Also, this brings a possible complication. He would be a black kid getting bullied by a white kid. Him being black would have a domino effect, even if the show doesn’t address it
Except: - Snape’s lips were shaking, his face was white, his teeth were bared. - As Gryffindors came spilling onto the field, he saw Snape land nearby, white faced and tight lipped. - Snape's face was like a death mask. It was marble white.
The usage of the word "white" here has nothing to do with his race, it is used to describe an emotion that he is feeling and the physical effect it has on one's body. When you are scared or angry or nervous, the blood drains from your face, making you appear paler, despite your race.
saying “the movies weren’t accurate either” as a justification for being inaccurate AGAIN is insane. this show is justified as a more faithful adaptation than the movies were! that’s the whole point!
If they change any characters' race, gender or sexuality i'm gonna lose it. And no that doesn't make me a sexist, racist etc. I don't care if they have black characters, female characters and gay characters. Just make sure it's new characters that we don't know about. You don't go and change characters that are already set in stone. Those characters are already made. It's disrespectful. Even my friend agrees with me and he's black and very serious about that stuff. That already tells you that I'm right.
I was mostly excited for this series because I thought they were going to go head over heels nailing the book to screen accuracy as an improvement from the movies
It's like the Percy Jackson show again. Both were advertised as being more accurate and faithful adaptations against their movie counterparts. But then have the nerve to change character designs and character behavior. I probably could've watched Percy Jackson despite the casting choice but then I saw how they butchered Sally and Gabe domestic abuse dynamic and made Sally into an insufferable girl boss.
The movies were inaccurate to the books but that was largely due to them needing to get as much to fit into several 2 hour long movies and had to cut away the fluff. They still tried being accurate to a certain extent.
As a person of South Asian heritage, I don't like race swapping characters as it doesn't address the diversity issue for me, it feels forced. When I read the books, I noticed the lack of diversity less as I felt like the proportions matched the UK in the 1990s. I would much rather prefer if they spent more time on the existing minority ethnic characters already in the books who were barely in the movies or added in new characters. With more time due to the TV show format and the fact that there are only about 30 kids in Harry's year (and potentially only 210 in the entire school), they could add more characters. If they were to race swap, I feel like they should stick as close to the books as possible. Snape's description of sallow skin, greasy hair (which is only possible on straight or wavy hair types) and a hooked nose could be interpreted as someone with middle-eastern or south asian heritage.
@@ObsessiveGeek read the comment again. She is talking about proportions. There were token Chinese (01) and Indian students (02), but 5-6 black characters just in the immediate circle of Harry. Given that Hogwarts had about 200 students max at a given time, the proportions could be close enough, although not 100% accurate.
Notice how it's the white people defending this practice while I see a bunch of people of color against it. Really makes you think how performative these people are, pretending they care about this issue more than even you, at times. It disgusts me.
"Who cares" - We do Brett it's okay to say that it's not accurate to the books. Saying "Who cares" to a small, but still meaningful aspect of what makes a character's appearance as described in the books when you have made all of these videos about how each season can be as close and accurate to the books as possible shows that your statement is coming from either a place of fear (from backlash) or something else.
Definitely. Everyone is always talking about how this needs to be so book accurate and then they are ok with a change that would make some huge differences (like as others have said, introducing the idea that the marauders are racist)
It’s fear of backlash that stops critical thinking, it’s indoctrination, that makes him spout the same nonsense he’s heard from the people he fears backlash from. No one wants to be labelled a something something-phobic, only some people are confident enough to speak their mind, regardless of the character assassination that follows. Joanne Rowling comes to mind, actually.
Would you dare cast any of the black characters as white? Let's see the double standard. Let the Marauders who all died fighting a magical Hitler be racist for bullying Snape, why not!
I actually got banned from the HPonHBO subreddit for stating this against a guy who was calling someone else racist for "thinking a role should be kept from black people". But I guess fairness isn't a thing that exists on there.
While I would fully expect accusations of racist marauders flooding the internet if Snape was black I would disagree strongly. Just because they'd be bullying a black kid doesn't mean they're racist. It depends on WHY. If they bully him because he's black then obviously yes. But we already know from the books that that's not the reason for their behavior (because he isn't black there). That does however not mean I'd like to see Snape be black.
Such a narrow ignorance, except the fact you remember snape white, literally nothing objectively changes than that. His character is still the same. The whole "make black panther white then" is not the same, Queen elizabeth wont be made black, Tchalla wont be made white. Snape however, literally why not? And for parity, yes go ahead and make Kingsley Shacklebolt, Dean Thomas and Lee white, who cares
@@cowboyorangesoda8408 If they did this I would still care. I want it to be like the books. It's unecessary to make these changes. It's a matter of preference and there is no right or wrong opinion on this subject.
@@damgful I understand that you'd want it to be like the books and in so many ways it will, but have you ever considered this, that were everything recreated with stricture, you would also have Shakespeare played almost exclusively by white people forever. Even then this wasn't important as men played the women's roles. Do you think that Shakespeare should always be played exactly as written or is a little adaptation actually not that bad sometimes?
I respect your opinion, but, to me, all factors point to Snape being a white man. J.K. portrayed the character to look similar to her own chemist teacher, who had the black curtains, a longer (but maybe not the over-the-top hooked) nose, and was indeed white. She’s also made a scribble of exactly how she imagined Snape back in 1993 (I believe), where he definitely is white. I can’t really recall an example off the top of my head when the colour of his skin is explicitly mentioned apart from in Deathly Hallows when he's speaking with Voldemort in the Shrieking Shack, where it’s described as marble white. That being said, even if his skin colour wasn’t mentioned at all, J.K. makes it clear in the books when someone is definitively black. Her exact words for depicting Dean Thomas, Angelina Johnson, and Kingsley Shacklebolt were ”black boy”, ”black girl", and ”black man", respectively. She doesn’t say that someone is a ”white boy” or a ”white girl” or so on. Why? Because the story takes place in Britain in the 90s, and therefore everyone is basically assuming, unless something else is said, that the character in question is white. When you’re describing someone, you’re pointing out the most distinguishable features about them, what sets them apart from others, and she deliberately emphasised that these characters were black. Why the skin colour of a character, generally speaking, is more important to get right compared to, for example, age, eye colour, or buck teeth is due to its simple identifiability. I mean, if you're a witness to a crime, one of the first questions the police officers ask to help them find the criminal is their race. If you noticed the criminal’s general age, gender, or eye colour, you absolutely noticed what the colour of their skin was.
Nothing you've said suggests the story would at all if Snape were black this time. Nothing. The character, as in, the intrinsic personality traits and affects, all remain. Only that he wouldn't look like the person who he was based on. And identifiability isn't important at all when watching TV as characters are called by their names literally all the time, plus we are not required to be 'witnesses' (odd thing to bring up in this context but ok) as we are just watching TV, something we all know to be fantasy and not real life crime or real life altering.
This was beautiful written. Just a add a few points - they tried to give Daniel green colored contacts and he had an allergic reactions and I know they started out giving Hermionie buck teeth and even in the books she repairs them at some point. Not to mention if Snape were black if would create some hiccups in his back story seeing as he was bullied by a group of white boys. I have nothing against race swapping some of the more minor characters seeing as their skin color wouldn't have a big impact (although you can't race swap too many or it wouldn't fit the time and location) but with the main characters I think they should stay true to the books in every way possible!
@@cowboyorangesoda8408 it would alter his arc of being bullied as being racially motivated, deviating from the source material. Also, if it would not affect his intrinsic personality, why is swapping his race for no reason a good idea?
@@cowboyorangesoda8408 If they change any characters' race, gender or sexuality i'm gonna lose it. And no that doesn't make me a sexist, racist etc. I don't care if they have black characters, female characters and gay characters. Just make sure it's new characters that we don't know about. You don't go and change characters that are already set in stone. Those characters are already made. It's disrespectful. Even my friend agrees with me and he's black and very serious about that stuff. That already tells you that I'm right.
I think the real issue with snape being black brings on racism people will say he was bullied or that lily didn’t like him because of racism also I think Voldemort was probably Racist and wouldn’t be so close with snape
If they change any characters' race, gender or sexuality i'm gonna lose it. And no that doesn't make me a sexist, racist etc. I don't care if they have black characters, female characters and gay characters. Just make sure it's new characters that we don't know about. You don't go and change characters that are already set in stone. Those characters are already made. It's disrespectful. Even my friend agrees with me and he's black and very serious about that stuff. That already tells you that I'm right.
Haha I’m not big on race swapping either. But I don’t think Voldemort was racist, I’m sure if he had loyal black pure-blooded followers he wouldn’t treat them any worse than any other pure-blood.
If they change any characters' race, gender or sexuality i'm gonna lose it. And no that doesn't make me a sexist, racist etc. I don't care if they have black characters, female characters and gay characters. Just make sure it's new characters that we don't know about. You don't go and change characters that are already set in stone. Those characters are already made. It's disrespectful. Even my friend agrees with me and he's black and very serious about that stuff. That already tells you that I'm right.
@@ObsessiveGeek snape is described as having yellow, sallow skin. Yes, black people can have sallow skin. But when they do, it doesn’t look yellow. So for Snape, my minimum requirements would be pale skin, long black hair (or a wig/dye), and not too buff or stalky
You would really have to make clear that white teenage boys bullying a black teenage boy had nothing to do with racism. In the wizarding world racism in our sense does not exist. Its replaced by discrimination based on blood status (pure-blood, half-blood, mud-blood, blood traitor) or other forms of human existence (Half-giant, Werewolf, …). But the general audience does not know this. So the show would have to explain this. But how? I can only see 2 options: - Breaking the 4th wall by a narrator who explains how the world works (would be weird and lame) - You make at least one of the Marauders also Black (and risk creating another backlash by fans) Maybe I'm closed minded but I just prefer a 100% faithful adaption of the books including how characters looked. And I always took Snape's description as him being white (it has nothing to do with Alan Rickman's portrayal). So it's really hard to imagine him otherwise. I agree with you that choosing an actor who looks like 30 is really important.
@ObsessiveGeek Well, I thought the movies were just mediocre because they were not 100% faithful. That's the reason why I was excited when the TV show was announced.
5:10 The issue lies in the fact that the series promotes itself as striving to stay faithful to the books. When a casting choice doesn't align with the character's physical description as detailed in the source material, it feels like a discouraging start - especially since they haven't even begun filming yet. Unlike the films, which had the flexibility to take significant artistic liberties and deviate from the books, this series is being marketed as one that will remain closely aligned with the original text. With that in mind, I can’t help but feel disappointed and skeptical about whether the series will truly be a faithful representation of the books, despite it being very early days of course.
@@ObsessiveGeek Even in the chapter illustrations for Snape in the books, he is depicted as being white. This is how the author imagined him being as she was writing the books and these could only have been approved by her if it matched her vision for how the character looked. Just because he isn't explicitly stated to be white in the actual text doesn't mean that his appearance is in question. It has been established for many years already.
