So, if you watched the latest trailer for the new Fantastic Beasts movie, you will learn that it is revealed that Nagini, Voldemort's pet snake who is also one of his horcruxes, was once a Chinese woman who was cursed to live the rest of her life as a snake.
Not only is this dumb and very George Lucas-esque on its own, many East Asians have found it troubling that they finally get some representation in the series outside of Cho Chang, which is full of straight, white heroes, and it is a cursed woman who will end up being a pet to an evil fascist and who will ultimately end up being beheaded by Neville Longbotton.
Polygon wrote up an article about this, bringing up JK Rowling's already troublesome history with representation in the series, bringing up how she always announces, off-book and off-screen, that the Wizarding World is diverse, but never actually shows it in her work.
The article also brings up another article written three years ago, that brings up the similarities between JK Rowling's handling of Harry Potter and George Lucas's of Star Wars, and how both expanded/are expanding their universes by answering questions no one really asked.
Another article by Bustle explores why this info on Nagini itself is offensive, responding to JK Rowling's response to the controversy:
Someone has also made a long thread of reasons why Koreans are unhappy with the latest revelation about Nagini:
Not only is this dumb and very George Lucas-esque on its own, many East Asians have found it troubling that they finally get some representation in the series outside of Cho Chang, which is full of straight, white heroes, and it is a cursed woman who will end up being a pet to an evil fascist and who will ultimately end up being beheaded by Neville Longbotton.
Polygon wrote up an article about this, bringing up JK Rowling's already troublesome history with representation in the series, bringing up how she always announces, off-book and off-screen, that the Wizarding World is diverse, but never actually shows it in her work.
Twitter makes it easy to send a quick reply to someone looking for an answer to a long-winded theory (like whether Nagini is the same boa constrictor Harry meets in Philosopher's Stone) or announce a character's sexuality or backstory. There's rarely harm in announcing a more diverse, inclusive and representative Wizarding World, but the more announcements made without any canonical backing, the more performative each announcement seems. It almost never seems like these characters were originally written with these backstories in place. It's one thing to say something is real, and another for it to actually be real.
The article also brings up another article written three years ago, that brings up the similarities between JK Rowling's handling of Harry Potter and George Lucas's of Star Wars, and how both expanded/are expanding their universes by answering questions no one really asked.
Another article by Bustle explores why this info on Nagini itself is offensive, responding to JK Rowling's response to the controversy:
With actress Claudia Kim portraying Nagini in The Crimes of Grindelwald, however, the waters get a little muddier. Now the character is a Korean witch, and Credence Barebone confirms that she had her Sanskrit name long before she met Voldemort. Leaving the fact that she wound up in Albania aside, can we just address the fact that this feels like the Fantastic Beasts 2 creators tried to make Asian identities interchangeable, without addressing the worlds of cultural differences that exist between the Indian subcontinent and the Korean peninsula?
J.K. Rowling defends Nagini's casting, stating that the Naga come from "Indonesian mythology," and Indonesia is where Chinese people live. Except that the Naga didn't originate in Indonesia, but in stories from Hindu scripture, and Korean people — like Claudia Kim — are not Chinese.
Someone has also made a long thread of reasons why Koreans are unhappy with the latest revelation about Nagini: