fandomshatepeopleofcolor:

So there is this phenomenon where people think because something is in line with what a villain/character would do that means it is fine and the author hasn’t done anything wrong by having the villain/character do said thing.

This can be applied to a number of different fandoms but right now I am talking specifically about making Nagini an Asian woman.

Sure it is probably in character to have Voldemort keep anyone, regardless of race, as a pet once they have been transformed. Like I’m willing to say that Voldemort’s motivations for keeping Nagini had nothing to do with racism because despite the fact that Voldemort and Death Eaters can be allegories for a number of things (Hitler, the KKK etc,) if we look at the story as its own entity Voldemort doesnt care about what race you are as far as I remember (correct me if I’m wrong please).

Now all that being said despite what happened probably being in character for Voldemort that doesnt mean it wasnt racist for JKR to decide the role the ONLY Asian woman in this series (FTBAWTFT) was to be cursed to transform into a snake and eventually be decapitated by Neville. It doesn’t mean it isn’t racist to have a WoC be a pet for her allegorical white supremacist/KKK member/ Nazi.

SIDENOTE: I’m not arguing Neville shouldn’t have done that it needed to be done even now that I know she is an Asian woman Neville still needed to do what he did. I’m arguing if she wanted to have this maledictus thing happen she could have picked a white woman/person instead.

Anyway to get back on topic. JKR has relegated the only Asian woman in the series to being a pet for Voldemort because that what she boils down to a pet. Sure she could do some really awesome shit in this movie but in the eyes of the fandom she’s a pet and has been for the past 20 years.

Here are some problems:

– WoC (PoC in general) being animals

– Casting a Korean woman for a part that uses a Sanskrit name and has Hindu/Indian connotations

Using “it’s in character” as a way to defend the author or shut down conversations about bigoted/piss poor decisions of the author is a really shitty argument/literary analysis and yall should be embarrassed if that is the best you can come up with.

mod velonius