Thank you. That's exactly what concerns me. f you claim you're going to stay faithful to the books, you need to do it. One of the best things of the films is seeing the characters you imagined come to life, and when you make these changes, that magic is lost.
@@ObsessiveGeek Not this nonsense again. People said the same thing about Hermione when a black actress played her in the stage play, but it's obvious to everyone that both Hermione and Snape are intended to be white characters
@@DonkeyFrost129MC Whenever a non-white character shows up they are described as such, meaning every other character is assumed to be white. Are we all playing dumb on purpose or what?
Snape was described as pale - (From Wikipedia) "A Black person can appear paler than usual due to conditions like anemia (low blood iron) causing a lack of oxygen in the blood, which can make any skin tone appear pale" -and I can't imagine Snape suffering from anemia.
My main issue with Paapa Essiedu is that it doesn’t make sense for Death Eaters to be POCs when they’re basically an allegory for white supremacists, but I also just think Snape’s character is improved by being a pale, greasy white boy who doesn’t look like he ever goes outside. I’m sure he’s a talented actor, the race swap just opens a can of worms that I would need them to address in the writing, but I’m open to it, I’m not one of those people who’s gonna boycott the show over something like this lol
I agree with you, but I'm eager to see the show to see how they do it. Stay positive and hope for the best because, if it doesn't work, we'll still have the movies 🤷♂
@@udraj914 Boycotting Harry Potter only does the opposite effect as has been shown time and time again. Best strategy for people who want it to fail is not watch, not talk about it and hope it falls into obscurity, just like the Fantastic Beasts movies have.
the weasleys are known for their red hair. ask someone the first thing they think of when they think of weasleys and chances are they will say red hair. when thinking of snape, you don't immediately think of white. you might imagine alan rickman, who is white, but you don't think "white" like you think "ginger" when it comes to the weasleys.
@@JayRoth-t1c do black ppl have straight hair? Because the first thing you think off about Snape is HOOKED nose (which black ppl do not have either) and greasy curtains of black hair, yellow teeth. The character's whose skin colour is NOT specified are white, because UK is predominantly white country, like all Europe. Especially, in 90s. Whiteness doesn't need specification because it's dominant in the area already. Period.
@@JayRoth-t1c I can guarantee that they will make the Weasleys red-haired in the show. Why? Because they are described that way in the books. Therefore, surely they should make Snape look as close as possible to his book description too? A change in race is a pretty drastic change
Snape is described in the books as having "pale as marble skin" in his last confrontation against Voldie. Plus, would you have a problem if a black character is white in this new series? But who cares anyway, they won't do it
Well, they did the black to white swap with Lavender Brown. In the first films she was portrait by a black actress and when her role got bigger in the 5th film they changed her into a white actress. No many people seemed to have care much at that time.
I can only speak for myself, and I do care. I would care if Kingsley Shacklebolt was portayed as white or Xo Xang as white. They promised us accuracy, and it seems like we wont get it.
@@maja-kehn9130 Although she is white in the books, so. In one scene Harry is described as not being able to tell which hand belonged to who, between Ron and Lavender, when they were making out. That says it as clear as day.
@@maja-kehn9130nobody cared because her race is never specified in the book...so I take issue with that replacement only because I feel bad for the initial actress.
The thing that makes me hesitate with a black man as snape is the constant comments about his greasy hair/unwashed hair, how am I supposed to be able to justify the other characters hatred towards him if it just feels racially motivated?
I just think a white actor can capture Snape better. Snape is always described as pale, and a person of color could make this work, but his paleness seems like his defining feature, and how he is always dead inside. Plus, people will bring up the fact that a black kid is the one getting bullied, and that the movies made Snape less evil when he was white. Since we know they’re gonna make Snape the ********** that he really is in the books, people are gonna start comparing it
Look… there are other things to take into consideration when casting an actor for a role than just “does he have the acting chops” they also need to look the part. They need a healthy combination of both. I’m not bashing his acting abilities but he doesn’t look AT ALL the way Snape is described. No hooked nose. No sallow skin. No long black greasy hair. We aren’t talking about some side character. Snape is a character who is frequently front and center in the series.
@@cowboyorangesoda8408 but the controversy isn’t about his personality, it is about his appearance simply not being book accurate. Imagine if Dumbledore were being bald for example, it’s be different from his description in the book, even though it wouldn’t change his personality.
@@vignotum132 Bald dumbledore lol aside, Because long white/silver/grey hair is typically viewed as a visual representation of an old wise man, which dumbledore is right? If he were black (I'm not suggesting he should be) he would still have the hair as black people, every people, grow long white hair in old age. Does that make sense? I see where you are coming from but in this particular example, it's not the same parallel.
If this guy was a real Harry Potter fan he would know that the book specifically say that Snape is white. “ And now Snape looked at Voldemort, and Snape’s face was like a death mask. It was marble white and so still that when he spoke, it was a shock to see that anyone lived behind those blank eyes.” “ There was a terrible scream. Harry saw Snape’s face losing the little color it had left; it whitened as his black eyes widened, as the snake’s fangs pierced his neck, as he failed to push the enchanted cage off himself, as his knees gave way and he fell to the floor.” The TV show said it was going to be a faithful adaptation of the books. Making Snape white is no different than making Cho Chang white, Angelina Johnson asian or Harry Potter black.
Honestly, what annoys me the most about these people is they don't have the guts to say what they actually think. Stop hiding behind plausible deniability when we all know he was white in the books. You don't care if he is black? Fine. Just don't pretend like he could have been in the books.
This is going to be a disaster. Recasting characters based off skin color and calling hagrid a comic relif character is.... Amazon's Rings of Power 2.0 incoming
Cho Chang should be blonde then? Fleur should be Malay? Hell, Rowling's "Brits only" prohibition should be lifted? At some point, connection to the source material and its collective consciousness and deviation from it only engenders sighs from fans that presume that the adaptation will take liberties that skew from the books, change plot points, or attempt to tell a narrative not explicitly in the books.
You make all good points but this will be seen as different. We don’t want a black man because we are racist, not because he doesn’t fit the character 🙄
With the argument that he might be the best actor who applied for the role, he might be, but that giant make him the best Snape. Race, accent, heigh and other physical differences that we are born with do factor who is best for a role. It’s an advantage for some roles and a disadvantage for others.
I still think Mark Addy is the best person for Hagrid. My issue with Paapa is this that this series is based on being a faithful adaptation and not faithfully adapting the characters is a problem.
I am SO OVER and SO DONE with the news of SUPPOSEDLY casting this or that actor. Cant they just normally cast the actor and then just properly announce! WHAT IS UP!
How about instead of lazily raceswappng Snape and Hermoine we use the extra time to flesh out the POC characters already in the books. Similar to what HBO did with the gay characters in The Last of Us adaptation. Sincerely a black person.
I really want Nick Frost as Hagrid, but Brett Goldstein would be incredible! I always knew I wanted him in this show *somewhere,* but my first thoughts were Snape and Sirius!
As a black guy. I don’t agree with a blank person playing Snape. Every character other than Snape, the Weasleys, the Potters, the Dursleys I would be all for having non-white actors. There’s just something about these characters that I think will be missing from a black actor. It goes the same way with a lot of characters that were written to be black, it would feel wrong having a white actor.
Just don't raceswap anybody it's not necessary, if you want true diversity expand and on the characters that are of colour that already exist but maybe that's too subtle for people wanting controversy.
JK Rowling herself literally drew pictures of what all the HP characters looked like and this is very well known from the onset of her becoming famous on TV. She drew Snape pretty much just the way all illustrations of what Snape should look like, Hooked nose, greesy long hair to around the shoulders and pale. Bascially a white skinny tall ugly white guy.
2:25 I could be misremembering, but wasn't this said in a behind-the-scenes featurette to be genuine and that they left it in because they felt it really showed off the natural camaraderie between the actors?
who cares? I do - he was based on a white person, there are drawings where he is portrayed as white (by JK) so this guy as Snape is an OUT for me! I am NOT watching the series - if I do not gett a book accurate Snape and he for me is NOT it. I have not seen him in anything The "new" snape does not have to live up to Alan Rickman because film Snape and book Snape are not the same. Film Snape was sort of comedic relief - in the later movies - like showving the kids he was NOT mean enough and I loved Alan Rickman in most of his roles and Snape is not one of the ones I enjoy him in - sorry. (not because he is not a good actors, for m he was just not the book Snape I was hoping to get) And neither would be the handsome actor they are now considering BOOK accurate, age wise and otherwise. All I am asking for!
JK didn’t do any drawings of the characters, the only drawing she ever made was the one of Hogwarts and the surrounding grounds. Every character depiction is by a commissioned artist. Beyond this JK is part of the casting process so if someone gets the ok it’s because JK said so.
@@ObsessiveGeek JK has proven she doesn't respect her own canon anymore when she endorsed the Cursed Child script and wrote the Fantastic Beasts screenplays. You can't rewrite your own canon. If it contradicts what was there before, it's not canon, no matter how much "you have changed your mind" or "feel like improving upon it".
People like to think that race doesn't matter, but then want more diversity and representation. It's all a double standard. You can't not care about what race a character is, then want to forcibly change a character to be a race it wasn't. I'm mexican and I don't want mexican people on the show. It's not a show set in Mexico. It's set in 1990's UK, and people of color in that time were around 1% or less of the population. The books already have a diverse cast of characters, why change what is already established?
3:55 - Other people have pointed out that Snape is described as having a white face in the books, so I will only mention one other thing about his appearance that differs from Paapa Essiedu's. Snape is described as having long, greasy hair. Paapa Essiedu's parents are Ghanaian, so he would have very curly hair, which would be an afro if grown long. Unless they plan on relaxing his hair for every episode he appears in and then making it look greasy (which I don't think they would do), his hair would not look like Snape's in the books. That's not a huge appearance difference, but that combined with his face being white, your statement is not true that Snape's appearance is not technically described to be different from Essiedu's.
If they were going to race swap any character I would have hoped for Lupin. It's hard in the Harry Potter universe because of all the interconnected families being central to the plot and I'm sure they wanted to race swap a character that would be a regular not one season. The other options would have been even worse backlash. The golden trio? Dumbledore? McGonagall? Not likely.
I personally would like to use the opportunity of a long form format to explore more of the diverse characters that already exist in the world of Harry Potter rather than lazy race swapping. We can have more of Dumbledore's and Grindelwald's relationship, Lupin as a werewolf (an alude to AIDS) delve deeper into characters like the Patel twins, what it was like for Dean Thomas being a halfblood AND black etc not to mention characters like Cho Chang and Kingsley etc. Snape being black and essentially joining the magical world's version of a white supremacist's group would be problematic, as would Hermione being black and effectively championing elvish rights against slavery and largely being ignored....If the producers want to be more inclusive then they should expand on the universe, not take away from it. Positive discrimination is still discrimination after all.
