A scapegoat
is often needed in society to keep the machine running smoothly. In the early modern
society, people that threatened the cultural norm were perceived as witches and
werewolves and sentenced to death or exile. In this early period the people believed
to be werewolves were often individuals that went against the grain of society in
their beliefs and attitude, people that were drugged, or were
mentally/physically ill. There were a few other reasons for why people were
perceived to be werewolves, but for the sake of time and redundancy let’s leave
it at these three. Assigning these realistic narratives to the societal and individual
problems would not produce results so they created these monsters to explain
away their problems. This delusion led to the creation of the werewolf, a
monster that has since been transformed into a sympathetic character in recent
years who represents the uncontrollable attributes of a persons being.
The
werewolf that I find to be the best example of this is Professor Lupin from the
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (yes, the one werewolf from a series
about witches and wizards). Through the lens of Lupin in the novel and film Harry
Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, we see the struggle that he is faced with
as a wizard-werewolf in a society that looks down on him and doesn’t know what
to do with him. He is afflicted with his werewolf “disease” not by his own
choosing. This led him to be discriminated against in his society and unable to
find work. The social theory that I find to be the most applicable surrounding Lupin
(which I must admit I had read an interview with J.K. Rowling a few years back)
is that his affliction is symbolic of the disease HIV/AIDS. The character
Professor Lupin is afflicted with a disease which he has no control over,
causes others to fear and distance themselves from him, and keeps him from
holding a job because of the risk factor. This is something that holds a mirror
up to our modern society and its treatment of people with these types of diseases,
not just HIV/AIDS. This werewolf is a representation of a major issue does a
lot to show the struggles of a group that is sometimes forgotten or
marginalized in our society.
I had no idea that Lupin and his Lycanthropy was a metaphor created by J.K.Rowling to symbolize those effected by HIV/AIDS. It is very interesting how she depicted him as a symbol of those effected and their subsequent monsterization and ostracization by todays society, however more so in the late 20th century. This symbolic monster she made of Lupin reminds me of a famous artist based in New York City, Barton Benes. He was diagnosed with HIV when much of the city watched in horror as the disease wreaked havoc upon the marginalized populations, most notably the gay and black communities. One day when he was cooking in the kitchen he cut himself and realized that he was terrified of his own blood. This lead him to create a series called lethal weapons, where he placed his blood on objects thus weaponizing them. Some of the more totable were molotov cocktail, where he wrapped a vile of his blood with fire crackers. This scientifically and medically harmless art series, as the disease dies quickly when outside of the body, was called a terrorist threat at the time, and had him subsequently brought in for questioning. While, it is clear from the publics view on him and those effected by HIV by their response, labeling him a terrorist, the dark satire allowed him to step back and come to terms with how he felt about the disease that inflicted him and made him a "monster" or terrorist according to society at the time.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Lupin and his Lycanthropy was a metaphor created by J.K.Rowling to symbolize those effected by HIV/AIDS. It is very interesting how she depicted him as a symbol of those effected and their subsequent monsterization and ostracization by todays society, however more so in the late 20th century. This symbolic monster she made of Lupin reminds me of a famous artist based in New York City, Barton Benes. He was diagnosed with HIV when much of the city watched in horror as the disease wreaked havoc upon the marginalized populations, most notably the gay and black communities. One day when he was cooking in the kitchen he cut himself and realized that he was terrified of his own blood. This lead him to create a series called lethal weapons, where he placed his blood on objects thus weaponizing them. Some of the more totable were molotov cocktail, where he wrapped a vile of his blood with fire crackers. This scientifically and medically harmless art series, as the disease dies quickly when outside of the body, was called a terrorist threat at the time, and had him subsequently brought in for questioning. While, it is clear from the publics view on him and those effected by HIV by their response, labeling him a terrorist, the dark satire allowed him to step back and come to terms with how he felt about the disease that inflicted him and made him a "monster" or terrorist according to society at the time.
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