Rowling’s passion project might be taking a hit because of her political views. Former ‘Harry Potter’ star Daniel Radcliffe has recently refused to come by for a Harry Potter reunion, and she might be bleeding followers.
When Rowling wrote ‘Harry Potter’, she became a bonafide superhero. Not only was she the first person who had become a billionaire only by writing, but she also donated enough to charities that she lost her billionaire status. A string of 8 blockbuster movies and a fandom that kept on growing, cemented her position as a cultural icon. That is until she started to speak politics.
Highlights —
- Rowling after Potter
- What are her politics?
- Why is Daniel Radcliffe distancing himself?
ROWLING AFTER POTTER
Rowling probably realized soon after the last ‘Harry Potter’ movie that there was not much future for her without it. So, she started milking the franchise. First off, there was “Pottermore”, a site that documented the Potter universe. Then there were the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ films and, of course, the deeply misguided ‘Cursed Child’.
For someone who keeps trying to get into new factions, her only money-making trick was pulling out more Potter content off her sleeve and somehow getting into the news. The fandom rallied and got her more and more money.
There were some excellent ideas in between. However, a lot of her later work on Potter has been about retconning the series. She is moving onto different places and writing stories about the characters from the book series in another way, inventing some new mythos for the universe every other day. While everyone tries to keep their fame alive in one way or another, the famous author has taken a route that flies somewhere between sketchy and outright shady. Even her “Comoran Strike” novels, which she wrote under a pseudonym, became famous due to her name. “Casual Vacancy”, her adult novel, was a mediocre piece of literature, with sales that could only be attributed to her ever-present fame.
Rowling is famous. She has tonnes of money, but by the late 2010s, the biggest news surrounding her was transphobia.
HER POLITICS
Why is Daniel Radcliffe not keen on returning as Harry Potter? There are many reasons, but Rowling’s politics may have something to do with it.
Rowling posted a series of tweets against trans people in 2019. By 2020, she had hunkered down on her position and released a now-infamous op-ed about trans people. She said that she supported the tweets she had liked, people she had followed and was taking an active interest in the politics of transphobia.
She also tweeted out in support of Maya Forstater, a TERF whose contract for her office hadn’t been renewed in light of her vicious social media attacks against trans people. The political conspiracy that Rowling believes in has a lot of implications.
For example, she believes that trans women are predators, and trans men are misguided women tempted by the “trans lobby”. The hateful politics brought her condemnation from former Harry Potter stars. While most of them didn’t take an active oppositional stance, Daniel Radcliffe did.
DANIEL RADCLIFFE
Radcliffe has been moving on since ‘Harry Potter’. The movies netted him a considerable profit, but he moved on to do great films. He starred in ‘Swiss Army Man’ opposite Elijah Woods, where he portrayed the role of a farting corpse. The movie was a fan-favourite at film festivals.
When Daniel Radcliffe was asked about the ‘Harry Potter’ reunion, he said that he wouldn’t be back because he was busy. While Radcliffe does have a busy schedule, so do Watson and Rupert Grint, both of whom are coming for the reunion.
Only Rupert Gribt has announced his support for a reunion movie, while Radcliffe has been distancing himself from the series. Daniel’s heartfelt essay about transphobia might make sense of this mess.
He has actively distanced himself from Rowling, and if she is in charge of the reunion, he will try to get away from the role. He is also one of the only main stars who has apologized to the fans saying that he is sorry if the fans are upset. So, he is moving on unless Rowling gets the sense to move on from her toxic politics in between.
Radcliffe has been vocal about his support of trans people. This would not sit right with the current TERF-in-chief, J.K Rowling. Her constant barrage of hate might be the reason why he is distancing himself from the reunion too, which he said he was too “busy” to attend.
