Identity politics is very visible in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. After reading Dana Goldstein’s article, Harry Potter and the Complicated Identity Politics, one couldn’t help think about the stereotypes that were present in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. As Goldstein mentions, the gender roles in Harry Potter are not untraditional and neither are the roles that nationalities take on. These examples are clearly engaged when Hogwarts becomes an international boarding school. Each foreign school takes on a stereotypical persona according to their nationalities. The French girls are all dazzling, sexy, and fair skinned. Then there are the men from the North East, strong, confident and not the smartest of men. For better or worse, these stereotypes fall in line with the general sentiment that is currently and historically associated with specific regions around the world. J.K. Rowling appears plays our countries historical nationality connotations. She then amplifies these feelings in order to explicitly and easily portrays these new characters for young and old audiences.
J.K. Rowling uses the domestic residents of Hogwarts as sites of identity stereotypes as well. Let’s take Harry and Ron’s dates to the Ball as an example of how Rowling uses our preconceived notions of ethnicities. The two girls, who we have to assume have Indian heritage, wear classic Indian formal wear to the Ball. Dually noted we notice the Ron is wearing old formal wear. This is a sign of his family’s poverty and Harry is wearing more expensive clothing. Two signs of class, which may ultimately, may factor into their treatment and relations with the two Indian girls. Another example of identity politics is simply the name of his Asian love interest Cho Chang. Rowling is using are preconceived notions of what certain nationalities are supposed to look like and behave and establishes character actions on these stereotypical thoughts.
If Harry Potter is, as Goldstein puts it, “a meditation on the challenge of diversity…” does J.K Rowling succeed? There are many examples of Rowling using our stereotypes to actually highlight our preconceived notions. For example, Harry Potter is interested in Cho Chang, which we wouldn’t “normally” jump to think is his first love interest. Also, Hermione is asked to go on a date with Krum, the gentlemen from the East. We also have Ron and Harry ask the two Indian twins to go the ball. All of these go against what modern conceptions of what nationalities date or go out with each other. In this way we can see that Rowling is taking what ideas we have of certain characters and then using that to challenge how we receive a contradiction or something different than what we usually think. In the end J.K. Rowling uses identity politics to engage the viewer to make a connection and then pose questions on how we interpret these nationality associations and their role in Harry Potter.
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