Representation Blog

 

For my representation blog post, I decided to do it on the popular franchise Harry Potter. JK Rowling did a wonderful job at creating a magical new world for many fans. But the world that she created isn't all that magical in reality. The race and gender stereotypes within her stories have sparked a huge controversy.

More specifically, the representation within the characters Cho Chang and Lavender Brown.

Cho Chang is one of the only characters of color in the entire Harry Potter series. Most of the main cast are all white and British individuals, and she is one of the two people of color who are considered "side characters." The way that JK Rowling portrayed her can be deemed as racist. Her name "Cho Chang" can be interpreted as harmful East Asian stereotypes. Cho's character is supposed to be Chinese, and Cho is a Korean name. This shows that JK Rowling did not care much to do the research for her characters, and was simply just trying to seem diverse. Also, making the only East Asian character be placed in Ravenclaw, the "smart" house, feeds into the stereotype that all Asians are smart. People may interpret Cho's character as a romanticization of Asian females since she is portrayed as Harry's brief romantic partner

The way that JK Rowling wrote Lavender Brown's character is seen as extremely misogynistic. She paints Lavender as a stereotypical, boy-crazy teenager, with her character only serving as a romantic partner for Ron Weasely. The viewers are led to believe that she was only written in as a way for Ron to make Hermione jealous and for us to want Hermione and Ron to just date. We believed that because of Lavender Brown's annoying personality, she deserved how Ron treated her. Hermione herself treated Lavender horribly. She didn't like that she was dating Ron and therefore bullied her, constantly made snide remarks that she was airheaded and she wasn't as valuable of a person because she wasn't as intelligent. In reality, Lavender had the potential to become a great character. She was a wonderful friend and even a great girlfriend despite not having the best boyfriend. She was very brave and joined Dumbledore's Army and even fought in the Hogwarts battle until she was sadly killed by a werewolf.

JK Rowling portrayed both of these characters very poorly. Cho Chang could have been written with more personality instead of being a "bland" love interest for Harry. Lavender Brown had so much potential. She was looked down upon because of her femininity by the characters themselves and the Harry Potter fandom. All of the 'girly' girls in Harry Potter are portrayed as being annoying characters. She could've been seen as a great role model for little girls to feel comfortable and confident in their femininity, but that was completely torn down.