Korean in ‘Harry Potter' film spinoff stirs ethnic queries
KIM Soo-hyun aka Claudia Kim’s role in J. K. Rowling’s ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’, has stirred ethnically charged debate among fans and the writer herself over whether she is the right choice to portray a mythical reptile character.
The most high-profile dispute as of Friday was initiated on Twitter by Jen Moulton who, on Sept. 26, denounced Rowling for casting Kim as Nagini, a killer serpent of Lord Voldemort in the movie spin-off from the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise.
Moulton, while admitting that the popular British fictional writer “didn’t include enough representation” when she wrote the books that were made into the globally acclaimed movies, claimed that “suddenly making Nagini into a Korean woman is garbage.”
Rowling responded, explaining Nagini’s origin in an Indonesian folktale. Defining the serpent as one of “the Naga that are mythical creatures of Indonesian mythology” depicted to have wings and, sometimes, halfhuman and half-snake, she said the Southeast Asian country “comprises a few hundred ethnic groups, including Javanese, Chinese and Betawi.”
Rowling’s defence is that Nagini originates from an Asian country comprising numerous ethnic groups - thus reasonably justifying a Korean person playing the role.
But fans questioned the authenticity of her response, saying the Naga folktale originated from India, not Indonesia, raising the question of how the film’s creator could confuse the two.
Some Korean netizens expressed discomfort about Kim playing “an ill-destined role who is cursed, turns into snake to the brain, and gets beheaded.”
A Korean media outlet recently reported on Rowling’s use of ethnicity in her novels-turned-films that previously featured non-white actors such as Jennifer Smith (later replaced by Jessie Cave) and Cho Chang. The actors were mentioned in the report after the ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Fantastic Beast’ films were criticised for predominantly casting white actors.
Another Korean media outlet said Rowling’s casting of Kim might be “merely her spontaneous measure to deny the criticism against her dominant white-casting.”
Other fans who believed Nagini was born in Eastern Europe, said Kim’s casting “complicated the Harry Potter world.”
‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ premieres in the US and Canada in November. Its Korean premier date has not been decided.
Kim gained attention after winning a modelling contest in 2005. She began forging an acting career by appearing in the drama ‘Brain’ in 2011 and sitcom ‘Standby’ in 2012.
The actress grabbed worldwide attention in 2014 in the Netflix drama ‘Marco Polo’ and in the blockbuster ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ in 2015.
She has lived in New Jersey, in the US, for six years.