Take Me There to Disneyland

Never imagined we’d end like this

Your name, forever the name on my lips

Just like our last kiss

LAST KISS | Cedric Diggory x Cho Chang

cho chang

Justice for Cho Chang

Alright, hear me out. 

Cho Chang has always been one of the most controversial characters of the Harry Potter series because of how she was portrayed to be so stereotypically East Asian - to the point where her full name is literally composed of two Chinese last names (we’ve all heard of that discourse before). 

What has always annoyed me the most, however, is that Cho Chang in the books has 100% more potential for charisma and personality than what the movies constrict her character to have.

First of all, Cho is a huge jock. Need I remind you that she was the only girl in the Ravenclaw Quidditch team up until her 5th year and has been an avid fan of the Tutshill Tornados since childhood? You can bet my boy Cedric developed a crush on her from getting his ass kicked on the Quidditch field.

Not only is Cho a jock, but she is also known to be one of the most popular girls at school which, to me, adds to the interpretation that she was more extroverted than introverted prior to Cedric’s death. In the books, she is often seen hanging out with groups of people and being almost intimidating from how cool she is.

Moreover, and probably most importantly, Cho was able to cast the Patronus Charm which required a huge amount of control over her emotions. Let’s not forget that during the time that she did, my girl was dealing with:

1) Trauma from her boyfriend being murdered by the freakin’ Dark Lord.

2) Losing her friends and seeing her grades going downhill as a consequence of said trauma and depression.

3) Being part of a secret organization preparing her to go to freakin’ war. An organization that could’ve ultimately cost her mother’s job at the Ministry, if I may add. 

Therefore, the fact that she was able to cast a whole ass Patronus Charm despite being obviously very tormented by her feelings of grief, anxiety and sadness is, to me, super badass and remarkable. 

So let us not carry the poor portrayal of Cho Chang from the movies, but rather celebrate the characterization that she deserves. 

When you think about it, Cho and Ginny are very similar in how they are generally disliked from their portrayal in the movies. They really went from being badass Quidditch players in the books to silent love interests on screen. 

Can we get as many voices calling out the unfair representation of Cho in the movies as we’ve gotten for Ginny?

So in conclusion,

LESS of :

MORE of:

(Edit: Also, her Patronus is a swan??? The birds known for their beauty but also for how dangerous they can be when they attack you!!)

Keeping it 100 here, folks!

Cho needs so much more love, you guys. <3

@hogwartsonline | magical women

the moon

and the sun

are love

and fear:

one fades

as the other

rises.

—d.j.

appreciation for some of my favourite secondary characters always wondered how these two met

@harrypotterconfessions I’m not saying we’re completely out of original ideas, but haven’t most of them been done? If we’re going to repeat ideas, maybe we could repeat some less common or older ones.

i actually do wonder if we’ve literally discussed everything HP or not. i can’t imagine any aspect of the series hasn’t been talked about yet… OH OH OH does anyone have any good, fresh ideas? i’d love to hear them! ~Taiga

How about characters you were sort of “meh” on or didn’t like, but liked a lot better after rereading the books or getting older? Like me, I was sort of just okay with Slughorn on first read, but as an adult, I think I would’ve loved having him as a teacher. Imagine all the amazing stories he could share about all of the students he taught! Imagine how fun his parties would be! Even as a teacher he seemed pretty patient. I also changed my mind on Cho completely: when I was a kid, it was so popular to bash Cho for supposedly being a “crybaby”, but now I really feel for her and wish she’d gotten more canon character development. She was grieving someone she’d really loved and cared about, and it was sort of unfair that I and others wrote off her grieving and yet were so okay with Harry’s.

make me choose: @byersjjonathan asked cho chang or pansy parkinson Sorry, I didn’t catch that.

Ink07: Shy Cedric has that irresistible charm.

Too bad he’s dead.

@inktober

Day 253 #hp everyday

The Ravenclaw team, dressed in blue, were already standing in the middle of the field. Their Seeker, Cho Chang, was the only girl on their team.

One thing that I never liked was how Harry appreciates Ginny for not crying a lot. I feel like that was a snide jab at Cho Chang who was crying over the loss of someone she cared deeply about, it wasn’t like Cho was some drama queen that burst into tears because of some little problem in her life, she was mourning the death of her first love which is a very deep and emotional experience. I adore Harry, but I felt like he was a jerk in that part.

Part of the equation, admittedly, is that Harry was having a lot of trouble surmounting his own trauma regarding Cedric’s death. Rather than openly dealing with it and letting his emotions out in a healthy way (the way that Cho was, actually, given that she wanted to express her sadness and share how she felt with others), Harry tried burying it and soldiering through. And that is something that a lot of people do. My father -- who I would also sort as Gryffindor, interestingly -- has been doing the same thing in light of his second wife’s (my stepmother’s) death for the last two years, and it similarly upsets me as I wish I could talk to him about her and how much I loved and miss her.

I think both Cho and Harry’s responses were understandable, for who they were as people. Cho knew Cedric longer and better than Harry and she is a retrospective Ravenclaw who is in tune with her emotions. Harry was raised largely by emotionally neglectful people and had to learn how to deal with grief almost entirely on his own, and he is a proud, bullheaded Gryffindor who tries to take every ounce of burden on his own shoulders. Plus Harry not only witnessed Cedric’s death but feels responsible for it, as he’d suggested to Cedric that they take the Triwizard Cup together and Cedric only died because Voldemort was trying to get to Harry.

Harry’s reaction to Cho’s grief was insensitive, yes, and I think that it colored many readers’ image of Cho unfairly, including my own when I was a young, impressionable child. But I personally found both reactions very relatable and human, in their own way.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) dir. David Yates