Hermione's Transfiguration

Well, Potterheads, you've gone off the deep end again.  This time thanks to a new play.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (because JK Rowling just can't find anything else to write about) is about an adult Harry, Ron and Hermione dealing with kids and some magic stuff and something.  I have no idea really.  The wizard train left the station long ago for me, but it's being called book 8 in the series so there you go.  And while there's been eager anticipation by the folks who still think owls make good pets, it's being overshadowed by the fan's fury at the audacity to hire a black actress to play Hermione on stage.

First, it's a play.  Second, Hermione's not a real person.  And for all the fuss, it's a play most Potterheads won't even have a chance to see.  Do you know how expensive tickets cost?  Do you really think they'll be a performance outside of Brittain?  And if there is, that the same actors will be in it as the version you're all so freaked out about?  Look, I'm sure the lady is a fine actress and it'll be a fine play so calm down.  And if you hate the idea that much, you don't have to watch it.

God, I'm tired of everything in life being about race.

But here's the part that pisses me off.  Rowling has the audacity to say Hermione was always black.  Her race was "never specified" in the books so she could very well have been black all along.  Ok.  If Hermione was always black, who the hell cast whiter than white Emma Watson in the MOVIES?  Why was Hermione ALWAYS portrayed as white until NOW?  Don't con me lady.  This is a publicity stunt to get butts in seats for your stupid play.  It's as transparent as Moaning Myrtle.

I don't care who plays Hermione in the play.  I don't care if Ron doesn't have ginger hair.  Because it's a play and the original actors probably weren't available and things are always different in plays.  Black Hermione, more power to you.

But I take offense at Rowling making claims that obviously aren't true in order to sell tickets and to make her books appeal to black audiences by using their race to appear more inclusive.  Your books were about white kids, JK.  Don't go changing the narrative now because you're pressured to be more politically correct.  You should have thought about political correctness when you first created the characters 20 years ago.  It's a disgusting publicity stunt and I'm very disappointed.

A million points from Gryffendor, Miss Rowling.