I know a lot of us, myself included, like to believe that piracy allows us to consume problematic media without supporting artists we do not like. But piracy demand also indicates to companies an untapped market that they could tap if they create the right product. HBO is absolutely keeping tabs on piracy of their show now and seeing our traffic the same way Crunchyroll used to keep tabs on pirated fan-translated anime back when they cared.
Also, there is a similar ethical zero-sum game with all other Harry Potter media and products. Normally we can buy on the secondary market if we need a hard copy to scan and rip but don’t want to support the creators. But almost every Harry Potter book in circulation is purchased by someone with intention to sell for a profit, and HBO is also likely keeping tabs on sales and resales of DVDs of the old movies. Every time money leaves your bank account for Harry Potter media, you are directly feeding the ecosystem which sustains the Queen of the TERFs.
It’s honestly pretty incredible how morally radioactive this one human is. Orson Scott Card is equally repugnant, but the Ender’s Game series doesn’t even have a small fraction of the market share of Harry Potter (IMHO this is the fault of that movie being just okayish, not good or bad, but that’s another topic.) Trump’s MAGA movement is comparable in badness, but there really isn’t much most of us can do other than voting and never shutting up about how unconstitutional the things he is doing is. Rowling really is comparable to Disney or Nestlé, and she’s just one person, not a whole company.
Right now, the only ethical way to consume Harry Potter is watching or reading movies and books on your copies that either:
- you obtained before 2020
- were given to you for free in some non-trackable way, e.g. offline or sneakernet.
There is no ethical Harry Potter consumption within capitalism. We will have to see if this changes once she is dead.
yeah no ill do what i want thanks.
most tone deaf post iv read in a long time everyone else is authoritarian so let me tell you what to do,like and think.
I am not saying JK isn’t a horrible person, but there are way worse people than her making shows and I have never seen posts like this on them. For example Seinfeld, the guy is a horrible person, this just one example there are a lot of horrible people making shows. All of Hollywood should be boycotted if we are being honest.
The pomposity in this post, if harnessed, could power a small town for a week.
In any case, aside from JKR being a piece of shit who deserves zero support:
These remakes seem completely and utterly unnecessary and of questionable production quality anyway. Why rehash the classic movies that were actually decent adaptations of the source material? Is this one arc really the only story worth telling in that universe?
Boycott it because JKR is a Nazi. Don’t watch it because it’s yet more Hollywood remake slop.
Is this one arc really the only story worth telling in that universe?
JKR tried with the fantastic beasts films, it failed so hard it only get three out of the five planned films.
Meh, sail the seas and do what you want. This sounds like a plea from the corporate overlords to get you to not pirate their shit. Also, what show?
I’m barely aware it exists and almost never see anything about it.
Making a post called “Reminder: do not watch HBO’s Harry Potter.” Is literally marketing it and forcing people to think about it.
Do not think about pink elephants
Damnit
Oh dear, the thought police is here, telling me what I can pirate and what is forbidden.
I don’t give a crap about Harry Potter and JK Rowling can go to hell along with all her trans hate, but your arguments and your authoritarian wording of the post are a bit ridiculous. You don’t get to tell me what I am ethically allowed to do.
You’re right, except that I think expressing such an opinion here is futile. How anyone could possibly think this kind of post is a good use of their time and energy to make the world a better place is beyond me. Like maybe it’s not harmful in the grand scheme of things, but if you want your society to be better and help people you care about moralizing in the echo chamber is just a ridiculous distraction.
Switzerland during WW2, defending their neutrality. I want my cake and I want to eat it too.
Worked for them too, came out better than everyone else. How nice for them
IMHO the onlyy ethical way to consume new HP media is original fanfics featuring LGTB+ characters. 😆
I feel like by this logic you shouldn’t have even brought it up since they also track Internet engagement…
That’s a fair criticism. I’m gonna hope their scrapers aren’t looking at Lemmy, but they probably are.
There is so much far better content out there to absorb other than Harry Potter. I can go without and be perfectly fine. I think we already have some of the books and DVDs from ages ago. So if my wife or I suddenly have the desire to revisit, we’re not consuming anything HBO or anyone else can even remotely trace.