This. Even before the casting rumors this is what I have always wanted from this show - an expansion to the side characters. There is already diversity. It might not be good enough for some people since they're not the main roles.
so if one of the biggest selling points of the entire show was book accuracy, in what world does it make sense to cast someone as far away from snape as he can be? clown world.
Our criticism will never be seen as valid by these people. Just like I wouldn't be happy with it being done to Angelena Johnson, or even smaller things like hair colot being different. But you'll always be accused of racism in this instance. Sure, it's not world ending, but it sure is annoying.
Normally, I don’t mind when adaptations depart from their source material for artistic or practical purposes. And yes, the Harry Potter films departed from the books in several ways. But the entire point of this new show was to depict these stories accurately (and to make a truckload of money). That was the promise that was made to the fans. You can try to rationalize why actors who clearly don’t fit these roles actually do because of anomalies and technicalities, but we all understand what the books implied in terms of the characters’ physical appearances. I’m so tired of this evil game that Hollywood plays-they change core dimensions of timeless characters for no artistic purpose, then make the ridiculous, reductive, instigative, tired claim that anyone who dislikes it is a bigot. Anyone with a functioning brain understands that this has nothing to do with bigotry. This has to do with fidelity to the source material. Yes, I’m annoyed at that Snape has likely been race-swapped. But I’d be just as upset if Dean Thomas, Cho Chang, the Patils or Kingsley Shacklebolt were race-swapped. Or if Griphook was 6 ft tall. Or a twelve year old girl played Fenrir Greyback. We want to see the characters we all imagined as described by Rowling. If this show isn’t faithful to the appearances of the characters, who’s to say it will be faithful to the plot? It seems to me like we’re not getting what we were promised and I’ve all but lost complete interest. Super disappointing.
My main issue with this discussion is the ghaslighting that tends to happen in order for it, not only to be ok, but to be "good, actually, and if you don't like it you're a bigot". I'm so sick of this.
@@damgful That infuriates me to no end. And I know most white people only go along with this out of fear of being perceived as a bad person they know it's silly, black people go along with this because they just see it as some kind of cheap win and they usually are not fans of the product.
@ Exactly. If they wanted to depart from the source material so heavily, all they had to do was say that the purpose of this show was to do something different. Fine. Don’t know how interested I’d have been, but fine.
One video I saw from a POC TikTok (I can’t remember the name) was casting Snape as a black man kinda throws Harry and James into a really unflattering/unfavourable light. Even before Harry learns about the rivalry between his parents, Harry’s first impression of him is one of unease and unnerving. It just gives icky connotations.
With the way you said “talked a stranger into..” the -er in stranger was definitely West Country enough to play Hagrid yourself! Sincerely, a West Country guy with a pair of stilts, hopeful of getting the casting call 🤞🏻🤣
You didn't really believe that "faithful adaptations of the books" lie, did you? The books make it clear how ghostly white his skin is in several places. But then the people that made that 'cursed child' play didn't let the book's description of "Hermione's pale face peeking around the tree" stop them from race swapping her for the play, but I don't recall them promising to be faithful to the books, either.
Like it or not , changing a characters race alone is going to automatically add a lot of new stories and dynamics to the story in the eye of the public, especially with today social media , ppl are gonna say lily was racist for not liking snape , or James and Sirius was racist because he was a rich white English boy who hated snape for no reason…people are going add these narratives to the story which will greatly impact this adaptation which is supposedly be “more accurate “, I’m not saying the adaptation is gonna add these new dynamics and racism but the public will 100% project those feelings and change the entire flow of these characters
As much as I LOVE Alan Rickman as Snape, the Snape character needs to be more cruel and evil. Whether it was Rickman or just the script, Rickman’s adaptation painted Snape in a way that didn’t make him hated. In a way I think it diluted from the Prince’s Tale in the Deathly Hallows, because you didn’t truly hate Rickman’s Snape. I could care less if Snape is black or white as long as I HATE his character.
My biggest issue I have and could see with casting someone black as Snape is that I dont want to see them either ignore or be forced into addressing racism as a potential reason for his issues with James and the other marauders. The series is meant to stick as close to the novels as possible and they are already going to struggle with fitting everything that is already there into the series without forcing more issues. As far as any other people who didnt look the part as close in the movies I think the ages do need to line up closer, Harry absolutely needs to have bright green eyes, Hermoine should have bigger buck teeth even if a prosthetic etc. Readers want the characters they imagined to jump off the page onto screen as close as they can be made to appear.
As long as he's a greasy git I'm fine with it😅 Great video! You're definitly making sense! It'll take some getting used I'm sure but that's going to be the case for all the characters
If this show is meant to be a direct adaptation of the book, how does the Snape cast work??? How will they write the scenes of James Potter bullying Snape? Make it make sense.
Isn't Snape hair also described as STRAIGHT. Do black ppl EVER have straight hair? Besides, JKR own sketch of Snape looks like Rasputin from Anastasia movie. Surprise - he's white, as was her teacher, she loosely based the character from.
The Perfect Cast Dumbledore: Michael Caine Snape: Keanu Reeves Lupin: Taylor Lautner Sirius: Jack Black Magonagal: Margot Robbie Hagrid: Dwayne Johnson Victor Krum: Channing Tatum Fleur Delacour: Taylor Swift Dobby: Danny Devito Peter Pettigrew: Jonah Hill Umbridge: Amber Heard Mad Eye Moody: Jackie Chan Bellatrix: Lizzo Voldemort: Jason Statham
Yeah, all these comments talking about the colour of Paapa's skin and not his acting ability tell you all you need to know about the "just hire the best person for the job" crowd. He's acted on the most prestigious stages in the world, and anyone who's seen him in The Lazarus Project knows he has the range for Snape. I hope he doesn't do it though, he deserves far better than having to deal with a racist fandom.
dude, just look around. the majority of people who dont want a black Snape are people of colour. We just dont want token representation. It is insulting. If we go by your logic of best performing actor at the audition, will a white guy get the role of Kingsley if he out performed the black actors?
@@udraj914 Token representation is casting him because he's black. All I'm saying is that if he were cast, it wouldn't be because he's black. Is it really that absurd to you to consider the merits of his acting at all? Also love that you went for the guy with the ridiculous black name and not Dean Thomas. What a bad faith argument.
I actually kinda agree with you. I hate forced diversity, but if the guy who’s rumored to be cast as Snape was, in fact, the best casting for the role, I’m sure he will do a good job. It’s ONLY going to ruin things for me if he doesn’t embody the slimy cruelty that we see in the books
@@udraj914 This is the counter argument that never gets a proper reply. If it does, it will be in an isolated instance where it's strawmaned beyond recognition, but it will never be engaged with in a proper conversation. Really makes me wonder why.
I've seen a few different names touted about for Dumbledore - none seem to be stronger rumours than the rest yet from what I've seen so I thought I'd hold back my thoughts
I've said it before and I'm gonna say it again. If they change any characters' race, gender or sexuality i'm gonna lose it. And no that doesn't make me a sexist, racist etc. I don't care if they have black characters, female characters and gay characters. Just make sure it's new characters that we don't know about. You don't go and change characters that are already set in stone. Those characters are already made. It's disrespectful. Even my friend agrees with me and he's black and very serious about that stuff. That already tells you that I'm right.
Out of all the characters, Snape has to be white. If they wanted to cast a POC central character to the plot, a great choice would be a marauder - perhaps even Wormtail (i’ll explain why). Snape is a through allegory an !ncel who becomes a wh!te supremacist / terror!st. He becomes reformed but not really and still treats people, notably teens, horribly. We NEED this key representation of these types of characters book accurate white people because it is showing the dark side of history and our current issues today, and losing that very literal imagery in a character is going to destroy that. Having some Death Eaters as POC, such as Wormtail to show how POC people can get swept up in wh!te supremacy and perpetuate violence even on their own communities/loved ones [like the MAGA people voting against their loved ones rights] is powerful. I really hope they do not make this casting mistake, it will actually destroy the series
Bro really somehow brought "MAGA" into a discussion about British wizard Nazis from the 90s 😅 How about we don't try to make any dumb connections or references to modern American politics in a retelling of a 30 year old British story written by a British writer, lol.
Personally I feel the way the characters look is very very important not just that they played a character well in auditions ! They need to be faithful to the books as they have claimed. Snape has a hook nose , a curtain of greasy hair as well as many more descriptions. Also the ramifications of the back story involving the marauders would cause HUGE backlash and be hailed as a hate crime. I hope that over the many years the production crew involved in the new series have taken notice of how loyal and aware of details the HP fans are because after all the current fans are the target audience with the hope of gaining a younger generation of fans too. I truly hope the casting is done faithfully and not to pander to the woke brigade.
It is not pandering to find the best person for the job, that isn’t necessarily that they look exactly like the description it’s that they can hold themselves in a way that feels authentic to the type of person that character is. I also find the narrative to shut down diversity as a negative is highly problematic when the entire point of Hogwarts is its a safe haven for an incredibly diverse range of people, many who who are unjustly looked down on for who/what they are. We absolutely should not be pandering to the woke is bad crowd, if you see people of different race as a huge deal you are the problem. These are fictional characters in a fantasy setting at the end of the day, you need to set aside your ideas that are very likely strongly influenced by the movies.
@@ObsessiveGeek I hope you wouldn't suddenly change your mind about "finding the best person for the job" if they suddenly cast a white guy for the role of Kingsley. Sure, you might say it's about more diversity so you'd have a problem with it, but then don't say it's about the best person for the role. I'm tired of people not saying what they actually mean and hiding behind layers and arguments so they sound more palatable.
I mean, makeup and costumes can really turn somebody into something they’re not naturally. If he’s a good actor, puts on a good accent, and they get the makeup and costume design right, it could really turn out to be a great casting. Anything is possible though
Brett Goldstein plays really well off his young niece Phoebe in Ted Lasso so could probably do the same with the Potter cast. He can definitely do the drama and the comedy, I just wonder if he's a little young if he went to school at the same time as Voldemort.
I knew they would randomly make someone black every show and every movie has to do it now. I'm in no way racist. I don't care if there's black people in movies but don't make characters black that weren't or aren't supposed to be
Can’t imagine Goldstein as hagrid because you associate him with a different accent, no problem with papa playing Snape though. Nothing that will take you out of the immersion there.
I think Brett Goldstein is awesome, and I believe he can bring a lot to the role of Hagrid... I still think it's too soon for this, the movies are still new enough to make this series, ESPECIALLY the casting, difficult to make diehard fans buy into it.
