J.K. Rowling responds to criticism of Fantastic Beasts 2 for discrimination against Asians

The South Korean actress Soo Hyun played the snake Nagini in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which caused criticism that "this is racist against Asian women". In response, the film's screenwriter and the original author of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, responded.

The biggest revelation in the new trailer of Fantastic Beasts 2 is that Voldemort's snake is actually a woman who was transformed by the blood curse. Many netizens believe that this is equivalent to "an Asian woman was cursed and turned into a snake, becoming the pet of a white man (Voldemort) with a Nazi image, and being used as an object (Horcrux)", which is the long-standing stereotype of Asian women in European and American society: they obey the orders of white men and exist only to serve white men, and their fate seems to be cursed.

Soo-hyun is the only East Asian actor in an important role in Fantastic Beasts 1 and 2, and one of only two in the Harry Potter series (the other is Liang Pei-shi, who plays Chang Cho). Some netizens called her role "white people wanting to diversify the roles in the film to attract audiences of more races, but lacking consideration and backfiring." It also fits another stereotype of Asians in American society: Asian men have no sense of existence. Some Asian netizens also said: They would rather have all white actors in the series, diversifying the actors but not giving them good roles, it's better not to have it.

Others pointed out that the plot of an Asian woman transforming into a snake fits the stereotype of Asian women that emerged in the United States in the 1930s, the term "Dragon Lady (meaning similar to 'tiger', which is derogatory)."

Rowling responded that the reason why Nagini was set as an Asian woman was because the inspiration for her image and name came from the snake-like creature Naga in Indonesian mythology, which is sometimes described as a winged snake and sometimes half human and half snake. There are hundreds of ethnic groups in Indonesia, including Javanese, Chinese, Batavians, etc.

She also said a few days ago that she had conceived the idea of ​​"The Secret of Nagini" 20 years ago.

In response to her response, some people pointed out that the setting of Naga as a snake-like creature is mostly related to Southeast Asian mythology such as Java and Bali, and its source is South Asian religions such as Hinduism. The word Nagin also comes from Sanskrit, so if this is to be used to illustrate that it is reliable to find an Asian to play the role, then it should be Southeast Asian or South Asian, not Korean.

Some people also said that Rowling, as an author, has the right to write whatever is in her mind into the story. To this, Rowling responded: "Thank you very much!"