UW-La Crosse student’s opinion on the Harry Potter mural is bullshit

You either love Harry Potter so much you have the stickers on your laptop (me) or you don’t understand the hype of Harry Potter and refuse to let the magic into your life (my BFF). A UW-Lacrosse student took this dislike to the next level recently when he reported a mural in Laux Residence Hall to their school’s “Hate Response Team” due to their perceptions of the messages the mural represented. The painted mural depicts actor Matthew Lewis who played the nerdy Neville Longbottom in the series in two forms. The first was Lewis’ awkward pre-teen face with a little bit of baby weight still hanging on. Under the image reads “Before Laux”. Next, is Lewis’ figure during the last few movies where he truly blossomed into a hottie. This face contains the caption “After Laux”. The outraged student claimed that this mural promoted “white power, man power, cis power, able power, and class power.”

When you’re in school, you should always feel like you’re in a safe environment. Reporting instances of discrimination and hate to someone on campus is very important. However, I have a hard time even empathizing with this student.

Race is a highly sensitive topic. Fortunately, as a white woman, it’s not something I’ve had to deal with often unless I’m writing pieces similar to this one. Awkwardness before puberty is something that isn’t individualized to a race. Matthew Lewis just happens to be a white man who’s public “glow up” is clearly recognizable.

My boyfriend and I at 14, SEE WE ALL NEED PUBERTY

I think it’s unfair to say this mural promotes transphobia as well. Nothing about the caption depicts Lewis’ gender identity or how students of the Residence Halls should identify themselves.

Lastly, and surprisingly, I don’t think this promotes man power. I would confidently say I’m a feminist. I think women are under represented in media and movies everyday. Again, highlighting a successful journey through puberty of a man doesn’t make you sexist.

This mural was playing on the humor of popular media. The message of mural is Laux residence hall is the best on the La-Crosse campus. Every single dorm does something like this, so that they can relate to the high number of adults living in such close proximity of one another. Personally, I think the student who has reported the incident has felt so slighted in life they had to find a way to express that. If we go looking for negative things in our life, we’ll definitely find it. Let’s get response teams helping the root of the problem rather than focusing on a murals random hidden meaning.