Chez Moi

Dee had written a post about JKR and Warner Bros’ action against the poor bloke who ran the Harry Potter Lexicon for years. It was irresistible and I started typing out my comment till it got so big, I decided to transfer it here.

My respect for J K Rowling as a writer was directly proportional to the quality of the work she churned out, which started on a slow downward swing post-Goblet of Fire. Undisputably, she created something mega with Potter and blew the whole children’s genre out of the water. But IMO, she peaked with GoF and every book after that was more like an exercise to make money than a creative output.  I mean, what’s with the Order of the Phoenix? ‘More verbose than Bible’ - so bloody what? So many words to explain so few things? Crime against Goddess Saraswati, I call it!

Declaring Dumbledore as gay was nothing but a publicity stunt, to generate a buzz amongst the fans - something to keep them talking till the movie is released. Pottermania has understandably ebbed after the release of the final book and they need something to create a buzz till they can start publicising the movie.

Now this…. she’s just proving that she isn’t different from anybody else.

Most things she’d said are a load of tripe - take the oft-repeated ‘oh I hate this merchandising palaver’ statement. She went to great lengths to assure one and all that she had to put her foot down else we would all have been saddled with a Moaning Myrtle toilet seat the Christmas after Chamber of Secrets. Now, had she been such a do-gooder, why the hell did she say ‘NO MERCHANDISING AND THAT IS IT’? If the thought of Potter dolls and Myrtle loo seats made her shudder so much, why the hell didn’t she say ‘let us do away with the whole thing’. Simple reason - moolah.

That’s what it all has come to. That’s what everything boils down to. Doesn’t matter if you are richer than the Queen. Let’s face it - there cannot be another Potter phenomenon. Even is she turns out another bestseller (who am I kidding?), chances of it reaching the heights of HP is slim. So, I suppose, it is a case of making hay while the sun shines.

Meanwhile, Steve Vander Ark, good luck to you, mate! And good look to all the owners of the other Harry Potter fan sites - keep your fingers crossed that she doesn’t turn her guns on you tomorrow!