I think it’s safe to say that my childhood is defined by Harry Potter. I remember throwing my book down when a favorite character died, and I remember getting teary-eyed reading the final words, “All was well”. I was just old enough to see both Deathly Hallows movie premieres, and I remember everyone dressing up for the midnight premiere (I most fondly remember a guy cosplaying as Snape for the release of Deathly Hallows part one). The energy of the audience at the final premiere was palpable when Ron and Hermione kissed, and everyone was teary-eyed when the movie ended. I had said goodbye to Harry Potter knowing that I could always revisit him when I needed it most.
J.K. Rowling was initially very hesitant to let her characters go any further than the pages of her book. I remember hearing about how she wanted to review any plot decisions made when she finally allowed HarryPotter to be made into movies and would annotate the movie script for any inaccuracies. Eventually, she decided to open Pottermore, where she could post additional information about the wizarding world and be in control of details that fans had long been theorizing about.
When Pottermore first launched, fans loved it. Rowling gave a bunch of background information that isn’t important enough to include in a book, but is extremely enjoyable for a kid like me, who just wanted to immerse herself in anything other than how horrible middle school was. I didn’t stick around for too long, probably because I preferred the fandom’s creative artwork and (let’s get real) fanfiction. Of course, I continued to admire J.K. Rowling for her path to fame as well as how she had conducted herself after becoming famous. Mainly, she kept to herself; minimal tweets on her Twitter, and (seemingly) very little desire to continue writing about Harry Potter outside of Pottermore.
J.K. Rowling is both an inspiring writer and woman. While writing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Rowing was a single mother with a young child, looking for work where she could bring her child. She struggled financially and was on welfare in order to make ends meet. Not only did she come from humble beginnings, but even after becoming extremely wealthy, she supports taxes that benefit the UK welfare system as well as knocked herself off of the list of the wealthiest people in Britain after giving sizable portions or her wealth away to charity. She also has her own international charity, named Lumos, that aims to end the institutionalization of children across the globe.
Her humble beginnings, as well as her dedication to social justice issues, makes it even harder to reconcile this J.K. Rowling I have talked about so far with the same J.K. Rowling who has defended Johnny Depp’s role in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and the same J.K. Rowling who has yet to acknowledge where the diversity in her works fall short. Instead, she seems to believe that the diversity in the HarryPotter series can be fixed post-canon (after all seven books had been published). For those of you who don’t know, one of the most famous instances of this dates all the way back to 2007, when J.K. Rowling mentioned in a Q&A that Dumbledore was gay this entire time, even though it was not even hinted at in the books.
Of course, this made many people happy to know that a main character throughout the series was gay. I remember when I found out, I was pleased to know that Dumbledore is a powerful gay wizard. However, now Rowling’s comment about Dumbledore’s sexuality means very little to me, as it would never come up if somebody went to read the actual stories. If Dumbledore’s sexuality does come to light in the next 3 Fantastic Beasts movies, well, that’s one thing. But if its never made explicit in canon, then why would Rowling even say it in the first place?
Part of the reason fandom is so special is that people can make “headcanons”. These headcanons are scenarios which a person believes to be true, even if it is not explicitly stated in the books. Rather, fandom has participated in close reading and analysis so thorough that any Literature professor would be impressed. This is where people have found themselves represented in Harry Potter. As J.K. Rowling continues to add to canon in Pottermore as well as her screenplays for Fantastic Beasts, more and more fans are distanced from their personal connection to the books, the connection that causes people to revisit the books year after year.
I would say I am disenchanted by Rowling and the way she has continued the series. But, I acknowledge some people love Fantastic Beasts and still check out Pottermore, and that’s okay. I am perfectly happy sticking to admiring J.K. Rowling for giving us Harry Potter and giving back to the community at the same time. What she does with her work is her decision, but I hope maybe one day she will find the attraction of leaving more for the reader’s interpretation.