Earthsea v Harry Potter: What the Original Wizard School Got Right

"Capitalism seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings". I just paused the vid, threw my arms in the air and shouted "YES". I shouldn't do that so late at night.

Never stop constructively shading JK Rowling you're so good at and it. Thank you.

These relaxing fairy forest goddess vibes are giving me life

Have you read Le Guin's "Left Hand of Darkness," a sci-fi novel about a planet of "ambisexual" people who can change their sex/gender at will? The over-arching theme is the way that perception of gender shapes societies. Published in 1969, much of it is outdated. In 1986, Le Guin said that she regretted making heterosexuality the norm for sexual behavior on a literally gender-fluid planet.

I think that Ursula K. Le Guin is still 20 years ahead of most authors to be honest. Her writing on how masculine hirearchies of violence being the only way to have a "strong" female character in fantasy really opened my eyes. Highly recommend her collections of essays, "The Language of the Night." It doesn't include every essay and speech she made, but the ones there are as thoughtful, witty, and may change the way you view not just books, but your whole perception of the world.

“We live in capitalism. It’s power seems inescapable. So did the Divine Right of Kings.” I ain’t gonna lie, that quote was both inspiring and amazingly brutal for what it implies, lol

"The profit motive is often in conflict with the aims of art" She is so brilliant! I love that she seems insightful and to be continually adapting and growing as she ages... would that more authors do that.

7:39 Makes me think of a Terry Pratchet quote: “J.R.R. Tolkien has become a sort of mountain, appearing in all subsequent fantasy in the way that Mt. Fuji appears so often in Japanese prints. Sometimes it’s big and up close. Sometimes it’s a shape on the horizon. Sometimes it’s not there at all, which means that the artist either has made a deliberate decision against the mountain, which is interesting in itself, or is in fact standing on Mt. Fuji.”

"If I can forgive LeGuin for not being perfect from Day One, maybe I can forgive myself for not being perfect." Thank you. As a former evangelical pastor, now queer and trans and out, I need to hear this often. We need to create a world where people can be free to change their minds, their hearts, their lives, without being forever banished for mistakes made when they were a former version of themselves. LeGuin is so beautiful in her imperfection. Her entire canon is an exploration, and a journal of her continued growth. Give me that over Tolkien's rigid Catholic fantasy any day.

It's wierd how much Harry Potter criticism is focused of the whole death of the author and so rarely about the venom dripping from the text itself

Tehanu in particular is one of my favourite books of all time. While I enjoyed the first Earthsea trilogy, I connected so much with the later books. It was an amazing shift going from the perspective of the privileged in a patriarchal society (Ged who is a man and a famous wizard) to a woman and girl who were so powerless and exploited. It upsets me so much to see former fans talking about how Le Guin 'ruined the series'. No, she grounded it and made it realistic. I love her so much

Brb I gotta go get all the Earthsea books!

I also discovered the Earthsea Books after falling out of love with Harry Potter, though for me that was around 2018. They ended up being the reason I discovered The Left Hand of Darkness (which just so happens to be my favorite book, so that's good luck!) which I think you would really enjoy it. And it's another interesting example of Le Guin's evolving feminism because she revisited it several times, and each time her approach to the pronouns of the book changed! She ended up creating her own neo pronouns in the '90s. I very firmly believe that had she been blogging in the summer of 2020, she would have put out a very lengthy post in response to Rowling's essay. She was fairly vocal about trans and wider lgbtq rights (and though it took her a little while, she did eventually get on board with and defend the singular 'they'). Would that we lived in a world where that was reality.

The rollercoaster of emotion I went on finding out that there was a Ghibli adaptation of this book and then immediately finding out that version kind of sucks too lol (also, the more I find out about LeGuin the more I adore her. THIS is how you grow as a person and stand up as an ally)

Le Guin was such an absolute legend. I wish I'd been more aware of her whole deal, outside of my very surface-level enjoyment of the Earthsea books, during her lifetime. :/

I just googled "Does Little Witch Academia acknowledge Earthsea?" and "Ursula" is one of the main character's names.

I also discovered Le Guin’s work during 2021, and was shocked I’ve never heard about her before. HOW COME SHE DOESN’T HAVE A FANDOM? My take on the first 3 books was, ok, I really like this worldbuilding better than HP one’s, but the fourth book? Honey that was a MASTERPIECE, if there was something I missed from the previous ones was a further explanation on women’s role in society, and honestly her explanation broke my heart, but fullfilled my desires. I really hope more people get intrested in reading this series of books thanks to your video💜

My favorite part about Earthsea is that in The Farthest Shore Ged is a lovable and complex character who’s clearly evolved from the versions of him in previous books but can stand alone and who has a complex relationship with Aaron without being like The Worst(tm). Seriously the only good former protagonist portal in a legacy story IMO.

I am taken aback regularly when I remember that Ursula was born in 1929. She was lightyears ahead of her contemporaries, and still is lightyears ahead of many of us today. She was committed to the Taoist anthropologist's way of observing and exploring different ways of being, and she certainly led by example by being the supreme "realist of a larger reality," as she said would be so important in the times to come.

"I worry about how I might fail at goodness and kindness..." seems like you're doing pretty good so far; keep it up queen💞