Cho Chang has always been one of the most controversial characters of the Harry Potter series because of how she was portrayed to be so stereotypically East Asian - to the point where her full name is literally composed of two Chinese last names (we’ve all heard of that discourse before).
What has always annoyed me the most, however, is that Cho Chang in the books has 100% more potential for charisma and personality than what the movies constrict her character to have.
First of all, Cho is a huge jock. Need I remind you that she was the only girl in the Ravenclaw Quidditch team up until her 5th year and has been an avid fan of the Tutshill Tornados since childhood? You can bet my boy Cedric developed a crush on her from getting his ass kicked on the Quidditch field.
Not only is Cho a jock, but she is also known to be one of the most popular girls at school which, to me, adds to the interpretation that she was more extroverted than introverted prior to Cedric’s death. In the books, she is often seen hanging out with groups of people and being almost intimidating from how cool she is.
Moreover, and probably most importantly, Cho was able to cast the Patronus Charm which required a huge amount of control over her emotions. Let’s not forget that during the time that she did, my girl was dealing with:
1) Trauma from her boyfriend being murdered by the freakin’ Dark Lord.
2) Losing her friends and seeing her grades going downhill as a consequence of said trauma and depression.
3) Being part of a secret organization preparing her to go to freakin’ war. An organization that could’ve ultimately cost her mother’s job at the Ministry, if I may add.
Therefore, the fact that she was able to cast a whole ass Patronus Charm despite being obviously very tormented by her feelings of grief, anxiety and sadness is, to me, super badass and remarkable.
So let us not carry the poor portrayal of Cho Chang from the movies, but rather celebrate the characterization that she deserves.
When you think about it, Cho and Ginny are very similar in how they are generally disliked from their portrayal in the movies. They really went from being badass Quidditch players in the books to silent love interests on screen.
Can we get as many voices calling out the unfair representation of Cho in the movies as we’ve gotten for Ginny?
(Edit: Also, her Patronus is a swan??? The birds known for their beauty but also for how dangerous they can be when they attack you!!)
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