I’m not a parent, but no. Even long before Rowling was outed as a giant turd, I’ve never read the books or seen the movies and Harry Potter always came off to me as dollar store Tolkien. If I had kids, I'd rather they read the good stuff instead of that garbage.
Tolkien had problems too but they were more problems related to his own white settler colonialist background than his own personal beliefs. Tolkien is a person who I’m sure would hold the correct beliefs today if he simply had access to modern knowledge.
Tolkien is one of the only people I actually give credit to “He’s a product of his time.” I really don’t see a better possible outcome for what views he could develop as an outcome of his life.
I agree, and I definitely don't think Tolkien (or any writer really) is perfect by any means. He should absolutely be critiqued as well. I just think it's a lot less obviously problematic (and better storytelling/worldbuilding) than Rowling's bullshit.
Rowling was always problematic from the beginning, it’s just that it took time for people to realize she was a fucking snake. There’s no reforming her, she is tried retcon bipoc and lgbt characters into her white book long after writing it. Tolkien’s books had problems with his characterization of orcs but they pale in comparison to the amount of problematic shit in Harry Potter. There’s the house elves and goblins being the biggest problem, but also the time she made the model minority Asian love interest for Harry all hyped up as a major character in the 4th book and she was nothing more than a plot device. Or that Harry was a fucking cop, or the excuse about why wizards didn’t interfere in ww2.
Harry Potter is a book that would have been allowed in Nazi Germany.
but also the time she made the model minority Asian love interest for Harry all hyped up as a major character in the 4th book and she was nothing more than a plot device.
Again, I've never read the books or seen the movies, but the fact that the only Asian character is named "Cho Chang" also seems like a pretty big red flag.
I’m not a parent, but no. Even long before Rowling was outed as a giant turd, I’ve never read the books or seen the movies and Harry Potter always came off to me as dollar store Tolkien. If I had kids, I'd rather they read the good stuff instead of that garbage.
Tolkien had problems too but they were more problems related to his own white settler colonialist background than his own personal beliefs. Tolkien is a person who I’m sure would hold the correct beliefs today if he simply had access to modern knowledge.
Tolkien is one of the only people I actually give credit to “He’s a product of his time.” I really don’t see a better possible outcome for what views he could develop as an outcome of his life.
He’s up there with Stalin and maybe Lincoln for that.
I agree, and I definitely don't think Tolkien (or any writer really) is perfect by any means. He should absolutely be critiqued as well. I just think it's a lot less obviously problematic (and better storytelling/worldbuilding) than Rowling's bullshit.
Rowling was always problematic from the beginning, it’s just that it took time for people to realize she was a fucking snake. There’s no reforming her, she is tried retcon bipoc and lgbt characters into her white book long after writing it. Tolkien’s books had problems with his characterization of orcs but they pale in comparison to the amount of problematic shit in Harry Potter. There’s the house elves and goblins being the biggest problem, but also the time she made the model minority Asian love interest for Harry all hyped up as a major character in the 4th book and she was nothing more than a plot device. Or that Harry was a fucking cop, or the excuse about why wizards didn’t interfere in ww2.
Harry Potter is a book that would have been allowed in Nazi Germany.
Again, I've never read the books or seen the movies, but the fact that the only Asian character is named "Cho Chang" also seems like a pretty big red flag.