screenshot of a social media post, one user says "It's impressive how Niel Gaiman vanished from the internet. Wish Rowling would do the same." Another user responds, "Also impressive how quickly and thoroughly people who previously loved his work have disowned it, stopped buying it, and stopped discussing it. Wish Rowling's fans would do the same."
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[–] 56 points 1 year ago (21 children)

Am I going to get rid of his works that I own? No, probably not. I love them. Which is why it sucks so much to never recommend them again, but that's the reality.

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  • [–] 36 points 1 year ago (14 children)

    Shitty people can make good art. Death of the author.

    Just never give them money.

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  • [–] 26 points 1 year ago* (11 children)

    My 2c tho, the Harry Potter novels legitimately suck. This has been my opinion of them since I was in 8th grade when the first one came out. At the time I described Sorcerer's / Philosopher's Stone as a failed attempt at ripping off Roald Dahl (British author who wrote mean-spirited children's books that stereotyped characters with funny-sounding names based on their physical descriptions). I was frequently urged to and attempted to give the books a second chance, never got more than 20 pages back into any of them before I put them down in exasperation because to me they always felt very petty and derivative. I was not very surprised when JK started to peel off her mask to the public.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    Why do you think they're so popular then?

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  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Children have less reading comprehension, wizards and magic are cool to kids, and nostalgia appears to be my generation's (millennials) lead poisoning.

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  • [–] -4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Okay, so why specifically that series among the many other wizards and magic series? I think Rowling is a piece of shit as any sane person should, but let's not warp reality. The books may not be your cup of tea and of course they're not perfect, but they're definitely good books, otherwise they wouldn't have gained the popularity they did.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Because they became a cultural phenomenon and were lots of kids first novels. If youve never read anything else youre not going to see the massive flaws.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Well, you just replied to the question "why are they popular?" with "because they became popular". Okay, so why did they become popular? Because despite the flaws they definitely have, they're simply good stories with good world building that suck people in (not just kids btw, plenty of people got into them as adults).

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Older guy told me he read Dahl (Matilda?) to his grandkid & passed the lesson that you gotta be careful who you trust… are his works viewed negatively?

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    I don't think universally. Similar to Rowling, his stuff is beloved and can certainly still be enjoyed but contains some totally wack bits. Even as a kid I picked up on how mean-spirited his writing was. But I think that's also what makes it interesting to some people, it's got this macabe Grimm's quality to it.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Death of the author

    People here keep using the term as basically a synonym of "separating art from artist" but I always thought death of the author was a different thing. Analyzing the meaning of a book while ignoring what the author says they meant.

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  • It is the latter, kind of

    It's also (i think) separating it from the context of the author and their life/identity (so, for example, m&m using the n word being different from some other rapper doing the same).

    So functions well as shorthand for the former. Or in the case of an author like rowling, as a wish.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I get what you're saying, but why not recommend them with the caveat that the other person should pirate them?

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  • [–] [S] 23 points 1 year ago

    This is a good moral compromise in that it allows you to enjoy the art without the moral complications of commercially supporting a rapist, but I think some people might argue that it doesn't go far enough and that we should essentially culturally boycott the art as well, that an artist's reputation rests partially on how their art is perceived, and by continuing to enjoy that art and share it with others, you continue to support the artist in some sense.

    Not sure I know how I feel about that argument, but I think it's an intuition some folks have or an argument they make.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    That's fair. I think because in Gaiman's case it's still fresh for me, and really came out of nowhere, so I don't like to talk about them much.

    With JK, it's so evident in her writing that she had some prejudice that it really didn't surprise me much, so I internalized that quickly and moved on.

    I don't provide either with my money, and pirate them whenever I want something.

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  • [–] [S] 8 points 1 year ago

    I think my cognitive dissonance was too strong, I got rid of my Gaiman. :-(

    But I feel you - his works were important in my life before, I've just been downsizing and even though it wasn't the best, I decided to get rid of mine (not because it's "right" but just because I don't like being reminded of him).

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    I love HP and they were a big part of my life, made me enjoy reading and helped me a lot with English (and British) vocabulary. I still enjoy the books and movies that I already own from time to time but I cannot see myself consuming anything new knowing that it will give money directly to Rowling's pockets to fund his trans hating organizations

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