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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 31, 2025

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From what I know about Rowling's past, I think the "ultra" part is overselling it, but not completely unwarranted from a certain point of view. But the bigger question is, is "so infected with ideological brainrot that they can't help but overtly infect their fictional stories with their ideology" just a part of the definition of "old school leftie ultrafeminist?" I feel like that's more a characteristic of the modern variety.

I don't know what Rowling was thinking when writing the books, but I figured she wanted to tell a good and market-appealing story first, which in this case involved a boy protagonist, and she did put in bits of 90s-feminist messaging like the hypercompetent Hermione as one of the core supporting cast. Like how the Disney cartoons in the 90s were clearly generally feminist but sometimes involved a male protagonist getting the girl as in Aladdin or the female protagonist finding love with a man as in The Little Mermaid.

and she did put in bits of 90s-feminist messaging like the hypercompetent Hermione as one of the core supporting cast.

This is actually worse in the films which were later and managed by WB and male producers and directors (though Rowling had a strong say), interestingly.

Hermione was always competent (this was supposed to be balanced by her neuroticism and Harry's more instinctive skill at some things) but Ron in the films is less appealing and she even takes some of his moments so she becomes even more important.