JK Rowling hits back at controversy over Nagini casting
ALL is not well in the wizarding world after JK Rowling was forced to defend the casting of a South Korean actress for the role of Nagi in the latest instalment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
Claudia Kim has been revealed as the actress playing Nagini, a human with cursed blood who has the ability to transform into a snake, in the final trailer for the upcoming Fantastic Beasts: Crimes Of Grindelwald.
But fans have criticised the fact the only Asian actor in the cast plays a reptile that is a villain’s slave.
‘Listen Joanne, we get it, you didn’t include enough representation when you wrote the books. But suddenly making Nagini into a Korean woman is garbage,’ wrote one fan after the news of Kim’s casting.
Another fan said the casting played into the representation of Asian people as ‘peripheral in a white-centric world’ and ‘Asian women exist to mainly serve white men’s interests….’
But Rowling defended the casting, posting on Twitter that Nagini is based on ‘the Naga’, which are ‘snake-like mythical creatures of Indonesian mythology.’
She added: ‘They are sometimes depicted as winged, sometimes as half-human, half-snake. Indonesia comprises a few hundred ethnic groups, including Javanese, Chinese and Betawi’, before concluding, ‘have a lovely day’ and adding the snake emoji.
The author, who is a producer on the film, has been criticised in the past for lacking any representation of persons of colour in her books.
The film, which also stars Jude Law and Johnny Depp, is released on November 16.
Author: Paul Miles
