Plastic JK Rowling; A Mockery
by Lori
A little while ago, Mattel (who you’ll probably recognize as the manufacturers of most toys known to child) was releasing a Barbie they called JK Rowling*. To say I was annoyed would be like looking at Harry Potter and saying he was sort of lucky. Understatement of the decade.
First, let’s just lay this out here. JK Rowling, creator of the universe that we’re apart of, that has influenced (as stated in my last article) our lives entirely and irrevocably. The woman who taught morals to kids and helped bigger kids be young again. To help us feel magic, to CREATE magic in every moment of our lives. To help defeat evil; one step at a time. The power we have is love. To try and shove such a powerful, idol of a woman into a binding press - forcing her into a plastic mold - personality sold separately- and stick a name tag on her is a complete and utter mockery of everything that she has taught the world.
This is the author of Hermione Granger- buck-toothed girl with a powerful stance and didn’t take ‘relax’ as an excuse to slack off. Hermione Granger who refused to fall in love, to fall out of control, without whom our two - sometimes less then witty - male leads would be dead by the end of the first book. Or worse - expelled. The artist that created our hero - Harry and the most powerfully accurate and flawed man in the wizarding - and perhaps our own - world; Dumbledore. This woman single-handedly mapped out the series that changed literacy and people’s opinion about it in our generation.
Just look at your most viewed websites - chances are if you’re apart of the fandom, most of them were all inspired by this one woman. I don’t know about you, but I can list off the top of my head a handful of recent books that were very clearly inspired by Harry Potter- even a few fandoms that without our own- wouldn’t have known where to start.
Look at the wrock stars we all admire - independent artists who took a huge risk and decided that they would spread the word (or lyric) on how a little boy with a scar had changed their lives. Their time (and income) circulating around that one series.
Now look at what we perceive to be the modern-day girls toy. Barbie. It’s a rather simple thing. Limbs of perfect plastic, fake hair, painted on teeth and eyes. It portrays the idol figure and way a girl should look. Arguably how they should think too- not at all. Little Barbie in her plastic world, limited to your desire. Sure recently they’ve tried the whole ‘Oh look! Barbie plays slutty nurse too! She’s not just a house-wife!’ And yeah, maybe they have tried to reculture it with Barbie’s different ethnic friends. But they’re all the exact same- every Barbie you buy, just a different colour, painted a little darker. Different but still falling in the designated ‘perfect’ zone.
Ignoring my complete hate towards the toy - lets try and imagine what our life would be without imagination. If a Ms. Jo Rowling just accepted that life was limited to her kitchen and appropriate job. If everything she wanted she saved for, bought separately and continued in a life-depleting circle. That’s it- never doing anything new. Focused simply on her boyfriend and house and parties. Everything would be different. The woman who created such outstanding characters, such an outstanding character HERSELF would be nothing.
So here it is - the ultimate diss. Mattel couldn’t have done worse if they had called her out. Disrespect plastered all over the suit wearing blond smiling toy they labelled JK Rowling.
In conclusion I leave you with a quote off JK Rowling’s site:
“I've got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don't want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I'd rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny a thousand things, before 'thin'. And frankly, I'd rather they didn't give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons."
You can read the rest of that article here
* I am aware there there are only several being made, and only simply to be displayed behind glass.
If you would like to comment on the opinions expressed here or in any other of the pieces by me, you can e-mail me at lori@accio-potter.com
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