Rowling uses other cultural stereotypes as well. The characters are literally interchangeable, have no depth and are only there for the sake of it. You, my friend, reside on the top of the racist iceberg and lurk somewhere at the bottom of the bigotry food chain. In case, you were wondering what's wrong with that, it plays into "all brown people look alike." Aww, you thought, you could only say to North-Easterners in India. The only Indians in the books and the movies are made to practically be the same person, have a generic Indian name, Patil (maybe Rowling likes Priti Patel, but just got confused) and they dress the exact same way. Very Churchill of Ms Rowling there! But, of course, the British do love the bastard. So, it's a bit like letting millions of Indians die so that you can march off to Germany to fight the Nazis. And then there's Ron and Harry who wanted Hermione to stop doing all that because they have bigger fish to fry. What makes it worse is that the book makes Hermione look like a revolutionary for trying to organise student protests, almost as if Rowling was projecting the whole White saviour complex into her stories. Umm, excuse me Dumbledore, before you go off fighting Nazi wizards, could you do something about the literal slavery of sentient beings? I mean, Voldy had only been kicking around for a few years but the elves had been there for centuries, being beaten, tortured, and worked without mercy. Pretty sure, if there was Sikh man in there somewhere, she would have just named him Sardar Singh. This is the same author who came up with Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. So, it wasn't like they were going to keep her hidden. Cho was also Harry's first love interest and had a major role in Goblet of Fire and The Order of Phoenix. That's a Chinese character with a Korean name!įFS, are you kidding me? There are racist people in my neighbourhood that put more effort into concealing their bigotry. The only Asian character is called Cho Chang. This is what so many people of the Sikh faith face everyday of their lives living in the West. The stereotype that if a man is wearing a turban, then he's a bad guy with something to hide, presumably a bomb. In Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone, the bad guy is wearing a turban and he has something to hide.įor those of you woefully unaware of this phenomena, this is how racism against brown people in the West usually works. On the contrary, I am going to prove every last one of my accusations. I am not trying to sell you on a religion. You don't have to have faith in my words. That said, we need to acknowledge that Harry Potter, the books and to an extent, the movies were racist in nature.
HARRY POTTER FILM NAMES SERIES
Not gonna lie, I have milked the series enough for at least a dozen articles here. Most of us with access to English education grew up on Harry Potter, so much so that it shaped our opinions, sometimes our professions. This might sound condescending but that's only because it is. Before you dive in and get offended, remember, it's not my fault that you didn't read better books.