When we talk about Harry Potter and JK Rowling, it is largely with high praise. Rowling is a powerful female author and creator of an entire fantasy world that has inspired countless people of all ages across the globe.
That’s all fine and dandy, but Rachel Rostad wants to cut the shit and be the one to say what others won’t, and highlight the series’ lack of dynamic characters of color. Just listen to what she has to say:
Omg she is such a badass.
When considering the reach of Harry Potter, it seems like a colossal waste to default to tokenized and flat characters of color. Not only is it a waste, it’s sort of an outrage.
If you’re still unsure about all of this stuff, here is Rostad responding to criticism for the above video, proving how very smart she is:
“We forget that characters and plots do not just fall into the author’s lap. Everything form hair color to characteristics is a choice…and of course I doubt that JK Rowling was aware of these racist implications but that doesn’t mean that they’re not there and it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t critique or question.”
If you like her as much as I do, check out her other material and videos.
