Not My Canon!

HP and the Racist, Idiotic Fanbase

Hey guys, you know this rumored Magical Congress of the United States of America, better known as MACUSA, coming soon in Fantastic Beasts? Well, it was founded in 1693, basically a century before the actual United States of America. How dumb, right? JKR totally needs to Google some American history, amirite? We should talk about that. Yeah, let's argue about that. Y'know, the movie. Not the play.

Cool? No? This angry fan monster isn't going away?

Fine...

You might have read in the earlier comments that I am very hesitant to bring up this particular controversy. I've mentioned it in passing during FRED AND GEORGE AND THE TOILERS OF TROUBLE, namely because I wanted to show enthusiasm for "casting" my book with two characters of color: Angelina Johnson and Lee Jordan. I grew up outside of Chicago and attended college in the city. I know that shouldn't mean anything, but based on what I had to see and experience every day, I can empathize to some degree with the struggles of the black community, though I'm super white. Supporting diversity in entertainment matters to me.

I was not interested in relitigating this subject. Nonetheless, it's bound to happen in the comments, and if we are doing a retrospective on the state of the fanbase during the release of HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, and why there is currently a division on the state of canon between the fans and the franchise creator, then this incident factors into that discussion and should not be omitted.

My discussion here has absolutely nothing to do with opinion and is based solely on the unalienable canon of the books. I'm leery to even bring it up because no one had seen the performance at the time, or this woman's audition. However, the arguments had nothing to do with the content or performance of the play script, evidentially shows some insight into what was happening behind the scenes, and possibly lends evidence to my position that there were people within the creative team who were claiming to know the canon of the books and encouraging JKR to express misguided views.

Personally, I hate the label: Social Justice Warrior. What should be a term of endearment comes across like an insult, especially when used on Twitter to mock people on the front lines of cyber bullying and bigotry who rush to defend victims of real social injustice. They have huge hearts and are willing to fight fire with fire. Where it goes wrong is when they choose to take the first punch and come out swinging under false pretenses. This happened on a massive scale when canon-minded fans of Harry Potter were confused, frustrated, and disappointed over the announcement that a woman of color would be playing the role of Hermione Granger in the play. The quickest takedown was to label anyone who questioned this decision as RACIST.