All those changes u mentioned absolutely bothered me and hindered me enjoying the movies. I have never enjoyed movies after Chamber of Secrets coz all the changes, omissions annoyed me so much. Somethings I gave them a pass since it was movies with a time limit. TV show is one chance to make it right, but they seem to be going the opposite direction. My argument against Snape being black is, it enforces all the negative stereotypes about black peopole, abusive absentee father, poor, obsessed with a white girl and stalker, bullied for looks especially large nose. This will make James and Sirius racists. Please, I am saying this as a brown woman. We absolutely DO NOT appreciate this race swapping thing and calling it "diversity". It is insulting to be treated as an afterthought: "oh shit, we forgot to add a black character, we need that to fill the diversity quota. Lets pick the most controversial character to be black, and if the shows flops we can blame the audience as racists" The argument about people should be casted based on their talent, does it apply the other way round too? Like, if a white actor performs the best in a character originally black, will they be given the role? Also if we are going by your argument that race swapping is the best choice to avoid being compared to Alan Rickman, it applies to every character. Every single character will be compared to the movie actors, so are we gonna race swap all of them?
There are no arguments. It's all post-hoc rationalizations masked as such. People have a problem with it or they like it and they try to make up arguments to defend how they feel about it from there. I am in your camp, even though I'm white, but I would be equally as bothered by them doing this to someone like Dean Thomas. At least they can't call you racist for it. Why does everything have to be about the culture war nowadays, with everyone else getting lumped into it as well? All I wanted was to be as close to the books as possible. If you want to make changes and be creative, then don't work in a project that requires you to adapt the work of someone else. I'm tired of adaptations trying to be do something different. It's not your work to change. Yes, I even hold this position with things like "The Shining". It's about the principle of it and, to me, it's disrespectful to the original, no matter how much better it can be.
@@damgful You don't get to decide you're in the culture war, you get dragged into it because they take your favourite things to do this to them. I don't want to be discussing race or gender when trying to enjoy my favourite past time but they make foolish decisions like this and then I haven't got a choice.
Really like your channel man serious, but please don't go justifying this stuff. Over the past few years, audiences have proven that this stuff does not work and is far more off putting than "progressive". As well, it shows a lack of faith in the project from the studio, they know full well no one can "replace" Alan, but to then say they want to take it in a different direction, whilst saying they want to be more faithful to the books? nah, go down this route and it will be cancelled faster than Harry can say Expelliarmus
🤔 Interesting take. I think the biggest issue that will happen if the casting turns out to be true is the Harry Potter Fandom will go through a similar growing pain as what happened when Leah Jeffreys was cast as Annabeth in the Percy Jackson Show after we were told we were going to get a faithful book adaptation of that and unlike Snape she is explicitly stated to be a blonde haired gray-eyed white girl in the books as opposed to Jeffreys who is well not that. That being said, most fans backed off when we watched the show, and aside from appearance, she fit the role brilliantly. I bring this up mostly to say if He is Snape, he has quite the uphill battle ahead of him as he will have to fit all other aspects of the Book's Character to account for the appearance factor being different from fan expectations and also it was always going to be an uphill fight to fill Alan Rickman’s Shoes. The only criticism I ever had for him in the role was his age; otherwise, he was the perfect Snape.
It is a visual product. How Snape looks matters. It matters whether it is his attractiveness or skin tone. I'm so glad the thinly veiled desire to call opposition to this change racist is no longer effective. Get off your high horse.
They’ll love to make a black snape so they can imply racial undertones to the bullying. They’ll love to make black Hermione so they can imply racial undertones to the whole SPEW storyline. They think they’re slick, but it’s cheap and lazy.
Please tell me they're joking about Hagrid.... Oh actually we don't see the costume yet! They're still hope! And I swear if they don't give Snape at least a wig! And not focusing on his race, that'll be good.... But the chances are low....
Who cares? We do! I would also have a problem if you cast Kingsley Schkelbolt as some average white dude or turned Cho Chang into a whiny Black girl. These characters have clear descriptions to their names. If they are already going so far off from what the characters are supposed to look like, what's the point of this show? We were promised a more accurate version of the books that includes what the characters are meant to look like. By the way, skin colour aside, the actor is also way too handsome to play Snape.
Not so long ago; This community trashed JK Rowling over a misunderstood tweet that was then wrongfully quoted and shared. Supposedly to protect the trans community. And now look at you people making racist comments and videos... You hypocrites disgust me. "It's okay to be different" is the overarching message in Harry Potter. As a Hufflepuff; I'm dissapointed and disgusted by you all.
people just love to complain but wont acknowledge the book inaccuracies of the films. "You have your mothers eyes" yet Harry didnt have his mother's eyes at all. And because i know im gonna get comments let me just say this. Yes i know they tried to give Daniel Radcliffe contacts and that didnt work but they didnt even try other alternatives like giving the actressess that portrayed his mother contacts. They just got lazy and tried one method and thats it. Or they couldve CGI his eyes to make it look like he actually had his mothers eyes but they didnt do that either. The Potters died at the age of 21 yet in the movie they looked 40 year olds. The Mauraders and Snape were supposed to be in their 30s yet they all looked like 50 Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks are supposed to be husband and wife yet Remus looked like he could be her father. Like you said Dumbledore straight up changed after Richard Harris's recasting and Dumbledore said "Harry did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?" But not calmly. Draco Malfoy was supposed to have GREY eyes yet Tom Felton didnt.
The key difference here though is that whilst the films were allowed to deviate away from the source material and take artistic liberties, the upcoming series is being marketed as being a more faithful adaptation of the books which should focus on straying away from the books as little as possible. So you can't really compare the two in this particular way as the films overall are a more loose adaptation of the books due to time limitations and decisions made by the cast and crew. Many fans have also acknowledged the inaccuracies of the films and frequently compare them to the books, so I disagree with you there because I personally see them brought up a lot in discussion groups in places such as Facebook and Reddit and in videos here on UA-cam.
@IG7799-c4u ok fair but compared to the other rumored choice for Snape it still won't be book accurate either cause the other rumored choice is Mark Strong. Severus Snape is described to be in his early 30s yet Mark Strong is 61. How the hell does he look in the early 30s? The youngest he looks is somewhat 40s. So Mark Strong also isn't book accurate. Yes he's white, yet u can put a wig on him, yes you can make him look younger through makeup or CGI but think about this. If they do go the full 10 years from start to end, Mark Strong will be in his 70s portraying a 40 year old Snape in seasons 5 and 6.
Can anyone explain why it’s important for Snape to be white? I’ve not heard a good argument. Even if he’s described as a white dude, which I’m not sure that he is, that’s like at the bottom of the list of things that make Snape, Snape.
Yes, it isn’t important for him to be white. But it isn’t important for Angelina to be black. We should keep these things not because it’s important to the plot, but because it’s one of the many things that makes the characters who they are in the books
Snape has to be white because the Death Eaters represent white supremacists. The blood purity is basically the one drop rule for skin colour. If Snape is not white, he breaks that allegory and flips it on it’s head - Snape is no longer a selfish and cruel person supporting a racist regime, who was bullied by kids like him. He’s now the victim of racially motivated bullying in school and could be justified in his actions by some. Suddenly the good characters (HP, Order of the Pheonix, DA, etc) aren’t fighting the wizard Nazis from taking power, they are fighting a group who accepted POC people rather than trying to erradicate them. The entire story makes no sense because of this one casting change
Also, this brings a possible complication. He would be a black kid getting bullied by a white kid. Him being black would have a domino effect, even if the show doesn’t address it
Especially a group of white kids targeting a lonely black kid.
Maybe everyone is black
@@ObsessiveGeekexcept for Sirius
Actually this would enhance the Snape character it would be understandable why he becomes who he is
@@TheFancastPodcastthat changes way too much!
Except:
- Snape’s lips were shaking, his face was white, his teeth were bared.
- As Gryffindors came spilling onto the field, he saw Snape land nearby, white faced and tight lipped.
- Snape's face was like a death mask. It was marble white.
Nothing make up and prosthetics can't fix!
After fantastic beasts (that didn't have fantastic box office) they'd want to save some money on that
The usage of the word "white" here has nothing to do with his race, it is used to describe an emotion that he is feeling and the physical effect it has on one's body. When you are scared or angry or nervous, the blood drains from your face, making you appear paler, despite your race.
@aaronconvery No they can’t.
@aaronconvery so you’re proposing that they’re going to put him in white face?
saying “the movies weren’t accurate either” as a justification for being inaccurate AGAIN is insane. this show is justified as a more faithful adaptation than the movies were! that’s the whole point!
If they change any characters' race, gender or sexuality i'm gonna lose it. And no that doesn't make me a sexist, racist etc. I don't care if they have black characters, female characters and gay characters. Just make sure it's new characters that we don't know about. You don't go and change characters that are already set in stone. Those characters are already made. It's disrespectful.
Even my friend agrees with me and he's black and very serious about that stuff. That already tells you that I'm right.
I was mostly excited for this series because I thought they were going to go head over heels nailing the book to screen accuracy as an improvement from the movies
It's like the Percy Jackson show again. Both were advertised as being more accurate and faithful adaptations against their movie counterparts. But then have the nerve to change character designs and character behavior. I probably could've watched Percy Jackson despite the casting choice but then I saw how they butchered Sally and Gabe domestic abuse dynamic and made Sally into an insufferable girl boss.
The movies were inaccurate to the books but that was largely due to them needing to get as much to fit into several 2 hour long movies and had to cut away the fluff. They still tried being accurate to a certain extent.
I can't believe they rejected the 42-year-old man's Hermione audition. Talk about racist and sexist casting.
😭😂
i hope you're sarcastic cause that comment was so out of this world stupid
Frankly I am glad and very proud.
Honestly, I feel like he would be a good casting role for Kingsley Shacklebolt
That was my thought too!
it says in the book snape has ghostly white skin and long jet black hair
As a person of South Asian heritage, I don't like race swapping characters as it doesn't address the diversity issue for me, it feels forced. When I read the books, I noticed the lack of diversity less as I felt like the proportions matched the UK in the 1990s. I would much rather prefer if they spent more time on the existing minority ethnic characters already in the books who were barely in the movies or added in new characters. With more time due to the TV show format and the fact that there are only about 30 kids in Harry's year (and potentially only 210 in the entire school), they could add more characters. If they were to race swap, I feel like they should stick as close to the books as possible. Snape's description of sallow skin, greasy hair (which is only possible on straight or wavy hair types) and a hooked nose could be interpreted as someone with middle-eastern or south asian heritage.
As someone who grew up during the 90’s I can confirm they were no black people in the UK back then!
@@ObsessiveGeek lol what? not interacting with and not existing are very different things.
@@ObsessiveGeek read the comment again. She is talking about proportions. There were token Chinese (01) and Indian students (02), but 5-6 black characters just in the immediate circle of Harry. Given that Hogwarts had about 200 students max at a given time, the proportions could be close enough, although not 100% accurate.
Notice how it's the white people defending this practice while I see a bunch of people of color against it. Really makes you think how performative these people are, pretending they care about this issue more than even you, at times. It disgusts me.
"Who cares" - We do
Brett it's okay to say that it's not accurate to the books. Saying "Who cares" to a small, but still meaningful aspect of what makes a character's appearance as described in the books when you have made all of these videos about how each season can be as close and accurate to the books as possible shows that your statement is coming from either a place of fear (from backlash) or something else.
