Did the casting for Harry Potter really have to be so very, very white?
An example of racebending in fan art by Jackie-Lyns on Tumblr.
When you think of the Golden Trio (Harry, Ron, and Hermione from Harry Potter), what race are they? Obviously in the films, they are white, but is that really how they were intended by JK Rowling in the books?
Many fans of the series argue that Harry and Hermione could have - and in some cases, should have - been portrayed by non-white actors, not only to diversify the castings, but also because of ‘clues’ in the books. Interestingly, neither Harry nor Hermione’s skin colour is described, perhaps intentionally by the author to let the reader’s imagination fill in the gaps. But fans point out that there are other ‘racial markers’ that indicate the casting choices were ‘inaccurate’ or ‘wrong’, and as much as I love Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, I can agree.
In the books, Hermione is described as having bushy, wild hair, which Watson certainly doesn’t have - apart from a scene in film 6 (The Half-Blood Prince) in which she is struggling with making a perfect Draught of Living Death (this follows the book’s description of her hair becoming more wild during this scene, but it is arguable that this is how it should have looked throughout the entirety of the films). Fans contend that such a description is more akin to that of a Black woman’s natural hair, especially when seen through the lens of a white author/reader unaware of potentially negative connotations of the chosen descriptive words.
But of course, artistic license allows producers to cast who they want, right?
Harry is popularly portrayed by fans as half Indian, and they suggest that the Dursleys' issue with his magical heritage is actually a metaphor for their racism. The Dursleys are a middle class family, and based on the book description of Dudley (“watery blue eyes” and “thick blond hair”), they are white. Harry’s description of jet black messy hair and lack of a description of his skin colour has led fans to imagine him as having inherited Indian features from his father, James Potter, and white features from his mother, Lily (Petunia Dursley’s sister). It isn’t a big stretch of the imagination to see that the Dursley’s awful treatment of Harry might be caused or exacerbated by ingrained racism. His name could even be an anglicisation of the Hindu name ‘Hari’.
So why is it important to fans to have a racially diverse cast in a popular film franchise like Harry Potter? Namely because there’s the idea that you can’t be what you can’t see - that it didn’t seem possible or likely for, say, a black child to become President of the United States until Barack Obama did. It didn’t seem possible for an all-female army to defeat men armed with guns and battle rhinos; until Wonder Woman and Black Panther showed this - and did so without sexualising the women! Therefore, while not necessarily doing so deliberately, Harry and Hermione being white adds to the narrative implied by the lack of diverse media that it is only white people who are able to be the heroes and heroines.
There are numerous studies and theorists who discuss the lack of (or poorly written) diverse representation and its effect on audiences, and why fans ‘race bend’ characters to fit their ideals. Whatever their reasons, it really should be emphasised that fans should not feel they have to alter and adapt existing characters to fill representation gaps - it ought to fall onto the media industry as a whole to ensure that everyone can see themselves as the hero.
The Harry Potter films may not specifically be a case of whitewashing, but overlooking a perfectly set up opportunity to represent the underrepresented seems foolish at best. Kudos to the casting team of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for casting Black women as Hermione and her daughter Rose - and good on Ms Rowling for calling out the racist trolls.
A family photo of the Granger-Weasleys as depicted in The Cursed Child (l-r Paul Thornley as Ron, Noma Dumezweni as Hermione, and Cherrelle Skeete as daughter Rose)
If you want, you can simply Google ‘Harry Potter racebend’ to see numerous stunning examples of fans expressing their creativity and using their skills to diversify the Golden Trio. Or you can listen to this awesome Indian-style reimagining of Hedwig’s Theme!
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