[ SECRET POST #4029 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4029 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 30 secrets from Secret Submission Post #577.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

05. https://i.imgur.com/TeVg9iD.png

[(Anonymous)]

Rowling certainly says some stupid shit on Twitter, but I don't know if I agree with you on this one. I don't think anything in that tweet says that she intended Hermione to be black. What it says is that (1) Black Hermione doesn't contradict the text and (2) she likes the idea of Black Hermione. Both of which are basically true. I think you're being too negative here.

[rosehiptea]

I agree. Sometimes Rowling tries to get credit for diversity after the fact that she didn't actually put in the books but I don't think this is an example.

[(Anonymous)]

I mostly agree but tbh, I also think the tweet too-neatly skirts around the fact that (as OP says) Hermione's skin color was never specified because Rowling is a white author who subconsciously views white as the default and thus never felt the need to specify when her characters were white. The way it's worded almost makes it sound as though she left Hermione's race ambiguous on purpose, which is almost certainly not the case. That's probably why some people interpret the tweet as her claiming credit for writing a more diverse series of books than she actually did, even though that may not be what she was trying to convey.

But I do appreciate that she's trying.

[cbrachyrhynchos]

"Stupid shit on Twitter" is a big reason why I think "Word of God" is ridiculous.

If "God" wants to revise their own work, "God" can put in the labor of publishing a new, revised edition.

[bio_obscura]

It's been a long time since I've read the books and I remember her never giving any of the characters more than 2-3 defining traits, but is this seriously the only time she ever describes Hermione's appearance in 7 books?

[(Anonymous)]

Isn't that... what she did?

[(Anonymous)]

No, she was acting like the idea of black Hermione was her idea or her intention all along but only mentioning it years later.

[ninety6tears]

Yes. I believe it is.

[(Anonymous)]

idk man, there are points where i raise my eyebrows at her, but this isn't one of them. she's supporting the casting and... well. a lot of racists used the whole "but she's not explicitly black in the books" thing as a point of attack. if i were her, i'd also shut that shit down by going "actually, it's not specified at all, but certain features actually leave plenty of room for interpretation".

that being said, i've heard that dean thomas was supposed to be explicitly black in the books, but her first editor made her nix the sentence that described him as such because it was 'distracting' or something. (i've also heard that the sentence was added back into... either a later edition or into the us version, but i don't know about that.) point being: it's '97 in british kids' book publishing and shit be shady.

[(Anonymous)]

JK had a say in the casting. She really liked Emma which was part of the reason why she was picked.

[tree_and_leaf]

it's '97 in british kids' book publishing and shit be shady.

Indeed - not just on race, either. One of the things people forget about the Dumbledore controversy is that 'Section 28', which forbade the promotion of homosexuality as acceptable in schools, was only repealed in 2003 in England and Wales, and it absolutely did have a chilling effect on what publishers were willing to put out, at the time and for some years afterwards. Case in point: at school in the nineties, the library had a bunch of 'after school special' type books exploring problems teens might be going through. None of them touched on homosexuality at all - even the ones about living (or dying) with HIV+ status and AIDS were all really really careful to be explicitly No Homo - it was always blood transfusions or one night stands with someone who was absolutely unambiguously of the opposite sex. I did read the portrayal of Dumbledore in DH as gay at the time, and I remember being mildly and positively surprised that she went there, even in the form of hints, in a high-profile YA book.

(Which is not to say she couldn't have handled talking about her intentions with the character better, and it's not to say that she didn't fall into some dubious narrative patterns with the way she did it. I'm not arguing she was hugely brave, either. But - still, I was surprised to see it. The world has moved on a hell of a lot on that score and sometimes it's hard to remember just how much).

[(Anonymous)]

I think you have to be really, really stupid to believe she was pretending she didn't write Hermione as white. Other comments have already explained what she meant, so I don't have to, but it astounds me that anyone would actually get "I meant to do that!" from her comment.

[(Anonymous)]

THIS, thank you.

[(Anonymous)]

I get where you're coming from but imagine if she had admitted that she'd imagined Hermione as white but supported a black version. This would basically just be giving assholes permission to say the author's intention was for her to be white and stomp down on any plays, movies, (fan)arts and fics that have her as black. Better if she just denies them that chance.

[(Anonymous)]

Do assholes require JKR's permission? Doesn't seem like lacking permission has stopped them from insisting that any interpretation of the books must have a white Hermione. I think I'd rather JKR be honest and say that 1) she totally did write Hermione as white but 2) adaptations can cast whoever they feel is best for the part and the actress in question is great, etc. etc. No need to sacrifice her own integrity to stop the assholes, because that won't work.

[(Anonymous)]

So now that JKR has declared that Hermione can be black, have all the assholes apologized and started behaving themselves?

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think Rowling was pretending that she wrote Hermione to be a POC, but you're right in the sense that I don't believe Rowling meant Hermione's race to be ambiguous or open to interpretation in order to facilitate casting of a POC in that role. The text IS open to interpretation... but not on purpose, if that makes sense.

This

[(Anonymous)]

If JK Rowling didn't mean for Hermione to be white, she wouldn't have approved a white Hermione for the Pottermore art. That was after the movies came out, so she had no worries about stepping on anyone's toes, including Emma Wstson. Also well after Rowling became an icon, so she had all the clout in the world to say Hermione was black or mixed race and was forced or pressured to make Hermione white in the movies and on dozens of different country's book art. Hermione is clearly white in Rowling's original canon, and anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves.

The text is vague but there are tons of visual interpretations of a white Hermione, the only black one being a play, which doesn't follow gender or race logic. I saw a Beauty and the Beast musical where Beauty's father was black but she and her sisters were all white. I've seen more than one woman actress play a man's role. That's just how plays are.

I don't think Rowling was pretending anything, either. She was just giving a stamp of approval to fans who want to make Hermione black or mixed for whatever reason. However, by doing that it did make it look like she just wanted Social Conscious points.

[(Anonymous)]

They really went too far with “Hermione has bad teeth” when they cast her.

[(Anonymous)]

She has very typical teeth for her generation. Things like braces for crooked teeth weren't covered by the UK's healthcare so many families couldn't afford them or they weren't a high priority.

[(Anonymous)]

I think she is saying Hermione COULD be a different race. She isn't default white. She has also said that Hermione was written with herself in mind.

Jo works very hard to keep her brand on target/relevant and uses Twitter to keep it fresh but in this case I believe the best person for the part. She was just supporting her.

[(Anonymous)]

If she cared about keeping her brand on target then why does she support Johnny Depp when most of the fans hate his guts? It's hard to give her the benefit of the doubt when she turns a blind eye in stuff like this.

[(Anonymous)]

Man, this is an entirely new level of FS stupidity.

I think my IQ has actually been lowered by the mental gymnastics OP is doing in order to feel bothered.

[(Anonymous)]

It's actually insulting that she suggests that Hermione was always supposed to be black. In the 4th book her frizzy hair gets straightened and everyone says how much better it looks. Natural black hair acceptance is a big issue.

JK was head girl at school. Hermione was a self insert.