:::: One Part FANDOM RETROSPECTIVE, One Part ANALYSIS ::::
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play that premiered in London, 2016. It was met with praise by theatergoers and disdain, even hatred, by those who read the script. Today, there is a...
The biggest question raised by the fans after they come to accept that JKR supported the flawed content within the play, was how even a cursory read of the first draft didn't raise red flags. The only conceivable answer is that, even though they developed the script together, she felt uncomfortable taking the helm or correcting the ship when it veered off course. Perhaps she's too much of a people-pleaser to work with other writers. I think this is accurate to a large extent, but not completely.
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Two months ago, Jack Thorne gave an interview to the NewStatesman. This is the article that JKR linked to on Twitter, adding "I love @JackThorne", which you may recall from my earlier post.
Ahem, excuse me.
*retching sounds*.
Tiffany and Thorne trooped off to see Rowling and find what new material they could develop for Thorne to script. Thorne had long been a Potter addict and his anxiety about treading on such hallowed ground was assuaged by Rowling's involvement.
"I had a big advantage - my first reader was John [Tiffany], and my second was Jo [Rowling]. If you've got the person out of whose head these characters came, then you go, 'OK, I can make some choices. If they're the wrong ones, she'll say.' And she did. I'm pretty sure I could have been fired at any time."
From this quote, it's clear that JKR had every opportunity to override any deviations in canon and characterization. Thorne claims that she did on occasion. Which leads us finally to the evidence we needed that JKR not only helped to define the content of the script, but approved of everything during the drafting process. This proof is definitive and impervious to any counter-argument. Beyond all logical debate, we must now accept that J.K. Rowling helped write her own fanfiction, filled with all the classic tropes and benchmarks of obvious "author insertion". Yes, we also know from that article that the relationship between Albus and Harry was drawn from Thorne's own past experiences. Ugh...
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Still, how did JKR not notice the errors in canon? While I've already established her inability to recall basic story details, and her blind trust of mistaken sources who seem confident in their knowledge of canon, we have a very simple explanation. J.K. Rowling created the books, which means that her experience with them is vastly different than our own. To Rowling, it's a story in her mind...with details that can be edited swiftly with a tap of the backspace key. To many of us, it's an obsession. Therefore, the finer details and nuances in character, she might be able to overlook. Even massive plot holes could be accepted if she was convinced to the contrary by a respected voice.
