View Single Post
Old 07-10-2020, 02:11 PM   #42
MGlitch
Wizard
MGlitch ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.MGlitch ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.MGlitch ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.MGlitch ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.MGlitch ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.MGlitch ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.MGlitch ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.MGlitch ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.MGlitch ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.MGlitch ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.MGlitch ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 2,857
Karma: 22003124
Join Date: Aug 2014
Device: Kobo Forma, Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer View Post
Comparing what you choose to see as "cancel culture" to book burning/banning is quite laughable to me. Which authors have been cancelled? Which culture can no longer be read about by anyone who wants to?
JK Rowling would be a prime example of this, despite the ongoing statements from her about the trans community and the backlash she's gotten for it. Mind that she doubled (or tripled, or quadrupled etc I've really lost count) down on these views this year during Pride. In the highly charged atmosphere of this year.

But the Harry Potter books will continue to be published because despite the outrage over the author the books are purchased. Same goes for her mystery books.

Though a counter example would be Amelie Wen Zhao who in early 2019 cancelled her book "Blood Heir" due to, somewhat questionable, backlash over the topics within. Though she would later rework the novel for a late 2019 release, it's still heavily criticized based on the ARCs of the original work.

Both of these are YA authors primarily (as noted Rowling has some adult novels), and if one examines Rowling's work with a more critical eye they can pull all sorts of things from it which would be objectionable. The easiest example would be the slavery of the house elves who are happy to work for free serving the witches and wizards (Dobby being the exception, though he's shunned by other house elves over this).

In the original version of "Blood Heir" by Zhao, a black girl who was a slave died in the arms of a white girl (I'm not sure if the white girl was also a slave). This was removed from the final version, the dying girls skin tone is never mentioned.

It's also important to point out that Rowling's work is very much meant to happen in an alternate Earth, presumably non-magical events from this world have happened in that world. Zhao's work however is in an entirely fictional setting.

While neither is cancelled, it's rather hard to say that cancel culture did not deny us a version of a book. As to which version would be better I can't say, I've read neither the early version (which afaik was only released to reviewers and such) nor the released work.
MGlitch is offline