Definitely. Everyone is always talking about how this needs to be so book accurate and then they are ok with a change that would make some huge differences (like as others have said, introducing the idea that the marauders are racist)
It’s fear of backlash that stops critical thinking, it’s indoctrination, that makes him spout the same nonsense he’s heard from the people he fears backlash from. No one wants to be labelled a something something-phobic, only some people are confident enough to speak their mind, regardless of the character assassination that follows. Joanne Rowling comes to mind, actually.
Would you dare cast any of the black characters as white? Let's see the double standard. Let the Marauders who all died fighting a magical Hitler be racist for bullying Snape, why not!
I actually got banned from the HPonHBO subreddit for stating this against a guy who was calling someone else racist for "thinking a role should be kept from black people". But I guess fairness isn't a thing that exists on there.
While I would fully expect accusations of racist marauders flooding the internet if Snape was black I would disagree strongly. Just because they'd be bullying a black kid doesn't mean they're racist. It depends on WHY. If they bully him because he's black then obviously yes. But we already know from the books that that's not the reason for their behavior (because he isn't black there).
That does however not mean I'd like to see Snape be black.
Such a narrow ignorance, except the fact you remember snape white, literally nothing objectively changes than that. His character is still the same. The whole "make black panther white then" is not the same, Queen elizabeth wont be made black, Tchalla wont be made white. Snape however, literally why not? And for parity, yes go ahead and make Kingsley Shacklebolt, Dean Thomas and Lee white, who cares
@@cowboyorangesoda8408 If they did this I would still care. I want it to be like the books. It's unecessary to make these changes. It's a matter of preference and there is no right or wrong opinion on this subject.
@@damgful I understand that you'd want it to be like the books and in so many ways it will, but have you ever considered this, that were everything recreated with stricture, you would also have Shakespeare played almost exclusively by white people forever. Even then this wasn't important as men played the women's roles. Do you think that Shakespeare should always be played exactly as written or is a little adaptation actually not that bad sometimes?
I respect your opinion, but, to me, all factors point to Snape being a white man. J.K. portrayed the character to look similar to her own chemist teacher, who had the black curtains, a longer (but maybe not the over-the-top hooked) nose, and was indeed white. She’s also made a scribble of exactly how she imagined Snape back in 1993 (I believe), where he definitely is white. I can’t really recall an example off the top of my head when the colour of his skin is explicitly mentioned apart from in Deathly Hallows when he's speaking with Voldemort in the Shrieking Shack, where it’s described as marble white.
That being said, even if his skin colour wasn’t mentioned at all, J.K. makes it clear in the books when someone is definitively black. Her exact words for depicting Dean Thomas, Angelina Johnson, and Kingsley Shacklebolt were ”black boy”, ”black girl", and ”black man", respectively. She doesn’t say that someone is a ”white boy” or a ”white girl” or so on. Why? Because the story takes place in Britain in the 90s, and therefore everyone is basically assuming, unless something else is said, that the character in question is white. When you’re describing someone, you’re pointing out the most distinguishable features about them, what sets them apart from others, and she deliberately emphasised that these characters were black.
Why the skin colour of a character, generally speaking, is more important to get right compared to, for example, age, eye colour, or buck teeth is due to its simple identifiability. I mean, if you're a witness to a crime, one of the first questions the police officers ask to help them find the criminal is their race. If you noticed the criminal’s general age, gender, or eye colour, you absolutely noticed what the colour of their skin was.
Why do all content creators seem to hold the same position?
Nothing you've said suggests the story would at all if Snape were black this time. Nothing. The character, as in, the intrinsic personality traits and affects, all remain. Only that he wouldn't look like the person who he was based on.
And identifiability isn't important at all when watching TV as characters are called by their names literally all the time, plus we are not required to be 'witnesses' (odd thing to bring up in this context but ok) as we are just watching TV, something we all know to be fantasy and not real life crime or real life altering.
This was beautiful written. Just a add a few points - they tried to give Daniel green colored contacts and he had an allergic reactions and I know they started out giving Hermionie buck teeth and even in the books she repairs them at some point. Not to mention if Snape were black if would create some hiccups in his back story seeing as he was bullied by a group of white boys. I have nothing against race swapping some of the more minor characters seeing as their skin color wouldn't have a big impact (although you can't race swap too many or it wouldn't fit the time and location) but with the main characters I think they should stay true to the books in every way possible!
@@cowboyorangesoda8408 it would alter his arc of being bullied as being racially motivated, deviating from the source material. Also, if it would not affect his intrinsic personality, why is swapping his race for no reason a good idea?
@@cowboyorangesoda8408 If they change any characters' race, gender or sexuality i'm gonna lose it. And no that doesn't make me a sexist, racist etc. I don't care if they have black characters, female characters and gay characters. Just make sure it's new characters that we don't know about. You don't go and change characters that are already set in stone. Those characters are already made. It's disrespectful.
Even my friend agrees with me and he's black and very serious about that stuff. That already tells you that I'm right.
I think the real issue with snape being black brings on racism people will say he was bullied or that lily didn’t like him because of racism also I think Voldemort was probably Racist and wouldn’t be so close with snape
Yeah I don’t get the concept of any POC as Death Eaters when they’re literally the wizarding world equivalent of white supremacists?
If they change any characters' race, gender or sexuality i'm gonna lose it. And no that doesn't make me a sexist, racist etc. I don't care if they have black characters, female characters and gay characters. Just make sure it's new characters that we don't know about. You don't go and change characters that are already set in stone. Those characters are already made. It's disrespectful.
Even my friend agrees with me and he's black and very serious about that stuff. That already tells you that I'm right.
Haha I’m not big on race swapping either. But I don’t think Voldemort was racist, I’m sure if he had loyal black pure-blooded followers he wouldn’t treat them any worse than any other pure-blood.
Appearance plays a significant role in shaping a character, and altering it affects how the story resonates and how they are perceived and understood.
If they change any characters' race, gender or sexuality i'm gonna lose it. And no that doesn't make me a sexist, racist etc. I don't care if they have black characters, female characters and gay characters. Just make sure it's new characters that we don't know about. You don't go and change characters that are already set in stone. Those characters are already made. It's disrespectful.
Even my friend agrees with me and he's black and very serious about that stuff. That already tells you that I'm right.
I would vastly prefer a more book accurate actor. I don’t have a problem slight differences and changes, but not major ones.
What does book accurate look like though?
@@ObsessiveGeekwhite, pale, greasy,
@@ObsessiveGeek snape is described as having yellow, sallow skin. Yes, black people can have sallow skin. But when they do, it doesn’t look yellow. So for Snape, my minimum requirements would be pale skin, long black hair (or a wig/dye), and not too buff or stalky
You would really have to make clear that white teenage boys bullying a black teenage boy had nothing to do with racism.
In the wizarding world racism in our sense does not exist. Its replaced by discrimination based on blood status (pure-blood, half-blood, mud-blood, blood traitor) or other forms of human existence (Half-giant, Werewolf, …). But the general audience does not know this. So the show would have to explain this. But how?
I can only see 2 options:
- Breaking the 4th wall by a narrator who explains how the world works (would be weird and lame)
- You make at least one of the Marauders also Black (and risk creating another backlash by fans)
Maybe I'm closed minded but I just prefer a 100% faithful adaption of the books including how characters looked. And I always took Snape's description as him being white (it has nothing to do with Alan Rickman's portrayal). So it's really hard to imagine him otherwise.
I agree with you that choosing an actor who looks like 30 is really important.
The movies weren’t even close to 100% faithful yet everyone loves them anyway.
All that’s really important is the story is told well.
@ObsessiveGeek Well, I thought the movies were just mediocre because they were not 100% faithful. That's the reason why I was excited when the TV show was announced.
google John Nettleship
@@merisav4171 Thanks for the tip. Did not know that.
Lets make Sirius black. 😁
5:10 The issue lies in the fact that the series promotes itself as striving to stay faithful to the books. When a casting choice doesn't align with the character's physical description as detailed in the source material, it feels like a discouraging start - especially since they haven't even begun filming yet. Unlike the films, which had the flexibility to take significant artistic liberties and deviate from the books, this series is being marketed as one that will remain closely aligned with the original text. With that in mind, I can’t help but feel disappointed and skeptical about whether the series will truly be a faithful representation of the books, despite it being very early days of course.
What part isn’t faithful?
Snape is NOT described as white
@@ObsessiveGeek Even in the chapter illustrations for Snape in the books, he is depicted as being white. This is how the author imagined him being as she was writing the books and these could only have been approved by her if it matched her vision for how the character looked. Just because he isn't explicitly stated to be white in the actual text doesn't mean that his appearance is in question. It has been established for many years already.
Thank you. That's exactly what concerns me. f you claim you're going to stay faithful to the books, you need to do it. One of the best things of the films is seeing the characters you imagined come to life, and when you make these changes, that magic is lost.
@@ObsessiveGeek Not this nonsense again. People said the same thing about Hermione when a black actress played her in the stage play, but it's obvious to everyone that both Hermione and Snape are intended to be white characters
@@DonkeyFrost129MC Whenever a non-white character shows up they are described as such, meaning every other character is assumed to be white. Are we all playing dumb on purpose or what?
Snape was described as pale -
(From Wikipedia)
"A Black person can appear paler than usual due to conditions like anemia (low blood iron) causing a lack of oxygen in the blood, which can make any skin tone appear pale"
-and I can't imagine Snape suffering from anemia.
My main issue with Paapa Essiedu is that it doesn’t make sense for Death Eaters to be POCs when they’re basically an allegory for white supremacists, but I also just think Snape’s character is improved by being a pale, greasy white boy who doesn’t look like he ever goes outside. I’m sure he’s a talented actor, the race swap just opens a can of worms that I would need them to address in the writing, but I’m open to it, I’m not one of those people who’s gonna boycott the show over something like this lol
I agree with you, but I'm eager to see the show to see how they do it. Stay positive and hope for the best because, if it doesn't work, we'll still have the movies 🤷♂
It's an allegory. Snapes race isn't really an important factor in the books. Say what you really mean...
I wouldnt boycott over this, but since they were bragging about hiring writers who havent read the books, I might be boycotting
@@udraj914 Boycotting Harry Potter only does the opposite effect as has been shown time and time again. Best strategy for people who want it to fail is not watch, not talk about it and hope it falls into obscurity, just like the Fantastic Beasts movies have.
Same. I wouldn't boycott over this necessarily but I'm not sure.
At least he looks the right age...
Do you really think jk rowling was thinking of a black man when writing snape? I mean seriously?
I also have never seen an art piece, whether official or fan produced that depicts the character as black.
No, she wasn't. But I also think she wouldn't care at all, if a black man was cast. And neither do I.
It's funny that you bring JK into the conversation when she is 100% working on the casting of the show and totally ok with that choice
not my Snape
do you really think jk rowling was thinking of a beautiful actress while writing hermione? no. did emma watson play the role incredibly? yes.