I’m just here to bring to your attention Lev Grossman’s “The Magicians”, both the books and the assorted TV show, which is quite awesome in its own right, even if it diverges from the books by quite a bit. There’s a whole world of awesome outside of HP, and even if it wasn’t, I refuse to recast in my theater of the mind the extremely talented and deeply regretted Alan Rickman and Dame Maggie Smith.
The Magicians show lost me with the sudden graphic rape, that was then portrayed a good thing. Sucks you got raped but you get a consolation prize of extra powerful magic! Also the rapist has magic semen, and they need to get more.
Yep Harry Potter for adults
At this point it’s only a matter of principle. JKR is a billionaire, her activism isn’t limited by money. And most HP fans don’t care or even know about her hateful views, so anything they put out will still make her millions.
Agree 100%. I’ve been in some tough conversations with fellow LGBTQ+ allies over my participation, however minor, in the Harry Potter fandom. I’m seeing a lot of “it’s fine if you liked it before we learned JKR was a bigot” but I’m also seeing a lot of people with the same story as mine — discovered the franchise back then, enjoyed it, but do not like what JKR is doing to the trans community — but also criticising me for the same. Like it’s “fine” (to some extent?) if you’re trans and JKR betrayed you, but if you’re not trans, you’re held to a higher standard as an ally. I dunno. It’s confusing. I will not, however, back down from my claim that I enjoyed the first four (+HBP) books and the first four films before I learned she was crazy… and that this year I rewatched Philosopher’s Stone in 4K (and yes, it holds up).
All that being said, the fears and concerns in the trans and LGBTQ+ community are valid. They may be jerks about it online, but as an ally, I can only ever strive to be a better one. I can’t change what I liked in the past and I will not deny it, even to history revisers. But I can change what I do in the present, and I can always strive to Do Better.
I don’t like the new Harry Potter series because of why it exists. JKR was disappointed the stars of the film series did not share her transphobic views, so she immediately made a point to recast Hermione and to make her completely different from Emma Watson’s portrayal, as Watson was her most outspoken critic. She didn’t make Hermione a Black girl to be inclusive, she did it to distance Watson from the character because Watson isn’t transphobic. JKR further muddied the waters by saying that Dumbledore was gay and always had been (though no evidence of this is in the books — he’s essentially treated as ace, as in, asexual, as in, his sexuality is undetermined and probably doesn’t exist, which is fitting as the entirety of his character’s relevance is mentorship to an adolescent boy). When the rest of the cast basically stood against her, she set out to recast all of them.
The new Harry Potter series looks like it might be fun, but I cannot in good conscience watch the new series. There are so many more things out there to see. Watching it with infinite time would be one thing, but I haven’t got that, have I? I was fully grown when Philosopher’s Stone came out, and I had no intention of seeing it. A coworker slipped me a bootleg copy (while it was still in cinemas!) and I watched it… twice. Then I went and saw it in cinema. I then collected the books and read them, and watched the movies, though I didn’t like it after the fourth one. It stopped being fun. I’m currently reading Dungeon Crawler Carl, and by that I mean, of course, I’m listening to the audiobooks. I’m in the second to most current book, the seventh one, and it’s still fun. It’s gotten serious, but it’s still fun. And, to the best of anyone’s knowledge, Matt Dinniman (the author) and Jeff Hays (the audiobook narrator) are not bigots. That’s the magical adventure series I’m looking forward to.
I’ll do what I want, thanks. :)
Which is what?
Cause a pirate is free? :D
Yar har, fiddle de dee,
Being a transphobe is alright with me!
Wow. What a prick. It’s difficult to imagine proudly declaring that you’re transphobic in any setting, much less a piracy thread on Lemmy.
I think they were being sarcastic.
Edit: Mmmmm… Thinking about maybe they weren’t.
Yes, I am Rotten to the core!
I doubt I’ll watch it, still gonna download it and put on my media server regardless. Other people will want to watch it so it’s better they watch it pirated on plex than on an official stream.
Harm reduction ftw
Piracy subs where they tell you what to do?
I think youve missed the point of all this.
