Rowling has been active on Twixter this month, perhaps “hyperactive” is fair, but I think this brief post may be the best.

First, it’s funny. Rowling turns an insult from an angry Gender Theory Extremist into a clever title of a teevee series (think ‘A-Team’) or film (‘Inglorious Basterds‘) that celebrates exactly what the presumed AWFL wanted to condemn.

Second, it’s clever. Rowling writes an elevator pitch or trailer copy for the new series or film, “Insufferable Terfs.” That’s not only funny, it requires a certain sophistication and playfulness with genre writing. Rowling has this down pat.

Third, it’s brief. There’s a set-up and punchline that take less ten seconds of reading to play out with the ‘Gotcha.’

Fourth, it’s serious but not heavy. Rowling decided in late 2w019 to take the point in the battle against one of the most egregious movements of postmodernity, namely, Gender Theory Extremists and their incredible over reach. She also tweets and retweets about Iranian government attacks on women and other light subjects. This tweet skewers the ‘enemy’ in a way that highlights the importance of the subject without causing a brain cramp about global injustice and a hospital stay for depression.

Thanks for the pointed laugh, Mrs, Murray!

Last week the big news in the niche world of Harry Potter fandom and Rowling Studies was the announcement that UK actor Paapa Essiedu has been chosen to play the part of Severus Snape in the Bronte Studios and HBO+ adaptation of the Hogwarts Saga for television. Essiedu is of Ghanian descent, which is to say that he is a black man rather than white, and the subsequent controversy, after the model of ‘Black Hermione’ in Cursed Child, is called ‘Black Severus’ or ‘Black Snape.’

I wrote about the reasons I think this casting choice was casting genius on Thursday, why I thought ‘Black Severus’ differed significantly from the diversity hiring aspect of ‘Black Hermione’ on Friday, and the possibility of a ‘Black Sirius’ (please, let’s not have ‘Black Black’ or ‘Black Squared’) with ‘Black Severus’ to highlight the parallel and inverse lives of those two characters. Comments from HogPro readers came in at 10 to 1 against the casting choice.

What did Rowling say or tweet about this casting choice and controversy? She is the owner of Bronte Studios and an Executive Producer of the adaptation so it is a safe assumption that she had to have been asked to sign off on this decision.

She has said nothing about it, or ‘nothing publicly’ that I know of. The only work-related or Rowling, Inc., themed tweet she has shared has been to say that Hallmarked Man, the eighth Strike-Ellacott novel is still a work in progress:

I’m guessing that the blowback about offering “medical advice” has something to do with Rowling’s common sense position that chemical castration and genital mutilation of children and adolescents is not a good idea, a position she clarified through this re-tweet of a thread on that subject:

The humorous tweet about the effectiveness of co-codamol and whiskey in combination as a pain delivery system for coal miners mystery writers with overdue books was paired with another jab at India Willoughby ( a “jab” in her “lady balls;” Willoughby is a “transgender woman,” which is to say, a biological male). [Read more…]