If we're going with a black Snape, does that mean we're gonna have blonde Weasleys as well...?
the weasleys are known for their red hair. ask someone the first thing they think of when they think of weasleys and chances are they will say red hair. when thinking of snape, you don't immediately think of white. you might imagine alan rickman, who is white, but you don't think "white" like you think "ginger" when it comes to the weasleys.
@@JayRoth-t1cYou do if you’ve read the books. Which most of us hav done and WB said they would do a FAITHFUL adaptation of.
@@JayRoth-t1c do black ppl have straight hair? Because the first thing you think off about Snape is HOOKED nose (which black ppl do not have either) and greasy curtains of black hair, yellow teeth.
The character's whose skin colour is NOT specified are white, because UK is predominantly white country, like all Europe. Especially, in 90s. Whiteness doesn't need specification because it's dominant in the area already. Period.
@@JayRoth-t1c I can guarantee that they will make the Weasleys red-haired in the show. Why? Because they are described that way in the books. Therefore, surely they should make Snape look as close as possible to his book description too? A change in race is a pretty drastic change
@JayRoth-t1c And Snape is known for his whiteness.
Snape is described in the books as having "pale as marble skin" in his last confrontation against Voldie. Plus, would you have a problem if a black character is white in this new series? But who cares anyway, they won't do it
Well, they did the black to white swap with Lavender Brown. In the first films she was portrait by a black actress and when her role got bigger in the 5th film they changed her into a white actress. No many people seemed to have care much at that time.
I can only speak for myself, and I do care. I would care if Kingsley Shacklebolt was portayed as white or Xo Xang as white. They promised us accuracy, and it seems like we wont get it.
@@maja-kehn9130 Although she is white in the books, so. In one scene Harry is described as not being able to tell which hand belonged to who, between Ron and Lavender, when they were making out. That says it as clear as day.
@@maja-kehn9130nobody cared because her race is never specified in the book...so I take issue with that replacement only because I feel bad for the initial actress.
The thing that makes me hesitate with a black man as snape is the constant comments about his greasy hair/unwashed hair, how am I supposed to be able to justify the other characters hatred towards him if it just feels racially motivated?
I just think a white actor can capture Snape better. Snape is always described as pale, and a person of color could make this work, but his paleness seems like his defining feature, and how he is always dead inside. Plus, people will bring up the fact that a black kid is the one getting bullied, and that the movies made Snape less evil when he was white. Since we know they’re gonna make Snape the ********** that he really is in the books, people are gonna start comparing it
Look… there are other things to take into consideration when casting an actor for a role than just “does he have the acting chops” they also need to look the part. They need a healthy combination of both. I’m not bashing his acting abilities but he doesn’t look AT ALL the way Snape is described. No hooked nose. No sallow skin. No long black greasy hair. We aren’t talking about some side character. Snape is a character who is frequently front and center in the series.
Going by this logic you should be up at arms if it’s a white man WITHOUT a hooked nose, which is clearly a Very dumb argument to make
4:17 he is also described as ”pale”
And white several times in the books.
But its never, "And Snape snapped at Harry because that's what white people do" His personality remains the same
@@cowboyorangesoda8408 but the controversy isn’t about his personality, it is about his appearance simply not being book accurate. Imagine if Dumbledore were being bald for example, it’s be different from his description in the book, even though it wouldn’t change his personality.
@@vignotum132 Bald dumbledore lol aside, Because long white/silver/grey hair is typically viewed as a visual representation of an old wise man, which dumbledore is right? If he were black (I'm not suggesting he should be) he would still have the hair as black people, every people, grow long white hair in old age. Does that make sense? I see where you are coming from but in this particular example, it's not the same parallel.
@@vignotum132 Also, for the record pale isn't really a colour more a lack of, everyone can run pale and you can tell paleness in every skin tone
Imagine if they remade the rocky movies and they made Apollo creed white, people would riot
If this guy was a real Harry Potter fan he would know that the book specifically say that Snape is white.
“ And now Snape looked at Voldemort, and Snape’s face was like a death mask. It was marble white and so still that when he spoke, it was a shock to see that anyone lived behind those blank eyes.”
“ There was a terrible scream. Harry saw Snape’s face losing the little color it had left; it whitened as his black eyes widened, as the snake’s fangs pierced his neck, as he failed to push the enchanted cage off himself, as his knees gave way and he fell to the floor.”
The TV show said it was going to be a faithful adaptation of the books. Making Snape white is no different than making Cho Chang white, Angelina Johnson asian or Harry Potter black.
Honestly, what annoys me the most about these people is they don't have the guts to say what they actually think. Stop hiding behind plausible deniability when we all know he was white in the books. You don't care if he is black? Fine. Just don't pretend like he could have been in the books.
Stop the cope, Snape isn't black. So tired of this nonsense.
@@Loganberry Exactly
💯
It dosnt matter to the story or the plot. Stop playing the victim.
@@Spacecitzen It's terrible casting, you're just too spineless to admit it.
@@Loganberryyou have no idea about the actor, how’s it terrible casting?
I hope they at least give him a wig. Snape has very iconic greasy black hair and I can't imagine a bald Snape.
Yes, he needs to be slimy and greasy for sure
We don’t need this dude at all.
I'll give it a chance if they do at least that
This is going to be a disaster. Recasting characters based off skin color and calling hagrid a comic relif character is.... Amazon's Rings of Power 2.0 incoming
Cho Chang should be blonde then? Fleur should be Malay? Hell, Rowling's "Brits only" prohibition should be lifted?
At some point, connection to the source material and its collective consciousness and deviation from it only engenders sighs from fans that presume that the adaptation will take liberties that skew from the books, change plot points, or attempt to tell a narrative not explicitly in the books.
You make all good points but this will be seen as different. We don’t want a black man because we are racist, not because he doesn’t fit the character 🙄
With the argument that he might be the best actor who applied for the role, he might be, but that giant make him the best Snape. Race, accent, heigh and other physical differences that we are born with do factor who is best for a role. It’s an advantage for some roles and a disadvantage for others.
I still think Mark Addy is the best person for Hagrid.
My issue with Paapa is this that this series is based on being a faithful adaptation and not faithfully adapting the characters is a problem.
I am SO OVER and SO DONE with the news of SUPPOSEDLY casting this or that actor. Cant they just normally cast the actor and then just properly announce! WHAT IS UP!
How about instead of lazily raceswappng Snape and Hermoine we use the extra time to flesh out the POC characters already in the books. Similar to what HBO did with the gay characters in The Last of Us adaptation.
Sincerely a black person.
I really want Nick Frost as Hagrid, but Brett Goldstein would be incredible! I always knew I wanted him in this show *somewhere,* but my first thoughts were Snape and Sirius!
In the 3rd book they do say something of the sort "his sallow skin went a shade of spoiled milk", that's the only thing i can think of
As a black guy. I don’t agree with a blank person playing Snape. Every character other than Snape, the Weasleys, the Potters, the Dursleys I would be all for having non-white actors. There’s just something about these characters that I think will be missing from a black actor. It goes the same way with a lot of characters that were written to be black, it would feel wrong having a white actor.
Also Voldemort, Neville and Luna. Any other character could work imo
Just don't raceswap anybody it's not necessary, if you want true diversity expand and on the characters that are of colour that already exist but maybe that's too subtle for people wanting controversy.
@@DoubleO88 I agree that the focus shouldn't be on having black actors in big roles, but having great minoroty characters
JK Rowling herself literally drew pictures of what all the HP characters looked like and this is very well known from the onset of her becoming famous on TV.
She drew Snape pretty much just the way all illustrations of what Snape should look like, Hooked nose, greesy long hair to around the shoulders and pale.
Bascially a white skinny tall ugly white guy.
2:25 I could be misremembering, but wasn't this said in a behind-the-scenes featurette to be genuine and that they left it in because they felt it really showed off the natural camaraderie between the actors?
Snape for Kingsley is a good trade! #WhiteKingsley 😂
Also white Zabini
Best actor for the role, after all.
How would you feel about Seal for Kingsley do you think it would work???
who cares?
I do - he was based on a white person, there are drawings where he is portrayed as white (by JK) so this guy as Snape is an OUT for me!
I am NOT watching the series - if I do not gett a book accurate Snape and he for me is NOT it.
I have not seen him in anything
The "new" snape does not have to live up to Alan Rickman
because film Snape and book Snape are not the same.
Film Snape was sort of comedic relief - in the later movies - like showving the kids
he was NOT mean enough and I loved Alan Rickman in most of his roles and Snape is not one of the ones I enjoy him in - sorry.
(not because he is not a good actors, for m he was just not the book Snape I was hoping to get)
And neither would be the handsome actor they are now considering
BOOK accurate, age wise and otherwise.
All I am asking for!
JK didn’t do any drawings of the characters, the only drawing she ever made was the one of Hogwarts and the surrounding grounds.
Every character depiction is by a commissioned artist.
Beyond this JK is part of the casting process so if someone gets the ok it’s because JK said so.
@@ObsessiveGeek JK has proven she doesn't respect her own canon anymore when she endorsed the Cursed Child script and wrote the Fantastic Beasts screenplays. You can't rewrite your own canon. If it contradicts what was there before, it's not canon, no matter how much "you have changed your mind" or "feel like improving upon it".
No no no...Snape is describred as white.
People like to think that race doesn't matter, but then want more diversity and representation. It's all a double standard. You can't not care about what race a character is, then want to forcibly change a character to be a race it wasn't. I'm mexican and I don't want mexican people on the show. It's not a show set in Mexico. It's set in 1990's UK, and people of color in that time were around 1% or less of the population. The books already have a diverse cast of characters, why change what is already established?
3:55 - Other people have pointed out that Snape is described as having a white face in the books, so I will only mention one other thing about his appearance that differs from Paapa Essiedu's. Snape is described as having long, greasy hair. Paapa Essiedu's parents are Ghanaian, so he would have very curly hair, which would be an afro if grown long. Unless they plan on relaxing his hair for every episode he appears in and then making it look greasy (which I don't think they would do), his hair would not look like Snape's in the books.
That's not a huge appearance difference, but that combined with his face being white, your statement is not true that Snape's appearance is not technically described to be different from Essiedu's.
He would wear a wig. Alan rickman didn't have long black greasy hair in real life
If they were going to race swap any character I would have hoped for Lupin. It's hard in the Harry Potter universe because of all the interconnected families being central to the plot and I'm sure they wanted to race swap a character that would be a regular not one season. The other options would have been even worse backlash. The golden trio? Dumbledore? McGonagall? Not likely.
