First a word on how this all started:

I believe I've mentioned before that I have a coworker who has a particular focus on sorting us all into Harry Potter houses. To this point, she believes the Pottermore quiz, as vague as it is, to be the ultimate decision maker.

Depending on which questions I get, it gives me either Ravenclaw or Slytherin, and I was henceforth forced into Slytherin because "we have too many Ravenclaws." I objected to this as, although I have no problem with fanon Slytherin, canon Slytherin is in many ways the exact opposite of me, and there's not a single Slytherin I actually like. The response to this is always "but Snape!" ... you mean the judgmental slime ball who spends the majority of the books harassing a child over something his father, someone the child never knew, did?

From the start, this made me not the most fond of this set-up. Worse, we had a non-binary coworker who openly objected to Rowling, and their trans bf once tried to explain to this individual in detail how this can reinforce certain ideas, promote her work which generates money for her, as well as make trans individuals feel unwelcome. She didn't really seem to engage in this all that seriously, and now just adds a cravat that Rowling sucks.

This thankfully died down some, due largely to this individual going to maternity leave, but then it recently came back to light due to some newer coworkers who weren't part of the last wave of forced-housing mechanics.

That non-binary coworker quit out of stress some time back, but at one point afterward I did try to make the argument that, if we get a trans coworker, it might seem unwelcoming to them. (Or like we just have bad taste or make people assume stereotypes, like do I want people to assume I'm some kind of ladder-climbing magic racist? No.) I did reflect on this, as I felt like I might be that person they warn you about, being over-sensitive and considering people who may exist in the future to the point of ruining the moment, but then... I personally consider myself agender and was never part of these discussions. More recently, JK Rowling also decided to attack asexual people, and she has begun to paint gay men who support the larger LGBT+ movement - as opposed to the LGB only movement - as pedophiles, so I've had quite enough of this.

As such, I objected subtly this time, and when it was suggested we "bring the board back," I pointed out that not many people are really into Harry Potter, but since it did increase engagement, we have some AtLA fans and that might be less uneven since we, as a science lab, do have a lot of Ravenclaws.

As there are several people who adore AtLA, this was received positively by just about everyone but that person, and now we have an AtLA board. I somehow went from Slytherin to an Air Nomad. Not sure how that is possible, haha, but we all agreed that, not only is this board more even, but it reflects the people who got each one surprisingly well.

... but, I guess the way I suggested that could be seen as either Air gentle suggestion or Slyth manipulation depending on how you want to look at it!

Random aside, but it's kind of funny that Air Nomads are vegetarians, and the 3 of us who limit our consumption of meat to various degrees all got assigned air. And that was of the only 3/4 of us who got it!

I won't lie, I am honestly thrilled that it worked, as every single time we went back to the Hogwarts houses, I tensed up in dread. Whereas, in Avatar: The Last Airbender, every single group has heroes and villains, and it's more about ideology and how you approach different situations and problems than the base and weirdly inconsistent traits in Harry Potter.

Still, I decided to see if the films focusing on adults, outside of all this hogwarts house nonsense, were less frustrating.

All of this is relevant because it highlights two of the core problems that have always existed within Harry Potter's writing:

( A note about the series and Rowling as a whole before getting into the 2nd movie )

What was the purpose of that long write-up? It's because it's highly relevant for the next part, as these problems are amped up to 11 in Fantastic Beasts. It becomes apparent none of this is a fluke.


Fantastic Beasts and the Crimes of Wizard Hitler

If the first movie was merely mediocre, this one is a complete mess.

( Read more... )

I was going to include the final movie in this one as well, until I realized just how long this has already gotten. Oops, I am good at ranting about Harry Potter.