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Celeb News: Black actress cast as Hermione in new Harry Potter play
Member Since: 3/25/2012
Posts: 10,673
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Quote:
Originally posted by AccioMiley
Yes she did. She described him as "a black boy, Even taller than Ron"
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She said he was "dark" though. And that was only for the American version. He didn't even have a physical description in any of the other versions. He is black though, so it's really a non-issue, but the point is that she didn't describe other characters explicitly either.
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Member Since: 3/14/2013
Posts: 15,822
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ares
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For the haters!
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Member Since: 11/6/2010
Posts: 27,791
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She was white in the books and the movies so she should be white in the play, i don't care personally since I have no intention on watching the play either way I just don't see why it was necessary to make her black.
Of course people are gonna be mad lol.
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Member Since: 8/24/2008
Posts: 35,091
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Quote:
Originally posted by cloudinthesky
She said he was "dark" though. And that was only for the American version. He didn't even have a physical description in any of the other versions. He is black though, so it's really a non-issue, but the point is that she didn't describe other characters explicitly either.
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I mean I don't think it matters to them tbh.
Blaise Zabini was clearly black in the movies, but half of his fanart is still of a white man. They can snatch roles from POC, but when it's the other way around they act like 90% of all other characters in everything aren't white. We can't even get one character. They have to have them all.
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 3,885
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Quote:
Originally posted by cloudinthesky
She said he was "dark" though. And that was only for the American version. He didn't even have a physical description in any of the other versions. He is black though, so it's really a non-issue, but the point is that she didn't describe other characters explicitly either.
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Well I'm looking at my book right now and it says "a black boy"
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Member Since: 9/17/2011
Posts: 5,996
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Hermione is a British girl from the 20th century.
Of course she is white.
Is that even a question?
Of course JK as the clever writer and businesswoman she is won't confirm or deny anything.
Anyway, my only issue with her is her age not her skin color tbh.
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Member Since: 7/16/2010
Posts: 43,593
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I think the biggest problem for people is that the franchise is build upon the a total package of the books coming to live in the movies, Emma Watson's potrayel is what everyone has in their minds when we talk about the character Hermione. I personally have nothing against it, but I can understand why certain fans lose their panties lowkey because they probably hoped for actors to look like realistic older " follow ups" to the movie potrayed characters rather than being free adaptions. That is the risk between launching a follow up to a succesful book turned to movie franchise, and now turned into a play, people will have a certain picture in mind. But they probably will cool down and accept it, once they actually attend the play.
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Member Since: 3/25/2012
Posts: 10,673
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Quote:
Originally posted by AccioMiley
Well I'm looking at my book right now and it says "a black boy"
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Fair. Maybe there's different translations. Makes no difference really, JK said Dean was black so But again, she never said Hermione was white. Her description was just as vague as Dean's was originally, but everyone assumed she was white from the get-go.
Quote:
Originally posted by Callisto.
I mean I don't think it matters to them tbh.
Blaise Zabini was clearly black in the movies, but half of his fanart is still of a white man. They can snatch roles from POC, but when it's the other way around they act like 90% of all other characters in everything aren't white. We can't even get one character. They have to have them all.
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Exactly. Another perfect example of everyone assuming white by default. Fans lost it when Blaise was finally revealed as black. People love to tell poc to shut up and get over it when white people get cast as a poc, but they can't handle even one poc getting cast as a character that "should be white". Barring the fact that that character was never even described as white in the first place, and the author even said so. But I mean, who cares what the author says, what does she know?
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Member Since: 7/3/2011
Posts: 10,425
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Quote:
"Ron, his hair now receding, is married to Hermione
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Member Since: 2/20/2012
Posts: 2,735
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Every single progressive Potter fan right now:
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 8,579
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Quote:
Originally posted by cloudinthesky
Ok that's fine, but there are other black characters in the HP universe whose skin color also were not explicitly stated. Dean Thomas is portrayed as black in the movies and nobody cared about him. Why? Because he's only a minor character, so it doesn't matter if he's not white? His description was about as vague as Hermione's in the Philosopher's Stone and nobody complained about him being black. Why does Hermione have to be white just because she's British? Two of my friends from London have skin that's darker than mine. There are plenty of non-Asians in China too.
The "they're British so they should be white" argument would be fine if the rest of the HP universe echoed that sentiment, but it doesn't. I'm not calling everyone who has a problem with this racist (at least not intentionally, though I'm sure there are many who do have racist intent behind this). But I have a problem with the fact that we automatically assume every fictional character is white. Why does white always have to be the default whenever a character's skin color is left ambiguous?
