Has there ever been an author as bad as this when it comes to retconning their own work for really no reason?
Yes... the authors of the Bible.
>>7752474
nothing compares
/thread
>>7752474
Well played, well played.
>the "T" in Voldemort is actually silent
Oh fuck you.
>>7752544
>mort means death in French and is pronounced with a silent t
>monopleb americans don't understand this
>>7752470
What's happening is part of a phenomenon I wrote about a couple of years ago when I was asked to comment on Rowling. I went to the Yale University bookstore and bought and read a copy of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." I suffered a great deal in the process. The writing was dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs." I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Rowling's mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing.
But when I wrote that in a newspaper, I was denounced. I was told that children would now read only J.K. Rowling, and I was asked whether that wasn't, after all, better than reading nothing at all? If Rowling was what it took to make them pick up a book, wasn't that a good thing?
It is not. "Harry Potter" will not lead our children on to Kipling's "Just So Stories" or his "Jungle Book." It will not lead them to Thurber's "Thirteen Clocks" or Kenneth Grahame's "Wind in the Willows" or Lewis Carroll's "Alice."
Later I read a lavish, loving review of Harry Potter by the same Stephen King. He wrote something to the effect of, "If these kids are reading Harry Potter at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read Stephen King." And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you read "Harry Potter" you are, in fact, trained to read Stephen King.
Our society and our literature and our culture are being dumbed down, and the causes are very complex. I'm 73 years old. In a lifetime of teaching English, I've seen the study of literature debased. There's very little authentic study of the humanities remaining. My research assistant came to me two years ago saying she'd been in a seminar in which the teacher spent two hours saying that Walt Whitman was a racist. This isn't even good nonsense. It's insufferable.
Who cares?
>>7752470
What did she even retcon besides Dumbledore being gay?
I don't think there's any author comparable to George Lucas.
>>7752561
I always laugh at this
Based Bloom (was it Bloom?)
Didn't she recently say that Hermoine was black? And that Harry Potter was a mexican?
>>7752595
>>7752595
>books 1 to 6
>everybody and their mothers have invisibility capes
>book 7
>omg harry your invisibility cape is special and amazing and also a deathly hallow and the most important hallow of them all at that
>>7752595
Gay Dumbledore is hardly a retcon, it was more of a "yeah that's what I had in mind when writing him". It does not contradict anything in the stories at all, the only person outside his family and school that he's affectionately attached to in his entire life is Grindelwald.
>>7752622
That's not a retcon, she's supporting the casting choice for a play, they've been casting people without any regard for their appareance for ages. Ron isn't even a ginger in the play.
Although it is obvious she's supporting it with those words to earn leftie brownie points.
>>7752610
Yeah, it's Bloom. My favorite part is >I'm 73 years old.
>>7752470
that look in her eyes of pure existential despair, the look of "what have i created"
>>7752634
She's saying that Hermione's white skin was never specified when, in fact, it was mentioned a few times in the books and, in Rowling's art, Hermione is white.
>>7752660
Let's be fair here, the only specification about white skin comes from "white face" during a time of distress.
She does however say that Hermione looks tan or that she's red or blushing several times.
She's being a sneaky little SJW, I agree, but she's technically not wrong, since her race has only been "implied" in the books.
>>7752684
To be quite honest, who cares? Plays are not the original books. If it's an adaptation, fucking own it. You don't need to seek the original author's validation of your creative ideas. It's nice that she's doing it, but completely unnecessary for a creative vision.
>>7752544
>implying the Anglicised "mort" (with a pronounceable 't') is not correct by descriptivism.
>>7752699
I quite agree, although technically the play is co-written by Rowling, so her opinion on the casting does matter somewhat.
But nobody should give care about it anyway, like I said plays never cast based on appereance. Ron isn't a ginger and nobody cares.
>>7752684
It wasn't implied, it was stated.
"Hermione's white face was sticking out from behind a tree."
I've never known a black person's face to "go white" from distress.
>>7752742
You'd be surprised by how many tumblrinas would argue with you that "white face" was used figuratively in that sentence.
And then proceed to ignore all the other mentions of going red, getting tan after beach vacationing, or the Rowling concept artwork where white Hermione is, hilariously enough, next to a black student, and the difference is obvious.
>>7752761
Unfortunately, I've seen that side of the argument as I've just finished skimming through an article arguing WHY Hermione SHOULD black based on racial stereotypes. But these people aren't racists?
>>7752774
*SHOULD be black
>>7752727
Ah, she's a co-writer, fair enough.
I feel like Ron being ginger is actually more significant than Hermione's race - after all, the soul-sucking dementors never went after Ron.
