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this post was submitted on 14 May 2024
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Death of the Author doesn’t really work when the author is still alive, profiting off the work, and gets to decide which new projects get an official stamp of approval. Plus, she’s absolutely delusional enough to believe that her continued royalties off the franchise justify her views and that people must secretly agree with her.
There’s enough other great works out there to put your time and effort into building an expanded world around, if that’s your thing, written by authors who are far kinder and more talented than Rowling. Might I suggest Ursula LeGuin or Terry Pratchett for some light and enjoyable fantasy?
Death of the Author is a term specifically to describe this kind of situation and not literal, the author has "died" from the work they created, meaning they are no longer required to keep the work alive also.
If JK's ideology and disgusting rhetoric makes you unable to enjoy the work or if you can't lose yourself because it, that's absolutely understandable, and yes there are LOT better works of fiction out there, I don't like HP very much, but I do get how delightful it is for kids who discovered it when they could connect to it.
The thing everyone here needs to keep aware of though, is that the vast majority of great people who are deeply steeped in the fandom, they are not to blamed for Rowling and her success and fortune, NOR WILL PROTESTING OR SHAMING FANS DO ANYTHING. There have been a lot of naive and performative ideas of protesting HP merchandise and games and media, and shaming the people who consume it, the only thing that does is bring more attention to JK's "cause" and makes people who should be allies infight and makes progressive minded folks divided.
We're not denting JK's pocketbook, it's impossible at this point, we're not sending a message by being angry at her, we're not going to impact her in any way unless we start ignoring her. She's a fucking narcissist and she feeds on the contention she's created.
A school for wizards... can't imagine where the lawsuit-happy Rowling came up with that idea...
If you've never heard of it, the similarities between Harry potter and The Worst Witch are too many to be coincidence.
"I am sure that Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch is actually the roots of Harry Potter, even though J.K. Rowling has never admitted that. There are simply too many similarities between both worlds for it to be a coincidence, and if Murphy never sued I guess that it's because she did not want to suffer all the hassle.
Just consider these unusual coincidences:
1- Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches is a lonely castle, surrounded by forest.
2- The castle is invisible to non-magical people.
3- There is a village nearby the castle.
4- The forest is forbidden to the students.
5- Mildred Hubble comes from a non-magical background.
6- Mildred has two best friends, Maud and Enid.
7- Mildred has a cat.
8- Miss Hardbroom (scary potions teacher) hates Mildred.
9- Elitist fellow student from an elitist family of Witches hates Mildred.
10- Benevolent, warm-hearted Headmistress loves and helps Mildred.
11- The first year students take special lessons to learn to fly with broomsticks.
12- Miss Cackle's Academy was founded by a witch called Hermione Cackle.
All of these sound familiar, right? There are other similarities, these are just a few!!
Now, if Harry Potter had come first then everyone would scream that The Worst Witch is a Harry Potter rip-off, but in fact the first Mildred Hubble book was written back in 1974... J.K. Rowling is a wonderful writer and a superb storyteller and there are also many differences between WW and HP, but I think that all HP fans (myself included) should accept that WW is actually the roots."
https://mythicscribes.com/community/threads/the-worst-witch-tv-series.10979/post-153303
i was obsessed with the worst witch series on cbbc so much so that i went back and read the series and loved them :)
The only thing I know about The Worst Witch is the movie they made with Tim Curry and Fairuza Balk and I barely remember it, but I'm not shocked.
Actually, it makes it more striking. What you're doing there is conflating art and art reception with economics and economical relations. In purely artistic terms yes she's deader than dead because anything she says about anything about her work will be disregarded if fans don't vibe with it. Usually, while still alive, artists at least have some influence on the interpretation of their works, she doesn't. Not because she's physically dead, but because fans have declared her dead to them.