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Professor Julian Womble (0:30)

Welcome to Critical Magic Theory, where we deconstruct the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Because loving something doesn't mean we can't be critical of it. I'm Professor Julian Womble and today I'm going to be responding to our post episode chat on the one and only Remus Lupin. Y'all, y'all. Oh, my God. That episode, really, I don't know. This was. It was one of the most emotional episodes and I thought that that was gonna be like Neville's episode or a couple of other ones that we have. But, like, I was unprepared for Remus Lupin and I was unprepared for what you all brought to him. And I was unprepared for the reflection that I gave. Even though I wrote just was such a heavy episode, but also oddly and weirdly cathartic in a lot of ways. I don't know about you, but I definitely walked away from that episode feeling like, okay, so there are some things in my own life that I need to address. And it was amazing. And so thank you all so much. For those of you who have participated in that post episode chat, who participated in the survey, I really, really appreciate it, y'all. We're gonna get into it, but you know what we have to do first? We gotta bop. We have to bop. Given the state of things, the madness of it all, bopping is imperative. And so we bop in three, in two, in one. Let's bop. We need to talk about Harry Potter. Before we get into today's episode and the meat and potatoes, we have to address the reality of the Supreme Court decision in the United Kingdom as it pertains to the legal definition of what it means to be a woman. The decision that came forth says that it is. That decision about what it means to be a woman is based on one's biological sex, which actively and intentionally excludes trans women. And J.K. rowling was one of the biggest advocates for this law and put forth a lot of money and a lot of her influence and power to ensure that this passed and after it passed, she tweeted a horrific, gloating tweet. And I won't say what she said because it's gross and disgusting. And so here we are again, where we, as lovers of this text, are having to figure out how we are going to navigate this. And, you know, I had a lot of people reach out to me and say, hang it up. Let this go. There's no need for you to continue doing this. Find another text to critically analyze, find something else to explore. There has to be something that is not this, because using this text is harmful. And. And so you need to stop. And y'all. That's heartbreaking. And I know that I'm not the only one who has experienced this. I know that I'm not the only one who saw what happened in the uk. Even as a person who lives in the United States, let alone people who are living in Europe, let alone people who are living in the UK itself, I know many. We have many listeners who live in the uk, And I. I completely understand these calls from people saying, it's time to hang it up. And so I really had to grapple with, what is it that we're doing here at Critical Magic Theory? Why is it important? Is it important? Is it important enough that we keep going? And the answer that I came up with was yes, and here's why. And it's not like a narcissistic kind of, I love this. And so I'm going to keep going. It's because when I think about it, I realize this horrific, disgusting truth that J.K. rowling is just a person, a very powerful, a very influential person. But she's just a person advocating for patriarchy. She is advocating for a structure that is meant to marginalize trans women, CIS women. And it is meant to create a space where we are not looking at the real problem here, which is CIS men not wanting to lose our control over women's bodies, over people who are defining themselves in ways that we don't believe. And when I say we, I'm saying we not as a person who believes this, but as a person who recognizes that I am a cis. CIS man and have privileges that come along with that. And so my we is an acknowledgement that I am a part of a privileged class. And what that then means is that J.K. rowling is just a person who is also privileged by patriarchy. And she is leveraging that privilege in a way to kind of say that she's, quote, unquote, protecting women. But that language has been used for centuries, across the globe to subjugate women, CIS and trans women alike, that language of protecting women has been used to justify why women couldn't have jobs, why women couldn't have their own bank accounts, why women couldn't drive, why women couldn't do anything because they weren't strong enough, they weren't smart enough, they were too delicate. That language is a tale as old as time. And J.K. rowling has benefited from using that kind of language. It's in the books, it's present in this text. And the thing about patriarchy and white supremacy and all, and pure blood supremacy, right, is that all of these structural things exist in such a way that they're the default. And they're meant to make us not think about them. They're meant to just be kind of lurking in the background. And so that when you get things that disrupt those systems, like individuals, like trying to live their truth in whatever way they can, it disrupts the system. And now all of a sudden, people are asking questions about the structure. And now the