Why do these things make news and why do I read them?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071020/ap_on_en_ot/books_harry_potter
Here's a scary thought voiced by the author herself:
Quote"Oh, my god," Rowling concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction."
I wish she'd never even said that, because now the Internet will have even more weirdos writing sex scenes between Dumbledore and god knows who along the lines of the Spock/Kirk crap.
This is kinda old news isn't it? For future reference, Sir Ian McKellan (Mangeto, Gandalf, evil old crippled dude from Da Vinci Code) is gay too. :wink:
That's it! I refuse to buy another Harry Potter book! Oh, wait... :teddyr:
Quote from: Jordan on October 20, 2007, 11:46:54 AM
This is kinda old news isn't it? For future reference, Sir Ian McKellan (Mangeto, Gandalf, evil old crippled dude from Da Vinci Code) is gay too. :wink:
Jordy, I'm sensing a theme here for fantasy adventures when it comes to old wizards.
Ha! Now we know why they are so fond of their wands! :teddyr:
Hey Shadow, I bet he had a seperate pensive for all those 80s dance club adventures, Wa-hey!
Plus having a flaming bird for a pet makes more sense. :cheers:
Don't forget the wardrobe full of fabrics even Liberace would have raised an eyebrow at.
It does make me ponder the way he took young Harry under his wing from the very beginning. :teddyr:
Seriously though, why does the character need a sexual orientation if it never comes up in the story? He's an archetypal old wizard, like Merlin, Gandalf, Ben Kenobi or the token scientist on a space mission for that matter. (I'd have included Doctor Who, but he went and got a love life). Anyway, there's no reason to ask why the old wizard doesn't have a girlfriend. He just doesn't. He's old, he's busy, his mind is on bigger things. Romance is not his function in the story.
There is, however, a very good reason to announce publicly that Dumbledore is gay - to keep the evangelical Christians from losing interest. They give her a lot of free publicity. Or it could be a dig at them, just for fun.
Remember how Dumbledore could use his wand to withdraw tendrils of memories from his mind and place them in the pensieve?
(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/8720/pensievelt4.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
And remember how Harry was left alone that one time in Dumbledore's office in The Goblet of Fire?
(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4064/c30thepensieveir2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
Now that Dumbledore is gay, I wonder if Harry saw this when he looked into the pensieve... :teddyr:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hksil-KkebQ
lol Ash, that was funny stuff...also part of the pensieve...
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWwyjmSbJPs
I don't know...
I have a hard time believing that Dumbledore would have this song on his Ipod...
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffVdKswD0Ec
(http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/7305/dumbledore050524300fs9.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
"I like to meet my men in random public Muggle bathroom stalls"
------------------------
Or maybe not...
I actually heard of a cut scene from The Sorceror's Stone during Xmas where he dances to this song...
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJeUAmfr6w
Quote from: The DarkSider on October 20, 2007, 06:25:51 AM
Why do these things make news and why do I read them?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071020/ap_on_en_ot/books_harry_potter
Well, that totally blows to hell the shocking cliff-hanger ending I had for the first part of this fan fic idea I'd been kicking around.
Ah, well...
Well that certainly clears up a lot of things for me. /sarcasm
Dumbledore's sex life never entered my mind while reading the books, I'm not sure what Rowling's point is with this revelation.
It's got to be for the controversy. The seventh book has been on the shelves for a while, and she's trying to stay in the headlines.
Or maybe it's totally sincere. Some authors feel a need to give their characters attributes that aren't necessarily required by the story, as a writing tool or just cool facts for the fans. Still, I can't see her coming up with this when she first envisioned the character. His sex life would be the last thing I'd consider. Probably something she thought of as a response to speculation by some of the more obsessive fans.
I think you were right the first time, AndyC. With the series put to bed, Rowling's probably missing the attention. I agree it's unlikely she originally wrote a gay backstory for her wizard archetype, though its possible.