There’s no more room for Harry Potter in my life
The development of a Harry Potter TV show at this moment adds legitimacy and support to J.K. Rowling and her destructive ideology, and I strongly oppose its creation.
The development of a Harry Potter TV show at this moment adds legitimacy and support to J.K. Rowling and her destructive ideology, and I strongly oppose its creation.
Throughout Doctor Who’s six-decade history it has gone through innumerable changes. The Doctor/Companion dynamic has always been at the heart of the show. Yet, as the characters shift so do their dynamics. This post explores the the relationships between the Tenth Doctor and Rose (Tenrose) and the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz (Thasmin). I pay distinct attention to why the Thasmin dynamic feels notable compared to other relationships due to race, gender, and sexuality. Furthermore, I touch on how the critical reception of the writing of Doctor Who in Jodie Whittaker’s era as a whole was affected by racism, sexism, and Covid-19. Finally, I investigate how the imbalance of power between the Doctor and their companion affects their relationships.
If it is not related to fanfiction and fan creation, I want nothing to do with Harry Potter. I actively avoid supporting J.K. Rowling in every way I possibly can. Her power and influence is insidious, and permeates almost every aspect of my life, but I cannot abide what she has said and done.
In many ways, Harry Potter taught me how to be. And yet, it wasn’t really the books that taught me that, was it? Because the thing is, so much of what I learned from Harry Potter, I also learned from outside Harry Potter. So many of the lessons I learned from the series were not quite things I learned from the books directly, but because I took my love of the books, and sought out others like myself.
Last Friday night I was invited to participate in what ended up being a great Twitter Chat organized by Black Girls Create to discuss critical fandom as part of their month-long #BlackWizardHistory campaign. I really enjoyed the discussion, but I realized afterward that because it was such a great back and forth, the cohesiveness of the responses I had created got a little lost, and after reading what other people had to say, there is even more that I want to say. So I’ve strung together below an archive of my responses to the questions, with a short paragraph afterwards digging a bit deeper into the experience.