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Originally Posted by Toy Santa
That's true and it's not like I would have taken issue with Hermione being black, if JK Rowling had had the foresight to actually make the character black... But, as was said above, this was a huge global phenomenon both the books and the films, and cutting away all of the other political stuff... The character is white. Ms Rowling is saying she's happy with it as only the frizzy hair etc. Was mentioned - which is true when the character was introduced - but the fact is, throughout the series, it IS explicitly indicated that the character has light skin. It's not a race issue at all, it's an issue of a very well established character - who has featured both in book form and live action - being altered in a significant way... I don't like it when people mess so much with established canon, it "breaks" the universe that has been built and is a constant reminder that it's "just fiction", which sort of... Ruins the entire purpose of fiction.
Contrast it with something like Marvel who have also done a lot and are doing a lot to introduce diversity - but they tend to do it by introducing a brand new character to then take over the role of an established hero.
Then again, I suppose with it being theatre, there are different "rules" - Robin Hood in pantomime often being played by a female lead, etc...
But I just can't imagine that any Potter-buff who goes to see this will be able to settle into the character as Hermione? It "breaks immersion"... That's my major issue, I suppose. I'm big on politics and I'm also big on fictional worlds and universes - but I sort of quite strictly like the two to be kept separate - and with that in mind, I can't consider something that may be politically positive, but at the same time disrupts the integrity of the established fiction, to be an overall positive.
Tl;dr - they should have established a new leading role for a black actor, or JK should have included a black character in a major role in the first place, as rewriting something that is established pop culture seems disjointed.
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I can understand that point of view but I'm also not against characters being changed either, I quite like a bit of artistic interpretation at times.