Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by inigyou 21 days ago
The Harry Potter series tried and mostly failed to push a bunch of weird political stuff. Slavery is the most noticeable but there was also racism mixed in. The black token character is called Kingsley Shacklebolt. The Chinese token character is called Cho Chang. The war is overtly world war 2, and Voldemort is Hitler - he wants to kill everyone who has impure blood. The Minister for Magic mirrors the British and American leaders who stuck their head in the sand about the war. The banks are run by goblins with big noses.

You might also be interested to know that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was made as a Christian propaganda story. Aslan is Jesus.
1 comments
ChadNauseam 21 days ago
> The banks are run by goblins with big noses.

I can believe that the origins of this trope are antisemetic, but I don't see very much reason to think that any antisemitic mindset was in JK Rowling's head when she wrote it.

link
soraminazuki 21 days ago
That's a real stretch. She copied a modern day trope, not some ancient myth with unclear origin. Even if we bend over backwards to believe that she wasn't aware that the trope targeted a specific demographic, there's zero chance that her publisher failed to catch it too. And also the entire movie staff that chose floors with seven pointed stars for the bank. Also also consider that this trope is far from an isolated case in the whole series.
link
ChadNauseam 21 days ago
It just doesn't make that much sense to me. "And also the entire movie staff that chose floors with seven pointed stars for the bank" - so the entire movie staff is antisemitic? And what is the connection between a seven pointed star and Judaism / antisemitism anyway?
link