 "JK Rowling defends decision to cast Claudia Kim as Nagini in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald")
Author JK Rowling has defended the decision to cast Korean actor
Claudia Kim as Voldemort’s devoted pet, Nagini, in
_Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald_ . In the
final trailer of the film, starring Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law and Johnny Depp, Kim is shown transforming into Nagini, who is later revealed to be one of the Dark Lord’s Horcruxes in Rowling’s Harry Potter books. [caption id=“attachment_5265571” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Claudia Kim as Nagini in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. YouTube screengrab[/caption] The casting drew the ire of many on social media for being racist, while some called it a classic case of Asian actors playing submissive characters on-screen.
Rowling responded, saying Nagini is a Naga, which are “snake-like mythical creatures of Indonesian mythology”.
The Naga are snake-like mythical creatures of Indonesian mythology, hence the name ‘Nagini.’ They are sometimes depicted as winged, sometimes as half-human, half-snake. Indonesia comprises a few hundred ethnic groups, including Javanese, Chinese and Betawi. Have a lovely day 🐍
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 26, 2018
Calling out the film for showing a subservient Asian to a white man, one of the users tweeted, “You can’t be admitted to Hogwarts unless you’re English and we don’t know if there’s any wizarding schools in Asia, home of 4.4 billion people … (and) a homicidal white man traps an Asian woman inside a snake form and brainwashes her.” Author Amish Tripathi, best known for Shiva trilogy, pointed out to Rowling that “the Naga mythology emerged from India”.
Earlier, Rowling had revealed Nagini is a Maledictus, a female who carries a blood curse from birth which eventually results in them turning into a beast. This is not the first time she has been targeted by the angry fans. The author was previously criticised for not addressing the sexuality of Albus Dumbledore in the films, who she later revealed as gay, as well as casting of Depp, who has been accused of domestic violence. Interestingly, Rowling had received praise for offering support to Noma Dumezweni, a British actor of South African descent, who was cast as Hermione Granger in the London production of the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
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