There are a lot of issues with the latest film set in JK Rowling’s wizarding world, Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes Of Grindelwald.
Why, when you have a character who has the power to look like Colin Farrell or, indeed, anyone at all, would you cast Johnny Depp to play him? Why is [redacted] in a film set in the 1920s when they’re supposed to be born in [redacted]? Why is [redacted] suddenly [redacted] to [redacted] when the entire plot of the original Harry Potter books hinges on [redacted]’s [redacted] being all [redacted]?
And why hitch an entire new franchise to a random Hogwarts textbook about magical creatures when you really just want to retcon the entire continuity in favour of bad fanservice and queerbaiting? Why not call it Totally Gay Wizards Of The Wizarding World And How To Hide Them?
While the rest of us were distracted by the film’s terrible age-maths and lack of canon gayness, one fan has worked out the real question: when did Dumbledore go from being hot Jude Law in a dapper three-piece suit to Richard Harris/Michael Gambon in intricate, sweeping velvet robes?
I’m mostly interested to know at what point Albus Dumbledore decided smart, grey three-piece suits were out, and embellished, jewel-coloured robes with a matching hat were in #FantasicBeasts pic.twitter.com/DWNJcaxnkr
— Lucy (@LucyJaneWood) November 17, 2018
It’s a fair question. He’s working those suits in the 1920s, and then a mere 50 to 70 years later, he looks like he’s selling hand-macramed soap-on-a-hemp-rope at a Mullumbimby renaissance fair.
Other fans point out that when Dumbledore goes to find 11-year-old Tom Riddle in the Muggle orphanage in that Half-Blood Prince flashback, he’s wearing the three-piece in a relatively subdued (but still totally secretly gay) purple shade. This ensemble might be the missing link:
I found the missing link!
When he meets Tom Riddle he has a suit but it's purple and he also rocks a snazzy scarf… pic.twitter.com/KuioFosijV— Caroline Logan ?️??? (@bearpuffbooks) November 17, 2018
Of course, it’s generally considered canon that Tom Riddle/Voldemort was born in 1926, the same year the first Fantastic Beasts movie is set, meaning there’s only ten years between the above look and Jude Law’s vibe in FB2. Obviously he’s not going to rock a velvet robe on a visit to the Muggle world, but there’s also a world of difference between that dapper grey and the purple getup with the spotted scarf.
Perhaps there’s something in this weird, bad earlier narrative that send Albus into full “confirmed bachelor” sartorial territory? Clearly, the events of The Crimes Of Grindelwald take a toll – and not just on the conventions of narrative continuity.