wemptronics
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User ID: 95
I am confused but how is this RW?
I did the unthinkable. I googled it and visited the first SEO pumped article from the slopfotainment sector of journalism. This article from Cybernews (other recent publications include an incisive story under the headline "Female AI agents paid less than male agents for the same work") suggests everyone is interpreting the situation correctly according to their assigned roles.
An anime artist has removed a piece of Harry Potter fanart from the social media site Bluesky following backlash to their reimagining of Draco Malfoy as a female character.
After fans kicked back, Japanese artist Yunayu apologized and subsequently deleted the drawing.
But then the artist reposted the Malfoy adaptation a day later to a more sympathetic reaction on X.
And the strong reaction on social media, comes in the wake of the author JK Rowling's strong opposition to certain transgender issues.
The artist's apology on Bluesky read “I only learned about the situation after I drew the fanart,” adding “I never intended to hurt or offend anyone with my drawings.”
Explains enough for me. Artist makes fanart, posts it to Bluesky, and the progressive community demands recompense, because JK Rowling and her "wizard books"-- we don't say their actual names. Artist apologizes there, but also posts or had already posted the character to X dot com, the site for bad people, and eventually deleted their Bluesky account after it took off there.
If the character wasn't a dark, right-wing incantation she would have the support of Bluesky, which I imagine as containing a high density of people who enjoy, produce, and/or masturbate to fan art/fiction. It is a very progressive space as I understand.
Did it violate taboos?
You're doing more work than everyone else and in some measure doing the work for them. As I understand, sex swaps between characters is not uncommon among fanfic communities which seemingly host an overrepresentation of trans individuals.
The reasoning behind 'Malfoid as a right-wing monster', if any was necessary, was constructed post-hoc. What happened was not reasoning, but a group of people impressing their beliefs. That intersected with and was accelerated by negative polarization once the meme jumped platforms. Harry Potter boycott stories break containment only sometimes. These types boycotted a Harry Potter video game a couple years ago as I recall, but there doesn't appear to be a strong general taboo against enjoying Harry Potter. If you're the kind of person who thinks there should be a strong taboo then you take the chance to enforce your beliefs when the opportunity presents itself. Normally, the Bluesky Post->Mad Children->Artist Apology cycle of outrage or taboo enforcement ends at the apology stage and remains contained. In this case, the meme was embraced by X which allowed its development. The conflict expanded from intra-community policing to inter-tribal conflict.
I even doubt the fanfiction community on Bluesky, specifically, polices the production of Harry Potter fanart with any consistency. The reason I say so is because I know one very progressive lesbian (i.e. not a "TERF" sort) who will enthusiastically and unabashedly tell you about her interest in Harry Potter fanfic including the "degenerate" sort. She does so with self-awareness and good humor. She's of a tumblr age, before JK Rowling was persona non grata, and apparently doesn't care much about the associations above.
I don't consider myself equipped to significantly contribute to the eternal Pornography or Art? debate. As a personal judgment, sexy cartoon fanart often appears more functionally pornographic than artistic, especially in cases where the artist is catering to a fetish. That is art with impact and intent, it says something about the nature of ourselves, but if I were to take it seriously as art it feels cheap. The depictions I saw here looked like fairly wholesome Chinese Cartoons whereas Harry Potter fanfiction people can be absolute freaks.
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