Not My Canon!

Inflection Point - Part 1

Jumping ahead with my research, I came across something from June of 2016 that caught my attention. It seemed important and I wanted to get it right, so this next post will be broken into two parts.

During an interview with J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne (let's call them the Cursed Trio), there's a particular moment that I think reveals the broader problem we have with HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, namely the plot devices, canon inconsistencies, and characterization. Here, JKR accidentally acknowledges a provocative opinion she holds of the fanbase. It passes in the fraction of a second. The reason I bring it up now is because I believe this may be the inflection point, the moment at which every confusing decision starts to make sense in retrospect.

An inflection point is a juncture of significant change. For us, it would be in the future of Harry Potter. I don't mean physically, or even in the mind of J.K. Rowling, but in what should be perceived as the relationship between the fanbase and the wizarding world. Because, for the first time, JKR made her intentions clear.

This world belongs to her, alone, and any fan is incorrect to think otherwise.

When I discovered this while researching the atmosphere of excitement that preceded the release of the Cursed Child script book, I realized the importance of what had just been captured on film. And suddenly so much of the chaos made sense. In the mind of JKR, our interpretations of the material didn't matter, our ships, our fanfiction, our fangirling / fanboying. It was irrelevant. Because we had no rights to this world. Which also meant that our connection with the books mattered far less than the direction in which the writing team wanted to take the story.

During this BBC interview, Will Gompertz sat down with the Cursed Trio just days after previews began, seven weeks before the premiere. During a routine series of questions, the interviewer asked JKR a unique question about the fanbase that I now believe was particularly illuminating. I had never heard this question asked to JKR in the past, nor had I EVER seen this sort of expression on her face. It was like all the air in the room solidified for a moment, and I swear she was mentally reaching for a wand. The interviewer had managed to cut JKR to the quick. And I believe her response was very telling.

At the time of writing this, JKR had just posted a quote on Twitter in response to some derogatory comment she made about Trump (similar comments have recently gotten her into hot water). The famous quote she posted was: When someone shows you who they are, believe them.

During the BBC interview from June 10th, I believe JKR showed us who she really is. After being asked directly about the fanbase and the philosophical ownership of Potter, she showed us a momentary glimmer of a dominant, calculated god, fully aware of her own power. The juxtaposition of her attitude in relation to the fans is significant. The sudden shift exposed more than she was probably willing to reveal, moving away from the stereotypical position that everything is, of course, all about the fans.

Read for yourself.

Will, the interviewer (to JKR): What's been your sort of overriding concerns? What's kept you awake at night?

Rowling: Um...I don't think I realized how anxious I was, to tell you the absolute truth. I mean, this is putting me back ten years. Potter attracted a lot of madness and a lot of hype. And going back into that place, I realized on Wednesday morning how anxious that had made me, because...I knew how much expectation there would be...and I didn't want to let fans down...

And here's the turn...

Will: Is there a sense then, in your own mind, philosophically, more than sort of literally, that you don't own Potter anymore? That it's owned by the fanbase?

Rowling: I wouldn't go that far, Will...

Hmm... It's hard to grasp in text, but I want to pause at that moment, exactly, when her gaze intensified and her posture looked more like that of an amused mafia boss than a subdued, self-effacing British author. In her eyes, if only for a moment, we saw confident, haughty defiance. Then it broke, and she moved on.

Rowling: Because that would be - and I'm deadly serious - that would be to disavow what that world was to me. For 17 years that world was mine, and for seven years it was entirely mine - not a living soul knew anything about it. And I can't just uproot that from all the personal experiences that inform those stories and say I'm throwing that away now. Til my dying breath, I will care deeply about those stories.

No one is saying JKR can't care about her stories, or that acknowledging her fans requires her to "uproot", "disavow", or "throw away" anything. But any linguistics professor would tell you that the key signifier of meaning in that statement is the word "mine".

This overture to the play that I'm doing here is attempting to establish why the fans (who were often divided on issues leading up to the release of Cursed Child), were so willing to coalesce around the idea that the play is not canon despite JKR's insistence. So we need to diagnose the problems. And some of that has to do with the blatant disregard for canonical events by the series creator and understanding why that would matter so much to the public. It seems to circulate around this very small, but significant moment when JKR refuses to admit that the fans have any claim over the world of Harry Potter.

Before you put up a fight, hear me out in Part 2.