Dumbledore's Poof...and not the magical variety!

[Osiris]

Ahh but any publicity is good publicity right?

Exactly. She has guaranteed her sales into the next milleniumm as now people will buy to try and analyze clues in the story pointing to Dumbledore's homosexuality.

I agree with Frizzle, I don't want to be too cynical, but why tell us this after the books have been published?

It would have been nice to have known during rather than after the series ended.

I don't feel it's a marketing ploy, after all, she's richer than the Queen.....more a case of 'it's ok to say it now as it wouldn't hurt sales'.

And what I said above is exactly the reason why she didn't.

 

[naughty]

Well,

Whatever choices Dumbledore chose to make I think he is fabulous. Regardless! I really loved the fact that Ms. Rowlings made him more human in the last book. I came to appreciate him much more. I wonder what goodies she will share about my heart, Severus Snape! :biggrin1:

 

[alex8.5]

Dumblecore bending Harry Potter for a good fuck... Should be a porn from the Valley...

 

[eddyabs]

And what I said above is exactly the reason why she didn't.

Well, Osiris, I think we'd need a mindreader to know the true answer to that.
It's all healthy speculation. Unless of course 'you're in the know'.

 

[whatireallywant]

Osiris beat me to it.

And you should never forget that Jesus himself questioned authority, and even at times, rebelled.

It's not always a bad thing.

Yes...

I was always running into trouble in childhood for being, as my third-grade teacher wrote up in reports about me, "hostile, aggressive, and didn't defer to authority" (I wasn't shy back then like I am now.) Reasonable rules I obeyed. It was a lot of the stuff like "You're not allowed to do this because you're a girl" that I rebelled against. (and still do, although it's not that I'm not allowed to do certain things anymore, fortunately...)

I knew before reading the books that the religious right was against them for being about witchcraft and wizardry, but when I read them and read the stuff about "questioning authority", I knew that was going to get them up in arms too. I got into many, many arguments with college classmates (who were almost always on the side of "don't question authority and your elders, no matter what"). Now, I'm not saying go out and break the law or be disrespectful for no reason, but people in authority are not always right just because they are in positions of authority. The line of thinking of "don't question authority, no matter what" allows totalitarian regimes to come to power.

 

[Osiris]

Well, Osiris, I think we'd need a mindreader to know the true answer to that.
It's all healthy speculation. Unless of course 'you're in the know'.

*Looks at cell phone directory* What the hell? All this time I thought that was J.K Rowling's number in my speed dial and come to find out it is Dionne Warwick and the Psychic Friends Network. My bad. :biggrin1:

Touche and true Eddy, but you must admit it is a pretty good arguement. Rowling is NOT a stupid woman and probably a wiz at marketing.

 

[eddyabs]

*Looks at cell phone directory* What the hell? All this time I thought that was J.K Rowling's number in my speed dial and come to find out it is Dionne Warwick and the Psychic Friends Network. My bad. :biggrin1:

Touche and true Eddy, but you must admit it is a pretty good arguement. Rowling is NOT a stupid woman and probably a wiz at marketing.

Haha.....love it, and touche indeed my friend. Yes you have a strong argument there Osiris, but I would say that with all the lashing of money that old J.K. has made, she probably employs a marketing team that is truly truly WIZ at marketing.

 

[Northland]

I have never read any of the Harry Potter books, and have seen only one of the films. With regard to Rowling using this as a sales booster, it could also be said that she (or her marketers) are taking a risk. There may be many persons who were willing to overlook sorcery/wizardry but will not overlook homosexuality. The sad part here is that she waited so long to even announce this. If it really mattered to her, she should have made this known at least two books back.

 

[DC_DEEP]

Maybe it was a marketing thing, at that. She may have been making an attempt to discourage her adoring public from demanding that she write more of them. If that's the case, I'm sure it will backfire, with her adoring public demanding that she write 6 more books to explain what she meant.

 

[EdWoody]

The sad part here is that she waited so long to even announce this. If it really mattered to her, she should have made this known at least two books back.

Not at all, because the point is that it doesn't matter to her.

Dumbledore being gay has absolutely nothing to do with the story as being told, so why would it be necessary to bring it up? The entire story is told from Harry's POV, and why would a 11-17 year old boy care who his teacher was sleeping with? It's completely irrelevant to him, so it's irrelevant to the story. It's simply a matter of Dumbledore's personal life.

Likewise, we heard nothing about the sex-lives of any of the other teachers, either. In fact, the only teachers who are irrefutably established as being heterosexual are Hagrid and Snape - the former because it helped to tie him into the subplot about the giants, and the latter because it was what the entire is-he-or-isn't-he-evil plot hinged on.

