Jeni’s comment > Likes and Comments
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Not necessarily. I didn't see any African Americans until I lived in a larger city, when I was almost 10 years old.
I guess I'm not sure what your argument is. I thought you were disappointed in the ratio of white Brits and other ethnic groups in the books. I disagree because I felt a good balance was met in the main characters. We have to remember we don't meet everyone at Hogwart's, just some. There's no telling what the backgrounds of everyone else is there.
I'm not sure that was her intent, though. I believe she mentioned quite a few different ethnic characters and it gave a fair example of the different folks that are magical in Great Britain. It's a snapshot of a world not usually seen to us, not a complete representation of every wizard or witch.
Logically, the location is more important to consider. Hogwart's is settled in the middle of Scotland. Great Britain's population is primarily white. How many students are at Hogwarts at any given time? We don't know what ethnicity any of the others are because it's not mentioned. We can definitely assume there are more than the few mentioned.
IMO it is less about the numbers of characters and more about how well they're developed. All the POC except for Cho only get minimal "screen time", and Cho is hardly developed beyond a childhood love interest, & we never find out her background or her interests or her relationships w/ people other than her two (white) boyfriends, nor are we supposed to identify with her in any way. IMHO this is a common issue for depicting minority groups (POCs, immigrants, ppl with disabilities, sexual minorities) in mainstream YA or other genre fiction. Most authors today would include a few "token minorities" to show their open-mindedness, but those characters are usually only allowed to stay in the background or serve as plot devices.
p.s. I do not think JK Rowling is racist or anything, or she made a mistake in not casting any POC as prominent character, and I do agree with Jeni that British writers have the excuse that 90% Britons are white. I was just saying IMO HP's approach to POC is a typical example of tokenism.
This is based on my personal experience, but I felt the people representing the different races and nationalities were portrayed as equals with no thought anout their skin color by the other characters. Being from America, the stereotypes usually portrayed in our literature and movies were absent. The lack of pigeon-holing these kids into racial stereotypes was a huge bonus in my opinion. "Token" characters, in my opinion, would have be more negatively stereotypical.
As I cannot edit, I apologize for the preponderance of "in my opinions" scattered in that last comment. Haha
I see. Sorry for all the "IMOs" in my comments also :P. I do think Harry Potter books did a wonderful jobs in teaching anti-racism and many other important real-world issues (class, censorship etc.) as well. :)
p.s. and English is not my native language so please excuse me if I said anything inappropriate & tell me how to improve if you wish. Thanks. (:
I would not have known English was not your native language had you not said so! :) I think the HP stories could be cast into any nationality and they would still hold strong because it is about the stories and the moral fiber of good against the destruction of evil. That would be the true test of any story. Do the characters ring true regardless of their skin color, or is it the dominant part of who they are? When the answer is that it doesn't matter, I believe the character is a solid, good one.
I completely agree. I remember how it topped the bestselling list in China for a very long time & how crazy ppl were whenever a new book was released.
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Jeni
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Aug 01, 2012 10:49AM
Not necessarily. I didn't see any African Americans until I lived in a larger city, when I was almost 10 years old.
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I guess I'm not sure what your argument is. I thought you were disappointed in the ratio of white Brits and other ethnic groups in the books. I disagree because I felt a good balance was met in the main characters. We have to remember we don't meet everyone at Hogwart's, just some. There's no telling what the backgrounds of everyone else is there.
I'm not sure that was her intent, though. I believe she mentioned quite a few different ethnic characters and it gave a fair example of the different folks that are magical in Great Britain. It's a snapshot of a world not usually seen to us, not a complete representation of every wizard or witch.
Logically, the location is more important to consider. Hogwart's is settled in the middle of Scotland. Great Britain's population is primarily white. How many students are at Hogwarts at any given time? We don't know what ethnicity any of the others are because it's not mentioned. We can definitely assume there are more than the few mentioned.
IMO it is less about the numbers of characters and more about how well they're developed. All the POC except for Cho only get minimal "screen time", and Cho is hardly developed beyond a childhood love interest, & we never find out her background or her interests or her relationships w/ people other than her two (white) boyfriends, nor are we supposed to identify with her in any way. IMHO this is a common issue for depicting minority groups (POCs, immigrants, ppl with disabilities, sexual minorities) in mainstream YA or other genre fiction. Most authors today would include a few "token minorities" to show their open-mindedness, but those characters are usually only allowed to stay in the background or serve as plot devices.
p.s. I do not think JK Rowling is racist or anything, or she made a mistake in not casting any POC as prominent character, and I do agree with Jeni that British writers have the excuse that 90% Britons are white. I was just saying IMO HP's approach to POC is a typical example of tokenism.
This is based on my personal experience, but I felt the people representing the different races and nationalities were portrayed as equals with no thought anout their skin color by the other characters. Being from America, the stereotypes usually portrayed in our literature and movies were absent. The lack of pigeon-holing these kids into racial stereotypes was a huge bonus in my opinion. "Token" characters, in my opinion, would have be more negatively stereotypical.
As I cannot edit, I apologize for the preponderance of "in my opinions" scattered in that last comment. Haha
I see. Sorry for all the "IMOs" in my comments also :P. I do think Harry Potter books did a wonderful jobs in teaching anti-racism and many other important real-world issues (class, censorship etc.) as well. :)
p.s. and English is not my native language so please excuse me if I said anything inappropriate & tell me how to improve if you wish. Thanks. (:
I would not have known English was not your native language had you not said so! :) I think the HP stories could be cast into any nationality and they would still hold strong because it is about the stories and the moral fiber of good against the destruction of evil. That would be the true test of any story. Do the characters ring true regardless of their skin color, or is it the dominant part of who they are? When the answer is that it doesn't matter, I believe the character is a solid, good one.
I completely agree. I remember how it topped the bestselling list in China for a very long time & how crazy ppl were whenever a new book was released.
