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E-mail a friendYOUNG VOICES
A Wizard's Outing
Once upon a time there lived a woman named J.K. Rowling. Whilst on a train one day, she dreamed up a story of a boy wizard named Harry Potter. For billions across the world, Rowling brought to life an English boarding school for wizards named Hogwarts, an evil wizard named Volde...(I mean, "He Who Must Not Be Named"), a good wizard and esteemed headmaster of Hogwarts named Dumbledore, and a host of other fascinating people and creatures.
The premise was simple; send a seemingly ordinary boy to a wizarding school. Once there, let him find out that he is not an ordinary boy at all, but rather the only survivor of the magical equivalent of a terrorist attack. Over the next seven years of school, seven books of witchcraft and wizarding, and five internationally successful movies that describe his adventures fighting the dark wizard who killed his parents, hook both children and adults alike with the characters and the fantasy, and watch the cash roll in.
The premise worked; J.K. Rowling is now one of the richest women in the world.
But after the seventh and self-proclaimed last book in the Harry Potter series, Rowling does not seem to be relaxing in her palatial Scottish estate. To the shock of many of her fans (myself included) she recently reported that one of the main characters in the book, the good and wise wizard Albus Dumbledore, was gay. The news of the wizard's sexuality was provided unsolicited during a question and answer session. Reportedly, at least one fan of the series was so moved by the outing of one of his favorite fictional characters that he too came out of the closet unsolicited.
Some adult readers might have already guessed or assumed that Dumbledore was interested in men. Rowling could have left it at that, an unexplained private matter between a wizard and his family. Instead, Rowling decided to out a beloved character that many thought of as a grandfather, not a sexual being.
I for one can honestly say that I don't really care about the sexual preferences of the fictional headmaster. However, in labeling him as a homosexual, J.K. Rowling wasn't helping Dumbledore, or anyone else. She was using sexual orientation for pure publicity, showing that even the fictional can be exploited.