An upsetting thought about the new HP

[valarltd]

This talks about a minor character and his story, and lycanthropy as a metaphor for gayness.



Throughout PoA and the other books, Lupin's lycanthropy can be read as a code for him being gay. I won't belabor the point. It's there to the point my 13, who is just starting to get subtext, can see it.

Now, we are introduced to the werewolf that bit (read: molested) Lupin when he was a child. We're told he prefers children so he can poison their minds against the wizarding world that casts them out.

If this isn't code for pedophilia, and the ugly notion that gays recruit children, I don't know what is.

We're told the wizarding society is so lycan-phobic it would send its children to live with werewolves rather than raise them, even with wolfsbane potion. We're told that werewolves are against civilization and actively working to destroy it.

And we're shown that the love of a good woman (Tonks, Fleur) can fix the gay lycanthropes and make them civilized. (OK, Bill probably won't transform, but I bet he'll go all wolfish)


I'm disturbed and starting to get pissed off. I'll see what Bunny thinks after she reads it, without saying anything about my ideas to her.

Comments

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

You
1) weren't paying attention.
2) aren't gay.
3) don't do subtext.

A queer viewpoint on movies and books is very different from a straight one. Lupin's lycanthropy is generally accepted as code for gayness.

In fact, in the film of PoA (I haven't read the book in a very long time), he comments "They wouldn't want a...well, someone like me, teaching their children." Which isn't even coded anymore.

In HBP, he talks about Fenrir, the werewolf who made him, as one with a taste for children, and about his journeys among the lycanthropes.

It's all there, if you're reading from a queer PoV.

[oxbastetxo.livejournal.com]

Ummm....I was paying attention. I general pick up subtext, but this is reaching totally in my opinion and this is the first squeek I've heard of the "gay" issue with lycanthropy.

What the heck about "They wouldn't want a...well, someone like me, teaching their children." Which isn't even coded anymore.

Hun, that's not code for anything. It could be infered to "black/gay/unmarried/etc" add your flavor.

I think what we got here is the slash/straight persective. If you're looking for it, you find it whether it is there or not.

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

Well, but didn't Cuaron say specifically that he *did* see Lupin as gay? However, I don't think it's conscious on JKR's part. But there are many social stereotypes that she does perpetuate, at the same time that she's trying to be egalitarian. For example, she does show us some strong female characters, at the same time that she can be horribly...um, "traditional" in her depiction of sex roles.

But I do see your point, Val. (Or what is the short version of your name?) I hadn't quite thought about it that far.

On the other hand, Tonks's love does not change the fact that Remus is a werewolf. And he has always been shown as pretty civilized on his own.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Rita, I'm Angel.

I answer to Val.

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

Ah, the confusion of noms de plume! And I have such a horrible memory for such things.