LGBT communities torn apart by this video game set in the Harry Potter universe

Video Games – More than 15 years after the end of the literary phenomenon, the Battle of Hogwarts is heating up again. A few days before the long-awaited release of its first major video game Harry Potter In the open world, communities of fans of the famous English wizard are divided as never before.

Hogwarts Legacy: Hogwarts Legacy It will be released in France on February 10th on PS5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC. This new game centered on the magical universe of JK. Rowling It allows you to embody a student from Hogwarts, a dream fantasized by more than one fan of this saga. However, today a whole bunch of fans seem to want to do everything to stop this game from being released, with plenty of boycott calls and actions to convince them not to buy it. And this despite the latter being associated with Harry Potter.

From beloved writer to problematic writer

Beloved for her series of books and the legacy she left in many readers’ childhoods, the British author has since alienated a part of her community, sensitive to issues of representation and respect for transgender people. Since 2019, several Transphobic media outlets by the 57-year-old writer who has her fans turn their backs on the lightning bolt-stricken hero’s creator. Like the so-called radical feminists “Terf” (to “radical trans-exclusionary feminism”), the author considers trans women not to be “real” women.

The general outrage of fans with these comments denying the rights of trans people has caused Quidditch practitioners to go crazy Change the name of this athletic discipline to Quadballto avoid any association with JK Rowling in the underworld.

And in the face of fan criticism for her divisive stances, JK Rowling doesn’t seem to want to change anything, as evidenced by her latest controversial statements, in response to many fans’ alienation from her novels. ” How do you sleep at night knowing that you have lost a whole section of the audience that bought your books? asked a Twitter user. The respondent replied: I read my latest copyright checks and found that the pain goes away very quickly. »

What more disgusting a Harry Potter fan would be to keep following versions of ” Wizarding World ”, The expanded world JK Rowling imagined to grow the Harry Potter franchise beyond the original books and their big-screen adaptations. This extended universe runs through, for example, the movie franchise Fantastic Beasts… But also through the video game Hogwarts Legacy. A significant portion of the proceeds from the game will go directly to the author, with whom Portkey Games is a studio guarantee has “Cooperated closely (…) in all aspects of the game”.

Boycott call

The release of the video game, in which every fan of the Harry Potter universe will be able to embody a customizable character and move freely through the corridors of Hogwarts, thus poses a tough dilemma for Potterheads, the name given to the fan community of the universe.

And if some go that far Erase the author’s name from her own bookswho was hurt by his transphobic comments, was released Hogwarts Legacy Now part of the audience is paying in particular LGBTTo demand a pure and simple boycott of this video game so as not to participate even indirectly in the battles advocated by the author. His latest book is a good example of this..

But even these calls for a boycott are divisive within the Harry Potter base, with some seeking to blame gamers for buying the game. Washington Post He quotes in particular the testimony of a transgender fan of the literary saga, who chose to continue living his love for the franchise, despite the author’s statements and possible accusations of transphobia because he pre-ordered the game.

” She does not rule the Wizarding World. It was just his making ’, estimated Mitchell Burdette, 23. What we as fans, readers, viewers and players decide in this world is completely separate from her or any beliefs she may have.”.

One other argument, put forward by J.K. Rowling’s critics, goes beyond transphobic questions: the supposed underlying anti-Semitism surrounding this game’s script’s antagonists. Borrowing from clichés to represent the goblins, cold and greedy beings, with hooked noses, they work at Gringotts Bank. The Star of David from the first movie also appears in the famous Goblin Bank. Disturbing details have come to light recently by the magazine Forbeswhich appears to remain Hogwart Legacy.

Reddit screenshot

For many years, Harry Potter fans have noted uncanny similarities between the goblins in the Harry Potter universe and the epithets antisemites use to describe Jews. Like in the first Harry Potter movie, where the Star of David is hiding in the Gringotts Bank location.

A fractured society

So the turmoil continued before the release of the game, one of the most anticipated games of 2023. And there are still many examples: ResetEra, one of the largest video game forums in the world – very popular in the English-speaking world – for example chose to block discussions about it Hogwarts Legacy From his site, becauseThe author’s activity in gender issues.

” She is actively pushing, through her position as a rich and famous person, to Legislation that would harm transgender people. She is using the influence and money she gained from her success with Harry Potter to promote transphobic legislation. Therefore, the team decided to extend the ban on upgrading the Hogwarts game to the game itself.referenced Monday, January 23 ResetEra on his site.

Sebastian Croft, actor LGBT series Cardiac arrestAnd who lent his voice to a video game character, had to post an apology on Twitter, in the face of the outcry caused by the announcement of his participation in the casting. He himself is a fan of the Magical Universe, he apologized.” To all who have been affected by this advertisement “. The actor justified himself by explaining that at the time of his casting, three years ago, he had not yet been ” aware of the views of JK Rowling “.

” I sincerely believe that trans women are women and trans men are men. He claimed, referring to previous statements by, Who should not pronounce the name “Without forgetting to remember it.” There is no LGB without a T “.

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