Racism in Harry Potter?

[tipsyandtim]

Moving away from the JK Rowling transgender comments that seem to have caused a lot of drama on Twitter, I’ve also seen a lot of discussion about the HP books themselves. Many are claiming that they’re inherently pretty racist for numerous reasons- main characters are all white, characters of other ethnicities are usually minor and seem like tokens and tend to have quite stereotypical names- ‘Cho Chang’ was trending on Twitter as an example of a racist name choice.

Wondered what everybody’s thoughts were? I don’t agree that the text shows JK as ‘incredibly racist’ which some are claiming but I think in hindsight she wouldn’t have made some of the character choices if she could write it again. I suppose a lot of content was planned and created about 25 years ago now and what seemed like adding diversity and representation is actually seen as badly thought-out now, even though I think she had well-meaning intentions.

Chang is a very common Korean and Chinese surname. Cho is a Japanese first name for girls. Why could Cho not be half Japanese half Korean/Chinese, or just had parents who liked the name Cho? I agree it’s just people looking for another stick to beat her with.

@cardibach

Rather like naming a British character González Cooper But that kind of thing does happen. I once taught a Pascal Doyle. People have dual heritages. Why shouldn’t characters in books?

I didn't say that characters shouldn't have dual heritages, just that Cho and Chang are both surnames from different cultures.

It doesn't read as a girl who has dual Chinese and Korean heritage, more like the author didn't put much research into naming her character. Pascal is a common first name used widely across several European countries. If an author who wasn't from Europe named their character Dupont Doyle, for example, people might comment that the name isn't used as a name where they are.

Not in the film
In the film it was Cho.
A lot of Harry Potter “fans” only see the films and have no idea the difference between them and the books

Yes but the people throwing the accusations of racism are throwing them at Rowling so they'd better stick to the books. Or it just looks as though they're thinking of any old stick to beat her with whether it's her doing or not.

The character names are very clever in the books, Lupin for a werewolf, Sirius for the character who transforms in to a dog. Etc

meh. Who would call a kid Remus Lupin before he got bitten by a Warewolf? I mean that's taking nominative determinsm a bit too far... Of course Sirius may have chosen a dog because of his name, so that's more acceptable for me.

@Brefugee

Cho Chang wasn't the snitch though, was she? It was the friend that she brought with her

In the books it was her friend who told on them. In the movie it was Cho, but she was literally drugged and it was established by Hermione herself that it wasn't Cho's fault because she had no control over what was being done to her.

But the movies were made by mostly men and this is about trying to destroy a successful female author for saying biological sex exists and homosexuality is real. They're not going to let a little thing like facts stop them from their tantrums.

Fred and George blow things up for fun

Seamus blows things up because he's a bit crap. That's how I remember it anyway. Although film Seamus probably blows things up more than book Seamus.

People have had issues with her since she first said dumbledore was gay, people were unhappy as they felt this was a lie she just added in at the end when people questioned if she had any lgbt representation at all in her books.

And are these same people also contacting every other author to ask why they didn't have a gay character in books they wrote years ago? If she added it at the end it was because she listened to what people wanted. It's a witch hunt against her right now and they should be ashamed of themselves.

This is a rather transparent attempt to throw mud at her by trans-rights activists. You'd have to be quite thick to fall for it now.

Exactly this.

This is utterly ridiculous

How much more constructive would it be if people stopped picking over things that have already been created, written and filmed and started looking towards the future? I have a feeling that authors, film makers etc are going to be much more aware of balancing racial types etc in their work in future. However - where does it end? Thinking of the future - If you're making a film set in a country or environment where you would see predominantly white people do you artificially inject the quota of non-white races or do you stick to reality? If you're making a film set in Nigeria are you supposed to create a set percentage of light skinned people?

t doesn't read as a girl who has dual Chinese and Korean heritage, more like the author didn't put much research into naming her character.

What? It doesn't read that she could be dual heritage?

Can you explain that?

And are these same people also contacting every other author to ask why they didn't have a gay character in books they wrote years ago?

yepp.

@TooOldForSims Behave. It's one thing when casting a new role, or casting the role in a remake, to change the character's race. But when making a direct sequel where all the other major actors have stayed the same, it's a pretty minimal effort to ensure you keep the character's race/ethnicity the same, even if that means selecting the actor with the next best audition. (In fact a pre-requisite of the casting call should have been race in this case, as the character had already been established within this series as black).

Cho isn't a given name in any country from what I can see.

