Harry Potter TV series in the works at HBO Max
- Thread starter Lootpack
- Start date
PoorAndDangerous
Superstar
lithgow as dumbledore is great casting. I wish the brother well, not only is his character race swapped, he also has to follow in the great Alan Rickman's shoes...He better be in his BAG for this role.
They didn't think about this shyt at all smh.
A certain population is really gonna want the series adapted properly from the books this time
some of these writers and casters for adaptations of books and video games are so tone deaf it's crazy.
I'm black, I read harry potter growing up and I watched the movies growing up. snape and what he is and looks like is firmly shaped in my mind. recasting him as black in a reboot actually isn't a postive needle mover for me
j.k. rowlings work didn't have many black people, there's not much they can do to diversify it afterwards without pissing more people off than they please. create a minor black character, or make one of the minor characters who are default white another race/ethnicity
I hope the breh plays the role well
Piff Perkins
Veteran
some of these writers and casters for adaptations of books and video games are so tone deaf it's crazy.
I'm black, I read harry potter growing up and I watched the movies growing up. snape and what he is and looks like is firmly shaped in my mind. recasting him as black in a reboot actually isn't a postive needle mover for me
j.k. rowlings work didn't have many black people, there's not much they can do to diversify it afterwards without pissing more people off than they please. create a minor black character, or make one of the minor characters who are default white another race/ethnicity
I hope the breh plays the role well
I notice there's this weird modern, corporate/studio obsession with taking something that is universally/globally popular and saying "we would like to make this appeal to a broader group of people." What? Harry Potter remains one of the most popular IP in the entire world, across multiple continents. Across multiple generations. I thought the appeal of turning it into a television show was that there would be plenty of time to expand the roles of other Hogwarts students, from Dean Thomas to Cho Chang etc etc. There was never any risk that black people weren't going to watch Harry Potter. There's barely a weekend that goes by where there's not a HP marathon on television lol.
There are universal themes and popular fantasy tropes throughout Harry Potter that play a major role in its success. A major reason so much television writing is bad today is that there's less interest in themes or emotional connection, and more focus on identity. "This character is black so black people are gonna watch." That's it. It's marketing. Then you get characters who seem like nothing more than avatars for the writers to exercise their gripes or traumas. Which in our time means a shyt ton of black or brown women characters who have a college degree, are struggling in the big city, and lusting after a successful white male character. So yea you can bet Hermione will be (mixed) black.
Ozymandeas
Veteran
Personally, IDC that they made Snape black. I think the fact that it's such a large uproar is just proof that we'll never get over race as a society. This is art. This is a role. It should be like clothes that anyone can step into and play the part. It shouldn't be this big of an issue. Nobody would trip if buddy played Snape in a Broadway play but, it's a problem on screen.
Now if something is truly central to the story, and I mean truly central, like Thor being a Norse God or about Storm being a Black African or about a real-life person, then I agree to be more rigid about casting. But Snape....IDC. The books rarely reference race. The books are quintessentially British but, there was no real focus about being a white man. Now you could argue that's because it's a given they were supposed to be white but, the point is it's not thrown in your face. What's thrown in your face is the Muggles/Mudblood/Purebloods/Halfbloods/etc. shyt which was her way of talking about race without having to talk about race.
With that said...they did the same thing with Interview With A Vampire. Louis de Pointe du Lac is supposed to be white. You're taking our stories and blackwashing them. Stop with the Liberal Agenda. The show ended up being absolute piff and a lot of people now like it better than the OG movie. So, it's on the director to make the story work if they gonna switch it up. If they make it trash, then they deserve to get flamed. But I'm willing to wait and see what they do with it.
Now if something is truly central to the story, and I mean truly central, like Thor being a Norse God or about Storm being a Black African or about a real-life person, then I agree to be more rigid about casting. But Snape....IDC. The books rarely reference race. The books are quintessentially British but, there was no real focus about being a white man. Now you could argue that's because it's a given they were supposed to be white but, the point is it's not thrown in your face. What's thrown in your face is the Muggles/Mudblood/Purebloods/Halfbloods/etc. shyt which was her way of talking about race without having to talk about race.
With that said...they did the same thing with Interview With A Vampire. Louis de Pointe du Lac is supposed to be white. You're taking our stories and blackwashing them. Stop with the Liberal Agenda. The show ended up being absolute piff and a lot of people now like it better than the OG movie. So, it's on the director to make the story work if they gonna switch it up. If they make it trash, then they deserve to get flamed. But I'm willing to wait and see what they do with it.
MajesticLion
Veteran
i can't believe they followed through with the black dude as Snape. you put the guy in a massive hole to start. dude could put the acting clinics of all clinics and it's gonna take the internet 5 seasons to drop the fact that they cast a black guy to be ridiculed by Harry's parents, etc... and ya know, the overall racism of the internet.
The brother can act and watching this clip, I can see how they choose him. Hes gonna body this role and people need to get over believing that the role of Snape is only a white man's role
Its not about his acting chops. I could tell within 3 minutes of looking through his IMDB that he’s a top rate talent. Its about the CHARACTER and the fact that unfortunately when you race swap a character you have to take into account what that CHARACTER entails.
Snape is, for all intents and purposes, a Nazi. A repentant Nazi, but a Nazi nonetheless. A Nazi who only reformed because the unrequited love of his life, a WHITE WOMAN, dies violently at the hands of the wizarding equivalent of Hitler. This same character is abused by three white boys, hung from a tree, with his pants stripped down to his ankles. And THEN in a fit of anger, shame, and self loathing he calls the unrequited love of his life the wizarding equivalent of the N word.
As a white character, there is proper context to all of this. As a BLACK character it comez across stereotypical, c00nish, and ill-advised.