default, now the invisible becomes visible. And there's nothing more threatening to villains than being seen for exactly who they are. And I kept asking myself, how is it that this is still happening? And I'm like, oh, it's the same way that you could have a Voldemort who literally like rose to power, then was vanquished, and then for 13 years nothing happened. It's the same way that you can have Donald Trump be president in 2016, like literally kind of bankrupt our country morally and on another multiple other dimensions and still get reelected in 2024. Right? Because if no one is aware of what's happening, if no one is calling out the structural inequality, then everything just keeps going on. It's why they're taking books away, it's why they are making rulings like this. It's why they're doing this. Because if we know, then we won't allow it. And the more people that know, the less it's going to be allowed. And so in the same way that magical people have absolutely no knowledge of non magical people and have no knowledge of how Muggle born exist and how they got their magic. And so that when Voldemort does return, because there's been nothing to keep him from returning, everyone's kind of like, well, this Muggle born registration sounds pretty reasonable to me, because how is it that they got their magic? Maybe they did steal it. When the Muggle propaganda starts to come from the Ministry of Magic, that's basically like, they're a threat to you. And everyone's like, well, we don't really know that much about them. Ignorance allows for these things to happen. And so when I think about what this podcast is doing and what our job is as lovers of Harry Potter, but also people who are very much against what its author is putting out into the world, our job is to try to cut into that ignorance in whatever way we can. And why not use Harry Potter to do it? Because the way that this book is written, it is literally our world with magic. But it makes people feel so much more comfortable when we're talking about Harry Potter and not ourselves. Right? It doesn't feel like such an attack when we're talking about the Muggle born registration, as opposed to trans women being discriminated against. Right? And then we can use it as a Trojan horse to get into the hearts and minds of people who are not necessarily evil or bigoted, but just ignorant. And some of that ignorance is literally because the system is designed to keep them that way. And so we know that Harry Potter has been shown time and time again to help people become more inclusive. But it's incumbent upon us, particularly those of us who are CIS individuals and call ourselves allies of the trans community, to figure out ways to educate people. Because I know. I just. I feel in my bones that trans people are tired, tired of trying to convince people of their humanity, tired of trying to show that they deserve just as much as any other person, tired of trying to prove that their existence is not something that stands in the face of other people's existence. And so it becomes incumbent upon those of us who call ourselves allies to say, hey, hey, hey. Like, when you hear something, you've got to say something. And that there are ways that we can do that, that are effective and that call people in. And because J.K. rowling wrote a book, a series that is so beloved, and everybody knows it, whether they've read it or watched the movies or whatever, it gives us the tools. Because she didn't try to change anything. She wrote a book that is chock full of oppressive structures that we can deconstruct and rework and help people learn about. So that when we say, like, let's talk about white supremacy, let's talk about patriarchy, let's talk about heterosexism, so that when we see it, we know it and we can call it out. Because what J.K. rowling and all these other people who are just like her, because, again, she is part of a much larger system. She is A very influential, dangerous and important person who is simply giving voice to something that has been a belief for many people for a very long time. And the only reason why it works is because it's falling on fertile soil that is fertile because of the ignorance that exists in our society globally. So whatever we can do to undo that. And I know that some people might say, well, why not use other books? Other authors have been much more proactive about trying to change their world so they don't look like ours. Rick Riordan is actively trying to change the way that the world looks. In the Percy Jackson and all the other series that he's written, J.K. rowling did not try to do that. She wrote exactly what she knew. She wrote exactly the world that we live in. She just added magic and said it's different. And that works to our advantage because it means that we can then say, right, so the parallels are not hard to draw. They're not hard to draw, but we have to draw them and we have to help other people. And we can't just sit here and enjoy our time together in our community and not actively try to do something because, like, what's the point? And so, as we move into this episode, I think Remus Lupin serves as a really, really, really solid allegory for what ignorance can do and what structural inequality can do to a person. Many of you gave voice to your own shared experiences with Lupin's internalized shame, with