Harry Potter author JK Rowling has defended herself after being criticised...Oh, what for now?
The Fantastic Beasts series has previously attracted criticism for its largely white cast...So she's refused to include any non-white characters again?
Well....
...casting a Korean actor to play the character of Voldemort’s snake Nagini in the latest Fantastic Beasts film.There! See? Are you not satisfied?
...while some are excited by Kim’s role in the film, others have raised concerns about a South Korean actor playing the role of Nagini. In the Harry Potter books, the snake is a submissive character that is the property of villain Voldemort, who drinks her milk for strength before he is restored fully to his body.OK, I can see herpetologists might be incensed at the thought that snakes produce milk. Probably the daft old cow saw a reference to 'snake milking' on a documentary and didn't notice it referred to their venom, but who the hell else is whinging?
One critic wrote to Rowling on Twitter, saying “Listen Joanne, we get it, you didn’t include enough representation when you wrote the books. But suddenly making Nagini into a Korean woman is garbage.”
Rowling responded, writing that Nagini is a Naga, which are “snake-like mythical creatures of Indonesian mythology”, adding that “Indonesia comprises a few hundred ethnic groups, including “Javanese, Chinese and Betawi”.Now, now, you should know better than to try to reason with an angry mob. After all, you've done your fare share of leading one...
...many thought Rowling’s response was insufficient. One Twitter user shared translated screenshots of posts from Korean viewers, angry about the casting.
“An Asian woman who was on exhibit in a circus … Gets beheaded later and dies? She ate people as a snake in [Harry Potter]”, wrote one angry viewer.
Another objected to the way race was dealt with in the Harry Potter series. “You can’t be admitted to Hogwarts unless you’re English and we don’t know if there’s any wizarding schools in Asia, home of 4.4 billion people … [and] a homicidal white man traps an Asian woman inside a snake form and brainwashes her.”Has anyone told her 'fans' that it's all just make believe?
Hasn't the world got any actual real problems to worry about then? All of the real injustices must have been sorted out have they?
ReplyDeleteSo good when lefties eat one of their own.
ReplyDeleteThere were enough non-white characters in the HP books, all of whom were 'goodies'. JKKR had a downer on fat people though, they are mainly 'baddies' (Uncle Vernon, Crabbe and Goyle and so on).
ReplyDeleteThey're all fucking mad. Buy ammo. This will not end well.
ReplyDeleteThe biter bit. Oh the irony.
ReplyDeleteBut surely casting non-whites would upset the racists. You really can't win, can you?
ReplyDelete"Hasn't the world got any actual real problems to worry about then?"
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't think so, to look at the headlines...
"So good when lefties eat one of their own."
Not least because it's as predictable as sunrise.
"JKKR had a downer on fat people though, they are mainly 'baddies' (Uncle Vernon, Crabbe and Goyle and so on)."
Wait until the anti-body shamers catch on!
"You really can't win, can you?"
No. So the best thing is refuse to come off the bench.