Yeah, I can believe the film producers cutting down a lot. Partially since they are books and adapting that into a film requires some cutting, but also partially because some of the stuff she wrote was really out there.

I don't think the new adaptation has the same sense though. I cringed a little when I heard that they decided to cast a black guy as Snape, because the scene that immediately came to my mind is the one where he's being bullied and hung off a tree by Harry's father back when they were kids. When you make the target of that a black guy... it kind of paints a different picture.

In a vacuum it shouldn't matter, you don't do that to people. But there's this historic precedent with white people hanging black people from trees. I'm not against gender-bending or race-bending characters at all, but you have to think of the context in which it happens. Dumbledore or McGonagall would've made more sense. Or Hermione, which Rowling herself has previously said could be black, why not put that money where her mouth is?

I've said it previously, I enjoyed the books as a kid. I've fond memories of reading them when I was really sick for a while. I enjoyed seeing the films in the cinema. Back then I was ignorant to many of the horrible things in the world.

I'm not anymore, and I really struggle to believe that Rowling was that naïve. Hell, she was 50-ish when she likened lycanthropy to HIV/AIDS, like that was literally just 10 years ago.