Fic Prompt

[benttornunbroke]

I've been ruminating and reading some books (the real kind!) and came up with an idea for a fic. I'm too busy with college to write, but the idea is as written below, with a little snippet I wrote up in between research for different things:

Comments

[nagasasu]

I don't object to the premise of Hermione in a brothel. That's fine. However, I do have reservations about this being a Chinese brothel with a hostess with broken English; it sounds very stereotypical. (Also, to change Hermione's ethnicity, is to change her identity altogether, and it is a more drastic change than the usual Pureblood-heritage-cliche) I am sure you had no intentions behind this, but it reminds me of yellow-face, and I find that unsettling. Just a word of warning. :/

[benttornunbroke]

I don't mean to knock down Chinese people or be racist - it just suits the purpose of the story better if the old lady doesn't know enough English to explain what they did to Hermione. In fact, one of the ideas I had that I didn't list because the entry was getting too long was that Sun-li can speak four or five languages fluently, but fakes broken English so that people underestimate her, because she's a very smart witch yada-yada.

And I'm not saying change Hermione's ethnicity - just make it so she acts more like a Chinese woman than an Englishwoman, because she's been raised in the Chinese way longer than the English. I've never seen the movies yet, and I picture Hermione rather differently than Emma Watson portrays her, although I'm sure Emma does a good job, so that explains any look-discrepancies.

[miyu_sakura]

I think perhaps if you aren't familiar with Chinese culture and history you should avoid trying to make Hermione into a so-called "Chinese woman". The way that you have phrased your comment and the tone of the fic in general just makes it seem like this is going to be a rather stereotyped endeavor. It's not really intentional, I'm sure, but unfortunately Orientalism has deeply affected our cultural notions of China, Japan, Korea, and pretty much every other Asian culture.

[desds]

IAWTC.

[marmaladefever]

It kind of sounds to me like you might be better off with an original character than Hermione herself. Other than intelligence, ability, and willfulness, there doesn't appear to be a whole lot left to make her her, if that makes sense.

[burningpumpkins]

Interesting, though you might want to make Hermione more Chinese. I like the AU-ness of it, but it's lost quite a lot of Harry Potter. At the moment there is this Japanese fusion going on, very Disney-made Mulan. Unless that's where you're going, the Chinese brothel going for Geisha costumes? Or is this a Japanese brothel owned by a Chinese woman? Haha.

Also, what time period is this? Although if this is Wizarding Chinese/Japanese, then I suppose robes/kimonos do come in. Which is fascinating. I think I should muse on Asian magic, as opposed to European magic.