(by Abishek Balaji)
Revisiting the pop culture phenomenon of our generation
Corona virus made me do, as RandeepHooda said, the one thing I thought I’d never do – clean my room. While navigating through mountains of clothes,gadgets,question papers and books, I had a near-Imtiaz Ali moment- I made shelf discovery. In it was 4 of the seven Harry Potter books-the 2015 floods borrowed the other 3 permanently. Looking at them after years made me realise what Shraddha Kapoor feels every time she sees raindrops- an irresistible urge.
Abandoning my room purification I started to re-re-re-read them. There was practically nothing else to do during these times; I had even tried watching some of Netflix’s original Indian content.But Alas, all these years of gobbling up college pdfs and binge watching TV series had left my reading instincts numb. I couldn’t read more than 10 pages. I remembered reading Deathly Hallows in half a day back then. Switching on TV, I decided to watch K3G for the next 2113778hours, its aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa BGM supplementing my already depressed mood.
Then, a brilliant idea struck me- I had my friend’s cousin’s neighbour’s Amazon Prime account, which had all the Harry Potter movies. Considered to be a sin among many hard core Potter heads to watch the adaptions instead of reading the books, I dared to decide that I’m going to watch all of them, continuously.
I was pleasantly surprised and even mildy shocked at how well made most of the movies were. The first two movies were embarrassingly faithful to the books(though as adventure movies for kids they were competent enough), but after Prisoner of Azkaban, the tone gets darker, the atmosphere grows quiet, and I noticed that the movies exist in a parallel dimension to the books.
The inevitable problem with this was many scenes which I expected to see were not there(the final face off in Deathly Hallows especially was underwhelming), and those alien to the books will find it impossible to connect the dots. For instance, someone who didn’t read Order Of Phoenix will think how the hell did the good guys arrive to save Harry and his friends from the Death Eaters? The movie never mentions that it was Snape who called them. Similarly the movie never mentions why the Half Blood Prince is called so.
But for someone who is well versed with the books, the movies offer a LOT of satisfying things. Like the scene in Prisoner Of Azkaban where Nearly Headless Nick is seen chasing one of the ghosts running off with his head. Like the wondrous stretch in Order Of Phoenix where the Weasly Twins unleash their carnage but the fun is short lived as Harry sees a vision and drops in the floor. Reading something and imagining them in your head is one thing, watching them unfold with terrific visual effectsand back ground music is at another level. It is like watching a Samuthirakani movie after reading social studies.
I was only 7 when the final book released, and I still remember the crowds in the nearby bookstore – crowds that were hitherto unseen except at the Puliyodarai counter inParthasaradhy temple. When I saw Goblet of Fire at Sathyam, I was so scared that during every scene Dumbledore wasn’t present, I’d half-close my eyes. Heck, I even used to think Dumbledore was Gandalf from LOTR, a misconception that was rectified in Chamber Of Secrets when he says the opposite of You shall not pass– “Exams have been cancelled”.
I feel that the kind of Universal effect Harry Potter had will never be matched by the likes of Game Of Thrones(try watching it with a family member in the vicinity), the MCU(try watching them without the gobsmacking special effects) or the new Star Wars movies(try watching them). Harry Potter was such an inseparable part of my childhood. And it will continue to be so. Whenever I see a mark on someone’sforehead. Whenever some girl raises her hand in the class. And whenever I see Sun News(they ripped off the theme music).
Baradwaj Rangan 
Anu Warrier
May 25, 2020
Welcome back to the Potter-verse. : ) As books go, there are far better written ones, even for children, but JK Rowling captured the imagination of both kids and adults worldwide. It was also eminently sensible of her to stick to the original seven books for which she already had a plot structure. We binge-watched the 8 movies about a month or so ago – and the only peeve I had was with the casting of Sirius Black. He didn’t look like the Black of my imagination.
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abishekspeare
May 25, 2020
You’re right. Every time i saw him i thought “here comes Commissioner Gordon”. My other peeve was, well, there being no Peeves(the poltergeist), if you know what I mean!
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hariniraa
May 25, 2020
So well written and funny as hell man 😀
Reminds me of my potterhead days :’)
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tonks
May 25, 2020
Not having Peeves was unforgivable, as was leaving out SPEW altogether : Hermione’s character was defined by the latter.
