Posts Tagged ‘queer’
I always said the problem with Harry Potter is, it’s just not gay enough.
June 9th, 2008 • 1 comment general
Tags: fan, harry potter, musical, queer, re-interpretation
I don’t know how I found this, but I did:
“Accio!” all Magical Folk and Muggles alike! Get ready to be
transported (via broomstick of course) on a fabulous, fanciful journey
through the world of Harry Potter with HOGWARTS EXPRESS: The Musical!Hogwarts Express is a queer re-interpretation of the Harry
Potter stories, themes and characters we know and love. You’ll be
mystified by its dance moves, stupefied by its queerness, and dazzled
by its political messages.
Weird to me that anyone would need to reinterpret and politicize a story whose author obviously thought a lot about race, gender, sexuality and politics. Every Harry Potter book and film is in the top ten for highest grossing/best selling– what other books and films, especially children’s books and films have 1) a female and a gay man as its two ‘genius’ characters. 2) a fair number of black/Asian students in a school that supposedly has a total population of 600 or so (for the record, there are one Indian and three black students in Harry’s house that are approximately his age, that I can think of) 3) three volumes dedicated to criticizing bureaucracy and ‘blood purity madness.’ 4) costuming that is mostly already gender neutral (girls have skirts with their school uniforms, but all wear robes over their uniforms, their Quiddich outfits are the same).
Also, Mark’s pointed out that the easiest queer character (besides Dumbledore) is Remus Lupin, the werewolf who has to hide his monthly transformation, and who has trouble finding employment as a result. He is forced to resign from Hogwarts when parents find out a werewolf has access to their children. He, toward the end, also panics and attempts to flee life with his wife and child (straight life).
I feel weird about this because it seems to imply that it takes a reinterpretation to see those themes, when they’re (subtly) there anyway. Plus I saw some pretty bad performance-based political campus activities while I was in college, and it’s made me wary. But a big part of being a fan of this stuff is becoming a part of it, in some way, so I understand the desire to do what’s ostensibly a musical fan fic.
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