odds :: Gay characters in YA lit :: ends

[pauraque_bk]

eponis asked a good question the other day: Didn't Fred and George ever wonder why this bloke named Pettigrew was always shown on the map in Ron's dorm?

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scarah2 has a post on the perennially popular topic of whether particular characters may be gay in JKR's mind, regardless of whether she'll ever tell us so.

This put me in mind of a discussion keladryb and I recently had on the subject, more focused on whether JKR can/would explicitly state that a character is gay in the books. I'm not sure what purpose it would serve, beyond diversity for the sake of it. Remus is already figuratively queer, so it would seem a bit odd to make him literally queer as well, wouldn't it?

We agreed that JKR can write whatever she wants; no one could possibly stop her. We also discussed the precedent of gay characters in children's/young adult literature. Kel brought up Annie On My Mind, one of the very first YA novels about gay characters.

I've read Annie On My Mind, and it was pretty frank for the age-bracket it was aimed at. With that as a standard of what's acceptable, allowing Remus Lupin to be gay as a small part of an epic series seems like something that should be taken in stride.

Yet, it doesn't feel like it would be taken that way, at least not to me. We talked about the fact that Annie On My Mind is not just a novel with gay characters, it's a gay novel. You'd know that as soon as you read the back cover. It's in its right place on the Gay Interest shelf, where it's easy to avoid if you don't like it.

But mentioning at this point in the HP series that Remus is gay -- that's quite different. It tells us that he's a human being first, a teacher, a wizard, an expert on dark creatures, a person who makes mistakes -- all these things first, and then he also happens to be gay. It tells us that being gay isn't the end-all-be-all of someone's personality and life experience. It tells us that there isn't a great divide in the world with all the gay people conveniently Over There on their proper shelf where you don't have to see them (separate but equal).

And that's what I think would cause the controversy if JKR did decide to tell us Remus is queer. Even if it was only a passing, minor point -- perhaps especially if it was a minor point -- the message that being gay simply isn't anything to get worked up about is something I think a lot of people would have a huge problem with in a very mainstream YA series.

Any thoughts?

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On a totally different note: If you, like so many of us, are possessed by an unexpected love for movie!Remus, go here to add 'lupin's cardigan' to your interest list.

Comments

[florahart]

It tells us that he's a human being first, a teacher, a wizard, an expert on dark creatures, a person who makes mistakes -- all these things first, and then he also happens to be gay. It tells us that being gay isn't the end-all-be-all of someone's personality and life experience. It tells us that there isn't a great divide in the world with all the gay people conveniently Over There on their proper shelf where you don't have to see them (separate but equal).

I imagine if she makes someone explicitly gay, it won't be Remus.

For all the reasons you give here, I do wish she would put in a passing reference to someone being gay--someone whose sex life is patently unimportant to Harry, who knows. You know? He goes to McGonagall's office for detention and waits while she smooches Sinistra goodbye or something. You know, he knows, it's not a surprise, he doesn't care, readers aren't supposed to be shocked or alarmed, and the people who are already burning the books because of witchcraft, well, it's not incredibly ikely they're allowing their children to be corrupted by this in the first place, now is it.

This is, incidentally, one of the things I love about Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books, which people say are bad, and maybe they are, but in her first trilogy the main character isn't gay, but a pair of her friends are and she knows it, supports it, and doesn't care, in the sense of, it's not relevant to the relationship she and her friends have. And in a later trilogy, hell, the main character is gay, and again, it's not all he is. Those books, incidentally, are usually classified as juvie lit.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

I imagine if she makes someone explicitly gay, it won't be Remus.

For all the reasons you give here, I do wish she would put in a passing reference to someone being gay--someone whose sex life is patently unimportant to Harry, who knows.

Yeah, she probably won't do it, but if she did, I wouldn't be surprised if it were Tonks. We know very little about her, and she's on the periphery of Harry's life - not important enough to be center-stage, but still a character people like. She's also not already a symbol of anything.