Harry Potter Archives

Anyone with a social media account is likely aware of the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling. For those fortunate enough to be unfamiliar, Rowling has expressed incredibly prejudiced views, particularly towards the trans community. These controversies first surfaced on X in 2017, and since then, even more have unfolded.

Given how many LGBTQIA+ individuals are fans of the Harry Potter franchise, her comments have caused significant disappointment and upset. The franchise’s massive popularity has led many fans to get Harry Potter tattoos. In recent years, however, as Rowling’s views have come to light, many now regret these tattoos and no longer want to be associated with a franchise created by someone who holds such opinions. But as we know, tattoos are expensive, and it is easier said than done to just cover-up or remove a tattoo.

That’s where tattoo artist Helena Gifford, known as @hella._.tattoos on Instagram, steps in. Helena is offering free Harry Potter tattoo cover-ups. While the cover-ups come at no cost, she’s set up a donation page for clients who’d like to leave a tip and for others who want to contribute. All proceeds will be donated to Trans Pride Brighton, as a way to give back to the community and turn this initiative into something positive. We chatted to Helena to find out more…

Can you explain your initial motivation for offering free Harry Potter cover-ups?

Well, I saw a graphic online, probably on Instagram, about her funding the Supreme Court case ruling over the rights of trans women. Meaning someone’s “legal sex is defined by birth and not affected by any Gender Recognition certificate they have received” – effectively stripping rights away from the entire trans community.

I’m a queer person, with many trans friends, and I just felt so angry – especially seeing the tweet she posted where she is smoking a cigar and boasting about winning. It was just a reality check of how malicious this woman is.

I started thinking, “Oh thank god I never got a Harry Potter tattoo,” and how many there must be in the world. I just knew that if I had a Harry Potter tattoo, I’d be able to cover it myself, and knowing that some people wouldn’t have the ability to cover it for free, and cover-ups or laser treatments are so expensive. I wanted to help people who would be stuck with a symbol of this horrible franchise.

The donation idea came after, I was thinking people would probably want to pay something towards it, so I figured it makes more sense to start a GoFundMe. So even if people didn’t have a cover-up they needed done, they could still donate and show support.

Was there a particular moment or statement from J.K. Rowling that pushed you to take this step?

The Supreme Court ruling did it. I knew (obviously) that she was a notorious TERF (trans exclusionary radical feminist). However, I think realising that she’s using her profits directly from Harry Potter, and using her position of power and influence given to her by this series to attack the trans community, was a reality check of how bad things have got.

Most Harry Potter fans I knew as a kid were the outcasts like me, and we found comfort in these books. And the idea that she is using her profits from this very community, from kids who feel different, to hurt that very same community is so twisted.

Do you find people are getting their Harry Potter cover-ups for similar reasons?

Every person I have tattooed so far has wanted the cover-up for this reason, and a lot of the session is spent discussing our disappointment over such a beloved childhood memory turning sour. How sad it is that we can’t enjoy something that used to be so important to us anymore. We talk about our experiences with Harry Potter and why we liked it. We often have the same conversation about whether we would still read the books/watch the movies. Which I am still undecided on, so it’s interesting to hear other people’s opinions.

Most cover-up clients are queer and trans so it’s nice to see that the community themselves are benefitting. I’m glad that, as far as I know, no one has taken advantage of this project just to get a free tattoo.

What kinds of Harry Potter tattoos have people asked you to cover up?

Mostly Deathly Hallows. I’m limited to what I can do as a cover-up, due to size/ blackness/ placement. So Deathly Hallows is the easiest to cover, and the one I am seeing the most. I’ve had a few quotes and a snitch at one point.

Sadly, a lot of people have large blackout Hogwarts castles, or large colour tattoos, and there isn’t anything I can do to help there. I’m offering blastovers which would help hide some of the design, but most people want it fully gone, understandably.

What kinds of designs are people choosing to cover their tattoos with?

It’s a range; I am limited to what I can do, with this being a self-funded project. So, a lot of people go with what I recommend would be the simplest way to cover it. As I have to do these tattoos late in the evening, I don’t have time to do a massive detailed piece. It’s a lot of black, I’ve done a dinosaur skeleton, some witches, a witch burning at the stake, and a big flower. It varies.

How does covering the tattoo make people feel after?

Everyone has been very grateful and has donated to the GoFundMe. It’s hard to say accurately, as after a tattoo session people are so exhausted and glad to not be in pain anymore, so it’s hard to get a read of their emotions. I really hope everyone is happy with them!

Do you plan to continue offering this service indefinitely, or is it a time-limited project?

I’m not sure yet, I’m limited to how many I can do at a time. As I also need to make money myself and I can’t do a cover-up on a day I’m not tattooing a paying client as I still have to pay rent for my day in the studio. So I have a long wait list, and the rate of emails I’m getting has slowed a lot.

I’m also going on maternity leave in October, so I won’t be able to continue for a while. But it’s something I hope to always come back to being able to do.

Helena is based in Brighton at The Blackhouse Tattoo. Make sure you check out Helena on Instagram and read more tattoo stories on our blog.

