While it has a global fanbase that spans age, gender, race, religion and language, “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” isn’t exactly the most diverse and inclusive universe. Yes, there are Black [sic] characters in the books, but they didn’t get much screen time in the movies.
It appears that may change with the upcoming “Harry Potter” TV series. According to Variety, “Gangs of London” and “Black Mirror” actor Paapa Essiedu is reportedly in talks to take on the popular role of Professor Severus Snape.
https://archive.vn/XjsSh
In unrelated news, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has reported a drastic increase in the number of broomstick thefts.
Why don’t blacks write compelling stories featuring black characters in their own cultural settings?
My contention is that, first off, they are incapable of doing so. Writing good fiction, especially good science fiction and fantasy, requires someone to be able to think about not just a basic plot but also world-building. It requires an imagination and abstract thinking. Think of the world of Middle-Earth. Tolkien created an entire universe with a detailed history spanning thousands of years that all came together in a story about a hobbit and his companions. Even someone like George R.R. Martin created a whole world with a dizzying array of characters that fit into a history spanning many centuries. Are blacks even able to do that? Maybe some but not many. As a kid we played Dungeons & Dragons and while none of my friends became authors, we also created characters with backstories and some of us whole worlds and settings. It was an almost entirely White hobby, with a few Asians.
The second? They are just too lazy. It is easier to shoehorn a black actor or actress into a role written by a White person, written as a White character, than it is to write a fresh story with it’s own world and setting. There is endless opportunities for blacks in this area, publishers and producers would sell their left nut for a decent story written by and for blacks but they seem to be in pretty short supply. The most popular black character in recent history, black Panther, was created by Stan Lee, a Jewish nerd, back in 1966.
Paapa Essiedu is actually pretty good in Gangs Of London but he is also specifically playing a black character in a role where being black is integral to the character. As Snape, he will be just another DEI hire and everyone knows it, especially him.
Twerkanomus mudda fahka!
My money says it’s laziness and DEI promoting loud aggressive loud mouths blacks over competent blacks. Not that I care for their history or their stories but here is one they could tell, the story of Mana Musa I who had an estimated wealth of $130 billion. When conducting the pilgrimage to mecca he wrecked the economies of the lands he passed through with is generosity.
It’s far easier for grifters to just say “I’ve got an idea. Rambo but he’s black and has ptsd over protecting the President on J6”
Hogwarts? Naw dawg, we be takin’ dis bitch over and sheeeeeit, now it be Nogwarts. Booyah!
If you had simply posted “Nogwarts” you would have won the internet!
Not only in Harry Potter. Did you see the actress that plays Astrid in HTTYD How to train your dragon?
It is Nico Parker, daughter of Ol Parker (white) and Thandiwe Newton (black).
And there is a really leftwing site about RPGs, where they talk about Forced Diversity (thats how they call it),
Title:
Don’t Like “Forced Diversity” in Stories? Let’s Talk About It
Change can be uncomfortable without being bad.
https://mythcreants.com/blog/dont-like-forced-diversity-in-stories-lets-talk-about-it/
I couldnt resist and entered a comment that if we go diversity, we should go 100%, you know:
movie about Nelson Mandela where he is played by Michael Caine, or Adolf Hitler played by Boyega (Star Wars), Eva Braun by Lizzo and Joseph Göbbels played by Sacha Baron Cohen, Obama played by Christian Bale.
As you can imagine, the comment was not approved.
I wonder why.
You beat me to the Astrid thing. (To the perplexed: this is not about the animated movies. They’re doing a live-action of HTTYD.)
As far as deliberately provocative casting (sounds so much more “edgy” than hate casting, don’t it?), I vote for Mel Gibson to play Anne Frank in a new bio/hagio pic.
You forget that award winning (NOT) film “The American Society of Magic Negros”. I about choked when I saw the trailer for that at a movie. I couldn’t believe someone would actually use “magic negros” in a title. Had to be a Jew that wrote it.
“As Snape, he will be just another DEI hire and everyone knows it, especially him.”
Not so sure about that. I used to think that “tokens”, as they were known back in the day, knew damned well that they were “tokens”, i.e. Get Out of Accusations of Racism Free cards that employers would trot out to polish their liberal bona fides. But the more of them I encountered throughout my career, the less certain I was that they “get it”.
The savvier ones, sure. But how many AA hires and unfit promotees really grasp the concept that they are political pawns and not gen-u-wine geniuses? Blacks are not naturally given to self-reflection. And never having to measure up to White and East Asian standards of competence has not exposed them to the risk of failure and the critical self-evaluation necessary for measuring real achievement.
For all we know, Paapa Essiedu may well believe that he brings a unique and wonderfully fresh interpretation to Rowling’s stale-and-pale Snape character, and he might be clearing a space on his shelf right now for that Academy award trophy.
You should see what they’re doing to D&D. Sheesh.
What they’ve done to the Drow is beyond comprehension…
And yeah, I was a MAJOR D&D geek back when it first came out. I had the ORIGINAL D&D Basic Box set that I got for Christmas in 1977… wish I knew what it was going to become when I traded it later in High School to a buddy of mine for what I can’t even remember… Probably worth a small fortune now as it was a first edition set, and I somehow still had the box…
About $400 now, if it’s the one I’m thinking of. As they crappify the game, the old stuff becomes more valuable.
760, 920 on SATs? Vegetation scores..But then, Sotomayor admits she scored in the 1000s…..Our kids scored 1100 in 6th grade, and they weren’t the highest…
Pretty sure if a person is generally not equipped with the ability to establish causal relationships like if i take a pass on learning anything and engage in criminal behavior i may end up getting arrested and spend the rest of my life in and out of jail, they may not be able to engage in a productive creative writing process. IE most “popular music” these days. Or, depicted in a way that is personally irritating-“If I allow my toddler aged child to engage in back talk and open defiance and encourage the behavior, calling it cute and responding with laughter and affection, I may end up with a child that as an adult believes that engaging in sociopathic behaviors is somehow appealing or at the least it will garner attention and affection and so then the grown offspring behaves as a sociopath.” Help avoid jail time for your children with this one weird trick…(hint-its called “discipline”).
But…but…but… that involve >GASP!< Personal Responsibility! And even worse? Hard work!!! Both of which are incomprehensible as well as reprehensible to the current crop(s) of inoperative farm equipment… it also means having to put the blunt and the forty down, and get off the couch.