By Jacky Dang
AsAmNews Intern
With the release of J.K Rowling’s newest film Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald, controversy has plagued Korean actress Claudia Kim’s portrayal of Nagini.
In many respects, roles of Asian/Asian American women have been limited to kick-ass warriors, submissive/exotic lotus flowers, or in this case, what’s referred to as a Dragon Lady. Since the stardom of the first Asian American actress Anna May Wong in the 1930’s, the West has typecast East/South Asian woman as what’s known as a Dragon lady-a deceitful, mysterious woman who uses her “exotic” charms in order to dominate. Because of this, especially in American society, many Asian woman were left stigmatized. Teen Vogue has even commented that this typecasting continues to have lasting effects 70 years later.
Nagini’s character is unfortunately only a modern version of the dragon lady stereotype that continues to perpetuate in Western society. In Fantastic Beasts, Nagini, the only Asian character, is introduced as a circus attraction, with her primary power as transforming into a snake. This foreshadows her role in the Harry Potter franchise, seen first in The Goblet of Fire as Voldemort’s pet snake. In Fantastic Beasts 2, Nagini helps Voldemore to upgrade his body through the magic of her venom and to “detect threats and kill people as ordered.” As the last horcrux, she was then beheaded in The Deathly Hallows by Neville Longbottom in order to save protagonist, Harry Potter, depicting again, problematic ways in which roles for Asian women have been typecast.
Not only is the Dragon Lady stereotype causing hot debate but, according to Huffington Post, while “Rowling defended Kim’s casting in September, saying that Naga, the mythical creature Nagini is based on, has its origins in Indonesia,” what Rowling failed to acknowledge is Kim’s Korean heritage. Though more Asian/Asian American representation is important in film (Asians are only hired for 1 percent of all leading roles), what must also be considered is that Asia is a large continent filled with vast cultures and countries; one ethnicity in, for example, East Asia, cannot represent the entire Asian continent and their background. The difference especially between Chinese American and Singapore culture was successfully portrayed through director John M. Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians. s. Therefore, with the start of a new movement for more inclusivity of Asian/Asian Americans in films, what must also be initiated and fought for is the removal of a broad Asian culture and the embrace of the true diversity that is contained within the continent.
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RE: Asian Stereotype of Dragon Lady Rises in Fantadtic Beasts 2: Now this is reason why we see so many AF interracial relationship