I keep thinking - that since the data on which people took the transphobe Harry Potter Max money is pretty complete, static, and public. And that the data on many other motion picture media is also public - both through IMDB. And JoaRo is very public about working against trans rights, to the point that it comes up in cast interviews, she talks about it everywhere. And we've even cases where people will drop out of something for ethical reasons, and the actors and many others involved with JKR before the went nuclear transphobe have publicly disowned her and her creations. So we know it's reasonable and possible to take an ethical stance after the fact. But also - it's after the fact now, for anyone still on board.
I would love some kind of app or browser extension that would let me put the complete cast and crew imdb page in, and it would run like a bulk "find on page" search to tell me whether anyone in Max Harry is in that particular project, and I could avoid anything that had anyone involved in it just forever. From producer all the way to catering. No part too big, no part too small, a permanent personal blacklist for the rest of the lives of anyone on that series. Not that I'm out here making it happen, just spitballing.
John Lithgow articulated it very clearly when he said he took a job in the HPO show, effectively, to have a secure income for awhile and that was more important than the ethics of Joan's politics, to him. Personally, I think it's just a shame he's so old that having people skip everything he makes for the rest of his life won't measurably alter his priorities, but it might bother other cast members. It might really be a big bother knowing anyone who popped in for a bit part, for wardrobe, for lighting or sound on a Harry P Product, becomes a financial liability for every other project in television or movies or even youtube since those things have IMDB now. It's probably kind of dumb and petty, but I sincerely would like to avoid everyone involved just. Forever. I'm older, I can tough out a multiple decade boycott I think.
Kind of like Shinigami Eyes except, like, not That?
The major difference I think is that Shinigami Eyes was meant kind of like a discovery tool - a way to out transphobes flying under the radar one way or another. When it was maintained, it required a combination of crowdsourcing the data (individuals had to determine what behavior was transphobic) and moderator review (basically a second set of eyes in case it was being abused). It's been abandoned for awhile, and now for all purposes runs mostly on automatic which generally can be and has been abused.
On the other hand, a tool of this type is for boycotting. The data for a television series is relatively stable. While some crew changes, a large amount of the crew is stable for the length of a season. Basing it on a resource like imdb is much more hard data than soft, because imdb's main role is not strictly to be an encyclopedia but also to be a kind of resume. People working in motion picture media add and maintain their own history because it serves as a means to be discovered for new projects - in addtion to its other means of data gathering. Especially for a UK and USA series, the data set of "worked on a JKR project" is as reliable as possible. While having regular updates could be useful, the fact that the entire crew of these projects has to be accurate and public means the initial data is good qualitative data. There is not much wiggle room (it's never zero but not much) for "did you take JKRs trans-blood money to provide services for her trans genocide project."
As a single issue boycott tool with hard data, it cuts through most of the uncertainty around individual politics. It openly does not concern itself with other stances of the people involved, it does imply it is a comprehensive list of transphobes, or even extend beyond that item. It's just this project for this person paid these people. And, again, to reiterate, it would have been very difficult to remain unaware of the anti-trans politics around Joan and her products in the lead-up to and debut of the series. Not impossible, but it's a different world from the first HP book launch, first movie launch and so forth. Trans rights can't be called an echo chamber or niche interests in a sincere way.
Lastly, and significantly, a boycott app of this nature would also produce hard data. That is to say, its total downloads and potential total number of references (unsure if that's possible) can be public, which means anyone in motion pictures can look at the figures and put that number into potential revenue loss if they hire a JoRo alum. And if thereâs one thing business guys hate, it's revenue loss. Having a tangible number like that makes a tool of this type potentially highly effective.
So, while similar in outcome, I think there are some essential details of this sort of program which are an improvement and also materially actionable beyond a boycott alone.














