Harry Potter and the Audacious White Fuckery
There are a lot of people who are quite conflicted when it comes to JK Rowling and, by extension, the intellectual property that is the Harry Potter series. Whether it be books, movies, games, toys, etc., a lot of people of all ages were entertained by the widely popular characters and storyline which was new and engaging at the time of its release (many of us quite literally growing up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione as the books came out relative to our ages). As happens with far too many people, money seems to have driven Rowling into a psychological black hole where her brain matter has spaghettified and turned her into a sewer-souled bitch of epic proportions. For some, it’s extremely difficult to let go of the books and movies that seem to be defining memories from our childhoods and for some of us, it’s a lot easier because Stephen King wrote a far better fantasy series and we gave up the sniveling obnoxious book five Harry for grizzled, sexy old man Roland Deschain somewhat early on. Bottom line is, if you’re a friend of the LGBTQ+, you don’t give your money to a bigot and you find better fantasy books.
But…there’s a new Harry Potter series in the works, and there is, unfortunately, an audience for it. Some people are going to watch it because they’re nostalgic for the old Harry Potter and they’re desperate for even the barest shred of serotonin in this hellscape of a world, justifying it with “separating the art from the artist” and other painfully out-of-touch rationalizations. I beg those who seek to find community and solidarity with their queer and marginalized friends not to fall victim to the guise of childhood comfort this dangles like a carrot. Do not give this woman any more money to spend on disenfranchising transgender and other queer minorities (not to mention just regular old women who get caught up in the crossfire of bad legislation and rad fem terrorism).
If all that wasn’t enough of a reason to leave JK Rowling and her black-mold addled brain mush in the dust in favor of better fiction and better ethics, consider at least what we know of the up-coming show’s questionable choices when it comes to optics and messaging. Already, before the show has even aired a single episode, the new series is getting absolutely roasted on Reddit and other online spaces for its perceived racism and the abysmal optics of some of the casting choices when placed in the context of the show’s narrative and themes. Take, for example, the casting of the adorable and talented Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, the whip-smart frizzy-haired heroine of the main trio of friends whose parents were both muggles (not magical) which makes her magical bloodline “impure.” If you haven’t seen a picture of Arabella Stanton, she’s mixed race and cute as all hell…so they’re going to portray a young girl of ambiguous race being called a “mudblood” by a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Draco Malfoy in a clearly eugenics-coded narrative.
Uh huh…
Hold onto your buns, it gets worse. In later books, it’s revealed that James Potter (Harry’s father) was horribly abusive toward Professor Severus Snape, a very relevant factor in the development of Snape’s character through his life and narrative journey where we see him along the storyline. Snape is described in the books as being dirty, with greasy long black hair and a hooked nose along with a somewhat shabby and pale appearance. In his younger days, he’s tormented by James and his friends, and in one instance hung from a tree with his “pants” (british slang for underwear) removed. With this new series being touted as a more “faithful” adaptation of the books, do you think they’ll include those scenes with the casted Paapa Essiedu? A black man? Do English trees bear strange fruit now too?
Images of Essiedu as Snape show him looking far too handsome to faithfully portray the off-putting image of Snape most of us had in our minds when reading, one Redditor commenting that “[…] this guy looks like he's about to walk the runway for Balenciaga” while another stated, “This dude is objectively good looking.” And he is! Nevertheless, they styled his portrayal of Snape with possibly the most maligned and misunderstood Black hairstyle—dreadlocks (or: “dredlocs”). If you know anything about the racial tensions surrounding locs and how uneducated white people view them, you’ll understand why this is a wild design choice for Snape’s character. If you’re unaware, locs have long been considered “dirty” in many white communities due to the differences in hair textures and the efforts required to dredloc hair that does not lend itself to the style. The perception of Black people in general as “dirty” or “impure” also contributes to bigotry toward the hair style with the clear implication here that this Snape has dirty, greasy, unwashed hair which naturally translates into “Snape has dredlocs” despite the fact that dredlocs are not at all any of those things and are, in fact, maintained through consistent washing, moisturizing, and maintenance, being one of the better ways for certain hair types to achieve significant length if so desired. Redditor jaderust commented, “It’s like they went aggressively racist. And now [B]lack people with dreads are going to have to defend their hair, again, because […] fucking Severus Snape is gonna make them have to educate fools who read the book and remember that Snape is the one with gross hair.”
Paapa Essiedu obviously nailed his audition and is going to kill it as Snape, I’m sure. I won’t know exactly since I’m never going to watch it, but I do know that this won’t age well. How could it? After all, they’re trying to faithfully recreate a set of books written by “Slavery is actually good and the house elves like it” JK Rowling. Oh yeah and “Goblins run the banking system but can’t use wands because bullshit racist reasons” JK Rowling. Let’s not forget, “Harry becomes a wizard cop and maintains the status quo of built-in injustices but it’s okay because he defeated wizard Hitler” JK Rowling. There are just so fucking many reasons one could look into the camera as if they’re in The Office when reading these books now that we’re older and can fully grasp just how fucking awful this woman actually is and probably always was. The fact that this is a beloved series and has remained such after everything that’s been discovered to fucking suck about it and its author is beyond me.
Could it be salvaged? Maybe. If the show runners and cast can effectively confront the racial implications of the narrative’s treatment of characters now that they’re actively facing violent discrimination not only due to their magical blood quantum but also, ostensibly, due to their skin color as well (if “racism doesn’t exist in the wizarding world” is the excuse to not do this, I will literally explode, I’m talking viscera). There’s no way we can possibly watch James fucking Potter string up a Black man to torture and torment him after he shows interest in Lily Evans (a white woman) and not consider it a hate crime. There’s just no fucking way. The dynamic between the two characters in the books is bad enough already with Harry having to reconcile with the complicated history of his own father and Snape’s relationship to his parents, and I tell you what, it could be an incredible anti-racism narrative if it were handled well in the new series but a “faithful” adaptation to the books won’t have that because the books don’t have that. And there’s no possible way to create that kind of a storyline and make Harry a wizard cop at the end. Sorry, but that’s a no from me, dawg.
No matter how well it’s acted, if it’s truly set out to be “faithful” to the books, I expect a trashfire. After all, now that we’re all grown up, those books actually suck ass and we know it all too well.
Fuck you, Joanne! I’d say it to your “face” but you personally blocked me on Twitter. Biggest flex I have, honestly!
