AIBU to think objections to Snape casting are mostly racist?

[OhNoooooooooooooooo]

I'm fed up of people moaning about Paapa Essiedu being cast as Snape, making out "ohhhh waaahhh, it's not true to source material"

As if Alan Rickman was the perfect choice, he was too old, too fat, too handsome, etc

And as if the other character don't match their description. The boy playing Ron is definitely not tall, lanky and with a big nose. Dumbledore is American. Hermione is not mixed race in the books. Seamus has sandy hair in the books,Etc etc

People are just racist and trying to hide behind the books - as if they're some sort of historical record and not a children's book about a wizard....

too soon? its been 15 years LOL They do a new spiderman every few years
The actors playing a have changed at least 3 times...
Tobey Maguire - 2002-2007
Andrew Garfield 2012-2014
Tom Holland - 2016 - present

I'm fed up with "racist" being used every time a black/asian/Whatever person is critiqued.

PE is a fantastic actor, but certainly not as described in the books and if the bullying of Snape by James & Co is portrayed it will strongly suggest Racist where none was in the books.

I wonder which character(s) will be Trans......🙄

The problem I have with this and all other adaptations from books is the way they change things to be inclusive. I’d feel exactly the same way if they did it the other way around, if you are not going to respect the book then make up your own story and don’t use one of the most successful book franchises in modern times.

Absolutely this. He is not right for the part and it completely pulls you out of the world.

Colour-blind casting is exactly new.

Umbridge 😄

Yeah, I think that's an issue that has to be factored in with race blind casting. The world isn't race blind, and Snape as written was not black. Though not necessarily white either, so there could still be a racial dimension if he were eg an Iranian actor who fit the book deception. But the point is, it wasn't specified in the book and there's no getting round the context tgat exists in black/white dynamics.

I agree with OP that some of the criticism is a double standard in that he's no further away from the book description than Alan Rickman. Mind you, that rather ballsed up part of the narrative too.

I think the biggest issue with this is how Snape was handled in the films.

Movie Snape and Book Snape are entirely different characters. Snape is perhaps the most important adult character in the series - maybe second only to Dumbledore. Alan Rickman’s performance was iconic but it did not capture the nuance of the character correctly.

I’m generally not a fan of race swaps but they chose the wrong character to race swap. Harry and Snape should be white, Ron should be ginger. Voldemort should not be black. I would then say all of the other characters are fair game. I actually think a black Dumbledore would be preferable to a black Snape.

It’s not just the bullying scenes. Harry is immediately distrustful of Snape and spends all the series convinced he’s up to something, despite other characters telling him otherwise. And Snape’s physical appearance influences the character - he is constantly mocked for how he looks.

Black Dumbledore would be fine yeah.