I personally would like to use the opportunity of a long form format to explore more of the diverse characters that already exist in the world of Harry Potter rather than lazy race swapping. We can have more of Dumbledore's and Grindelwald's relationship, Lupin as a werewolf (an alude to AIDS) delve deeper into characters like the Patel twins, what it was like for Dean Thomas being a halfblood AND black etc not to mention characters like Cho Chang and Kingsley etc. Snape being black and essentially joining the magical world's version of a white supremacist's group would be problematic, as would Hermione being black and effectively championing elvish rights against slavery and largely being ignored....If the producers want to be more inclusive then they should expand on the universe, not take away from it. Positive discrimination is still discrimination after all.
This. Even before the casting rumors this is what I have always wanted from this show - an expansion to the side characters. There is already diversity.
It might not be good enough for some people since they're not the main roles.
so if one of the biggest selling points of the entire show was book accuracy, in what world does it make sense to cast someone as far away from snape as he can be? clown world.
EXACLTY! They promised ONE thing and don't even get that right.
Our criticism will never be seen as valid by these people. Just like I wouldn't be happy with it being done to Angelena Johnson, or even smaller things like hair colot being different. But you'll always be accused of racism in this instance. Sure, it's not world ending, but it sure is annoying.
Dude you have a problem with the Hagrid cast and not Snape ?? Yah unsubscribed.
👋👋👋
Yeah this dude is fuckin hilarious 😂
Didn't you know everything about the appearance can be criticised except for race?
"Mr. Potter please tell me the taste of Grape 🍇 Kool-Aid and Watermelon 🍉 with Fried Chicken. 🍗"
Normally, I don’t mind when adaptations depart from their source material for artistic or practical purposes. And yes, the Harry Potter films departed from the books in several ways. But the entire point of this new show was to depict these stories accurately (and to make a truckload of money). That was the promise that was made to the fans. You can try to rationalize why actors who clearly don’t fit these roles actually do because of anomalies and technicalities, but we all understand what the books implied in terms of the characters’ physical appearances. I’m so tired of this evil game that Hollywood plays-they change core dimensions of timeless characters for no artistic purpose, then make the ridiculous, reductive, instigative, tired claim that anyone who dislikes it is a bigot. Anyone with a functioning brain understands that this has nothing to do with bigotry. This has to do with fidelity to the source material. Yes, I’m annoyed at that Snape has likely been race-swapped. But I’d be just as upset if Dean Thomas, Cho Chang, the Patils or Kingsley Shacklebolt were race-swapped. Or if Griphook was 6 ft tall. Or a twelve year old girl played Fenrir Greyback. We want to see the characters we all imagined as described by Rowling. If this show isn’t faithful to the appearances of the characters, who’s to say it will be faithful to the plot? It seems to me like we’re not getting what we were promised and I’ve all but lost complete interest. Super disappointing.
My main issue with this discussion is the ghaslighting that tends to happen in order for it, not only to be ok, but to be "good, actually, and if you don't like it you're a bigot". I'm so sick of this.
@@damgful That infuriates me to no end. And I know most white people only go along with this out of fear of being perceived as a bad person they know it's silly, black people go along with this because they just see it as some kind of cheap win and they usually are not fans of the product.
@ Exactly. If they wanted to depart from the source material so heavily, all they had to do was say that the purpose of this show was to do something different. Fine. Don’t know how interested I’d have been, but fine.
Tf? I'm brown and grew up reading and loving harry potter, snape is mentioned many times to be PALE. The man literally lives in the dungeon
One video I saw from a POC TikTok (I can’t remember the name) was casting Snape as a black man kinda throws Harry and James into a really unflattering/unfavourable light. Even before Harry learns about the rivalry between his parents, Harry’s first impression of him is one of unease and unnerving. It just gives icky connotations.
My biggest issue with Paapa being cast, is that it puts them in the dangerous position of possibly making the marauders come off as racists.
Sallow pale and marble white when he's with Voldemort
With the way you said “talked a stranger into..” the -er in stranger was definitely West Country enough to play Hagrid yourself!
Sincerely, a West Country guy with a pair of stilts, hopeful of getting the casting call 🤞🏻🤣
I’ve been trying to suppress that accent for years 😭😭😭
You didn't really believe that "faithful adaptations of the books" lie, did you? The books make it clear how ghostly white his skin is in several places. But then the people that made that 'cursed child' play didn't let the book's description of "Hermione's pale face peeking around the tree" stop them from race swapping her for the play, but I don't recall them promising to be faithful to the books, either.
Like it or not , changing a characters race alone is going to automatically add a lot of new stories and dynamics to the story in the eye of the public, especially with today social media , ppl are gonna say lily was racist for not liking snape , or James and Sirius was racist because he was a rich white English boy who hated snape for no reason…people are going add these narratives to the story which will greatly impact this adaptation which is supposedly be “more accurate “, I’m not saying the adaptation is gonna add these new dynamics and racism but the public will 100% project those feelings and change the entire flow of these characters
Imagine making Snape and Peter Pettigrew black. A black man is bullied by white men, and their black friend betrays them for the sake of a whiter man.
They’re about to make James and Sirius look extremely racist.
And Harry cause he hated Snape from the start
As much as I LOVE Alan Rickman as Snape, the Snape character needs to be more cruel and evil. Whether it was Rickman or just the script, Rickman’s adaptation painted Snape in a way that didn’t make him hated. In a way I think it diluted from the Prince’s Tale in the Deathly Hallows, because you didn’t truly hate Rickman’s Snape. I could care less if Snape is black or white as long as I HATE his character.
My biggest issue I have and could see with casting someone black as Snape is that I dont want to see them either ignore or be forced into addressing racism as a potential reason for his issues with James and the other marauders. The series is meant to stick as close to the novels as possible and they are already going to struggle with fitting everything that is already there into the series without forcing more issues. As far as any other people who didnt look the part as close in the movies I think the ages do need to line up closer, Harry absolutely needs to have bright green eyes, Hermoine should have bigger buck teeth even if a prosthetic etc. Readers want the characters they imagined to jump off the page onto screen as close as they can be made to appear.
As long as he's a greasy git I'm fine with it😅
Great video! You're definitly making sense! It'll take some getting used I'm sure but that's going to be the case for all the characters
If this show is meant to be a direct adaptation of the book, how does the Snape cast work??? How will they write the scenes of James Potter bullying Snape? Make it make sense.
Paapa Essiedu is going to need an awful lot of makeup to make him fit the book description...
Isn't Snape hair also described as STRAIGHT. Do black ppl EVER have straight hair?
Besides, JKR own sketch of Snape looks like Rasputin from Anastasia movie. Surprise - he's white, as was her teacher, she loosely based the character from.
The Perfect Cast
Dumbledore: Michael Caine
Snape: Keanu Reeves
Lupin: Taylor Lautner
Sirius: Jack Black
Magonagal: Margot Robbie
Hagrid: Dwayne Johnson
Victor Krum: Channing Tatum
Fleur Delacour: Taylor Swift
Dobby: Danny Devito
Peter Pettigrew: Jonah Hill
Umbridge: Amber Heard
Mad Eye Moody: Jackie Chan
Bellatrix: Lizzo
Voldemort: Jason Statham
Yeah, all these comments talking about the colour of Paapa's skin and not his acting ability tell you all you need to know about the "just hire the best person for the job" crowd. He's acted on the most prestigious stages in the world, and anyone who's seen him in The Lazarus Project knows he has the range for Snape. I hope he doesn't do it though, he deserves far better than having to deal with a racist fandom.
dude, just look around. the majority of people who dont want a black Snape are people of colour. We just dont want token representation. It is insulting. If we go by your logic of best performing actor at the audition, will a white guy get the role of Kingsley if he out performed the black actors?
Maybe reply to the other person since it's so easy to baselessly call everyone else racist. Coward.
@@udraj914 By his logic Denzel Washngton should play Hermoine because he's a great actor and has range.
@@udraj914 Token representation is casting him because he's black. All I'm saying is that if he were cast, it wouldn't be because he's black. Is it really that absurd to you to consider the merits of his acting at all? Also love that you went for the guy with the ridiculous black name and not Dean Thomas. What a bad faith argument.
@@DoubleO88 Because a race isn't essential to one character, gender and age aren't for another character? You can do better.
I actually kinda agree with you. I hate forced diversity, but if the guy who’s rumored to be cast as Snape was, in fact, the best casting for the role, I’m sure he will do a good job. It’s ONLY going to ruin things for me if he doesn’t embody the slimy cruelty that we see in the books
so if a white actor out performs a black one at Kingsley audition, he will get it, right?
@@udraj914 This is the counter argument that never gets a proper reply. If it does, it will be in an isolated instance where it's strawmaned beyond recognition, but it will never be engaged with in a proper conversation. Really makes me wonder why.
I'm surprised to see you didn't mention the rumors about Mark Strong playing Dumbledore, what's your opinion on this casting?
I only heard rumours about Mark Rylance
I've seen a few different names touted about for Dumbledore - none seem to be stronger rumours than the rest yet from what I've seen so I thought I'd hold back my thoughts
I've said it before and I'm gonna say it again.
If they change any characters' race, gender or sexuality i'm gonna lose it. And no that doesn't make me a sexist, racist etc. I don't care if they have black characters, female characters and gay characters. Just make sure it's new characters that we don't know about. You don't go and change characters that are already set in stone. Those characters are already made. It's disrespectful.
Even my friend agrees with me and he's black and very serious about that stuff. That already tells you that I'm right.
Out of all the characters, Snape has to be white. If they wanted to cast a POC central character to the plot, a great choice would be a marauder - perhaps even Wormtail (i’ll explain why). Snape is a through allegory an !ncel who becomes a wh!te supremacist / terror!st. He becomes reformed but not really and still treats people, notably teens, horribly. We NEED this key representation of these types of characters book accurate white people because it is showing the dark side of history and our current issues today, and losing that very literal imagery in a character is going to destroy that. Having some Death Eaters as POC, such as Wormtail to show how POC people can get swept up in wh!te supremacy and perpetuate violence even on their own communities/loved ones [like the MAGA people voting against their loved ones rights] is powerful. I really hope they do not make this casting mistake, it will actually destroy the series
you are bringing too much of america into brittish
Bro really somehow brought "MAGA" into a discussion about British wizard Nazis from the 90s 😅
How about we don't try to make any dumb connections or references to modern American politics in a retelling of a 30 year old British story written by a British writer, lol.
Personally I feel the way the characters look is very very important not just that they played a character well in auditions ! They need to be faithful to the books as they have claimed. Snape has a hook nose , a curtain of greasy hair as well as many more descriptions. Also the ramifications of the back story involving the marauders would cause HUGE backlash and be hailed as a hate crime. I hope that over the many years the production crew involved in the new series have taken notice of how loyal and aware of details the HP fans are because after all the current fans are the target audience with the hope of gaining a younger generation of fans too. I truly hope the casting is done faithfully and not to pander to the woke brigade.
It is not pandering to find the best person for the job, that isn’t necessarily that they look exactly like the description it’s that they can hold themselves in a way that feels authentic to the type of person that character is.
