Comments by "Sam Aronow" (@SamAronow) on "On Mario Batali, J.K. Rowling and "cancel culture" (PODCAST E45)" video.

And this is actually why I can't really get behind Death of the Author personally. It's a fine way of analyzing a work, but I think it's still interesting and sometimes even more thought-provoking to understand how something ended up the way it did. For example, I find it far more fascinating that Sean Penn genuinely sympathized with the manic ethos of Christopher McCandless in his adaptation of Into the Wild, because that means that what I saw as a revelatory performance of a mental ill person– which came across even more clearly to me than in the book, though it contained all the same information– was unintentional on the part of the director! How does that happen? I want to talk about it. That said, I'm always wary of judging films by their intentions, as it tends to reward lazy/pandering material that isn't terribly concerned with art or entertainment (Pureflix), or alternately work that attempts to cash in on people's morality by suggesting a point rather than having one (most of Michael Moore's filmography). Sorry, it's been too long since I've been able to have discussions about movies.
15
I don't think we can have a full conversation on Rowling without knowing/acknowledging that her attitudes are in fact the norm among British political/media elites for a whole mess of historical reasons (chummy insularity, different legal system, broader historical trends that missed the UK, intermittent anti-Americanism) who view their transphobia as not only uncontroversial but progressive. It's horrifying and fascinating. Rowling is only the most well-known of these figures among people outside the UK, so there's a perception that she's singular in this regard, but talk to Hannah Witton about her struggles with the British media and she will be happy to let you know how curiously monolithic it is when it comes to certain issues.
10
@-scrim I think you'll find that race is whatever institutions need it to be for a specific time and place. A hundred years ago, Adam and I weren't white in America. In the country where I now live, I'm not white because "white" is not a relevant category for this society. According to the US census bureau, anyone with ancestry in a Spanish-speaking country is "hispanic," yet in those countries no such category exists because it doesn't need to. You see how this is dumb? Race isn't just a social construct, it's an imposition.
6
"The fantasized to be part of that world, wrote fanfiction, dressed up as characters and went out of their way to meet actors." This isn't a commentary on Rowling, but I think this helps articulate for me why I steadily lost enthusiasm for the Harry Potter franchise, even as I continued to read each of the books as they came out, because wanting to be part of that world helped me realize that it's also an incredibly small world. This is going to sound super-nerdy, but once you take into account the fact that every wizard or witch in the British Isles with its 70 million people must be a graduate of Hogwarts, and you know roughly how large a graduating class is, the whole thing kind of collapses in on itself. And all of the media since that's built on that has only demonstrated that flaw. What began for me as a world of surprise and excitement began to feel claustrophobic and sad for this community of people totally disconnected from the wider world. And when there are adults out there for whom the Harry Potter franchise is their only way of relating to the world, or who at least choose to express their relation to the world in that way and that way alone, is just depressing.
6
@krombopulos_michael Don't forget the whole poop thing.
5
@Aelffwynn "Yes, Rowling has explicitly stated that she views people buying her products as support for her views." I think she's forgotten that the general public aren't her characters.
5
The extremely loud fandom who feel the need to compare everything that happens in the world to Harry Potter, no matter how relevant or apt, don't help either.
4
I would struggle to characterize Nigel Farage as "posh," he strikes me more as a try-hard. Morrissey is especially tragic though, considering how venerated he was by Mexican immigrants to the US, to the point that he got a statue in East LA, and that he once reciprocated that love.
3
@theritchie2173 This may be hard for you to hear, but in most developed countries, cis women can also be convicted of rape.
3
@arianghorbani1305 Yes! My conclusion on that "his failure was the movie's success."
3
@turtlezinthesky Ironically, Rowling has been criticized in the past for calling out antisemitism. But those aren't mutually exclusive. I'm currently researching an activist/writer named Michael Davitt, was an outspoken opponent of antisemitism in Russia while also harboring ingrained antisemitic views from his upbringing in 19th century Ireland.
3
Honestly, knowing some of the hypercompetitive clout-chasing that was going on around the Sanders campaign, I got less surprise and more nostalgic recognition.
2
I'll just repeat what Last Week Tonight said so many years ago: why can't we just switch to Frank Sinatra Day?
1
@PippetWhippet Except that Holocaust denial is something that is done with the specific agenda of opening the door to cause physical harm to millions of people.
1
I don't know where you got that about Shakespeare, but if anything the opposite is true. Only in the Romantic and Victorian eras did the idea of art as personal expression gain popularity, whereas before it was just seen as a skill, hence "playwright," as in someone who wrights a play as one might wright iron. Not coincidentally it was the Victorian era that birthed the conspiracy theory that Shakespeare didn't write his plays– the argument being that nobody of such low birth could produce anything worthy of such historic admiration.
1
@andre.bouchard This is a topic concerning American history that is part of the podcast; it's not about being the center of the world, it's about being relevant to the discussion.
1
That's interesting, because I feel the opposite. When it comes to myself it's much more of a struggle, but I'd never assume the worst of someone I actually know for liking something problematic, because I know them better than that (unless I just thought they had shitty taste).
1