So I read Chamber of secrets first : my cousin who was living with us then left it lying around and one bored afternoon, I lazily skimmed it, not expecting much looking at the childish cover picture, and I was then a mother of two. I was sucked into the story, the characters actually did live, and I actually cried in the mirror of Erised scene. I went back and read the first book, and breathlessly awaited the release of Azkaban, and all other books after that. I became a Pot head (my name here is derived from the books).
I found it sacrilegious that they were showing the movies on Star movies, and my kids would be denied the joy of reading the books without knowing the story line. So I made it mandatory that they should read the books before they watched the movies (my younger son, a precocious reader, finished all seven books before his tenth birthday).
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tonks
May 25, 2020
Something I wrote on Harry Potter that was published in the Hindu, a few years back :
https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/harry-potter-the-story-that-lived/article7379025.ece
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abishekspeare
May 25, 2020
hariniraa: Thanks a lot!
tonks: Oh, I have been wanting to ask you for years if that’s where you got your name from! That was an extremely well written article, so beautiful. I remember PoGo telecasting Harry Potter. My mom used to make me watch it too (to keep me engaged). I was only allowed to watch till the point where Cho Chang asks “what are nargles”, though.
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Varsha Ganesh
May 25, 2020
I am re-re-reading the series again and this article was spot on and funny! I’ve always belonged to the books > movies gang but maybe the last few years of a staple Netflix diet may make me watch the movies a little differently now. Time for a marathon!
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tonks
May 26, 2020
tonks: Oh, I have been wanting to ask you for years if that’s where you got your name from! That was an extremely well written article, so beautiful
Thank you 🙂
About my name, yes. In the years when the books were getting published, a bunch of us Pot heads got together to form a group where each of us took identities from the series. I was not young enough to be a school kid, nor (then 🙂 ) old enough to be my favourite adult lady character McGonagall. So I chose Nymphadora Tonks as my identity : I also figured that being a metamorphagus is a little cooler than being just an animagus, and I loved the thought of being able to change the colour of my hair at will 😀
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tonks
May 26, 2020
There’s a Voldemort who visits this blog too, but I have not seen (?her) here recently
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abishekspeare
May 26, 2020
tonks: speaking of people who have been MIA, i wonder what happened to MANK. He used to be like a mini BR here
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Aman Basha
May 26, 2020
Back in the Potterverse’s heyday, when we were all kids, everyone’s favorite was Emma Watson as Hermoine Granger. I was unable to digest reviews critical of her performance, reeling in the aftereffects of an unresolved crush.
Rowling had it perfect with the Deathly Hollows as a conclusion, though the movie version was admittedly weaker despite being split into 2 parts. She only made things worse with the Cursed Child and the Fantastic Beast storyline.
Despite its grand parade of British thespians, the standout for me was and is Alan Rickman as Severus Snape. It’s a masterful performance, that makes you marvel and wonder aided immensely by his modulation and speech, dry, deliberately measured and cold. It was gratifying to watch his character get the conclusion he did.
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abishekspeare
May 27, 2020
Aman Basha: Alan Rickman’s was a delicious performance. My favorite scene of his is in Prisoner of Azkaban where he corners Harry loitering around at night with the Marauders map and Lupin comes to his rescue:
“Taking a walk…in the moonlight, are we?”
About Emma Watson(or Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint), i bought their performances completely, but i have never been able to figure out if they were great ‘actors’ or if they just looked the parts and were directed well.
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KayKay
May 29, 2020
I breezed through all 7 Potter books in a month. I purchased the Blu Ray Box Set as DVD stores were closing down rapidly all across KL the past couple of years and Closing Down Sales meant you could get these for a fraction of the price.
I should re-visit them although my recollection of the Potter films are that they’re a mixed bag.
1 & 2 were fairly faithful if unexceptional adaptations.
3 & 5: Magnificent
4& 6: Let down by cheesy romantic detours
7: Yawn
8: A rousing finale and Alan Rickman’s amazing performance is now bound to have me in tears if I re-watch it.
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abishekspeare
May 29, 2020
KayKay: I’d mostly agree with you, but hasn’t one of the most joyful things about Harry Potter been the detours?(the best example of this is the subplot of the Deathly Hallows which didn’t majorly contribute to the ultimate goal IMO).
