Fury over Black Hermione Granger

[MechaPilot]

Outright change - including Hermione's looks. Emma Watson doesn't have buck teeth, nor does she actually have a big, unruly mane of hair. As far as I'm concerned, casting a black woman as Hermione is just as insignificant to the role as casting a non-bucktoothed girl with manageable hair.

Edit: Come to think of it, since both of those factors (her teeth and hair) came up repeatedly in the books, I'd say that her skin color is an even less significant change.

Having read the books after seeing the films, I would agree. I was quite surprised by the difference in how she was described versus how she was cast. I just chalked it up to Hollywood, who is notorious for doing thinks like casting a good-looking actress for a role where people refer to her as being very plain-looking.

 

[Yaarel]

This discussion reminds me of two friends who are a female couple. I recently attended their wedding.

One of the women wants to erase all gendered language, leaving no references to male or female.

But my feeling is, gender identity matters. If there were no genders, there would be no gay people either.

Most gay men care that their partner is a man. Gender matters.

Diversity is good. Respecting differences is healthy. Noticing cultural differences is wise.

Allowing whites to be white, is a necessary part of human diversity.

 

[Cor Azer]

Trying to think of the last time a black character got made into a non-black character for the movie. Or the last time the usual suspects whined about the lack of hispanic or asian characters in movies, for that matter. America's around 20% hispanic now and movies are pretty much devoid of hispanic characters. Blacks get like double the representation their share of the population would justify, so basically the jobs that "should" be going to hispanics go to blacks instead. Then there's the predominance of black male roles over black female roles, like the media thinks black women should be in the kitchen, or something.

Look at almost any historical movie... Uh... Ever. The whitewashing is atrocious.

Two noteworthy/recent examples - Exodus (w/ Christian Bale etal as Egyptians; granted removing other ethnicities for white actors, rather than removing black people) and Stonewall (which almost completely removed the black transwomen involved in the riots for a gay white cismale).

 

[MechaPilot]

Allowing whites to be white, is a necessary part of human diversity.

Allowing artists to make their art in the way they choose is a necessary part of the artistic expression (and that assumes that there existed a specific vision for a black hermione and not that the black actress was simply the best actress who auditioned).


Honestly, this is really all I'm saying:

1) The author of the source material says the race of the character has not been defined. Therefore the race of the character is a fill-in-the-blank type of situation for any adaptation.

2) The films are an adaptation that while culturally prominent does not make them more valid than the source material they were drawn from.

3) While the books specifically describe her as being female, being any specific race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation is not an integral part of the character. Hermione is defined by her brilliance, her studiousness, her courage, her being muggle-born, and her loathing of prejudice.

4) changing something that is not an integral part of the character is fine, whereas making Black Panther white or Wonder Woman male is problematic.

 

[Maxperson]

3) While the books specifically describe her as being female, being any specific race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation is not an integral part of the character. Hermione is defined by her brilliance, her studiousness, her courage, her being muggle-born, and her loathing of prejudice.

4) changing something that is not an integral part of the character is fine, whereas making Black Panther white or Wonder Woman male is problematic.

That's pure opinion, though. Race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc. are integral parts of the character for lots of people.

 

[Yaarel]

Allowing artists to make their art in the way they choose is a necessary part of the artistic expression (and that assumes that there existed a specific vision for a black hermione and not that the black actress was simply the best actress who auditioned).


Honestly, this is really all I'm saying:

1) The author of the source material says the race of the character has not been defined. Therefore the race of the character is a fill-in-the-blank type of situation for any adaptation.

2) The films are an adaptation that while culturally prominent does not make them more valid than the source material they were drawn from.

3) While the books specifically describe her as being female, being any specific race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation is not an integral part of the character. Hermione is defined by her brilliance, her studiousness, her courage, her being muggle-born, and her loathing of prejudice.

4) changing something that is not an integral part of the character is fine, whereas making Black Panther white or Wonder Woman male is problematic.

Hermione is female and is in love with Ron. (Eventually they marry.) Her gender and orientation are part of the character. Also, she is distinctively British - ethnically - in a British boarding school. There are British citizens who belong to other ethnicities, but she isnt one of them.

Other schools are Russian, French, etcetera.

You might as well make Robin Hood, a Nigerian. Different character, different story.

 

[MechaPilot]

Race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc. are integral parts of the character for lots of people.

That is also pure opinion. My opinion is no less valid than theirs.

 

[MechaPilot]

Hermione is female and is in love with Ron. (Eventually they marry.) Her gender and orientation are part of the character.

I'm going to stop you there.

Hermione being female is a part of the character but it's not an "integral" part of the character. If hermione were male, the features of her character that describe who she is (her brilliance, her studiousness, etc.) don't change.

Again, this is a bit of a tangent because hermione's gender is specifically mentioned in the source material while her race is not defined according to the Word of God on the subject.

 

[Yaarel]

I find it inauthentic when movies portray Alexander the Great, as if he was heterosexual.

Orientation matters.

 

[Yaarel]

I'm going to stop you there.

Hermione being female is a part of the character but it's not an "integral" part of the character. If hermione were male, the features of her character that describe who she is (her brilliance, her studiousness, etc.) don't change.

Gender identity is one of the deepest identities of most humans. Integrity requires most characters to be true to their gender identity.

Transgendered humans exist because they cant deny or escape their gender identity.

Gender is absolutely integral to a character.