Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Casting Debate


       All of us have been screaming with anticipation since J.K. Rowling announced that the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was being produced. We get to see our favorite trio return again -- this time as adults. However, as you probably know if you've been following the news about the play, there as been some backlash about the casting.



     The character Hermione Granger has already been cast and she will be played by black actress Noma Dumezweni. Many Harry Potter fans were delighted at the fact that there would be a person of color portraying their favorite bushy-haired girl. However, there were also many fans who did not like the fact that Hermione would be played by a black actress. In fact, there were many things said about the casting choice on Twitter, such as:

"Hermione is white. I will not stand by whilst the PC police and cultural Marxists try to erase white female heros." - @TheSamGrady

"I'm offended by the casting of #CURSEDCHILD hermione is a white character. we may not make POC characters white so white should not be POC." - @1006michelle

"HERMIONE IS NOT BLACK. JESUS IS NOT BLACK. SPIDER-MAN IS NOT BLACK. I'M SICK OF THIS..." - @TheSamGrady





     Although there were many that did not agree, there were also many that were excited at the prospect of a black Hermione. In fact, many of the original Harry Potter actors spoke up in support of the new Hermione. J.K. Rowling had this to say on the matter:

"Canon: Brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione." - J.K. Rowling.



     As for my opinion on this? Who cares what color Hermione is? Yes, a white girl played her first. Because of that, many of us think of Hermione as being white. However, as J.K. said, there was nothing in the books that said that Hermione was white. It's nice to see more people of color being represented in the world of Harry Potter. As long as she's a good actress, the color of her skin shouldn't matter.



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