his sense of fear that he was never going to be good enough. And that feels very familiar when we think about the broader context in which we are currently living, both in the UK and in the US and I'm sure in other places in the world. And so as we move through this episode, I want us to keep that in mind. I know that I was supposed to get to the episode faster, but, y'all, there's no way we can have a Harry Potter podcast that claims to be doing something that engages in critical thinking. And we don't acknowledge the realities of what the author of this text is doing. We can't ignore it. It's not fair to trans individuals. It's not fair to non binary individuals. It's not fair to ourselves. And it's taking the easy way out to just be like, well, I don't agree. And so I'm just going to say that out loud, like, we have to take the work that we're doing here and put it out into the world in one way or another. And that's our call. And I think Looking at Lupin helps us understand why it's so important. So let's look at Lupin. Before we dive into this. I want to give a trigger warning because we are going to be talking about Fenrir Greyback, particularly discussing the assault of children because it's something that came up a number of times and so I want to highlight this reality. For those of you who this topic is sensitive, feel free to skip ahead or at least proceed with caution as we move into this conversation because I think it is important and it is something that we talked about considerably in the episode. But I want. But we didn't talk about Greyback in particular and I think he represents something very specific in the wizarding world. And so I do want us to take the time. And so again, I do want to invite those of you for whom this is something that is sensitive or, and, or if you're listening to this with your children, maybe not do that unless this is a conversation you'd like to have with them, in which case you are more than welcome to do so. But I just want to make sure that everyone recognizes where we're moving and if this might impede on your feeling of safety in any way, please proceed with caution or proceed in a way that feels appropriate for you. In the post episode chat, Amy wrote, can we talk about Fenrir Greyback for a minute? The fact that he targets kids gives me the ick. I'm not sure if JKR wrote him as a Wizard world pedophile, but that's how I view him. And I can't be the only one. And Amy is not the only one. This was a comment that came up many times because it is disgusting the way that Grayback so relishes the fact that he likes attacking children. And it's not clear what he's meant to represent. But what we do know for sure is that it is so insidious that he would in fact inflict this painful condition on children and that he does it on purpose. And, and he does it as a form of punishment, not for the children. Right. But for the parents. That's what we see in Lupin's case. And we also recognize that, you know, that there is such an intentionality to what he does. And when we see him in Half Blood Prince, when he's talking to Dumbledore, he is relishing the fact that he is at Hogwarts and like kind of hoping to bite children. And even then Dumbledore's like, it's not a full moon. You have Like a desire to kind of bite people, even when you're not in werewolf form. And Greyback is basically like, yeah, I just enjoy it. And so that there is this kind of psychopathic desire that he has to hurt people and ruin the lives of children. And I think that when we think about what that means for who Grayback is, it just goes beyond the scope of just being a regular Death Eater. This is someone who enjoys destroying children's lives. And in all the lore that we see, right. You know, it's a big part of. Fan of. Of vampire van Vampire lore. I'm not editing that out. You just have to deal with my inability to speak. You know, you don't bite kids for many reasons, but you don't bite kids. Right. Like it's such a fascinating thing within the lore across all these things that like you don't touch kids. Like kids are not meant to be trifled with. You don't mess with them, you leave them alone. And it is disgusting to me that Fenrir makes this particular decision and that it's also gross that like the Death Eaters are like, yeah, sure, go for it. And it just, it speaks to so many things. And Christina brought up a really good point writing. I feel like grayback really exposes JKR's maybe internalized biases because she has said that she intended lycanthropy to be an allusion to HIV aids, which would then suggest that in that paradigm Grayback is akin to a. A person with HIV targeting children to give them what was then considered the gay virus on purpose. It's so icky. And I'm not sure that JK was fully intentional with this, but I have no doubt it was in the back of her mind. And this is the thing about the HIV AIDS allegory is that it suggests a level of insensibility, insidiousness of intentionality on the part of individuals at the height of this epidemic. We're spreading this on purpose to ruin lives. And there's so little basis for that. And what's worse is as Christina points to, it seems to suggest that again, there is someone with this virus trying to give it to children on purpose. And again, that maybe that wasn't her intention, but at this point when she was writing this, the books were famous. She was already famous. You don't give us anything to work with other than this particular reality and this kind of post canonical connection that you've created. And you don't give us any caveats, any way to clean it up. It just comes off as absolutely disgusting, high key, homophobic, and so problematic for individuals who are, who were and are living with HIV aids. And again, it, to me, this drives on the point of just how absolutely lazy, how absolutely lazy the allegory is and knowing what we know now and, and recognizing the way that she really does view many people within the LGBTQIA + community. It wouldn't surprise me if this is what's her mentality. And some of us might say, well, you know, it's a pro that that mentality is a product of its time. She wrote this after we were really in the like, height of the HIV AIDS epidemic and still never wrote anything to try to kind of amend any of the conclusions that people might draw. And I feel like as an author, like, it's incumbent upon you to figure out like what kind of connections you might and connections and conclusions people might draw and try to mitigate that. And she doesn't do that here. And so we're walking away with this kind of disgusting sentiment that Christina gives voice to and it just perpetuates all kinds of stigmas that already existed. And I think that Grayback in a lot of ways represents a lot of J.K. rowling's biases. And I think that she, you know, we. And even when he's talking to Dumbledore and Dumbledore says something along the lines of like, you know, I don't want you in my school basically because it like, you make my stomach turn. And it's like you don't do anything to highlight the reality that like Fenrir Greyback is not like every werewolf and that other werewolves are not out here doing that. And a lot of werewolves are probably mostly like Lupin, just trying to find a way through what has happened to them and trying to live as close to a kind of average life as they can. But the focus on Fenrir and even the focus on Lupin makes it so difficult for us to really see the reality of these things. And it's really hard. And Isabella brings up a really interesting point. Writing Greyback allows the monster to take over, right? That internalized notion of being a werewolf is who you are. I think that that's so fascinating to think about and I love the way that Isabella writes it because allowing the monster to take over, right? Because we know that again, that the 3.3% of the time when you are outside of your faculties, if you are not on the wolfsbane potion, right, like you are not in control of who you are. And. But what we know is that 100% of the time you are made to believe that that is completely who you are all the time. And for Grayback, he seemingly has said, if this is who society thinks I am, then it's who I'm going to be. Oof. If this is who society says I am, it's who I'm going to be. I'm going to be the villain that everyone thinks I already am. I'm not going to try to fight it. I'm not going to try to push back. I'm going to be exactly who you said I am the whole time. And to be clear, I am not trying to make anyone feel bad about Fenrir Greyback. It seems to me, though, that he has taken on the mantle of what society has created and said, that's who I am and it's who I'm going to be. And then Isabella says, Lupin tries every day to find and keep his humanity. He's not perfect, but that's what makes him such an interesting character. Many of us feel less than or not enough just by pressures of society that have nothing to do with us. To not give him grace for being directly ostracized is crazy. He's the bravest dude for sure. And I think that this is what is fascinating about Lupin, is that he makes the opposite choice. There have been many, many, many opportunities, I'm sure, where he could have gone the way of Greatback or not even gone full tilt Grayback, but simply said, I'm not even gonna try to not be what you think I am. I'm just going to allow bygones to be bygones. I'm going to let the status quo be the status quo. But every single day he shows up and tries to not be that person, even though everything in him and around him is telling him, this is who you are. And there's something so incredible about that because it feels like such a pushback to Grayback because Greyback is just like someone who's like, I will give you the villain you're looking for, Society. I will be that person. And. And Lupin's like, no, I'm not that person. And I'm not going to even try to pretend to be that person. And like, I think that that this comparison, this juxtaposition between the two of them, especially given all that we see J.K. rowling kind of put into fear and Rhea Grayback and all of the disgustingness and all of the things that we could imagine, right, the Wizarding Society already thinks of werewolves broadly construed. And Grayback is just a personification of all of that. And the fact that Lupin is like, I'm not going to be that. And. And maybe that's the byproduct of the way his parents socialized him. Even with all the internalized shame, there's still this hint of humanity. There's still this hint of I am not that person. And to me, that's amazing that he found the wherewithal to reject that. The other thing that I wanted to talk about in this response episode is Tonks. We're