Traditionally, February is a slow month for new video game releases. The holiday season is over and the industry is months away from the summer break, when millions of teenagers suddenly need to fill their free time. But shaking up this year’s gaming sales’ black hole is an increasingly controversial franchise: Harry Potter.
Rowling herself has implied that her royalty checks are indirect indicators of the popularity of her views on trans rights.
Tuesday’s long-anticipated release of Hogwart’s Legacy by Avalanche Software and Warner Bros. publisher has sparked a lot of consternation among the trans community, as we’ve struggled to respond to an overwhelmingly popular franchise born of an author, J.K. Rowling, who has come out as a strong critic of trans civil rights over the last few years.
The tension around Rowling’s negative views on trans issues has bred much conflict, with diehard Harry Potter fans and her biggest transphobic fans clashing with trans people who would probably just rather see the Potterverse die altogether. It’s prompted yet another discussion about the concept of “death of the author,” wherein some people are willing to overlook bad things about a creator of a work in order to continue enjoying the work.
But separating the work from the creator isn’t really possible in Rowling’s case.
Rowling herself has implied that her royalty checks are indirect indicators of the popularity of her views on trans rights. She will be profiting off Hogwart’s Legacy, and at least part of that profit will likely go directly into the hands of those responsible for pushing the fight to roll back trans rights, causes Rowling has implied she donates to.
Few modern franchises have found as much success as the extended Harry Potter universe. Even my own daughter is a huge Potterhead, much to my chagrin. Even trans people are fans, finding welcome in the past in what they thought was a world where people can be accepted for who they are.
But as…
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