>>7752795
kek
It's true, his personality is very much the archetypal awkward ginger kid
>>7752623
I remember that they mention in book one that his cape is a "proper invisiblity cape" since it had belonged to Harry's father and was still working as most capes lose their power after a time.
She wants to make all her fans feel included. Why would white girls need the support to tell them that all the characters are white?
>>7752470
>Has there ever been an author as bad
No.
>>7752561
LOL
>>7752561
>I suffered a great deal in the process.
lol
>>7752622
There is literally nothing wrong with this
Sure, she's sucking up, but who cares? All she's saying is Hermione isn't exclusively white for any adaption made in the future. Not an issue unless you're a /pol/tard
>>7752623
Gay Dumbledore is such limp-wristed bullshit, though. She had an opportunity at the time to write a prominent gay character, but it MIGHT have raised some eyebrows and possibly even impinge on the books' commercial reach. Instead she waits until she's sure there will be a positive response to having a prominent gay character to claim she always thought of him as gay.
>>7752470
She should have played no part whatsoever in the Scottish referendum. As soon as an englishman attains wealth and power, they feel that they have the god given right to influence geopolitics. Fucking perfidious whore.
>>7752470
>jk-rowling
reminder that I would the pussy of jk rowling
>>7752474
God?
>>7752470
Stephen King
>>7752561
Is this the "The fact that the Beatles are considered the greatest rock band of all time is a testament to just how far rock music has to come to be a serious art" of /lit/?
>>7753710
There's a reason "perfidious albion" is a phrase.
>>7753749
Um, when??
>>7753779
Yes and both are true
She has been retconning a lot more than Hermione's skin color, lately.
For example, she gave Malfoy this whole bullshit reason for befriending Harry. Says it was so that he could kidnap his classmate, take him home, and use him in this bizarre ritual to resurrect Voldemort.
Which is total bullshit. I just reread the first two books, to see where that might have even been hinted at.
Nothing.
Malfoy doesn't even recognize Harry at first. When he does know who he is, it just seems like Malfoy just wants to befriend the famous kid, cuz he's a spoiled rivh kid and is used to getting what he wants.
There's been more lately, too. HP fans are clamouring for JK Rowling to shut the fuck up.
>>7753779
Bloom is a respected critic, Scaruffi is pretty much universally known as a goof
>>7754026
That makes sense tho, since the ritual you're referring to (I'm only now hearing about this) was probably the exact ritual that took place at the end of Goblet of Fire.
>>7752917
Nope, never happens in the first book. It happens in Deathly Hallows, right after they hear that the third hallow is an invisibility cape. That's the first, and probably only time, where everybody's like "oh Harry's invisibility cape never loses its powers and every other cape does", even though they've known for seven years that his cape is decades old.
That's the very definition of retcon.
>>7754026
What the hell are you on? This is the only thing she's said about it, and it's not stupid or a retcon at all.
>Like every other child of Harry Potter’s age, Draco heard stories of the Boy Who Lived through his youth. Many different theories had been in circulation for years as to how Harry survived what should have been a lethal attack, and one of the most persistent was that Harry himself was a great Dark wizard. The fact that he had been removed from the wizarding community seemed (to wishful thinkers) to support this view, and Draco’s father, wily Lucius Malfoy, was one of those who subscribed most eagerly to the theory. It was comforting to think that he, Lucius, might be in for a second chance of world domination, should this Potter boy prove to be another, and greater, pure-blood champion. It was, therefore, in the knowledge that he was doing nothing of which his father would disapprove, and in the hope that he might be able to relay some interesting news home, that Draco Malfoy offered Harry Potter his hand when he realised who he was on the Hogwarts Express. Harry’s refusal of Draco’s friendly overtures, and the fact that he had already formed allegiance to Ron Weasley, whose family is anathema to the Malfoys, turns Malfoy against him at once. Draco realised, correctly, that the wild hopes of the ex-Death Eaters – that Harry Potter was another, and better, Voldemort – are completely unfounded, and their mutual enmity is assured from that point.
>>7753672
>a prominent gay character
Dumbledore is just that. He doesn't have to suck dick every school year to qualify as gay. He's only ever been in love with Grindelwald, and even if the books don't explicitly mention that it's obvious that the only person he cared about in a deep way was another man.
It's more tasteful than having him go "hey I'm gay you guyth~ my wand ith 15 incheth long with thentaur pube hair core ;)" for no goddamn reason. The only time he ever talked about his affection was when he absolutely had to, and even then in a vague way because it's not relevant to the situation (the situation being that Harry's dead).
