The Phantom Librarian

I still haven't done a page at HB, but entries can be found in reverse order by the nifty new tag thing.

I'm just finishing chapter one, and I'm already off my calendar and must re-think the next few days in fic time, because I realized how this scene ends, and can't believe I didn't realize it before. I'm a bit dense on my first rough outlining.

Anyway, as I left it, Sirius's will was read and Tonks was feeling a little off because of it, and also because Remus hasn't brought up the future of their relationship at all, but before they can do any talking, Dumbledore tells Remus that there is a mission for which he is "uniquely suited." Tonks goes home, worried, and only gets more worried when an enigmatic note from Remus tells her that he's dropping out of communication, and will only check in periodically at the Burrow, which Molly and Arthur have agreed to allow him to use as a "base." Tonks, so worried that her hair has turned a natural color she's totally forgotten about, immediately goes there. Molly invited her in for tea at last viewing.

( Collapse )

Okay, looking at hot_jupiters's post on Lavender Brown's appearance and linking over to another community... apparently, a bunch of fantwits--which is not a word I use liberally--have jealously declared Katie Leung (Cho Chang in the movie-verse) to be ugly and have made racist comments about her. Dude, if I were that "ugly," I could die so happy.

And I'm told that people were twisting themselves into pretzels to make Cho not Asian.

The hell?

I mean, it's true, the text does not say, "Cho Chang, a pretty Chinese girl..." It just describes her as a pretty girl with straight black hair. Named CHO CHANG, not to put too fine a point on it. I mean, maybe missing it once if you aren't familiar with the world's most common surname, but when it's pointed out, trying to argue that she's a white girl who was adopted by Asian parents? My head hurts. I mean... WHY WOULD SOMEONE DO THAT? It's confusing to me. It's not a detail that makes the slightest bit of difference, so why not just use the canon? Is Occam's Razor really that dull? Why make up a convoluted story to deny the only obvious hint we have about this character's ethnicity? Is Seamus Finnegan assumed to be a Chinese boy adopted by Irish parents? I mean, these are minor side characters who are painted with a broad brush--just enough to give us a couple of details. And we... ignore those details entirely?

As a fic writer, I'll admit that it's very interesting to maybe go for a less common explanation of something's provenance, if it makes the character more interesting somehow. But Cho's race is apparently a non-issue to anyone in the general vicinity, so making up a huge story about it isn't going to make her any more or less interesting than she already is.

:headdesk: