing with HP and Rowling as more of a "how does it make your feel" thing. Do not engage in the franchise if it feels wrong. BUT, don't excuse her bigotry. In a way I wish I could wholeheartedly go by "death of the author", but personally, I can't live by that. I feel icky buying books, CDs, video games, you name it, made by creators that have openly done and said things that Rowling has done. Excuse my rambling! Another great video, as I said.

Fanny Nordgren

Thank you, James, for another amazing video. So, eloquently said! To mirror your sentiment, as authors and storytellers we place our musings as words on a page. How the reader takes those words, translates them and shapes them into their own world and imagination; that has very little to do with the author. That place is solely the domain of the reader and will always be, regardless of the authenticity (or lack thereof) of the author. Thank you.

Thank you for such a thorough, inclusive, and personal work, describing not only the context around Rowling and her increasingly problematic position, but also navigating what that means for the fans of her work and to what extent her behavior can and should be allowed to take that from us. I particularly appreciate your acknowledgement that everyone needs to come to their own decision about where to draw that line, that there is no universally correct answer to that question. Harry Potter and the Wizarding World have been a large part of my life as well, and I couldn't agree more that these worlds are at least as much the property of their fans as their creators. I thought as I was listening to the end of this video how abandoning the Wizarding World would be tantamount to abandoning Hogwarts just because Voldemort and the Death Eaters had taken control of it. We would never do that- we'd mobilize the Order and take it back. Of course, in this case, we don't have to. Rowling has the brand, the empire, the money, and the mantle of 'creator', but the Wizarding World and its impact on our hearts and identities can never be taken from us. We can choose to relinquish it and I support anyone for whom that's the correct decision, but speaking for myself and to quote RiddleTm's "This is Goodbye": "I am a wizard now, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Wendriel Le Fay