“I know people who've come out within the last few years as trans or non-binary because of the book series. It is the perfect metaphor for being gay, for being trans, and that's the community that makes up the heart of, at least, the Wizard Rock portion of the fandom. Regardless of what she says, her books make a difference to little queer kids every day.” – Bess Carnan of WZRD Radio For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
I've been a fan of the Harry Potter series for a long time, and have been reevaluating my relationship with it as a trans woman over the last few years. I think that despite herself, J.K. Rowling created a world that made me feel like I could be whatever I wanted. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
"A not-insignificant number of people discovered their trans identities through Harry Potter roleplay and Harry Potter cosplay, because Harry Potter was so big and such a big part of our lives. I was trying to make a list of the people I knew on LiveJournal who went through transition, and it was so long that I gave up. It's a demographic, not just a few people we knew." For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
This way that Harry is being set up here -- drawing more blame to himself in proportion to how well he could defend himself from attack -- the only way for Harry to be virtuous in Fudge's eyes is to let himself get killed? There's no winning. There's no way to be a good victim that gets approval. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
Harry, looking at the layers and layers as he goes down, he's learning how to operate in this world that's built on secrets and hidden agendas and subversive speech, whether it's subversive because it's wizards trying to hide, escaping detection by Muggles, or whether it's members of the Order pretending in public not to know each other for their own safety. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
When Sirius looks around at how they're refitting the house for the Order, he says, "If my parents could see the use it was being put to now…" I thought, 'Oh, that's actually honest and hopeful,' because one of the words that came to my mind was 'reparations.' For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
Everybody thought more highly of Harry's achievement than Harry did. He didn't realize what an advantage he's just given everybody and what a giant defeat he handed Voldemort, because as Harry has been rightly complaining, nobody's saying "Good job, Harry." And it's good for all these adults to realize, "Wait, Harry, you don't know what you did?" "No. If anybody would talk to me, maybe I would have some idea." For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
In Korean, there are no capital or lowercase letters, so when I got this volume of Harry Potter in Korean translation, I checked to see how they did Capslock Harry and it's in boldface. If you're familiar with Capslock Harry, you don't have to read Korean to know what chapter this is; you can just see it and know. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
The moment he starts flying, he feels like himself again. This is something that we've really needed in this political landscape. The respite it gives your whole system to get back in touch with who you really are… That is something that anybody who's struggling should keep in mind like this. We actively want to reconnect to that feeling as much as possible, because it just resets your body if you can find a way. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
Sometimes, there's a fantasy where you think, 'Well, if you could just make contact with somebody who's prejudiced and get them to see the common humanity, then they wouldn't be able to say to somebody's face, "Well, I hope you die."' But no, Vernon is fully aware of who Harry Potter is and has said right to his face, "Do your lot have the death penalty?" For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
There is no getting away from knowing that for nine and three-quarter years, Dumbledore let him live a hopeless childhood with the Dursleys, never contacted him until he was eleven, never let him know "somebody knows about you," never gave him any reason to think his life would be anything other than that. When Dumbledore ignores or abandons Harry in this novel, that triggers Harry beyond anything else. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
Cedric was special, but just that Dumbledore goes into the personal... This is such an important thing to reaffirm at a time like that: the individuality of a person who's gone is important, because that's the opposite of how Cedric was treated when he was killed. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
"Snape strode forward, past Dumbledore, pulling up the left sleeve of his robes as he went. He stuck out his forearm and showed it to Fudge, who recoiled." This is one of the moments in the series when Snape shows his true self. There aren't that many. This is his Time-Turner moment. We have seen throughout this entire volume how immature and unprepared he really is for this, but it's his time.For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
When you're a child, you want somebody to have wanted you and to love you even if there's absolutely no evidence that this will ever happen for you. The need doesn't go away, and you may hate yourself for it. You may try, like Voldemort, to split your soul and deny that need and put it away from yourself so you never feel it again, but it doesn't go away, and this is the bond that Voldemort and Barty Crouch Jr. found in each other. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
He's just rebuilt his entire body with Harry's blood that has protective love in it. That is what it takes to feel human connection and empathy and grief and remorse; those are the qualities in a person that help you heal. All of the effort that Voldemort has always put into compartmentalizing his soul -- walling off his feelings -- now, those efforts are being countered and undermined by the love in his blood that's a solvent. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
I imagine that this entire series is being imagined by Tom Riddle, an orphan in an orphanage who is a brilliant and violent and lonely child, and that he's fantasizing that somewhere in the world there is a little kid like himself who has spent the exact same time suffering and can understand him, and if he finds this kid, this kid can give him some answers, put some limits on his pain, maybe help him heal. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
No matter how potent Voldemort is, he can't make himself grow. That is magic he doesn't have and that is what he needs Harry for, because what makes you grow? Does brilliance make you grow? Does being magically powerful make you grow? No. The most completely dirty, mundane, commonplace caregiver affection is what makes babies grow. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
JC: When I think Voldemort, sexual magnetism is not the word that comes to mind. Lorrie: I think his focus is on how he feels against people who have intact families; he is breaking apart those bonds to create people who feel more like how he does so that he's not quite so alone -- so he doesn't have to be torn apart by this death-like jealousy. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
By the end of this chapter, Harry sees how old Dumbledore is for the first time. Dumbledore ages in this chapter. He sees Dumbledore at first as the great wizard that Harry's always believed he is, and at the end of the chapter, he's looking at Dumbledore and realizing he's an old man and he looks exhausted. Maturing, looking at the adults in your life and realizing they're mortal. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
He is riding on the back of the eagle owl that he has seen earlier. Apparently the eagle owl is going to Riddle Manor and then Harry's perspective leaves the owl's back. He can see the owl, too, as well as the back of the chair with that thing in it, that thing that Harry has never seen head on: that small, baby-shaped, scary thing. So yeah, he's having a vision. For full show notes, transcripts, ways to contact the hosts or support the show, and more, visit hpafter2020.com.
Amy3422
I love this podcast! Still, I'll always defer to Death of the Author as the more fulfilling approach to text. It's effortless and boring to dismiss as inorganic the things that trouble my interpretation of a book. Although the authorial voice is present, saying Hagrid or Lupin acts out of character when they act badly seems an excuse not to reevaluate our (sometimes misguided) assumptions about character. There's more to be gained from text by asking "why" than there is by being evaluative.