Especially in Half Blood Prince, like dude, Voldemort is back and people are disappearing, and JKR instead goes on about Love Potions, Dinner Parties, and Quidditch selections! But that’s the fun thing about Harry Potter. You (mostly) follow JKR like sheep following a shepherd to wherever she takes you.
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Voldemort
May 31, 2020
Tonks : Thanks for remembering! Really appreciate it. It’s been a real hectic couple of months, haven’t had time for anything other than work. The last time I’d dropped by was for Irrfan’s death, a month ago. I happened to open it today, and in the recents saw this title and couldn’t resist opening.
Great post, Abhishek. Indeed, the boy who continues to live. I am a part of a lot of fandoms, but none comes close to the Potterverse. I didn’t like the movies in the beginning, cause how dare they change things (:P) but, after few viewings began to appreciate them as companions to the books. However, there are certain things that I wouldn’t forgive the movies for –
1) Ginny is such a dreamy eyed fangirl in the movies who does nothing. The maximum she does is feeding Harry a pastry. She is nowhere close to the badass she was in the books, who even Gred and Forge don’t mess with.
2) Like you said, Peeves. How could they NOT include Peeves?! How wonderful would it have been if they’d shown Peeves going around, singing –
We’ve done it, We’ve bashed them, wee Potter’s the one.
Now Voldy’s gone mouldy, so let’s have some fun 😛
3) Dumbledore did not break open doors, rush inside and shake Harry asking him, “Harry, did ya put your name in the Goblet of fire?” Dumbledore asked calmly. I cringe everytime I see that, it’s so out of Dumbledore’s character.
4) SPEW.
5) The last face off between the one from whom I adopted this moniker, whose name cannot be spoken and Harry Potter. It was awful to say the least, without any coherence.
All that said, here are a few things I love about the books –
The cast of the golden trio. I just can’t see them as any other character at all. Like no, you are Harry and will always be Harry.
Alan Rickman as Snape. One of the greatest casting choices ever.
Helena Bonham Carter and Maggie Smith.
P.S. I just don’t get the blind love for Snape at all. He was still a selfish dick, a bully who loved to belittle weak students (Read Neville). Just because he saved Harry, it doesn’t justify every other bad thing he’s ever done.
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Voldemort
May 31, 2020
Tonks : That was a really good article. Brings back a lot of great memories of the book. Thanks for sharing
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tonks
May 31, 2020
In the books, I had guessed very early on that Snape was secretly on Harry’s side, mainly because Dumbledore trusted him, and I knew he would have had a solid reason. So the big reveal did not take me by surprise at all. Yes, he was slimy and mean, he hated James and his image he saw in Harry(with good reason), but he rose above that because of his love for Lily, and that is probably why some people think highly of him.
The book and movie I like best are both Azkaben. I loved the way the pieces are all tied together at the end, and time travel has always been one of my favourite fantasy tropes.
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rsylviana
May 31, 2020
@abishekspeare – Very well-written 🙂 and yes, searching for my HP collection at home was kind of the first thing I did when Lockdown 1.0 was announced but alas I learned that half the books were with my sister in another city and the rest were at our loft. I wanted to take them down and re-read them again but oh well, the back-numbing daily routine , the ever present existential crisis and the extensive research and preparation needed to obtain the most de-corona-fied ladder from our apartment have made it difficult for me to get to it.
BEGIN RANT
Now , even I have a bunch of things that the movies missed or botched-up and I have been able to forgive most of them when I remind myself that there could have been budgeting , scheduling and timing limitations to keep the movies very close to the books. For eg, the omittance of Peeves and Ginny’s story arc sort of made sense to me atleast,because there could have been time constraints in case of Ginny(how much time can we spend on Harry’s battle with Voldy AND his love story really?) and both time & budgetary constraints in case of Peeves(extensive CGI for just his one-second appearance and much more effort from the team to pick and choose which of his antics can be included into the movies so on and so forth ) but two particular scenes have been wrecked by the movie makers despite having none of such hindrances. First is,of course, Dumbledore’s “DID YA PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE” debacle and another is a scene from The Chamber of secrets. Do you remember the Quidditch tryouts when Hermione, instead of Ron, gives out the meaning of the term “Mudblood” to Harry? Jesus Christ , does it do a hell of a disservice to both Hermione’s and Ron’s characters or what !? I mean can you imagine Hermione Granger, the ultimate female role model all of us looked upto and still do, engaging in self-pity about something she(being a muggle) wouldn’t have known? And poor Ron, it completely takes away his blinding loyalty to his friends and what he brings to the table wrt to the trio and the HP universe. Jeez if I had a nickel for every-time I was asked “what does Ron do in the HP universe exactly?” or “How come Harry chose him to be his friend?”, I would have arranged for snipers to kill the writers of THAT scene! What both of these scenes do show very clearly is how the makers didn’t know/understand/love/respect the characters they were making a movie on and so should be locked up in Azkaban for the same crime if you ask me.
