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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a stage play written by Jack Thorne, taking place in the world created by J.K Rowling and based on a new, original story co-written by Rowling, Thorne and John Tiffany will be starting its run at the Palace Theatre in London this July.
While the project was rumored to be under construction since 2013 and confirmed last year, it only recently managed to cause some controversy on the internet. On 20th of December 2015 the initial cast for Harry, Ron and Hermione was announced and Hermione Granger is played by Noma Dumezweni. While all the actors are not exactly similar to what we came to expect from those characters, the controversy is concentrated around Hermione. You see, Miss Dumezweni is black. And while that doesn't seem like much of a problem, to some people it is.
There are two main reasons why people seem to be agitated over this situation. Some of them believe that a previously established character shouldn't go over such a dramatic change. The other group seem to believe that Dumezweni was cast as Hermione not because she's a talented and acclaimed actress, but rather to make the play more politically correct. What both those groups don't realize is that stage plays don't necessarily use the same set of rules as movies do.
Plays, like literature tend to be less literal in their interpretation of material. It's a medium that ever since its beginning in ancient Greece had men pretending to be women, symbolic props and scenography, leaving huge blanks for the audience to fill with their own imagination. If Shakespeare cast men in female roles why would changing a character's skin color be considered a controversy? Ultimately, the cast is and should be determined by the director's artistic vision, not by the audience and definitely not by angry people on the internet.
Rowling herself expressed support for the decision, and even Emma Watson - for many the "real" face of Hermione said she's excited to see Noma Dumezweni play the character. So if everyone creatively involved with the whole project is fine with it, why is it causing so much frustration among fans?
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Should artistic vision of creators be preserved or should fans be allowed to have more to say in the matter of creative decisions? Can we view characters separately of the actors playing them?
Another thing I recently thought about is how do children of different origin than us view literature? How do you think a 6 - 8 year old Asian would view characters from your favorite books? Do you think they imagine the characters the same way we do? I think that's why books are so great - they leave a lot of room for interpretation and let our imagination run free. We don't always need a detailed description of a character, sometimes "brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever" is just enough.
As for the Hermione "controversy" I recommend reading this article from one of the blogs I frequently read:
Comments
I strongly associate Hermione with Emma Watson, not that I like her
so much, I'm just used to think of this character visualising Emma.
I dont see anything surprising in people's reactions, it's become common that commentators write rash posts, director should not care at all : )
As for Noma Dumezweni playing Hermione, I don't mind as long as she wasn't chosen because of some political correctness issue. And your presentation suggest that it's not the case, so I see no reason for people to complain. ;)
But to be quite honest I'm not really bothered because of it, I don't really care for a Harry Potter spin-off thingy that I'm not going to see anyway ;) I just hope the actress is good and does justice to the character that so many of us grew up with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8lEE44Oa-s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ppk5Fhl-VU
I don't really care that much if she is white or black because I'm not going to see the play anyway but why isn't Ron a ginger anymore :D?
As to Noma Dumezweni, I think only a racist would have any problems with her. If you look at percentage of people of different ethnicities in the world population, you'll see that white people are not the largest group. The image of a white Hermione was created in most people's minds because of the movie and the fact that we live in Europe, where most people are white. However, I think it's highly possible that people from different continents imagined her in a totally different way.
It's really great that both Rowling and Watson expressed their support and excitement about Noma Dumezweni. People need to see that the problem is not the black actress, but their narrow minds.
I'm glad that you touched on the very important topic of Ron not being a ginger anymore. I forgot to elaborate on it, but obviously I too consider it beign a far bigger concern than Hermione's skin color :)
If it would be available online I would surely watch it because I'm a fan of the whole series but from what I've heard they are not interested in videotaping and releasing the play on dvd. So I don't think it will be possible to download it or even watch legally outside of the theatre. Further more even if someone would videotape it on their own the quality of the picture and sound would be very poor so I wouldn't watch a "cam" just for the sake of watching and hearing every second world.
I truly hope the creators will change their minds and release a proper dvd so people all over the world can enjoy it (legally or not :P)