Neither, however, is Albus.

People are looking to slander JK Rowling as an evil Nazi witch.

Simple as.

Lots of Chinese/SE Asian people change their names to something either slightly or completely different when they first move countries.
My PIL adopted a completely different name because their family name was unpronounceable and they didn't want the hassle.
Several of my friends chop a couple of syllables off their names to make life easier. Or choose a nickname if their given name doesn't translate well.
Such a silly thing to make a fuss about.

I suppose a lot of content was planned and created about 25 years ago now and what seemed like adding diversity and representation is actually seen as badly thought-out now, even though I think she had well-meaning intentions.

That would only work as an excuse if brown people were invented in the past 25 years. Plenty of us were ethnic minorities and/or were attending multi-cultural schools in racially mixed neighbourhoods 30/40/50 years ago. ( You say “25 years ago” as though Noah was floating about in his ark at that point )

FWIW, the tokenism and weirdly stereotyped names always read as pretty clunky and gauche, but I’ve never held it against JK as much as I might have done, because I figured that’s what being educated in deepest, whitest Gloucestershire and then Exeter Uni in the 70s and 80s did for you.

TBH, some posters on MN often have the same clueless-but-trying vibe about race. The same feeling that they grew up in some monocultural backwater and now are trying really hard to say all the right things about “vibrant” cities and curries and stuff, and coming off a bit country bumpkin.

(In fact a pre-requisite of the casting call should have been race in this case, as the character had already been established within this series as black).

Was she? I was under the impression she was never actually mentioned by name in the earlier films. My mistake.

The main story of the HP series is defeating someone who wants people who have “not pure” blood to be eliminated.

Yet JKR is racist? Isn’t that a contradiction?!

Surely the series is a nice way to teach children about discrimination and racism, and how you stick up for friends/family etc?

@Pleasenodont

I do think it would have been absolutely fantastic if one of the main three were black but maybe that’s just me.

Would it not be just as fantastic if one had been of oriental decent? Or Indian? Or eastern European? Or gay? Or any other minority, ethnic or otherwise? Or is it only a problem that they're not black and no other minority needs representation too?

For what it's worth I agree that this is just being used as a stick to beat her with because of her views on sex and gender.

JK Rowling isn’t racist.

In the London stage show of the Harry Potter stuff when Hermione etc have grown up, Hermione is played by a black actress.

All these accusations of racism are getting ridiculous. Let’s tackle racism, not invent racism where it doesn't exist. WTAF. If we spend time tackling made up racism, we have less time to tackle actual racism. This makes me really angry.

@Trevsadick

t doesn't read as a girl who has dual Chinese and Korean heritage, more like the author didn't put much research into naming her character.

What? It doesn't read that she could be dual heritage?

Can you explain that?

Other posters have suggested that maybe Cho was named such due to having mixed Chinese and Korean heritage. However Cho has very little history of use as a first name in Asia. It's a Korean surname but not a first name. Of course JK might have named her due her being of Chinese and Korean heritage - but to me the name Cho Chang reads as an author who picked a name which sounds suitably East Asian enough for a British audience without researching the nuance of the name she chose.

I think for the time the amount of minorities explicitly mentioned in the books is about right for lots of British schools at the time. Remember, she started writing the first book almost 30 years ago. A lot has changed since then.

I was at school through the 90s and into the 2000s, and although there were pupils from a range of backgrounds at my school the majority were white. At my primary school I can really only remember one or two pupils who were not white.

I don't think the books are racist, but they do highlight racial prejudice when you see how some of the "pure" wizarding families behave towards those who were born to muggles. And of course the treatment of other races such as elves and werewolves.

JK Rowling isn’t racist.

In the London stage show of the Harry Potter stuff when Hermione etc have grown up, Hermione is played by a black actress.

Oh well that is obviously the thing that clinches it.

@marns didn't she decide Dumbleton was gay, when planning the fantatsic creatures screen plays.

His sexuality wasnt relevant in the HP books. His romantic life wasn't relevant at all.

But in FC the relationship between him and grindelwald, it was relevant.

She didn't just decide it because she was bored.

The only thing that doesn't get a "pass" is Nagini - I wasn't aware of it myself, but "sexy Asian snake/dragon lady" has been a common racist depiction since the 20s, and having the only Asian female in the series lose her humanity and become the pet of the villain is definitely problematic
a) not the only Asian female
b) not even in the original series. There’s no indication Nagini is anything but a snake in that.