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| Fan art portrayal of Cho Chang |
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| Scottish Actress Katie Leung as Cho Chang |
Fantasy literature is, truth be told,
dominated by men and women (but mostly men) of Northern European
descent. The Whitest of the White, one might say. These writers sat
in their Oxford offices, penning some of the greatest fantasy stories
ever told, indirectly dealing with race relations through orcs and
elves and dwarves and witches who are half human. In these stories,
the lack of recognizable racial diversity (in terms of the world of
Earth) are swept away by the notion that “there is no Africa in
Middle earth.” Though that doesn't truly excuse these works from
racial monochromatism, there is an entirely different frame of
reference for fantasy novels that deal primarily with people of the
primary world...even if they are magical folk.
To the distaste and harsh defensive
tactics of scores of fans, the Harry Potter series falls into this
category: that of a fantasy novel by a white author whose characters
seem to, in all respects, adhere to the same racial identities of the
world of the reader. That being said, how does author J.K. Rowling
handle this? How are the racial relations and realities of the
primary world translated into the world of Hogwarts? These questions
will be explored through the examination of one particular,
controversial character: Cho Chang.
As per what is recorded in the book and
movies, Cho Chang is the only East Asian character, and does not do
much, if anything to combat the stereotypes surrounding Asian females
as they have been portrayed in literature, cinema, and video games.
For starters, Cho is placed in Ravenclaw, the home of the most clever
and intelligent Hogwarts students. Is this an intentional inclusion
of Cho as the quintessential “Asian genius” portrayed in popular
culture? Maybe not, but it certainly does nothing to break from that
mould.
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| Fan art |
Secondly, Cho's primary role in the
novels is as Harry's love interest. She is recorded giggling with her
friends, hanging in groups, and stealing glances at Harry that send
him daydreaming. So she's just a pretty girl who happens to be
Chinese, right? Maybe, if it were not for the countless portrayals of
her same giggling, Asian school-girl persona throughout popular
history. Taking a look at Chang's role throughout the books lends
insight into this point. She is first mentioned in Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Oliver
Wood describes her to Harry as the seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch
team. According to Wood, she was a descent player, but was
consistently out of play due to frequent injury. Right off the bat,
Cho is portrayed as talented yet too frail to hold any promise; a
tragic and familiar combination.
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| Cho at the Yule Ball with Cedric |
From
there, Harry's interest in her develops into the fourth book, when
she becomes the unreachable and ideal prize for Harry's trip to the
Yule Ball. When he finds the courage to ask her (having to prove
himself as a man even to gain the right to talk to her), she
confesses to already having accepted Cedric Diggory. She declines
Harry's offer with sweetness and regret, torturing Harry into
thinking that she might've chosen him if he had only asked first;
this only heightens his desire for her, and he spends the night of
the ball pining after this girl, whom he truly knew nothing about.
But why does she choose Diggory? No back story is given on this
front...one is left to fill-in-the-blanks, and all evidence seems to
point to the fact that Cedric is deemed the most heroic and handsome
young man in Hogwarts. What better prize for his title than the
sweet, pretty, doting Asian girl? And what better frustration for
Harry when he is rejected, knowing that it's Diggory who has both her
heart and the most heroic persona, which seem to go hand-in-hand?
After
Cho started dating Diggory, things escalated quickly; in the second
task of the Triwizard Tournament, Cho was selected as the “thing”
Cedric cared for the most, and he must rescue her. Here she becomes
the “damsel in distress” she was always meant to be; helpless
without the heroic, white hero to save her. The same cannot be said
of the others chosen as the victims of the task; their relationships
with their saviors, or in Hermione's case, her own character, is
well-enough developed. All that is known of Cho and Diggory at this
point, however, is that she is the object of his and Harry's desire,
and pleasantly helpless in her own right.
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| Cho's reaction to Cedric's death |
After
Cedric's death, Cho's development as the stereotypical Asian siren
only intensifies. She is absolutely broken by his death, and it seems
as if she cannot be comforted for anything. Interesting, seeing that
they only date for a few months prior to his death, and that she
seems to have ignored the reality of the Dark Lord's return that
comes with his death as secondary. She believes that Voldemort has
returned and is the one who killed Cedric, but her efforts to combat
this evil are frail: her parents forbid her from joining Dumbledore's
Army, the secret society created so Harry can teach students real
defense against the dark arts. An Asian student having strict
parents? What a groundbreaking scenario! She joins anyway, however,
but her emotions keep her from making any real progress or
contribution.