And yet the hints were there if you chose to see them in the description of Dumbledore's relationships with Grindelwald and Elphias Doge.


.

 

[dudepiston]

If what you're saying here is true, then why didn't J.K. go into detail about the sex lives & sexual orientations of the other teachers? Why single out Dumbledore, after the fact?

And your assertion that Hagrid & Snape are irrefutably heterosexual is laughable, at best. Ms. Rowling has shown us that nothing's set in Stone.:biggrin1:

My personal opinion is.....I don't care. I couldn't care less. It seems meaningless to me.

Not at all, because the point is that it doesn't matter to her.

Dumbledore being gay has absolutely nothing to do with the story as being told, so why would it be necessary to bring it up? The entire story is told from Harry's POV, and why would a 11-17 year old boy care who his teacher was sleeping with? It's completely irrelevant to him, so it's irrelevant to the story. It's simply a matter of Dumbledore's personal life.

Likewise, we heard nothing about the sex-lives of any of the other teachers, either. In fact, the only teachers who are irrefutably established as being heterosexual are Hagrid and Snape - the former because it helped to tie him into the subplot about the giants, and the latter because it was what the entire is-he-or-isn't-he-evil plot hinged on.

And yet the hints were there if you chose to see them in the description of Dumbledore's relationships with Grindelwald and Elphias Doge.


.

 

[B_All4show]

That's right, boys and girls...the author has publicly outed the late Albus Dumbledore, greatest wizard of all time, as a 'mo.

Now the bible-thumping right-wingnut fundamentalists have yet another reason to decry the deviltry of her saga.

All that close interaction with young teenage Potter, and yet he didn't turn out gay? I guess Rowling doesn't subscribe to the "homosexuality as a communicable disease" theory, either.

Yah, one for the gay team! Go big gay.

Every little bit of news about homosexuality is a reason to bash religious or conservative people.

 

[EdWoody]

If what you're saying here is true, then why didn't J.K. go into detail about the sex lives & sexual orientations of the other teachers? Why single out Dumbledore, after the fact?

Because somebody asked. She had no particular need to reveal it before because it wasn't relevant. It was just part of the background she had in her head for the character. She revealed it specifically because somebody asked about his love life, and she answered honestly. It also came up during the course of her script approval for Half-Blood Prince. The scriptwriters had included a reference to an ex-girlfriend of Dumbledore's, so she had to put them to rights.

And you confuse yourself: I specifically said that she didn't go into detail about the others, because it wasn't relevant to a teenage boy. Likewise she didn't about Dumbledore. She said he had been in love, and then disappointed. That's a far cry from "going into detail about his sex life."


.

 

[Sixofspades]

Well hey, Ian McKellen (of LOTR/Gandalf fame) is also gay. I guess it's just a wizard thing.

 

[EdWoody]

Well, now you're confusing actors with characters, aren't you? Not the same thing.

 

[DC_DEEP]

Yah, one for the gay team! Go big gay.

Every little bit of news about homosexuality is a reason to bash religious or conservative people.

You've used that one before. Why are you trolling? Why did you come back after you were banned?

 

[Osiris]

I have never read any of the Harry Potter books, and have seen only one of the films. With regard to Rowling using this as a sales booster, it could also be said that she (or her marketers) are taking a risk. There may be many persons who were willing to overlook sorcery/wizardry but will not overlook homosexuality. The sad part here is that she waited so long to even announce this. If it really mattered to her, she should have made this known at least two books back.

I would agree with your belief except for one thing. Most people who read Harry Potter are more open minded and though may not embrace homosexuality, would not condemn it. The only sector that truly railed against this series is the religious right wing zealots. So she has not damaged her standing one bit as I see the fan base and has probably increased it ten fold as there may be a chunk of the gay community that paid no attention to the franchise and now may support it merely due to Rowlings acceptance of the community through her statement.

Like I said amazingly shrewd marketing. Now I am wondering when she will announce which character was of an interracial union or possibly a character that was intended to be black. Again, keeping the sales up in the powerful black spending sector.

 

[trappedinthecloset]

I would agree with your belief except for one thing. Most people who read Harry Potter are more open minded and though may not embrace homosexuality, would not condemn it. The only sector that truly railed against this series is the religious right wing zealots. So she has not damaged her standing one bit as I see the fan base and has probably increased it ten fold as there may be a chunk of the gay community that paid no attention to the franchise and now may support it merely due to Rowlings acceptance of the community through her statement.

Like I said amazingly shrewd marketing. Now I am wondering when she will announce which character was of an interracial union or possibly a character that was intended to be black. Again, keeping the sales up in the powerful black spending sector.

I think she did this as a proponent of homosexuality, just casually announcing it. It's as if it's not a big deal and not even important enough to include in the book. As a gaywad, I think it's great!