Token People of Colour In Harry Potter
No no, put away your swords, or shall I say wands. I am not calling J K Rowling, or any of you who write Harry Potter fanfics racists, I merely wanted to discuss the roles of the precious few Black characters in the series.
Now I am a white bloke, but I live amongst many people of colour. I find the character of Dean Thomas to be something of great curiosity in the Harry Potter books. First of all, I was surprised that he even existed, for our version of Philosopher's Stone had no such character. I, along with a few others on those early Harry Potter discussion groups,concluded that Dean Thomas was merely created for the sole purpose of pleasing the international audience. I thought it devalued both the character and the African culture from his ancestors hailed greatly. There are so many fascinating cultures on the African continent with magical myths and legends.
I was very disappointed with Dean Thomas and Lee Jordan being relagated to merely extras in the series. Sure J.K. Rowling now says that Dean originally had a bigger role and history of his own, but I take her claims with a grain of salt. It is all too easy for an author to claim that they were going to originally write something, after all. How can the character be missing completely from the British version, but he appears in an International Edition? The editors? I'm sorry, but I have great difficulty believing that.
That brings us to Lee Jordan. I think Fred and George stand on their own, and he was added to the fray so late in the game that Lee is more like a third wheel in their friendship. Even fanfiction writers tend to leave Lee Jordan out, and I think they are merely picking up on JKR's treatment of that character. So she treats Lee Jordan like a third wheel, so do the fanfiction writers.
Shall I even mention Kingsley Shacklebolt? Very well. From the moment I first read of the character in OoTP, I couldn't help but think "token black auror." Why have we never heard mention of the Shacklebolt clan until the fifth book? Granted there are probably more whites than blacks around here, but one black auror, one black roomate for Harry, and one black joker for George and Fred to joke with is just a bit strange.
I've read of Dean Thomas's story on JKR's site(which I feel she wrote retroactively), and I could not figure for the life of me why she didn't leave it in. Xenophobia is still quite prevalent in the UK, and a positively portrayed black character in the Harry Potter series would have added a wonderful variety to the otherwise homogenous series. JKR states that she chose to develop Neville Longbottom over Dean Thomas because the former was more important to the series. I suspect that is comes down to Neville being white and Dean being black. Why couldn't she develop Dean in lieu of creating entirely new characters like say...Luna or that drastically changed and out of character Ginny (yes if you compare her to the Ginny in books 1-4, Ginny in book five is like some one else)?
Now if I were to talk about the negative way the Asians and Orientals are portrayed (giggly, airheaded, and whiney) you'd be inclined to kill me for insulting your favourite author, so I'll stop here.
Please understand that these are my observations, and they are not meant as an insult to fanfiction writers or to JKR. I just feel for our fellow readers of colour who have no characters they can identify with. As for me, I can identify with some one like Ron Weasley, or even Draco Malfoy so I'm happy, I just would have liked to see our black brethren portrayed more favourably.
Now I am a white bloke, but I live amongst many people of colour. I find the character of Dean Thomas to be something of great curiosity in the Harry Potter books. First of all, I was surprised that he even existed, for our version of Philosopher's Stone had no such character. I, along with a few others on those early Harry Potter discussion groups,concluded that Dean Thomas was merely created for the sole purpose of pleasing the international audience. I thought it devalued both the character and the African culture from his ancestors hailed greatly. There are so many fascinating cultures on the African continent with magical myths and legends.
I was very disappointed with Dean Thomas and Lee Jordan being relagated to merely extras in the series. Sure J.K. Rowling now says that Dean originally had a bigger role and history of his own, but I take her claims with a grain of salt. It is all too easy for an author to claim that they were going to originally write something, after all. How can the character be missing completely from the British version, but he appears in an International Edition? The editors? I'm sorry, but I have great difficulty believing that.
That brings us to Lee Jordan. I think Fred and George stand on their own, and he was added to the fray so late in the game that Lee is more like a third wheel in their friendship. Even fanfiction writers tend to leave Lee Jordan out, and I think they are merely picking up on JKR's treatment of that character. So she treats Lee Jordan like a third wheel, so do the fanfiction writers.
Shall I even mention Kingsley Shacklebolt? Very well. From the moment I first read of the character in OoTP, I couldn't help but think "token black auror." Why have we never heard mention of the Shacklebolt clan until the fifth book? Granted there are probably more whites than blacks around here, but one black auror, one black roomate for Harry, and one black joker for George and Fred to joke with is just a bit strange.
I've read of Dean Thomas's story on JKR's site(which I feel she wrote retroactively), and I could not figure for the life of me why she didn't leave it in. Xenophobia is still quite prevalent in the UK, and a positively portrayed black character in the Harry Potter series would have added a wonderful variety to the otherwise homogenous series. JKR states that she chose to develop Neville Longbottom over Dean Thomas because the former was more important to the series. I suspect that is comes down to Neville being white and Dean being black. Why couldn't she develop Dean in lieu of creating entirely new characters like say...Luna or that drastically changed and out of character Ginny (yes if you compare her to the Ginny in books 1-4, Ginny in book five is like some one else)?
Now if I were to talk about the negative way the Asians and Orientals are portrayed (giggly, airheaded, and whiney) you'd be inclined to kill me for insulting your favourite author, so I'll stop here.
Please understand that these are my observations, and they are not meant as an insult to fanfiction writers or to JKR. I just feel for our fellow readers of colour who have no characters they can identify with. As for me, I can identify with some one like Ron Weasley, or even Draco Malfoy so I'm happy, I just would have liked to see our black brethren portrayed more favourably.