END RANT
P.S – I believe KayKay was “Let down by cheesy romantic detours” in the movies and not in the books.
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tonks
June 1, 2020
As someone who likes a dash of romance in their stories, I personally could empathise with Harry’s feelings when he had that crush on Cho. While his romance with Ginny, I never found it convincing in the books (leave alone in the movies, where Ginny’s character was bland). I did not buy into it at all.
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abishekspeare
June 1, 2020
Voldemort : Thanks! Perhaps why they didn’t have Peeves was, the makers of the first two films were too busy following the plot line by line(this is true for GOF to an extent too), and even if the later films wanted to include him, it’d have been weird to introduce a character who had always been present after 2 movies(as opposed to, say a Moaning Myrtle who’s not always hanging around prominently). They had the chance in Sorcerer’s Stone and missed it Of course this is a very unconvincing explanation,but this is what I tell myself.
About SPEW, I read somewhere that they didn’t include it since Hermione before GOF was never seen advocating animal(creature?) rights. Also GOF had no time to dwell on any characters, let alone something seemingly trivial as this. They apparently planned GOF as a two part, but reckoned it would be too slow.
Voldemort and tonks: I too have never understood the unanimous love for Snape. He’s everyone’s favorite character including BR’s. I mean yes, it is indeed the ‘best’ character(in terms of the reveal and behavior etc), but he was by no means an entirely ‘likeable’ person. A LOT of the love has to do with Alan Rickman’s performance.
rsylviana: Thank you:). Yes, the movies have never concentrated much on characters except Harry. Rupert Grint is almost always sidezoned and sprouts out only in his Big Scenes which are few and far between. I wish the HP movies had taken the LOTR approach with long and detailed films, but they wouldn’t have been this commercially successful. And I think KayKay was referring to the movies:
“7: Yawn
8: A rousing finale and Alan Rickman’s amazing performance is now bound to have me in tears if I re-watch it.”
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KayKay
June 1, 2020
“I’d mostly agree with you, but hasn’t one of the most joyful things about Harry Potter been the detours”
abishekspeare: I have this thing about 3rd acts where they’e supposed to grab me by the scruff of the neck and hurtle me towards the climax.
The romances were tolerable during the earlier books/films as sub-plots that served to do a little bit of character shading as well.
But when you come to the The Half Blood Prince, the penultimate book and film (if you consider Deathly Hallows as one long movie divided into 2 parts), I kept asking myself, why am I having to endure Harry’s rather bland (echoing tonks here) romance with Ginny and the continued relationships travails of Ron & Hermione when the movie needs to keep building up it’s sense of dread and anticipation?
As for Harry, Hermione & Ron Go Camping, sorry, couldn’t abide it in the books nor the film. I felt this late in the narrative wasn’t the place for Ron to start acting like a morose dick. Just killed the pacing. And I believe the film had that tacky add on scene (at least I think the book didn’t have it) where Ron has a vision of Harry and Hermione in a romantic clinch and the scene implied they weren’t wearing much? And I’m going…”I need to see this NOW? That too featuring characters you first saw as cute little kids?” (See also: Arya’s sex scene (yucks!)
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KayKay
June 1, 2020
“P.S. I just don’t get the blind love for Snape at all. He was still a selfish dick, a bully who loved to belittle weak students (Read Neville). Just because he saved Harry, it doesn’t justify every other bad thing he’s ever done”
Voledemort, that love I agree mostly came from Rickman’s performance but like in the books, it came about after the revelation of Snape’s huge sacrifice: to be the Bad Guy while protecting Harry in secret, with the added poignancy of the latter being the son of the woman he loved and lost. The man was the ultimate Deep Undercover Mole:Sacrificing personal happiness and sublimating his own identity, hopes and desires for the greater good.
