I read Harry Potter as a teenager, but my interest in the series faded as I got older. From time to time, I rewatched one of the films out of pure nostalgia, but honestly, I found the world-building very weak and the plot nonsensical, even for a children’s story. So when I learned that Rowling was a TERF, I just stopped caring.
So, I’m pretty clueless about how the franchise and its fandom have evolved. When I heard about “Malfoid,” a female version of Malfoy, I assumed it was meant to mock Rowling: making one of her main characters trans would certainly infuriate her. I’m not sure how I felt about the idea, but it made sense. However, someone said that it was actually a right-wing thing, a way to “own the libs.” I just don’t understand why Malfoy as a girl would be insulting to left-leaning people. Could anyone explain me?
I’ve only seen this second hand since I don’t browse X, but given images of Malfoid and Anakin Skywalker, sometimes together, were making the rounds pre-election, my guess is they have the same rational. Given I figure Anakin is a more obvious “wronged guy getting his due,” I think they’re repurposing villains as a weird conservative anti-hero twist against a lib establishment that took what they deserve? They do love a good persecution fetish.
But there’s definitely a sex thing with Malfoid, too. The original probably was a sex thing to begin with, but these conservatives probably find the child-like appearance attractive in a sort of pedophilic way. I see versions of her based on the first few movies Malfoy and it’s pretty gross, though the older versions couldn’t possibly be older that 18 either.
Suffice to say it all feels… a bit psychotic. Lots of revenge fantasy sex stuff on X, I gather.