Book 3, Ep. 5 | Werewolves: A Metaphor?

Greetings, Witches!

Our last two episode on Animal Studies and Disability Studies laid the groundwork for this week's episode all about how to read Remus Lupin and his Lycanthropy. In an ebook released on Pottermore, J.K. Rowling stated that she meant Lupin's werewolf condition to be a metaphor for AIDS. This week we look at the way that metaphors of illness circulate ideologies about those who are ill - implying certain truths about their worthiness, deviance, and threat to society. We discuss specifically the history of AIDS and its metaphors, and examine how reading Lupin as a character with AIDS reinforces rather than challenges dangerous narratives about queer and disabled folks.

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Resources:

How She Read by Chantal Gibson

Illness as Metaphor + AIDS and its Metaphors by Susan Sontag