Korean Character in Harry Potter Prequel Causes Some People to Claim Racism

I have never watched a Harry Potter movie, but on the racism scale this seems pretty thin:

Claudia Kim as Nagini as seen in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald trailer. (Photo: Warner Bros.)

The final trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald contained a jaw-dropping character reveal that has some Harry Potter fans fuming. As it turns out, one of the prequel franchise’s “new” characters, played by Claudia Kim, is actually a familiar villain from the original series: Voldemort’s evil snake companion Nagini. Author and screenwriter J.K. Rowling tweeted that she’d been sitting on this secret “for around 20 years.” But social media skeptics say that Nagini’s shocking past as a Korean woman seems highly implausible and possibly racist.  (……)

Fans are picking up on a few problems with this change. First, there’s the issue of representation: Nagini is only the second significant Asian character introduced in the Potterverse, and we know that her fate involves being the murdering pet reptile of a wizard who believes those without “pure blood” should not live. This plays into a couple of nasty stereotypes about Asian women often scene in Hollywood films: the sinister, exotic “dragon lady” and the submissive, voiceless sex object.  [Yahoo]

You can read more at the link.

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Flyingsword
Flyingsword
6 years ago

Give minorities more parts, wait, not those kind of parts…..WTF? Remember, there are no small parts, only small actors.

setnaffa
6 years ago

And the audiences don’t care about suntans, genders, or any of the rest of the nonsense… if they can act…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRkZYdWCe7w

MTB Rider
6 years ago

Does Korea have a snake person mythology? I’m an old school D&D geek from my high school days, and this sounds like either a naga from the Indian mythologies, or a Yuan-ti knock off.

Yuan-ti have a Ray Harryhausen vibe to them, coming as Purebloods (look almost human, except for maybe slitted eyes, scales, forked tongue or something else reptilian. Half-breeds have snake bodies, human or snake heads, human arms or a snake tail with human arms and legs.
Abominations are mostly snake monsters, but with humanoid arms and hands.

I’ve never heard of a snake person in Korean mythology, but outside of assorted demons, fox girls and goblins I don’t know all that much. Is there such a critter?

Tbonety1r_lives
Tbonety1r_lives
6 years ago

“often scene in Hollywood films” Who writes and edits/proofreads these, 3rd graders? Good grief.

setnaffa
6 years ago

MTB, there is the dragon/imoogi myth… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-War

Paintchip-lives: Don’t you know “white man” spelling, grammar and math are racist? Try to keep up… 😛 😛 😛

Spelling and grammar: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/25/ucla-grad-students-stage-sit-during-class-protest-what-they-see-racially-hostile

Math: https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/10/math-racist-university-illinois-professor/

Tbonety1r_lives
Tbonety1r_lives
6 years ago

I’m not sure what our schools are teaching anymore but when someone who claims to be a professional writer writes “scene” instead of “seen” because well, you know, they both sound the same 🙄 sigh…

ChickenHead
ChickenHead
6 years ago

With that kind of talk, MTB has to roll a 19 or higher to get laid.

MTB Rider
6 years ago

I must have lucky dice then…

setnaffa
6 years ago

CH, it’s just as well as “15’ll get you 20″…

BTW, there’s an update on what Islam offers to a country with women woilling to show their hair: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/09/29/instagram-model-and-beauty-queen-finalist-22-shot-dead-in-iraq.html

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