I also find the narrative to shut down diversity as a negative is highly problematic when the entire point of Hogwarts is its a safe haven for an incredibly diverse range of people, many who who are unjustly looked down on for who/what they are.
We absolutely should not be pandering to the woke is bad crowd, if you see people of different race as a huge deal you are the problem.
These are fictional characters in a fantasy setting at the end of the day, you need to set aside your ideas that are very likely strongly influenced by the movies.
@ my ideas are influenced by the books.
@@ObsessiveGeek Well said.
@@ObsessiveGeek I hope you wouldn't suddenly change your mind about "finding the best person for the job" if they suddenly cast a white guy for the role of Kingsley. Sure, you might say it's about more diversity so you'd have a problem with it, but then don't say it's about the best person for the role. I'm tired of people not saying what they actually mean and hiding behind layers and arguments so they sound more palatable.
@ObsessiveGeek He is not the best person for the job. Period.
Based take. I just hope they make him skinny and weird, but I'm so happy they got the age right
I think Brett Goldstein is a solid actor but he is not Hagrid.
Interested to know who you'd like as Hagrid?
@@BrettsThoughtsNick Frost
I mean, makeup and costumes can really turn somebody into something they’re not naturally. If he’s a good actor, puts on a good accent, and they get the makeup and costume design right, it could really turn out to be a great casting. Anything is possible though
Brett Goldstein plays really well off his young niece Phoebe in Ted Lasso so could probably do the same with the Potter cast. He can definitely do the drama and the comedy, I just wonder if he's a little young if he went to school at the same time as Voldemort.
You know what I didn't even consider Hagrid's age. I'm assuming a beard & hair and adding 6 feet to his height could age him?
Just make Snape white so we all don’t have to hear it. Going to have to hear it for a decade from cry babies.
😂
I knew they would randomly make someone black every show and every movie has to do it now.
I'm in no way racist. I don't care if there's black people in movies but don't make characters black that weren't or aren't supposed to be
Can’t imagine Goldstein as hagrid because you associate him with a different accent, no problem with papa playing Snape though. Nothing that will take you out of the immersion there.
I think Brett Goldstein is awesome, and I believe he can bring a lot to the role of Hagrid... I still think it's too soon for this, the movies are still new enough to make this series, ESPECIALLY the casting, difficult to make diehard fans buy into it.
All those changes u mentioned absolutely bothered me and hindered me enjoying the movies. I have never enjoyed movies after Chamber of Secrets coz all the changes, omissions annoyed me so much. Somethings I gave them a pass since it was movies with a time limit. TV show is one chance to make it right, but they seem to be going the opposite direction.
My argument against Snape being black is, it enforces all the negative stereotypes about black peopole, abusive absentee father, poor, obsessed with a white girl and stalker, bullied for looks especially large nose. This will make James and Sirius racists.
Please, I am saying this as a brown woman. We absolutely DO NOT appreciate this race swapping thing and calling it "diversity". It is insulting to be treated as an afterthought: "oh shit, we forgot to add a black character, we need that to fill the diversity quota. Lets pick the most controversial character to be black, and if the shows flops we can blame the audience as racists"
The argument about people should be casted based on their talent, does it apply the other way round too? Like, if a white actor performs the best in a character originally black, will they be given the role?
Also if we are going by your argument that race swapping is the best choice to avoid being compared to Alan Rickman, it applies to every character. Every single character will be compared to the movie actors, so are we gonna race swap all of them?
There are no arguments. It's all post-hoc rationalizations masked as such. People have a problem with it or they like it and they try to make up arguments to defend how they feel about it from there. I am in your camp, even though I'm white, but I would be equally as bothered by them doing this to someone like Dean Thomas. At least they can't call you racist for it.
Why does everything have to be about the culture war nowadays, with everyone else getting lumped into it as well?
All I wanted was to be as close to the books as possible. If you want to make changes and be creative, then don't work in a project that requires you to adapt the work of someone else. I'm tired of adaptations trying to be do something different. It's not your work to change.
Yes, I even hold this position with things like "The Shining". It's about the principle of it and, to me, it's disrespectful to the original, no matter how much better it can be.
@@damgful You don't get to decide you're in the culture war, you get dragged into it because they take your favourite things to do this to them. I don't want to be discussing race or gender when trying to enjoy my favourite past time but they make foolish decisions like this and then I haven't got a choice.
Really like your channel man serious, but please don't go justifying this stuff. Over the past few years, audiences have proven that this stuff does not work and is far more off putting than "progressive". As well, it shows a lack of faith in the project from the studio, they know full well no one can "replace" Alan, but to then say they want to take it in a different direction, whilst saying they want to be more faithful to the books? nah, go down this route and it will be cancelled faster than Harry can say Expelliarmus
In other words, pay Adam Driver as much as he wants, he's the guy
I'm really really scared of this series... it can ruin the our childhood memories
I want the best actor for the job who is also believable to portray the character. Would you cast a well trained Raven to play Hedwig?
Lenny Kravitz should play Arthur Weasley.
🤔 Interesting take. I think the biggest issue that will happen if the casting turns out to be true is the Harry Potter Fandom will go through a similar growing pain as what happened when Leah Jeffreys was cast as Annabeth in the Percy Jackson Show after we were told we were going to get a faithful book adaptation of that and unlike Snape she is explicitly stated to be a blonde haired gray-eyed white girl in the books as opposed to Jeffreys who is well not that. That being said, most fans backed off when we watched the show, and aside from appearance, she fit the role brilliantly. I bring this up mostly to say if He is Snape, he has quite the uphill battle ahead of him as he will have to fit all other aspects of the Book's Character to account for the appearance factor being different from fan expectations and also it was always going to be an uphill fight to fill Alan Rickman’s Shoes. The only criticism I ever had for him in the role was his age; otherwise, he was the perfect Snape.
Harry Potter is far bigger than Percy Jackson though, the backlash will be insane.
Noone can replace Alan Rickman.
It is a visual product. How Snape looks matters. It matters whether it is his attractiveness or skin tone. I'm so glad the thinly veiled desire to call opposition to this change racist is no longer effective. Get off your high horse.
Also when in India, i watched a bangra movie. There were no black or white actors?
They’ll love to make a black snape so they can imply racial undertones to the bullying. They’ll love to make black Hermione so they can imply racial undertones to the whole SPEW storyline. They think they’re slick, but it’s cheap and lazy.
Petition to have an Asian (Including Indian, etc) as Snape. A scary looking Chinese man with no manners would be perfect
No, Chinese don't have hooked noses, Indian/Arab/Italian/Jew/Latino sounds like a better idea, than a black man.
Please tell me they're joking about Hagrid.... Oh actually we don't see the costume yet! They're still hope! And I swear if they don't give Snape at least a wig! And not focusing on his race, that'll be good.... But the chances are low....
Who cares?
We do! I would also have a problem if you cast Kingsley Schkelbolt as some average white dude or turned Cho Chang into a whiny Black girl.
These characters have clear descriptions to their names. If they are already going so far off from what the characters are supposed to look like, what's the point of this show?
We were promised a more accurate version of the books that includes what the characters are meant to look like.
By the way, skin colour aside, the actor is also way too handsome to play Snape.
I think Mike Myers would be great for Hagrid
Not so long ago;
This community trashed JK Rowling over a misunderstood tweet that was then wrongfully quoted and shared.
Supposedly to protect the trans community.
And now look at you people making racist comments and videos...
You hypocrites disgust me.
"It's okay to be different" is the overarching message in Harry Potter.
As a Hufflepuff; I'm dissapointed and disgusted by you all.
Just make Lily and James black and have Harry be an adopted asian.
Also, you can't be slimy and hateable as a black man. Name one?
The "stranger" wasnt really a stranger though.
Snape was also reference as pale as a vampire.
And he was literally described as white.
people just love to complain but wont acknowledge the book inaccuracies of the films. "You have your mothers eyes" yet Harry didnt have his mother's eyes at all. And because i know im gonna get comments let me just say this. Yes i know they tried to give Daniel Radcliffe contacts and that didnt work but they didnt even try other alternatives like giving the actressess that portrayed his mother contacts. They just got lazy and tried one method and thats it. Or they couldve CGI his eyes to make it look like he actually had his mothers eyes but they didnt do that either.
The Potters died at the age of 21 yet in the movie they looked 40 year olds. The Mauraders and Snape were supposed to be in their 30s yet they all looked like 50
Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks are supposed to be husband and wife yet Remus looked like he could be her father.
Like you said Dumbledore straight up changed after Richard Harris's recasting and Dumbledore said "Harry did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?" But not calmly.
Draco Malfoy was supposed to have GREY eyes yet Tom Felton didnt.
The key difference here though is that whilst the films were allowed to deviate away from the source material and take artistic liberties, the upcoming series is being marketed as being a more faithful adaptation of the books which should focus on straying away from the books as little as possible. So you can't really compare the two in this particular way as the films overall are a more loose adaptation of the books due to time limitations and decisions made by the cast and crew. Many fans have also acknowledged the inaccuracies of the films and frequently compare them to the books, so I disagree with you there because I personally see them brought up a lot in discussion groups in places such as Facebook and Reddit and in videos here on UA-cam.
@IG7799-c4u ok fair but compared to the other rumored choice for Snape it still won't be book accurate either cause the other rumored choice is Mark Strong. Severus Snape is described to be in his early 30s yet Mark Strong is 61. How the hell does he look in the early 30s? The youngest he looks is somewhat 40s. So Mark Strong also isn't book accurate. Yes he's white, yet u can put a wig on him, yes you can make him look younger through makeup or CGI but think about this. If they do go the full 10 years from start to end, Mark Strong will be in his 70s portraying a 40 year old Snape in seasons 5 and 6.
we have ALWAYS had a problem with it. Always
@@udraj914 care to explain more cause I don't understand
@@JCLopez209 Mark Strong was rumored for Dumbledore, not Snape.
Can anyone explain why it’s important for Snape to be white? I’ve not heard a good argument. Even if he’s described as a white dude, which I’m not sure that he is, that’s like at the bottom of the list of things that make Snape, Snape.
For the same reason the Weasleys need to have red hair
When you blatantly inject identity politics into an established IP, it pisses people off.
Yes, it isn’t important for him to be white. But it isn’t important for Angelina to be black. We should keep these things not because it’s important to the plot, but because it’s one of the many things that makes the characters who they are in the books
Snape has to be white because the Death Eaters represent white supremacists. The blood purity is basically the one drop rule for skin colour. If Snape is not white, he breaks that allegory and flips it on it’s head - Snape is no longer a selfish and cruel person supporting a racist regime, who was bullied by kids like him. He’s now the victim of racially motivated bullying in school and could be justified in his actions by some. Suddenly the good characters (HP, Order of the Pheonix, DA, etc) aren’t fighting the wizard Nazis from taking power, they are fighting a group who accepted POC people rather than trying to erradicate them. The entire story makes no sense because of this one casting change
I'd be interested to hear a good reason too - outside of personal preference.