>>7753733
The Council of Nicaea, actually. Also The New Testament and Quran are essentially fanfics of the Old Testament which is itself thought to be based on a lot of older crap.
>>7753672
For a second read,you should notice many hints that dumbledore likes dick.
Dancing, singing, crying over songs, purple suit, a flower hat, he'soverall very flamboyant. A total faggot
>>7752558
For years, YEARS she said MORT in interviews and public. She's even read the book in public and said MORT.
The bitch is changing her books now because those are the only books she has. Her other writings bombed and never sold. So she need to stay relevant.
>>7752622
>>7752684
>>7753111
Except for the fact that Hermione was white both in the text of the books and on the official covers. She could have said "I don't mind black Hermione." but instead after a series of tweets she said Hermione was always black.
>>7754395
she has other books?
See the problem is this. There was no PC movement with a voice in the 90's - 2007 so no one cared about races, sexuality, religion etc etc. But now since people "all care" about diversity people are re-visting old popular things and bitching about it. JK instead of saying; "sorry I honestly didn't think about diversity when writing the books I was just writing what I wanted to write" she is now (On Twitter of all places) changing her work. It's very sad that honestly she has to change it via Twitter.
>>7754407
Exactly.
>The Cuckoo's Calling is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith
And no one gave a shit about it.
>she said group masturbation sessions are popular at Hogwarts, especially with Hufflepuffs
>>7754395
>after a series of tweets she said Hermione was always black.
she said nothing of the sort you idiot
>>7754413
except for the shitloads of people that bought it. and the sequels.
>>7754420
Sales were not good in the US.
>>7754331
It makes sense NOW. But to never specify it until verbally doing so AFTER the series is over is the very definition of a retcon.
>>7754339
I love how this autist Potter fan can't reply to any of us without being angry and hostile.
Dumbledore is never visibly gay in the books. She could have, in book 7, given him a backstory that MENTIONED he was gay, but she didn't want to risk alienating her fans until all her money from the 7 books had been made.
Also dude, a retcon is when an author goes back and changes something after the fact. That Malfoy shit was NEVER MENTIONED in the books, which makes it a retcon.
But given that you know as much about the books as you do, I'm guessing you're not exactly the brightest tool in the /lit/ shed, huh?
>>7754431
I wasn't saying it wasn't a retcon, i was just saying it makes sense.
>>7754414
Seriously?
>>7754429
they sold 1.5 million just in the UK
>>7754438
No, anon is just being an idiot.
>>7754438
>>7754441
>>7754431
Dumbledore is never visibly anything in the books. He's a headmaster and his only known backstory is that he's wise and famous for defeating Grindelwald. It's literally the only thing about his personal past revealed until the ending of book 7, which highlights his past with Grindelwald. It would have been out of place for Dumbledore to say "I wanted to suck his dick Harry", because that was not the point of his story and because his feelings were not reciprocated.
Sorry a children's series doesn't cater to your sexual preferences.
>Also dude, a retcon is when an author goes back and changes something after the fact.
The Malfoy explanation changes nothing. If anything it further explains why a previously unexplained and minor thing happened. That's not a retcon. Horcruxes and hallows are retcons, though.
Just to be clear here, I'm talking about the actual explanation she gave, not whatever nonsense you made up about Malfoy wanting to kidnap Harry or whatever.
>>7754410
>There was no PC movement with a voice in the 90's - 2007
Are you high? PC gained a lot of momentum in the 90s, superficially waned during the early to mid 00s, gained some of its momentum back in the late 00s, and experienced a massive resurgence during the 10s.
She's just shilling for PR, yes, but to say that PC only gained a "voice" in 2008 is retarded.
>>7754449
What the fuck is wrong with her?
>>7754449
Holy fucking shit.
>>7754449
Why the fuck would she ever think of this.
>>7752659
She's literally rolling in money, I doubt she cares
>>7754449
I want this to be real
>>7754449
She's trolling! Oh my kek. Beautiful.
>>7752474
This.
As bad as you may think Ms. Potter books are, nothing compares to the horror this ret-conned piece of thrash caused.
>>7752742
>I've never known a black person's face to "go white" from distress.
They would say things like this all the time. It was a little racist joke back in the day, and so it could be seen as such in the book.
Hardly matters.
>>7754449
http://www.collegehumor.com/post/7020700/jk-rowling-knows-way-too-much-about-her-characters
lol
>>7754459
His point was the books came out before the current period of SJWism that's only been prominently part of the national consciousness for the past few years.
>>7752561
I want to boom in the Bloom
>>7754305
>Scaruffi is pretty much universally known as a goof
??
