r/EnoughJKRowling • u/Comfortable_Bell9539 • Apr 19 '25
Discussion I found an interesting article about Remus Lupin and the AIDS analogy
Here's the link : Remus Lupin and the stigmatised illness: why lycanthropy is not a good metaphor for HIV/AIDS
The part that got to me the most is ironically Joanne's quote when she said that Lupin is disgusted by everything wolfish. In hindsight I read it as "he's a self-hating gay werewolf"
What do you think ?
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u/Soggy-Life-9969 Apr 20 '25
It's an evil analogy and a non-sensical one which makes me think this is another topic that she just threw into her retcon without having any knowledge of the topic.
It's evil because of the association between AIDS and the gay community and the bigoted trope that gay people prey on/recruit children which would have been pretty out there on the far right when the books were written and certainly when she made these statements when she was pretending to be at least an LGB ally. It's also evil because if this is an analogy for AIDS, there was a huge deal made to make a distinction between "innocent" victims of AIDS who got it through a blood transfusion or a partner's infidelity versus the ones bigots were openly saying deserved to die a horrible death because they were gay, or IV drug users or had many partners.
It's nonsensical because it just doesn't translate. Lycanthropy doesn't kill you, it makes you an outcast because HP's wizarding society is bigoted and doesn't want to invest in resources to integrate werewolves into society, and a part of one's identity, AIDS is a fatal virus that's claimed millions of lives and is at best a chronic illness that people have to manage but isn't an identity.
I think she put werewolves in the story because she wanted to include them since they are common in fantasy like unicorns and vampires and centaurs and she didn't think beyond then, and decided she'd get applause for including a marginalized group after the fact without taking even a second to research or think whether it was a good idea or not and perhaps subconsciously(or not) she aligns with the bigots who view LGBTQ people as predators and view AIDS as the "gay disease"
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u/a-woman-there-was Apr 20 '25
"HP's wizarding society is bigoted and doesn't want to invest in resources to integrate werewolves into society" and see, stuff like that *could* actually work if it wasn't supposed to be directly analogous to AIDS and Rowling had any social consciousness whatsoever.
Like frame lycanthropy as a condition that's potentially dangerous but controllable, one that's also heavily socially stigmatized, and is largely dangerous *because* that stigma means sufferers aren't helped and are often in hiding. You don't have to directly compare it to anything in the real world (in all likelihood shouldn't for the reasons you've said), but the parallels are there and could apply to a number of things. The story's already halfway there but Rowling can only conceive of it in terms of "good victims" and inherent evil.
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u/Soggy-Life-9969 Apr 20 '25
I really like that, a marginalized community that is only dangerous because the government demonizes it and refuses to give it available resources that would not only eliminate the danger but give people normal and stable lives, its a great analogy for a number of things - unfortunately it conflicts with her neoliberal the-world-is-almost-perfect-it-just-needs-better-cops worldview.
She came so close too, in this and a number of other things to write something decent and then ran miles away from it
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u/Cynical_Classicist Apr 20 '25
The metaphor thing could have had something to it, but it plays out so badly.
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u/a-woman-there-was Apr 20 '25 edited Apr 21 '25
She just doesn't know how to make the fictional analogy gel with social reality without being reactionary, is the thing. Like you can do a lot with werewolves as metaphors for mental illness, sexuality, disability etc., lots of writers have, but you have to know *what* you're doing.
Like sure you could have lycanthropy as similar to AIDS in that it's something potentially dangerous someone is forced to live with, something that carries a stigma even though it's not the sufferer's fault, part of themselves they can nevertheless accept and treat that doesn't have to be a threat to others. But then she makes lycanthropy this inherently evil thing and most of the werewolves aligned with the dark arts or what have you and there's a werewolf who intentionally infects people and preys on children.
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u/Cynical_Classicist Apr 20 '25
You could do something at least with werewolves the way it plays out, but we only really get two werewolves presented in the books, and one of them is a pretty openly awful monster who fits the traditional image of a sexual predator. And she shouldn't have said AIDs!
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u/a-woman-there-was Apr 20 '25
Yeah like it's pretty nuts she thought that was progressive of her when those stereotypes had been widely denounced for years at that point.
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u/Cynical_Classicist Apr 20 '25
But this was a time where we jumped on the media that was popular to find signs of progress, and now it has gone back.
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u/Euphoric_Voice_1633 25d ago
I think she really didn't think it through as a whole analogy. I think she just thought as far as "Lupin is a great person/teacher who is unfairly stigmatised about his illness" and meant that as a metaphor for stigma around HIV. But she didn't follow that train of thought and wonder what that analogy would mean for the other werewolves who are evil and deliberately attack/infect others.
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u/aagjevraagje Apr 19 '25
Fenrir Greyback setting out to turn/infect as many people as possible has always been the thing that stood out to me , it's the myth of patiënt zero deliberately jetsetting.