No one expected the final trailer for the Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts: The
Crimes of Grindelwald to tell them anything they didn't already know from watching previously
released teasers and TV spots.
But when Warner Bros. dropped the last piece of promotional footage on September 25, minds
were blown.
Why?
Because it features a brief clip of a woman named Nagini turning into a snake.
And that has opened a huge can of worms for Harry Potter fans, leading Harry Potter author
J.K.
Rowling to issue a public defense of the film.
In the original Harry Potter series, Nagini was a gigantic sinister snake who served as
the evil lord Voldemort's companion and assistant, while also acting as a Horcrux, one of the
vessels for a portion of Voldemort's soul.
Nagini was eventually slain by Neville Longbottom, opening the way for Voldemort's final defeat.
So the revelation that Nagini was once a human woman that can turn into a snake - or possibly
a snake that turns into a woman - is definitely a shocker for fans.
But the surprise hasn't been all that welcomed by everyone.
Both longtime and casual fans of the franchise have a number of concerns, perhaps most importantly
over the choice to cast South Korean actress - and Marvel Universe veteran - Claudia Kim
in the role.
Twitter user Jen Moulton started the firestorm when she tagged Rowling in tweet that read
in part,
"Listen [...] we get it, you didn't include enough representation when you wrote the books.
But suddenly making Nagini into a Korean woman is garbage.
Representation as an afterthought for more woke points is not good representation."
Other Twitter users piled on, with one decrying the decision to cast one of the two actors
of color in the Fantastic Beasts franchise as a, quote,
"literal object owned by a white man inspired by Nazis."
And others voiced concerns that the casting choice bore echoes of old stereotypes, such
as those associating Asian people with snakes, as well as the Dragon Lady cliché.
Rowling didn't take the criticism lying down, responding to the original attack with a tweet
that said,
"The Naga are snake-like mythical creatures of Indonesian mythology, hence the name 'Nagini,'
They are sometimes depicted as winged, sometimes as half-human, half-snake.
Indonesia comprises a few hundred ethnic groups, including Javanese, Chinese and Betawi.
Have a lovely day."
She later added that she has been holding onto the secret of Nagini's true nature for
"around twenty years."
That revelation seemed to actually spark even more anger from another subsection of fans
who complain about Rowling's history of revealing - or changing - details of the Harry Potter
universe years after the series wrapped up.
Most famously, three months after the final book came out in 2007, she announced that
Dumbledore was gay, and had been in love with Grindlewald.
Many applauded Rowling for the announcement, but some felt she was trying to have her cake
and eat it too by pandering to LGBTQ fans without truly taking the perceived risk of
actually portraying Dumbledore as gay in either the books or films.
The Dumbledore controversy gained new energy in January 2018, when director David Yates
revealed that Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald won't make it "explicitly"
clear that Dumbledore, played by Jude Law, is gay - despite the purported love of his
life being at the center of the sequel's story.
Instead, there seem to be just vague hints for hardcore Harry Potter fans to decipher.
"Dumbledore why can't you go?"
"I can't move against Grindelwald.
It has to be you."
The Nagini and Dumbledore controversies are just the latest PR hits for Fantastic Beasts:
The Crimes of Grindelwald, which has faced intense scrutiny from the moment it was revealed
in November, 2017 that Johnny Depp was set to return to the role of Grindelwald from
2016's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them despite highly publicized allegations
that he had assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard prior to their divorce.
It remains to be seen whether any of these controversies will affect how Fantastic Beasts:
The Crimes of Grindelwald performs at the box office when it arrives in theaters on
November 16, 2018, but one thing is for sure: even if the film isn't a must-watch for everyone,
J.K.
Rowling's twitter feed definitely is.