The beginning and hello!

Hi and welcome to my first ever blog! This blog is called “Queering Potter” and herein I will be discussing some of the queer themes in the Potterverse. You should probably know first off that when I say queer, it doesn’t mean that I will be playing “Is (insert name here) gay?” every week. Strictly speaking, I don’t really believe in that sort of thing. But I do believe in Harry and one thing he’s taught me is that everyone deserves to be let out of the cupboard, and in some ways, we all need to be. As with most fantasies, Harry’s story is one of self discovery and can be seen as analogous to a coming out story. You could also drive through the magic tollbooth into the Kingdom of Wisdom or go down the rabbit hole to Wonderland and make some of the same comparisons. And yet, as much as I love those stories, I am partial to the brick wall. When we first meet him, Harry is an outcast within his own home, confused by his accidental uses of magic. But when he finally escapes the abuse of the Dursleys and discovers the world in which he’s meant to be, he finds out that this is only the beginning. The real journey is not what he is, but who he is. Now that he knows, who will he be and what choices will he make?

Of course, you can always read (and watch) Potter like any old story. As a member of the queer community, however, I look at it almost as a duty to queer my Potter. I mean, look at this world Jo’s created. Every character has layer upon layer. As far as gender and sexuality goes, there’s every shade imaginable. And the writing style leaves so much up to the reader. I won’t say I knew for sure, but the first time I read Deathly Hallows I thought I could see Jo winking at me through the pages about Dumbledore and Grindelwald. I remembered thinking, “don’t get over excited, it’s probably just you.” But then again, what if it had been? We might be reading from Harry’s perspective, but I routinely find myself disagreeing with him. We, the readers, are no different from the characters; we all have our own perspectives and voices.

And there are so many voices in this series, Jo’s, obviously, and with the films you’ve also got writers, directors, actors, the list goes on. It’s my hope that this will diversify the topics I discuss here. For instance, how have certain directorial choices influenced the series? I have always been intrigued by Alfonso Cuaron’s choice to direct David Thewlis to play Lupin as a “gay junkie.” Why was that choice made? Are there assumptions the audience makes about such a character given how like characters have been portrayed cinematically over the years? How does this tie into the obvious werewolf/HIV comparison? These are just some of the things I will be writing about here and truly, I could not be more excited. I hope to be posting every week, but it might be more like every week and a half. So please feel free to stop by, read, and discuss!

-Jon