MovieChat Forums > Daniel Radcliffe Discussion > Two women gave Radcliffe his life

Two women gave Radcliffe his life

posted 5 years ago by rootvegetables (1698)
8 replies | jump to latest

The first one was his mother who gave birth to him.
The second was JK Rowling, who created the Harry Potter mythology and who signed-off on casting him in the title role for the cinematic adaptation when he was a little boy.
JK Rowling paved the way for DR to become financially secure for the rest of his life (and the life of whoever inherits his estate one day in the far off future). She paved the way for his comfort, his options, his security, his career and his ACTUAL privilege (a word that has been thrown about until it has lost all meaning). In the acting realm alone, DR is afforded something that few actors (even stars) have ever been able to claim; and that is the ability to be a working actor AND live in comfort for the rest of his life, without having to be bankable, successful, critically-praised or even in demand. I’m not saying that he isn’t talented or successful. He is. My point is that he doesn’t have to worry about meeting any standard. He is secure. He can choose to act in small art productions forever, enjoy his craft and still have enough wealth to do anything he pleases whenever he pleases.
And all that is thanks to JK Rowling.

So... is it too much to ask, that rather than joining (in his case, politely) the public pile-on heaped upon Rowling for opining that biological sex is real; rather than publicly embarrassing her; rather than publicly contributing (even unintentionally) to genuine attempts to cancel her as a person (yes, cancel her) and her life’s work; rather than doing all that... maybe pick up the phone, as a friend, talk to her, explain to her why he thinks she’s wrong; heck, even offer to be there for her as a friend, in spite of differing opinions.

Apparently, it is too much to ask. We live in a time, in which you must interact in public. You must take sides in public. You must opine and you must do so publicly. You must tweet and you must do so quickly. Because if you don’t, you aren’t relevant, you don’t exist, you were never here.

Sorry JK Rowling. You gave DR his life. But if he wants to keep it, he must, at least tacitly, endorse the destruction of yours.

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[–] MichaelJPollock (751) 5 years ago

No disrespect intended here, and I mostly agree with you, but with how many friends did you discuss or share this face-to-face, before you posted it on this board for all to see?

[–] rootvegetables (1698) 5 years ago

None. But I would have if my post was ABOUT those friends. I would have spoken to them privately or at least given them a heads-up before publicly embarrassing them or joining in the mass pile-on upon them by an angry online mob. Especially so, if the friend in question would have been the one person most responsible for my blessed life.
Since I don't know either JKR or DR, since her tweets and his reply were both done publicly, my opinion on it is... well, it is just that... one more opinion in the opinion-sphere.

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[–] MichaelJPollock (751) 5 years ago

Fair point. You're a better person than that Radcliff guy.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Sorry, but it seems to me that Rowling has lost her marbles, mainly for suggesting that the Harry Potter books should've turned out differently, probably to appease some parts of her fanbase who objected to her original writing decisions. So she outed Dumbledore as gay and decided that Harry and Hermione would be the best ship. I totally disagree with the latter in particular.

[–] rootvegetables (1698) 5 years ago

I don't agree with most of her politics; and, MUCH LIKE YOU, I don't agree with her statements about how Hermione's and Ron's relationship should never have been written. As far as Dumbledore being gay, I don't particularly care about that, and to be honest, I sort of suspected it based on how his backstory relationship with Grindelwald was described in the books. I did object to how she just sort of publicly declared him to be gay after the books were out. I'd prefer to either explicitly state that he is gay in the books; or to have had her write it exactly the way she did in a suggestive way and to leave the final conclusions to the readers.
But whatever, my point here is not about how much I agree with all of JKR opinions or decisions. It is more about the kind of society we are becoming. I think the way DR handled this was just wrong, but also emblematic of how are culture is changing (and not for the better). Keep in mind, also, that at least DR was being polite in the tone and language of his response to JKR. So, unlike the rest of the online mob, DR at least spoke softly when sticking the knife in and twisting it. Maybe JKR can take some solace in that.

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[–] johnmiller (3938) 5 years ago

Well, Radcliffe has already made his millions off of Rowling, so what the heck? That's why it's the entertainment BUSINESS. It's all about money. Meanwhile, Rowling is daffy, but she always has been. She's just going further off the deep end now.

[–] Satan2016 (25573) 5 years ago

She's the only sane one in the franchise. Plenty of sane people outside of Hollywood and the Democrap cult.

[–] johnmarti59 (2356) 4 years ago

I'm not reading all of that.