At the end of the day, JK has already weighed in and said she never wrote any specific color for Hermione. So again, this falls right back to "well she didn't say, so I guess she's white!"
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Wait, I think there's a miscommunication. I didn't say "They're British so they must be white," I said "It makes sense that the average readers might assume most of the HP characters they're reading about are white since white is the predominant race in Britain." Movie studios are very well known for being racist and discriminatory and wanting white leads and whatnot, but I wasn't defending them. At all. I was more talking the average reader who has no say in who gets cast where.
I do agree that white people overall tend to default to assuming most fictional characters are white as well (sometimes without much reason, othertimes there might be a factor like location impacting it) That said, I'd be curious if this is the same across various race (black people picturing them as black, Asians picturing them as Asian. I think it would make sense, transferring one's physical characteristics over to the characters they read about) Assuming that is NOT the case and everyone assumes white, I think this is more a symptom of institutional racism (often enforced by places like Hollywood) rather than the actual cause. I don't think going after people for that would do any good, but instead places like Hollywood which do have the power to promote diversity and choose not to
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Member Since: 8/22/2009
Posts: 1,387
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 2,382
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Quote:
Originally posted by TaylorNation
This isn't the same problem as Star Wars. Before racists hopped on the bandwagon, the problem stemmed from the fact that Stormtroopers are all clones and they all came from the same person (who wasn't black). That's why the dorks started to cry, because it erased the cannon established in the prequels. But JJ's continuity comes more form the Original
Trilogy where the Stormtroopers origins are not explained, so..
The problem with Hermione is that she has been canonically white for 20 years. She has been depicted as a white girl in official illustrations, fan art and in the movies. If she wasn't white, why did JK Rowling (who is vocal about everything) say anything? I would say this is like when they cast Michael B Jordan as The Human Torch, but even then, that was a re imagining. I can totally see were the fans who don't like it (not racists) are coming from. I personally don't like it that much
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Hermione was never canonically white though. The reason why she's white in the movies and such is because people of color barely get any representation on the media. I also think part of the problem is that Rowling (until her recent tweet) has been passive about things like this.
Also for the Stormtrooper thing, they used to all be clones at first, but around the time of Episode IV, the Empire started using volunteers and recruits because the accelerated aging process caused by the cloning caused the soldiers' physical skills to deteriorate.
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Member Since: 9/17/2011
Posts: 4,774
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I always loved the idea of Hermione being black!
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Member Since: 2/5/2014
Posts: 1,395
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Is this for the Harry Potter's version of the Wiz?
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 8,579
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Quote:
Originally posted by Jotham
I also think part of the problem is that Rowling (until her recent tweet) has been passive about things like this.
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To be fair, she never had a reason to speak up till now. What's she going to do? Complain about them casting the obviously talented Emma Watson as Hermione (in this case, even if Hollywood didn't discriminate and push for white leads, I think Emma was going to still get that role) She isn't instantly obligated to start talking this stuff, just like Taylor Swift isn't obligated to talk LGBT issues despite having a large gay fanbase (and she doesn't so).
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 714
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She's described as being white in the books. Should've stayed that way.
Also, before I'm labelled 'racist' for this, I'd say the same thing - and have done before - if a white actor/actress was playing a black character.
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 2,869
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Quote:
Originally posted by MARTYN
She's described as being white in the books. Should've stayed that way.
Also, before I'm labelled 'racist' for this, I'd say the same thing - and have done before - if a white actor/actress was playing a black character.
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Nowhere in the books is Hermione described as being white. Literally go back and check every single page, there's no mention of her skin colour as white. Hermione is neither stated to be a white character, nor a black character, so your logic is completely flawed.
The problem with white actors playing black characters is the lack of representation black actors have in the media. There's such a scarcity of strong, positive black representation that it's completely unfair when a white actor is hired to play their role. Having Tiger Lily from Peter Pan be white person is wrong, and so is having a multitude of white actors play Ancient Egyptians in Gods of Egypt.
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Member Since: 8/11/2012
Posts: 13,230
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Quote:
Originally posted by A Little Unruly
This is going to be a mess, and not just on a ATRL.
Honestly, this is stupid as ****. That's simply not the Hermione we came to love, or what we picture her older self to look like. Then again, the idea of having a play involving them in their mid-30s isn't the best idea to begin with, and I don't like the casting for the guys either. They look like a bunch of randos.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 812
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Quote:
Originally posted by Notorious MINAJ
Was she white in the books?
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No
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