It is
in this time that she begins her relationship with Harry, the grand
hero of Hogwarts who rises to the forefront after Cedric's death. Who
better to protect her and worship her? The text is riddled with
absolutely villanizing portrayals of Cho Chang as a girlfriend, such
as in the quote below:
Harry:
“Look let's not talk about Cedric right now...let's talk about
something else.”
Cho:
“I thought, I thought you'd u-u-understand! I need to talk about
it! Surely you n-need to talk about it too! I mean, you saw it
happen, d-didn't you?”
Harry:
“Well, I have talked about it, to Ron and Hermione, but-”
Cho:
“Oh, you'll talk to Hermione Granger! But you won't talk to me!
P-perhaps it would be best if we just...just p-paid and you went and
met up with Hermione G-Granger, like you obviously want to!”
This
quote from one of Harry and Cho's dates is a pretty blatant portrayal
of a paranoid and manipulative girlfriend. Furthermore, she is
emotionally helpless, through and through. Why should she turn to
Harry after Cedric's death? If anything, his presence would've
reminded her of the murder of her boyfriend; why would she beg Harry
to start talking about what it was like for him to be there to
witness his death?
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| More fan art |
This is not to mention that at several points in the series, Cho is set up as a foil for Ginny Weasley, who is portrayed as the perfect woman for Harry: strong, unemotional, talented, tough, and WHITE.
These
descriptions certainly fit with the fettishised portrayal of Asian
women in pop culture history. From Madam Butterfly to
Miss Saigon to
Memoirs of a Geisha, there is a
long tradition of young, Asian women as the emotional, childlike
object of white hero's desires. When the white man is in danger or
killed, the woman has no choice but to lose herself in her grief, and
latch on to the most destructive, yet comforting thing. In many
stories, this is death. In Harry Potter,
this is Harry.
The following is a spoken-word piece by college student Rachel Rostad, tearing apart the character of Cho Chang as a racial stereotype (please excuse the brief profanity):
Though one may not agree with everything in the poem, it is a powerful argument and perspective. Here is a response video Rachel created to defend and flesh out some of her ideas when the poem went viral and met criticism:
Cho
Chang of Harry Potter
is but a small example of
the racial gap that can be found in the fantasy genre today. Though
Rowling seems to put more effort into the “inclusion” of racially
diverse characters, there is still much to say about each of the
other non-white characters, especially of the fact that they are
countable on two hands, only one is an adult, and none of them are
major characters.
Though
fantasy is fantasy, and therefore separate from reality, there is an
argument to be made that this genre, no matter how fantastical, can
never really be separated from reality. How, then, are races to be
effectively and sensitively portrayed? Maybe it would be helpful to
have more popular fantasy written by authors of a diverse background,
yet, if Japanese video game makers are any indication, this may not
necessarily lead to any break in tradition from the “all-white,
male” cast of fantasy characters. At any rate, this is a question
that is worth exploring indeed, though not one that can be easily
answered in reading Harry Potter.
Works Cited
Lo,
Malinda. "Writing About Race in Fantasy Novels." Malinda
Lo.
N.p., 28 Oct. 2008. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.malindalo.com/2008/10/writing-about-race-in-fantasy-novels/>.
Lyubansky,
Mikhail. "Harry Potter and the Word That Shall Not Be
Named." The
Psychology of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized Examination of the Boy
Who LIved.
Dallas, TX: Benbella, n.d. 233-48. University
of Illinois.
Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Phi,
Thien-bao Thuc. Game over: Asian Americans and video game
representation. Transformative Works and Cultures, no.
2. 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2009.0084.
Rajgopal,
Shoba Sharad. "'The Daughter Of Fu Manchu': The Pedagogy Of
Deconstructing The Representation Of Asian Women In Film And
Fiction." Meridians:
Feminism, Race, Transnationalism 10.2
(2010): 141-162. Academic
Search Complete.
Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
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