Both Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them and its sequel, The Crimes of Grindelwald, feature numerous conflicts between characters and groups—whether that be between wizards and non-magic users, between wizards and witches themselves, or, as is especially relevant in these films, the clashing between the animal world and, well, everyone!
That is, everyone except leading character and magizoologist Newt Scamander, who holds animal creatures dear and makes himself a target of societal misunderstanding as a result. But why would the public have an issue with animal creatures, you may wonder? Well, this is only one amongst many of the rivalries in the Fantastic Beasts film series that may or may not leave you scratching your head in concern or whooping in agreement.
Yes! Animals And the Public
Much like issues with animals and humans in the real world, the film reveals an unfortunate relationship of judgment and fear between the wizarding world and that of magical creatures.
Newt spends most of his time trying to care for these creatures and learn about them in ways no one else is trying to. On the off-chance the creatures happen to escape from his care, Newt is faced with the challenge not only of finding them, but is given the extra pressure of finding them before a member of the public does, who would likely hurt them out of fear and misunderstanding. It is for this purpose that Newt is writing a research book to supply the public with information on magical animals so that they can understand them and live in harmony with them.
Huh? The Ministry of Magic And The Wizarding World
The Ministry puts itself at odds with the public, particularly as featured in scenes of The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Rather than support the public’s right to attend rallies and hear Grindelwald speak, The Ministry practices paranoia and ends up restricting and abusing members of the public who seem at all associated with Grindelwald. This only breeds resentment between The Ministry and the wizarding world.
Yes! Dumbledore And The Ministry of Magic
Dumbledore and The Ministry Of Magic have a rivalry that viewers can tie back to the Harry Potter films. In Fantastic Beasts, Dumbledore is particularly at odds with the Ministry because he vocally disapproves of their approach to the issue of Credence—a character under the influence of a powerfully destructive force. The Ministry would have the boy killed, but Dumbledore, ever the advocate of peace, wants the boy to be helped rather than destroyed.
Huh? Tina And Leta
The end of the first Fantastic Beasts suggests a romantic interest between characters Newt and Tina, the American Auror. Newt suggests that when he has finished his book, he would like to come and give her a copy in person.
Fast forward to the movie’s sequel, and Tina is upset because she saw a photo of Newt and Leta Lestrange in a newspaper together. Granted, the newspaper has a misprint which suggests that Newt is engaged to Leta, but still–mentioning in passing that he might give Tina a copy of his book hardly scrapes flirting, never mind any kind of romantic promise to her. The fact that Tina is in a huff about this is a bit unrealistic.
Yes! Dumbledore And Grindelwald
The rivalry between Dumbledore and Grindelwald is shrouded in mystery in the Harry Potter series and is finally beginning to have some light shed on it through the Fantastic Beast series. At first, the viewer is made aware that Dumbledore refuses to fight Grindelwald, but it’s not clear as to why. Then, during a visit from The Ministry of Magic, the minister expresses how Dumbledore and Grindelwald were once “like brothers”, and Dumbledore corrects him, saying “we were closer than brothers.”
This leaves little doubt that the two were at one time involved in a romantic relationship, and places even more significance on the rivalry between them. How could two people, once so close, want such different things now? This contrast only amplifies the power of political differences in the social climate of the films.
Huh? Queenie And Jacob
At the start of the second movie, Newt objects to Queenie putting Jacob under a spell and insists Jacob be released. Jacob refuses to marry Queenie because he is a ’no-maj’, and marriage between magical people and non-magical people is illegal. Rather than respect his wishes, Queenie puts him under a love spell which makes him so smitten with her that he does anything she says.
The film could have used this as a great opportunity to use the spell-casting of the wizarding world as a way to explore issues of consent. Instead, it is hardly touched upon what an invasion of privacy this was, and Jacob ends up crawling back to Queenie.
Yes! Wizarding World And No-Majs
The conflict between the wizarding world and the non-magic world is a perfect example of prejudice, oppression, and fear between groups. Fantastic Beasts explores this issue perfectly through its parallel problem of the magical world fearing magical animals. Having Newt as the lead character and defender of magical animals, and showing his attempt to have people better understand them, helps to simultaneously explore the similar blind prejudice and fear that the magic and non-magic people hold for one another, and how maybe things don’t have to be this way.
Huh? Newt And Theseus
Newt and his brother, Theseus, are shown to have an awkward relationship with one another, but it’s not made clear exactly why. Newt used to be best friends with Theseus’s bride-to-be, Leta, but the history of what happened there is not provided.
Newt at one point describes Theseus as a “hugger”, a humorous moment that suggests a fundamental difference of temperament between the two, emphasizing Newt as a person who has always been a bit distant from others. But at the root of their relationship seems to be mostly affection or at least neutrality, and so it is a bit confusing why in the second movie after Tina aggressively casts a binding spell on Theseus in response to him (rightfully) chasing Newt for impersonating him, Newt exclaims “that was the best moment of my life.” It doesn’t add up.
Yes! Credence And Grindelwald
Credence and Grindelwald have a complicated relationship. In the first movie, Grindelwald cast Credence aside when he revealed that he assumed him to be a squib. This made clear to Credence that Grindelwald only valued him for his amount of magical power, not as a person. However, once Grindelwald discovered that Credence was in fact the host to a powerful obscurial, he came crawling back to him.
Credence is ever unsure about whether or not to trust Grindelwald again, which at first seems ridiculous—why should he trust him when he clearly is using him? But this is why the conflict between the two is well done. The choice of who to trust is not obvious to Credence because he has been traumatized and abused his entire life—used by extremist anti-magic humans, and then used by extremist ant-human wizards. He’s a symbol of the hurt caused by such a polarized world.
Huh? Leta And…Everyone Else
Leta is tied to Newt because of their implied shared past of being social-outcasts, but we never know why Leta is an outcast. She also expresses in a scene with Dumbledore that he “never liked her,” but there is no evidence for this. Leta then dies rather mysteriously in a moment at the end of the film where she seems to sacrifice herself to Grindelwald in order for Newt and Theseus to escape, but she doesn’t actually do any damage to Grindelwald, and it doesn’t seem that she needed to make such a grand gesture…Leta is amongst the many mysteries of the series, hopefully, to be further explored in the third movie.
