Why Are the Women in ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ So Sad?

A few days ago I watched Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald for the first time and for the most part, I enjoyed it. The sequel played an interesting role in setting up what is sure to be a thrilling final three films but it also alienated some as it told a complex story that didn’t exactly reach the standards we were all expecting.

I found the movie to be better than I expected…and a bit underwhelming at the same time. But what I clearly noticed and was slightly disturbed by after watching the film was the dreadfully depressing storylines of each and every female character in the movie.

J.K Rowling, who is clearly one of the greatest storytellers in this generation, is a woman and as a fellow woman, I would expect her to create strong, powerful women in these films. And she did, for the Harry Potter movies.

There was Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Professor McGonnagal, Bellatrix Lestrange, Ginny Weasley, and so many other women who were never depicted as powerful because of men. They were simply, powerful.

With so many incredible ladies to love in the Harry Potter movies, one would expect to receive women just as awesome in the Fantastic Beasts series and at first, we did in Tina and Queenie Goldstein.

As sisters, they stood out, not because they were damsels in distress, but because they were two young women navigating themselves through the growing conflict in the Wizardling World thanks to the excelling murmurings of Gellert Grindelwald. Yes, they both had serious crushes on the two male characters that accompanied them (Newt Scamander and Jacob Kowalski) but romance doesn’t diminish a woman’s strength. Or at least, it didn’t.

Now both sisters have become sacks of sadness, and obviously, they wouldn’t be the only ones dealing with strong emotions in the sequel, for J.K Rowling introduced two new heroines in Leta Lestrange and Nagini.

I mean, listen to the storylines for these four women.