JK Rowling must stop trying to Expelliarmus her Leftie critics
Stop it, JK Rowling. Stop trying to Expelliarmus your Leftie “Woke” critics because you can never do enough to appease them about Harry Potter in the new Fantastic Beasts film.
Stop it, JK Rowling. Stop trying to Expelliarmus your Leftie “Woke” critics.
The beloved Harry Potter author has found herself in more trouble than a Golden Snitch in a room full of Bludgers this week over the new Fantastic Beasts movie.
The second in this series, called Crimes Of Grindelwald, is out next month and includes a character from the original books called Nagini.
Now, in the books, Nagini is the snake who serves Voldemort, eats people and gets her head chopped off by Neville Longbottom. In the new movie, set decades before the books, she’s an Asian witch played by Claudia Kim.
First, Rowling got smashed for trying to “earn Woke points” by turning an original character into an Asian. Then, when she reasonably and politely defended herself on social media by saying it was based on an Indonesian legend of winged serpents called Naga, she got blasted because Nagini is the servant of Voldemort and making an Asian into a servant is playing into a racist stereotype.
Meanwhile, she’s also being attacked because Dumbledore won’t be portrayed as openly gay in the movie. After the final book came out, Rowling also outed Dumbledore, saying he was gay. Now some people are apparently furious this children’s movie won’t include a passionate kiss between the characters of Dumbledore and Grindelwald.
She can’t win. So she should stop trying to play.
Harry Potter is a brilliant series and one of the greatest children’s book series ever. It is and will continue to be a source of delight to children and parents.
It does have characters of colour, although there is little time for racism because there’s too much specism going on as people are discriminated against for being Muggles, ghosts, goblins, House Elves and giants.
There are no obviously gay or lesbian characters and it seems Rowling regrets that. But it’s too late to go back and change it. The books have been published.
If she wants to release a special edition about Harriet Potter, her love for Ginny Weasley and how her best friend Veronica “Ron” Weasley falls for Hermione then go for it. Detail their battles with gender pay disparity, refugees, the growing gap between rich and poor, the power of the patriarchy and a myriad other concerns. Make Voldemort and his giant snake a metaphor for white men and their power.
There are a handful of people who would love to read that to their children as they lie in their hand-knitted hemp hammocks.
The rest of us can see the original as what it is — a brilliant children’s series.
Leave it alone. If you want to tick every “Woke” box then write something else. But I rather suspect it will never sell as well.