The Lionising, the Wizard and the Closet

[desperance]

Hmph. So Rowling says Dumbledore is gay. After all the books and all the reviews are written, after all the fuss is over, she trots this out.

Two things. If this is the case, it really shouldn't need saying, surely? It should have become evident, it should be at least inherent if not explicit somewhere in that vasty text. If it's not there to be read or interpreted, then it's not material and it really doesn't need saying. It either matters, or it doesn't; if it matters it needs to be there, and if it doesn't matter then who needs to know? Etc. That old phrase "show, don't tell" comes bubbling to mind; if she has to out him after the series is finished, then she hasn't done it right.

Also, I'm unimpressed by her choosing to do it now, at this cold dead end of all the hoo-ha. While the books were still happening, it might have been significant, even if only of a creative failure; now it feels both morbidly cautious and somewhat cynical, as though a final poke at the cooling ashes might ignite just a little more media glow.

Comments

[lady-findel.livejournal.com]

True, outing Dumbledore now (or even at any time) has no relevance whatsoever. Dumbledore's romantic interests have no relevance at all. It could be that she had this in mind writing Dumbledore all along, but if she thought it was important, she should have shown it in her books. I did read a more than average interest in Gellert Grindelwald into the episode in Book 7, however, to me, it seemed an almost natural reaction of a precocious young adolescent who finally met his match.