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abishekspeare
June 1, 2020
KayKay: Reading your comment I realized that there are two ways to see Harry Potter- either as purely a good vs evil story or as a story of a boy. If you belong to the former school of thought, you’ll find the romantic detours totally unnecessary. They add absolutely no value to the plot. The romantic angle that matters the most to the story, i.e, that of Snape, is done away with just a chapter in the book/ten minutes in the film. But if you see this as two parallel storylines -one being the Harry-Voldemort track and the other being that of teenagers, perhaps some of those deviations would be more convincing.
And about the trio going all over the place in the first half of Deathly Hallows, i think JKR adopted that strategy because she knew half the world was waiting with bated breadth if Harry would kick the bucket. Rajamouli did this too(rather unsuccessfully) with Baahubali 2, packing off Prabhas and Satyaraj into a comedy track and swooning duets before he dug into the “Why the hell did Katappa become Cut-appa”.
“(See also: Arya’s sex scene (yucks!)”
I’ll have to disagree with you here, because before Arya disrobed herself, She brutally murdered a handful of people. I’m not defending the necessity of that scene, but if you’re telling me you were okay with a girl chopping up people and stuffing a their fingers in a sandwich , but couldn’t digest her having sex, we belong to different schools of thought.
P.S: the scene between Harry and Hermoine was a terrible decision by the makers.
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Rahini David
June 1, 2020
Unpopular Opinion Galore:
Snape was a bad teacher. All he ever did was made words appear on the black board and then gave unfair marks to his favourite students and non fave students. He made sure Hermione and Neville felt like shit. People forget how terrible he was, really. He created sectum sempra as a teenager for crying out aloud.
But then again Trelawney is a bad teacher and so is Hagrid. Which brings us to the worst of all. Dumbledore being a bad principal. Why are children in that school made to take divination classes? Because death eaters may torture and kill trelawney. Then find her a protected job inside Hogwarts which isn’t teaching. Nobody should be taught by a certified fraud.
Nobody should be taught by a man who thinks dragons need lullabies and that Ron and Harry should meet aragog to know the truth. Hagrid is nothing but a big baby. Extremely irresponsible. Why should he not be just game keeper or atleast mcgonnagal can set him a syllabus.
You know who seems to see these 2 points perfectly well? Umbridge, that is who. It isn’t that I like her. It is just that Rowling creates these “lovable characters” and “unlovable characters” and sometimes I just felt enormous dissonance.
Dumbledore’s just a terrible administrator who caused Diggorys death and could have easily made things stringent when draco was attempting to assassinate Dumbledore.
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Rahini David
June 1, 2020
Also, Stephen Fry rocks as the Audible narrator. Absolutely perfect.
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abishekspeare
June 2, 2020
Rahini David: Totally agree with you. There’s so much more Dumbledore could have done. I suppose we wouldn’t have half the plot had Dumbledore been more active(which is why JKR didn’t use him much). It’s almost as if he put his hands up and said “This is all I’ll do. You take care of the rest. Imma go chill.”
And Voldemort is not a great villain too(in that sense) – the sense of dread we associate with him is because of how OTHERS speak of him and not because we see HIM do anything horrific frequently.
But had these characters behaved in any other way, we wouldn’t have had this much fun i feel.
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Rahini David
June 2, 2020
abishekspeare: HP is ALL about the fun. The portraits get drunk, Filch enjoys Umbridge’s short reign, peeves takes order from the Weasley twins, house elves have personalities very different from each other, it is all wonderful fun.
Characters make sense. Ambitious Percy resenting his unambitious father is spot on. The reaction of the twins is marvellous.
But the bigger parts don’t. Like Dumbledore just leaving a note to the Dursleys rather than, say, donning muggle clothes and explain it in person.
But yeah, it is meant to be consumed like that. The parts that mean much to you, speak to you.
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Voldemort
June 2, 2020
Abhishek : They had the chance in Sorcerer’s Stone and missed it Of course this is a very unconvincing explanation,but this is what I tell myself
Haha. True. When it comes to favorites, don’t we all tend to do that? I just keep coming up with excuses to justify why Rowling had to come up with that excuse of a book (Play, but I read it as a book and didn’t get to watch the play). I mean, I still like her a lot and totally look up to her though I am not the biggest fan of her recent actions.
And regarding SPEW, I don’t think it was trivial at all. I think it was one of the most character defining instances of who Hermione would later turn out to be.
