Guys. The movie isn’t even out yet. Can we PLEASE watch the movie before we judge. Also.. it’s a movie about fucking wizards.. how is inventing a new curse that weird ? Nagini has always been a big mystery in HP. Finally (and for that one I’m really asking because I don’t get it, but it might be me) where is the racism ? she’s just like.. an asian actor playing one of the bad guy..that kind of sounds badass to me. Did J.K tweet some racist stuff ?
Hi! So you have written a comment that seems sufficiently confused as to why this is a problem, in a way that maybe possibly I could help you understand! Maybe you will find something enlightening in my response:
So point by point, we’ll just skip “movie not out yet” and “please watch the movie before we judge.” I’m skipping these because these are sort of silly. The point of a movie trailer is to get you to judge the movie favorably enough to go watch it and to inspire interest in the movie. So of course people are going to talk about the movie based on the trailer. Also I’m not seeing this movie because Johnny Depp is a woman abuser and I have no intention of supporting the decision to keep him casted for this film.
it’s a movie about fucking wizards..
Yes, it is! It’s a movie about wizards existing in the world we have in reality, but secretly. So even if you don’t want to assume that a mega-franchise fantasy series affects real life somehow, you can definitely assume real life affects the story of said fantasy.
how is inventing a new curse that weird ?
it’s not weird. In fact, I think the idea could be really interesting on the surface – so many fairy tales include various motifs of human to animal transformation, and this isn’t really new or unique in any way.
Actually as a quick diversion: this is a whole motif of fairy tales, and the Thompson index would probably place a maledictus curse under Magic -
D100.–D199. Transformation: man to animal
D100.–D149.Transformation man to mammal
D110.Transformation: man to wild beast (mammal)
D130.Transformation: man to domestic beast (mammal) D150.Transformation: man to bird
D170.Transformation: man to fish
D180.Transformation: man to insect
D190.Transformation: man to reptiles and miscellaneous animals
since this isn’t about marriage to an animal or human disguised as an animal, which is in a different section of motifs, and would be under “Animal.” At least on that first website, anyways. anyways the point is that “woman transforms into animal” is not unique in any way.
The description of “maledictus” as being a curse that is passed from mother to daughter and ONLY affects women, and then curses them to eventually turn into a beast (monster-woman) who will later have no control over their form is still kind of interesting in that it fits into fairy tales fairly well as a concept but like, those fairy tales are still pretty sexist. they’re about monstrous women - and not in a fun or positive way. That is interesting IF you choose to use that or subvert it, or even make a commentary on it.
But a good subversion of “these women are cursed to become literal beasts,” doesn’t end in making them a vessel for the soul of someone who is just this side of a lich who is an evil dark wizard, and also follows the commands of said evil wizard, and then ultimately dies in the service of evil.
Just, as a start, because we know how Nagini’s story ends.
It doesn’t seem to subvert the sexism of this kind of story any, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if the non-subversion is meant to be a critical commentary on the sexism there.
To which someone might say ‘yeah, watch the movie first,’ and to which I respond: a critical commentary of misogyny in your own work of fiction is ultimately meaningless if it is acted out by a man who beats women in real life.
So the next point, which is the racism:
(and for that one I’m really asking because I don’t get it, but it might be me) where is the racism ? she’s just like.. an asian actor playing one of the bad guy..that kind of sounds badass to me.
1. A Naga/Nāgī/Nāgiṇī is a creature of religious uh…presence in South asia, and parts of South East Asia, but not really East Asia. It originates (as far as I know) in Hinduism and spread to buddhism. In this sense, you ought to cast a South Asian actor, not an East Asian one, just in general.
2. “Dragon Lady” is an extremely racist stereotype used against Asian Women that was popularized in the 1930′s, so contemporary to the actual setting of this film, if I recall correctly. Here’s Anna May Wong in “Daughter of the Dragon.”
It’s a stereotype used alongside “yellow peril” racism - it fetishizes asian women as exotic/mysterious/dangerous and sexual. And it often does so with actual dragons and/or scales. It may be in line with the idea of a 30′s “femme fatale,” but this is specifically about sexualizing asian women beyond that in racialized ways.
Anna May Wong herself didn’t like it:
“I was so tired of the parts I had to play,” Wong explained in a 1933 interview quoted by the Los Angeles Times. “Why is it that the screen Chinese is nearly always the villain of the piece, and so cruel a villain—murderous, treacherous, a snake in the grass? We are not like that. … We have our own virtues. We have our rigid code of behavior, of honor. Why do they never show these on the screen? Why should we always scheme, rob, kill?”
Here’s the trope name origin by the way:
the Dragon lady of “Terry and the Pirates.” Just to be super clear, this same comic definitely used the stereotype of “literal yellow skin,” and “buck teeth” for asian men, literally putting “speak english” behind said character. In modern media, the “dragon lady” is differentiated from the “china doll” [also gross stereotype] usually by being a villainess.
so the fact that nagini is an east asian woman who ends up being a villainess and is cursed to become a snake and lose all her humanity and at some point becomes the submissive pet to a racist white dude….ends up being a racist storyline. there’s no….good way to play this out because i know this ends in her becoming a snake that gets murdered.
