By: Heidi Kwok, Staff Writer
This fall, the Vancouver Park Board announced the replacement of Stanley Park’s Bright Nights, an annual holiday staple and charity fundraiser, with Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience. The outdoor walkthrough installation will reportedly feature immersive lights, sounds, and animatronic displays, modelled after the original films’ scenes. By partnering with Warner Brothers, proceeds from the experience trickle back into the pockets of Harry Potter’s author, J.K. Rowling, who uses her profits from the franchise to fund anti-trans groups and legal cases. This decision reflects a broader failure, by our societies, to recognize the ethical element of our cultural and financial endorsements. Simply put, it’s unethical to continue supporting Rowling’s work, and if you choose to purchase tickets to the Forbidden Forest Experience, you’re directly undermining the rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ people.
As much as I loved the Harry Potter novels (apart from its questionable representation of minorities), we should not put its creator on a pedestal — nor should we excuse her harm under the guise of nostalgia or creative input. To put someone on a pedestal is to worship them as if they are incapable of causing harm.
In over-idolizing celebrities, we inadvertently downplay and overlook their more problematic beliefs.
We likewise run the risk of enlarging the platforms on which people like J.K. Rowling weaponizes to target and harm marginalized communities.
The world has very plainly put Rowling on a pedestal, and in doing so, amplified her hateful, transphobic rhetoric. Why do we continue to grant the author this undeserved exposure? In fact, why grant her relevance at all? It’s practically impossible to escape Rowling’s shenanigans when news outlets and internet users jump at every opportunity to broadcast and publicize her latest contentious actions or remarks. Understandably, people are pushing back against her diabolical views, but in engaging with her provocation and taking the bait, the issue of trans rights is dragged back into controversy — when it really shouldn’t be up for debate in the first place. This continued circulation of her name and legacy reinforces the harm that her tirades have on plenty of people.
The Vancouver Park Board and other public institutions have a duty to make ethical decisions about the events and figures they choose to endorse — as do we as individuals. The Board’s late apology is meaningless considering Rowling’s long-standing harmful stances on human rights issues. It simply feels cheap, considering that they hadn’t initially prioritised the well-being of 2SLGBTQIA+ folks. As consumers of art and media, we must consider our own social responsibility and the accompanying repercussions. We must resist the pull of childhood nostalgia or the allure of a night of “harmless” fun and magic, when doing so makes us complicit in the further marginalization of trans individuals. True allyship demands that we act with awareness of how our daily decisions decide just how much injustices persist to exist in this world. This mindset should extend to all public figures that we admire. After all, celebrities are flawed human beings who should be held accountable for their actions, and our endorsement could make or break their views’ relevance.