The Big Gay Dumbledore reveal
JK Rowling has "outed" Albus Dumbledore.
Finally, fandom has a canonically gay character! Canon-compliant be damned, this is the real thing, straight from thehorse's oracle's author's mouth!
I gotta give it to old Jo for doing this in such style. Already, she has turned a book reading in LA's Kodak Theatre into something of a rock concert. Then she chose that particular platform to tell the world that Dumbledore is gay (to be fair, the revelation was in response to a question from the audience and I don't think she planned to say anything until it was brought up). She even had a good-natured poke at fandom when she made a knowing comment about the fanfiction that this revelation would spawn. I think I have already come across at least one Grindelwald / Dumbledore fic, so fandom is ahead of the curve here.
The good folks at Fandom Wank have documented the Internet response. Splooge was naturally the order of the day. As expected, the anti-gay/ anti-yaoi camp are appalled. But what I really love is how sections of the "pro-gay" camp are equally unhappy about Dumbledore being gay, albeit for completely different reasons. For the anti-camp, Dumbledore is an important, powerful figure of authority - making him gay is "endorsing" gayness. For the pro-camp, Dumbledore is too old, too asexual, too dead, goddamit, to be an effective poster-boy for slash. Oh, Jo, you should have just said that Sirius Black is gay. That would have sent significant portions of fandom over the moon. And since Sirius Black met an untimely end in Book 5, the anti-camp could have cited him as an example of the dangers and risks of embracing the "gay lifestyle". Everyone wins!
Away from the internet fandom, some of the reactions are just downright sad. Not unexpected, of course. And what in the world is a Values Voters’ summit?
Finally, fandom has a canonically gay character! Canon-compliant be damned, this is the real thing, straight from the
I gotta give it to old Jo for doing this in such style. Already, she has turned a book reading in LA's Kodak Theatre into something of a rock concert. Then she chose that particular platform to tell the world that Dumbledore is gay (to be fair, the revelation was in response to a question from the audience and I don't think she planned to say anything until it was brought up). She even had a good-natured poke at fandom when she made a knowing comment about the fanfiction that this revelation would spawn. I think I have already come across at least one Grindelwald / Dumbledore fic, so fandom is ahead of the curve here.
The good folks at Fandom Wank have documented the Internet response. Splooge was naturally the order of the day. As expected, the anti-gay/ anti-yaoi camp are appalled. But what I really love is how sections of the "pro-gay" camp are equally unhappy about Dumbledore being gay, albeit for completely different reasons. For the anti-camp, Dumbledore is an important, powerful figure of authority - making him gay is "endorsing" gayness. For the pro-camp, Dumbledore is too old, too asexual, too dead, goddamit, to be an effective poster-boy for slash. Oh, Jo, you should have just said that Sirius Black is gay. That would have sent significant portions of fandom over the moon. And since Sirius Black met an untimely end in Book 5, the anti-camp could have cited him as an example of the dangers and risks of embracing the "gay lifestyle". Everyone wins!
Away from the internet fandom, some of the reactions are just downright sad. Not unexpected, of course. And what in the world is a Values Voters’ summit?
Labels: Fiction and Fandom
posted by gentleice the deptfordian at 8:55 PM
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