Even when Newt Scamander was a young Hogwarts student, he always loved the wilder side of magic. They’re also a great symbol of American liberty: One such beast is a kind of eagle-dragon (reminiscent of the eagle logo that the NRA uses) whose natural habitat is Monument Valley in Arizona - home of all of those glorious Old West shoot-’em-ups, where you didn’t have to pass an FBI background check to be a gunslinger.The time is drawing ever closer to the release of Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find, within a short number of days we will finally be able to get a glimpse into the life of a character that author J.K. The beasts, it turns out, are as unfairly reviled as the witches: Although powerful and potentially dangerous weapons, when properly understood and expertly handled, they’re a positive force. (There’s also a wry reference to the majority oppressing the witches by requiring them to have permits for their wands.) But, hey, NRA members, there’s something here for you, too: In the opening minutes, we learn that private ownership of the “fantastic beasts” has been banned, echoing the worst fears of Second Amendment lovers. Rowling, who announced in 2007 amid great fanfare that “Harry Potter” paterfamilias Dumbledore was gay, has been increasingly outspoken about her progressivism. As was true in the “X-Men” movies, there is an internal debate raging about whether the witches should aggressively assert who they are and revel in the resulting chaos (the radical, Malcolm X option) or take a more mollifying, moderate stance and try to seek common ground with the majority (like Martin Luther King Jr.).Īll of this leads up to an explosive finish that suggests bottled-up sexual repression - for which, ultimately, the blame must fall on those who unfairly forced the witches underground in the first place - could literally destroy New York City. They’re represented by the Second Salemers, a hate group headed by the dour, nasty Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton), a stand-in for every buzzkilling church lady in cinema history.Ĭonspiracy theorists will enjoy this part: The witches even have their own secret parallel government, the MACUSA, the Magical Congress of the United States of America, which has a black president, Seraphina Picquery (Carmen Ejogo). They’re effectively in the closet, made to repress their true natures for fear of unleashing hysteria and hate on the part of the majority, who are trying to out the witches and destroy them. Amid talk of how unfair it is that there are laws against whom you can love, we learn that there is a wide range of witches and wizards living parallel to and undetected by non-magic practitioners. Meanwhile, “Fantastic Beasts” gradually turns into a gay fantasia on national themes.
No problem for Rowling: She sets “Beasts” back in 1926, when a young British wizard, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), comes to New York City, loses control of the magical beasts in his possession, and must round them up before they do too much mischief.
“First Class” hit theaters in 2011, a time when the gay-marriage debate was feverish, whereas today gay rights seemingly aren’t much in jeopardy.
SAMANTHA MORTON FANTASTICAL BEAST MOVIE
It might be the gayest superhero movie since “X-Men: First Class.” That’s right: “Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them” is a gay-liberation epic. Rowling’s latest fantasy blockbuster explores a clandestine world of stylish, secretive creatures who live undetected among an oblivious, mistrustful majority in New York City, and have their own cool underground bars.
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