Act Four: The political ret-conning of 'Harry Potter'

J.K. Rowling has been bolder on Twitter than she was in her immortal books.   Alyssa Rosenberg on culture and politics   Writer J.K. Rowling, left and director John Tiffany pose for photographers upon arrival at gala performance of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” in London on July 30. (Joel Ryan/Invision/Associated Press) Every week, I answer a question from Monday’s chat in Wednesday’s edition of this newsletter. To read the transcript of Monday’s chat, go here. And you can submit a question for the August 29 chat here. This week, a reader had a question about the evolving expanded “Harry Potter” universe. I was reading Entertainment Weekly’s fall movie preview the other day, and I was really struck by some quotes in the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” article, where the producer or director (I can’t remember which) basically said that the magical creatures are going to serve as an allegory for bigotry and discrimination. Obviously, I can’t judge this particular movie yet since it hasn’t come out, but why does it still seem so common for science fiction and fantasy to use fictional beings as stand-ins for marginalized people? It bugs me because so often, these stories don’t include any actual people of color, LGBTQ people, or whoever is supposed to be represented by the aliens/monsters/etc. Do you think there’s any value in employing these kinds of metaphors? I answered the specifics of this question in the chat, but I wanted to continue with this a little bit, because I have somewhat mixed feelings about the way J.K. Rowling’s tried to handle the politics of her universe in the years since she published “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” ADVERTISEMENT   As Abby Ohlheiser noted in an interesting piece about the state of the Potterverse, as it’s known, Rowling has continued to issue pronouncements about about her creation since the initial story, whether she’s revealing a character’s middle name, clarifying that Albus Dumbledore, the late, lamented headmaster of Hogwarts was gay, or saying that she’s didn’t specify enough about Hermione Granger for fans to insist that the character be white. Those latter two announcements kicked up a lot of attention in particular, confirming the longings of people who want to see the broad messages of tolerance and resistance to authoritarianism in “Harry Potter” as immediately applicable to contemporary politics. But they left me wondering why, if Rowling cared about those ideas so much, she hadn’t made them an undeniable part of her text. If Rowling wants to work more explicit political arguments into “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” I suppose I’ll be glad to see what they look like. If Rowling really wants to get political, though, it would be nice to see her be a little bit more direct and a little less metaphorical. Of all the franchises currently in production, the “Harry Potter” universe is probably most capable of doing that, of potentially offending a segment of its fan base and still sailing through just fine, with hundreds of millions of dollars of profit in tow. Making declarations on Twitter is one thing. Building your politics into your art, if they’re genuinely part of your artistic project, is another. And if nothing else, we’ll always have Rowling’s 2008 commencement speech at Harvard. ‘Hell or High Water’s’ Taylor Sheridan on the recession and Native American history The writer of the year's best movie thinks we need to get serious about how we lend, how we borrow and telling the truth about westward expansion. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   The 10 best movies of the 21st century — so far From "Zodiac" to "Monster," what my 10 favorite movies of the century tell you about my criticism. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   In a fragmented, corporate media landscape, memes are an invitation to play Sometimes, the silliest things are proof that we're still independent, playful thinkers. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   What I learned about having it all from the first spouses’ cookie recipes In this Trump v. Clinton culinary face-off, the Clintons are the winners. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   ‘Telefone’ explores black womanhood in the time of Black Lives Matter An album about dying young comes to us from an artist who is desperate to live. By Stacia L. Brown  •  Read more »   ADVERTISEMENT   Recommended for you   Intersect The corner of the Internet and interesting, in your inbox weekly. Sign Up »         Share Act Four:       Twitter      Facebook Trouble reading? Click here to view in your browser. You received this email because you signed up for Act Four. For additional free newsletters or to manage your newsletters, click here. We respect your privacy. If you believe that this email has been sent to you in error or you no longer wish to receive email from The Washington Post, click here. Contact us for help. ©2016 The Washington Post, 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071