only doing two things a day because the last episode was really long. And many of us in our post episode chat spent a lot of time talking about Tonks and Fenrir Greyback. And then there was a whole thing about Snape. But we're not even going to get into Snape because he has his own dedicated two episodes coming up in some time. And so all the Snape angst that occurred in the post episode chat, go check it out because that's very high drama. But that's not gonna be addressed here. Right. But I do wanna talk about Tonks because I do think that a lot of people's feelings about Lupin are really, really connected to the fact that he tried to run out on Tonks while she was pregnant. And I get it. As I said in the episode, I completely understand. And so I want us to kind of deepen into this conversation a little bit more and think a little bit more about it. Right. Mila wrote trying to leave Tonks while pregnant was bad. But I fully agree that it is a typical and on character reaction. Remus Lupin hates himself and everyone he has ever loved has tragically died. Maybe his parents are alive. Not sure. I don't think they are. He must blame himself for everything bad that happened in his life and in canon. This pregnancy was a surprise. Even people without trauma panic. I don't think finding love or having a family was something Remus allowed himself to dream. And he says that he believes that even associating with Tonks will be detrimental to her character and position in society. Her insistence on loving him is something that he seems unable to comprehend or accept because of fear and shame. And that's what's so fascinating about shame as a concept, right? Is that even when people are in your face telling you their truth, you don't believe them. You always wait for the other shoe to drop. You always are kind of thinking about the fact that they're just lying to you to make you feel better. There's nothing that they could say or do to make you believe it. And so, I mean, I think Mila brings up a really good point. Point, right? Which is Lupin has a lot of good reasons to do what he did. I don't agree with it, but I can absolutely understand how he arrived at this decision. And I think when we think about Tonks, when we think about, you know, her kind of fervent desire to be with him, I feel like the harder she pushed, the further inward he went, because it just didn't make any sense. Like, why would anyone want to be with him? Is undoubtedly the question he was asking over and over and over again. Like, why would someone want to be with someone like me? She knows what I am, and she still wants to be with me. Something is not right. Something is amiss. And, you know, I think it's just such a fascinating and terrifying thing to have to grapple with in real time. And also, I mean, the fact of the matter is, y'all, he says yes at some point to this, right? Like, he says yes to being with her. He says, like, you know, and so it's fascinating because he lives in this weird dichotomy of not believing that people could actually love him and want to be with him. But also, I think, and I would attribute this to his friendships with the other marauders, recognizing that it is possible and that it's not. Like, you may not be able to accept it as something that you deserve, but it is something that you can get. And I think because he was friends with James and Sirius and Peter, he recognizes that, okay, I can have good things in my life. I can get what I want and not necessarily have to sacrifice everything. But then think about the fact that that particular reality was then torn asunder because James was marked for death and ultimately died. Sirius was sent to Askabin and then ultimately died, and Peter is the one who did both. Right? And so your association with people, with letting people in and letting people love you, is so connected to the tragedy that then befalls you when you do. And when the internal monologue is constantly, it's my fault, it's really hard to shake. You know, one of the things that my therapist and I have been working on is the fact that I'm a person who constantly, like I was saying in the reflection, always is apologizing for things that, like, I am either not sorry for because I did it on purpose and intentionally, or because, like, I don't need to be sorry. Because it's not my fault. And one of the things about that is often thinking, like, it's my fault. And, like, if something happens, I'm always looking for ways to blame myself first before I even think to blame the other person. And I feel like, you know, Lupin is someone who constantly has this reality and that there are things I think that he could justify blaming himself for. And so, you know, and when you grow up and your family is constantly having to move and always having to do these things, like, your understanding is, like, this is all my fault. So that when bad things happen in any capacity around you, you're looking for ways to blame yourself. And what's true is that when you're looking for things, you can find them, you can warp them, you can transfigure them, you can charm them. You can find a way to blame yourself if you want to. And I think that Lupin. That's just his reality. And then Eric writes, Lupin's temporary abandonment of Tonks while she is pregnant is a huge mistake. But I ask you, what parent has not been