Our guest blogger is hobbyist film and TV series reviewer and writer Harry Casey-Woodward…

Horns 2013, 2/5
A while ago I saw Daniel Radcliffe’s face emblazoned on a magazine cover. He was unshaven, had a steely squint and a smoking cigarette dangling from his lips with no consideration for influencing young wizards with this dirty muggle habit. The headline was ‘Harry Potter gone bad’ or something silly like that.

Daniel

My guess is that Radcliffe’s new bad boy image had something to do with this film I’m reviewing, for his character does indeed smoke, drink, curse, fight, has some sex and looks as if he could do with a bath, some attitude counselling and a good night’s sleep: you know, like a normal young adult.

This is not the first time I’ve wondered if Radcliffe is taking the same career path as Elijah Wood; in other words, attempting to trash the cute boy wizard/hobbit roles that made them famous by proving they can do darker, mature roles. For example, Wood starred in Maniac in 2012 as a woman-slaughtering psychopath and in 2014’s Open Windows he played an internet creep stalking his favourite actress (who happened to be played by porn star Sasha Grey to add further controversy).

Radcliffe has gone down a less violently extreme image-trashing career path than Wood, but his angry young man take in Horns is still hilarious, especially since he’s adopted an American accent. As grating as this sounds, you do get used to it and surprisingly I ended up caring a little bit for his character. He plays a young man named Ig living in some insignificant backwoods town whose girlfriend Merrin (Juno Temple) has just been murdered and everyone thinks he did it. After a drunken emotional night, he wakes up to find a pair of horns sprouting out of his forehead. He then discovers that everyone he talks to confesses their deepest, darkest secrets and desires. He decides to use this new awkward gift to seek out his girlfriend’s killer and force a confession.

As imaginative and darkly hilarious this setup is, it’s not really explained and doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’m not one of those people who like every aspect of the plot dictated to me and I do believe a little ambiguity is good for a film. However, If director, Alexandre Aja, is trying to make some moral point about Ig being cursed with demonic powers it’s missed because there’s no reason for it. I don’t know if the novel by Joe Hill offers more explanation and, like Kubrick did with The Shining , Aja decided to sacrifice some of the novel’s explanations for the film’s imagery.

But in The Shining, there is a vague justification for the weird spooky stuff, in that it’s a reflection of all the dark stuff that happened in the hotel’s past. In Horns Ig never does anything that justifies his curse. Sure he’s a surly, indulgent, non-believer like every young adult, but he’s not evil. If anything, he’s the character most wronged. The only heretic thing he does is smash the Virgin Mary figurine at his dead girlfriend’s shrine, pee on some candles and then rant about what good going to church every Sunday did for her. Do any of these pathetic, slightly justifiable actions merit the horror thrust on his life, whether by God or the Devil (unless either one has a very bitter sense of humour)? And if this curse is a punishment for whatever darkness lies in Ig’s heart, surely it shouldn’t give him advantages? Halfway through the film snakes swarm to Ig, willing to obey his will, I guess because he’s now tainted with evil? So he uses them for vengeful purposes, thus making him more evil than when he started. If God’s trying to punish him He’s doing a bad job and if the devil’s trying to corrupt him, why him? He wasn’t exactly a pure being to start with.

I do admire films that do weirdness for the sake of it, but only to an extent. Traditionally in Gothic moral narratives, like Doctor Faustus, religious phenomena that has a negative impact on the protagonist’s life has a moral purpose, in order to give didactic instruction to the audience (let’s ignore the film Stigmata, which is based on random religious phenomena). With Horns we have what feels like a traditional Gothic narrative. But the fact that the reason and nature of Ig’s non-deserved curse, whether it’s a blessing or a punishment, is hidden to the audience means that the moral we’re expecting is not very clear. All we get is a character that has a lot of weird, bad stuff happen to him. This doesn’t do much for a story and throws up more questions than answers. The other thing that lets the film down is Radcliffe. As hard as he tries, whether he’s being distraught or vengeful, he’s never very convincing. He always looks like he’s straining when he should be easily slipping into these emotions. Unfortunately, since the entire film consists of him having emotional conflicts with every character, we’re stuck with Radcliffe in tantrum mode.

I didn’t expect the film to be great from the offset, as I’m not a fan of Radcliffe, but I was surprised at how gripping and entertaining it was on another level. Despite the vast room for improvement left by the issues discussed above, it’s still a good murder mystery and the idea of a superpower that removes people’s inhibitions is an original idea that leads to some hilarious and cringing scenes. The story and dialogue is good, even if it’s a lot of flashbacks and emotional angst. All the performances, apart from Radcliffe, are good too. Juno Temple playing Ig’s girlfriend shows Radcliffe up on convincingly portraying a troubled young adult. Even the child actor playing Ig in the flashbacks does a better job than Radcliffe. We also get Heather Graham in a great minor role as a publicity-crazed waitress.

So if you want a supernatural murder mystery with a thrilling plot that looks cool but you don’t care about the supernatural part making much sense, knock yourself out. Other than that, there isn’t much substance here and the film will probably only be memorable for Harry Potter joining the forces of evil.

Tag: Harry Potter

Meet the tattoo artist providing free cover-ups for Harry Potter tattoos