Kay Kay : While I agree that it was a great sacrifice, that doesn’t undo all the bad things he’s done. He was interested in the Dark Arts from a very young age. He joined Voldemort ane became a Death Eater. He was a big bully and a terrible teacher. Yes. Brave. Extremely brave. He risked his life. Yes. But still, not someone I’d call a HERO.
Of course, I am not saying he should have been nice, just that he is not the wonderful, saintly guy, almost everyone paints him to be.
And talking of Snape, in my opinion, Lupin is one of the most underrated characters. I absolutely loved him in PoA, Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows. It’s sad that his death was just merely touched upon in both the books and the movies, unlike Sirius or heck even Wormtail.
Regarding the romantic detours, I feel that’s exactly how a teenager would feel like. It’s probably because I read book 5 onwards in my early teens (Yes, I literally grew up with the books :D) It’s almost like Harry is saying “Look I know I’m supposed to be saving the world and stuff. But heck. I am a teenager and I have feelings too.”
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Aman Basha
June 3, 2020
Snape is one of the most popular characters Rowling has ever conceived, because he is also the most complex and has the most touching twist when compared to any of the other characters. Flawed, anti hero, almost Byronic, he was glossed over a bit in the movies and even more significantly helped by Alan Rickman, who was informed by Rowling about the twist and played it accordingly. Revisiting the series and movies make you look out for him in particular and the performance is perfectly in tune with the behavior we’d expect.
Rahini David: Me thinks Snape does bear grudges but also uses them especially to maintain his cover. It’s no denying he enjoys it as well to some extent. Charismatic genius misanthropes have always been popular among audiences.
And I dig the whole teen detours in Half Blood Prince, it’s hormones battling a higher purpose and humanizes the characters quite well. There’s a scene where Hermoine tells Harry about a girl who plans to pass a love potion to him because he’s the chosen one and he replies, “But I am”. There is an atmosphere of tension but it doesn’t become overbearing to induce groans.
Deathly Hallows I was a drag at points but was nowhere as disappointing as II where the book had a far better climax.
All in all, Harry Potter was lovely till JKR was afflicted with the George Lucas Syndrome where she kept on adding retcons which were quietly accepted till she endorsed the Cursed Child and went on with Fantastic Beasts.
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Rahini David
June 3, 2020
Aman Basha: I decided to keep away from the Cursed Child forever. Never will I ever try that. But what about fantastic Beasts?
Do you think it is atleast worth watching?
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brangan
June 3, 2020
Rahini David: Characters make sense… But the bigger parts don’t. Like Dumbledore just leaving a note to the Dursleys rather than, say, donning muggle clothes and explain it in person.
In a way, this is true of all myths. There are many situations in The Mahabharata where Krishna uses his divinity to “create magic” and help the Pandavas. Elsewhere, he does very human things like “negotiating” with the Kauravas for the Pandavas’ land
It’s not a perfect comparison, but I bring it up because of something I have said over and over in my reviews — that sometimes, “emotional logic” makes more sense than the “logical logic”
There’s something very Romantic and magical/mythical about a child being left on a doorstep, and that “emotion” is lessened when someone comes and explains it all.
Just like Kunti abandoning her baby in … an effing river!!!!
“Logical logic”: What if there’s a waterfall down the course and the baby is tossed into the water and drowns? What if a pelican swoops down and decides to have a snack? What if there are crocodiles?
“Emotional logic”: What a tragic turn of events. An unwed mother forced to abandon her firstborn in the most horrible way.
What bolsters this “emotional logic” is the feeling that Surya is looking down on the river and will safeguard his son // Dumbledore is always keeping a watch out for Harry.
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Aparna
June 3, 2020
//And poor Ron, it completely takes away his blinding loyalty to his friends and what he brings to the table wrt to the trio and the HP universe. Jeez if I had a nickel for every-time I was asked “what does Ron do in the HP universe exactly?” or “How come Harry chose him to be his friend?”, I would have arranged for snipers to kill the writers of THAT scene! What both of these scenes do show very clearly is how the makers didn’t know/understand/love/respect the characters they were making a movie on and so should be locked up in Azkaban for the same crime if you ask me.//
I completely agree. The movies treatment of Ron Weasley was downright disappointing. Much of the narrative was altered so that Hermione could be a much stronger character and I believe the film makers quite enjoyed Radcliffe and Watson’s on screen dynamic and hence, let them play off each other. In later interviews, JKR has said that she regretted pairing Ron and Hermione together. I wonder how much do authors alter/change a characters’ original characterization, when they see their work as movies or series. GRRM claims to not have watched the last few episodes/seasons of GoT. Maybe, we ll get an idea once he releases Winds of Winter, if he ever finishes.