terrified at the prospect of their firstborn, has not feared passing down their own curses to their children, not wondered if they were up to the task? Lupin had all these fears, fears that had been reinforced in him since the age of five. His great crime is acting on those fears. It is a failure, but it is the failure made right when he is forced to look that failure in the face in the form of Harry. Harry is totally right to thrash him. And he responds as one would to want him to. It is the height of bravery to look at your failings in the face and resolve to be better. And this is the other thing. And I, you know, as a person who's not a parent, I had never even thought about this, but I have a lot of friends who are parents, and I think that this rings true. Right? It's like so much of your. Especially your first kid, from what I understand is like, how many ways can I screw this up? And. And add on top of that, right, the fact that he has lycanthropy, and I don't know that many werewolves are procreating with anyone. And what that means, like, does this mean that you pass down the lycanthropy? How do we navigate that? What does that look like? And also, you know, his relationship with his own father was fairly strained after his attack. And so we can imagine it as well how, like, that might also play a part in this. And so I can completely understand how and why he would make this decision. And it comes from more than just the internalized shame. He's afraid. He's scared out of his mind. Like, he's about to be a father to a child and not know what that actually means. Right. And we know that, like, the lore surrounding werewolves in Harry Potter is a little bit kind of unknown because when Bill is bitten by grayback, but not at the full moon, no one knows what it actually means. Right. And everyone's just kind of like, I guess we'll have to wait and see. And so then to go so far as to have a child with someone who is both. Who as a werewolf, but then someone who is a metamorpho, that can do what Tonks can do is even more daunting. And you can imagine, and I talked about this in the episode, right, where it's like you go back to your default at these moments of fear, adventure, getting away, being reckless. Like, that's what Lupin did when he was a child. And again, I think this reinforces my argument that he is someone who is living in a very particular kind of arrested development, and that he's kind of locked in the cage of his own shame and fear, but also living in a time where he wants to remember the good times, where things were good. And so in that context, he goes to adventure, or what he thinks is adventure. Right. And part of me also wonders the idea of, like, you know, was some of this abandonment also the desire to kind of potentially make a better world for his kid? And maybe it was fear, but it was also like, we've got three teenagers running around here trying to fix a problem, and they don't even know where to begin. And, like, obviously their lives hang in a balance, but so does my child now. And if I can be of whatever assistance that I can be to kind of make sure that they succeed, that's what I want. Because I've got to make sure that the future for my kid is a good one. And I think that that is ultimately what motivates Tonks to show up at the Battle of Hogwarts. I think it's like, you know, that's one thing that I feel like I've experienced and listening to a lot of my friends who are parents talk about, right. Is like, especially when you make. When you. When the decision to have children is made, it's like, is this a space and place that I want my child to be born into? And I think there are a lot of ways to kind of understand that particular kind of decision. And so again, I'm not trying to find grace for him because I still think that it's BS that he decided he was gonna make this decision at all. But I also do wonder the extent to which, and I'm interested to see what you all think about whether or not he did this because he was trying to create a better world for his child and this was the only way that he knew how. And when you couple that with all the internalized everything, some things start to take focus and you're like, oh, okay, I don't agree with you and you did deserve to get dragged. But I can also see a little bit more clearly where your head was at. And it, at least in some parts, might have been in a good place. The other parts were not. And for that we won't have this has been another episode of Critical Magic Theory. I'm Professor Julian Womble and if you liked today's episode, first of all, thank you. Please feel free to, like, rate, subscribe, do all the things that one does where pods are cast. If you want to follow me on social media, please feel free to do so at ProfW. On TikTok and Prof. JW on Instagram. Please join us for our post Episode chat on Patreon patreon.com criticalmagictheory if you want to send me an email, please feel free to do so@criticalmagictheorygmail.com y'all I'm going to be dropping. Well, it should have dropped by this point. I'm recording this way before, but it should have dropped the survey from Minerva McGonagall. I need your thoughts. I cannot wait. Minnie deserves an episode for the ages, so don't hold anything back. Bring the chaos as we often do. I cannot wait. Until then, be critical and stay magical, my friends. Bye.