This interview with Paris Lees, a transgender woman, for British Vogue was released last November, which is to say “before Da Tweet,” Rowling’s solve et coagula moment of redefinition. Hat tip to the friend who suggested I watch it in light of Watson’s silence after Rowling’s tweet; it’s easy to see how conflicted she must be between her thoughts on this issue and her debts and loyalty to Rowling as mentor. (The video is cued to where the relevant conversation begins and it continues for seven minutes before they segue to movie talk.)
Only Ezra Miller and Evanna Lynch of all the Wizarding World movie stars have spoken their minds about Da Tweet and neither of them gave a decisive thumbs up or thumbs down vis a vis what Rowling said and whether they agree or disagree. More on that anon. Any thoughts about Emma Watson’s situation or what she says to Paris Lees? Her fears for a six year old transgender child in the UK?
Daniel Radcliffe, if this 2009 interview is any measure, seems to be caught in a bind similar to Watson’s with respect to transgender and Rowling loyalties in conflict.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jul/04/daniel-radcliffe-harry-potter-jk-rowling
He is also a fan of modern art. For his 18th birthday in July 2007, when his protective parents notionally handed him financial freedom, he thought about treating himself to a car (nothing too flash – a Toyota Prius, say, or a Golf GTI); two years on, he hasn’t even had a driving lesson, much less splashed out on some wheels. Instead, he bought a work by New York-based artist Jim Hodges, which is how he was introduced to the world of transvestites. “The dealer said they wanted to sell it to a more prestigious collector, and Jim got word of this. Turns out he’s a massive Harry Potter fan and insisted they sell it to me. Ever since then I’ve been really good friends with Jim and his best mate Tim, a photographer. And they are two gay guys, artists, in New York, and they introduced me to these amazing, crazy, mad, weird, extraordinary people. I was immediately embraced by the New York tranny community!”….
And finally, Radcliffe admits that as a boy actor he’s had some “quite sexy mums over the years. Jamie Lee Curtis in [big screen debut] The Tailor Of Panama and Emilia Fox [in David Copperfield]. Both good,” he says eagerly. He asks if I’ve met Rowling. “She is fantastically attractive. Very, very beautiful. And so intelligent, it’s frightening.”
Emma Watson is a tender-hearted person. It does her credit. Inconveniently, she personally knows Rowling, as most of us do not, and again, inconveniently, she probably sees her as a person with a human, fallible heart. How could anyone not be concerned for the safety and well-being of a six year old child?
I am stubbornly going to assume that everyone in this picture are essentially good people and are acting from the best of intentions, and that they probably know a good deal more about the situation than I do.