Non-Comic, but Everyone's Talking About It...

Okay, as a preface, I have to admit that I (GASP) haven't read the Harry Potter books past the first one. I thought it was cute, but not to my taste. But you'd have to be living under a rock not to hear the latest news.

So Ms. Rowling has said that she considers Dumbledore to have been gay. Which is cool, really, since it's so rare to see gay characters outside of a certain prescribed role. And it means a lot that a positive male role model is considered to be gay.

But it seems to me, it'd have been better to have established that in the books, ya know?

Okay, I've heard that the last book has a lot of subtext, like I said, I haven't read it myself, so to be fair it could be the most blatant scenes this side of "you've never flown with me". And by many accounts Harry's not the brightest bulb and probably wouldn't have noticed...

But still, subtext isn't text. And there are ways to very clearly establish a character's homosexuality while still retaining a young adult rating.

And if the excuse is that since Harry would never consider Dumbledore as a sexual being to begin with, and thus, it would never have occurred to him that his mentor might be gay...

Well then, is there really a triumph in asserting that THAT character gay? When for all intents and purposes he's functionally sexless?

It's true that establishing the character as gay officially in the books might have hurt sales, even aside from all the crackpots who banned it because of the "witchcraft", but you know what? That's what makes the decision courageous.

Waiting until after all seven books are published and having been sold for all those millions of dollars, then saying as a veritable afterthought "Well, I always thought he was gay." That means nothing. She doesn't lose anything from this action. Nothing is ultimately gained. Maybe a few people will reread with that in mind and it will affect them. Maybe some people will throw out their books, but it doesn't really matter. They've already been bought. And sooner or later, her assertion will be forgotten in all the other multitudes of interview material she's given.

What would have been admirable is to have it confirmed in the books. To risk sales and boycotts and banning in order to give her audience a positive portrayal of a man who is a wise and vital mentor figure, and incredibly powerful personality, and happens to be homosexual. I bet it would have meant a LOT to a lot of readers and even if a lot of folks did freak out and ban it, maybe she'd have been able to reach some people.

And hell, you can't tell me that it would have cost her sales that much to slide a direct confirmation into the seventh book. Not with everyone camped outside at the bookstore the way they were. They'd have to BUY the book to freak out at it.

I'm not writing this to try to attack Ms. Rowling. Of course she should write the story she wanted to write and she has every right to see her characters in whatever way she wants, and to choose what traits end up showcased in the stories themselves.

But I don't think she deserves kudos or cheering for this one.

(Edited to add, Chris Sims points out that Rowling IS writing the Encyclopedia for the series. If Dumbledore's sexuality ends up in an entry, THAT would impress me and I would hence rescind many of the criticisms in this post. But not until then. :-))