I also think that JKR to a large extent gave up on Ron’s characterization as the series progressed. Ron is poorly developed, despite being conceptualised as master chess player, never really exhibits a highly strategic mind that could be of potential utility in such a story. Within the trio, Ron is the only character with a wizarding upbringing and acts as a source of information for Harry on polarising view points of wizarding lives like the prejudices against giants and elves. In fact, Ron was a readily available treasure trove of information about wizarding culture and lifestyle; had he made the tenuous connection between the invisibility cloak and the tale of the 3 wizards a bit earlier in the series, the deathly hallows could have been organically integrated in the storyline. However, it comes across as a total ex-machina moment in Book 7.
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Aparna
June 3, 2020
//Dumbledore’s just a terrible administrator who caused Diggorys death and could have easily made things stringent when draco was attempting to assassinate Dumbledore.//
When you actually start analyzing the actions or talent or capabilities of key characters in the Harry Potter series, the whole thing starts to fall apart. Moreover, JKR’s writing is heavily plot driven. Harry, for instance, is one of the most criminally incurious protagonist to inhabit a book. He doesn’t know or even research who the Death Eaters are or what a Dark Mark is till he is fed this information in Book 4. Most of the information he learns in the books are through careful eavesdropping. He doesn’t visit his parents grave or his house till Book 7, this was utterly incomprehensible to me. As a result, he is utterly clueless in Book 7 and maybe this is why Rowling introduces the deathly hallows as a way to offer her Hero a way of defeating Voldemort.
The only way to justify Dumbledore’s terrible administration of Hogwarts is if he were like Krishna in the Mahabharat, who allows events to happen and situations to develop that would help him attain a Greater Good.
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brangan
June 3, 2020
I need to start a club named SPUD: Society for Prevention of Undermining Dumbledore
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abishekspeare
June 3, 2020
Voldemort: “And regarding SPEW, I don’t think it was trivial at all. I think it was one of the most character defining instances of who Hermione would later turn out to be.”
You’re right, but what I meant to say was that the movies never really cared about character development. The style they operated upon usually was from one PLOT point to another(which is not a wrong thing IMO). So within that approach SPEW was considered trivial by the makers. If GOF had been a two part movie as planned, maybe it would have been there.
A similar example is the movies omitting Gaunt House. I’d very much have liked it, but the makers didn’t have it since it didn’t contribute to the ‘plot’. Just like how having SPEW would have added more shades to Hermione, gaunt house would have given us more insight into Voldemort.
Also, it feels weird talking about Voldemort to a person who’s (user)name is Voldemort xD
Aman Basha: “till she endorsed the Cursed Child and went on with Fantastic Beasts.”
Spot on. There was absolutely no need for The Cursed Child. It was blasphemous to say the least. Maybe Fantastic Beasts is not that bad as a standalone. But as part of the Wizarding World, it neither does anything new both idea-wise and visually(like Fury Road did to Mad Max) nor stir up nostalgia(like The Hobbit).
Aparna: “I also think that JKR to a large extent gave up on Ron’s characterization as the series progressed.”
YES.
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rsylviana
June 3, 2020
@Aparna – Oh yea even I think that JKR to a large extent gave up on Ron’s characterization as the series progressed. Ron is poorly developed, despite being conceptualised as master chess player, never really exhibits a highly strategic mind that could be of potential utility in such a story. Nevertheless I think she didn’t intend to put Ron down but rather has clear-cut reasons to give more appreciation for Harry and Hermione that it seems like she just left Ron behind. Harry being the hero obviously, has his positive traits clearly etched out in the story and since Hermione is modeled on JKR herself there is a spotlight shone on her too but Ron has no such reason to be highlighted and sadly gets left behind as a result.Sad part is this relationship has an eerie similarity to the relationship Ron had with Mrs.Weasley herself. Its not like Mrs.Weasley doesn’t love Ron or tries to put him down repeatedly but she just doesn’t appreciate him or show him off like she does with her other children.No wonder Ron’s deepest desire is to be a bit more than all of his siblings.
Although I wouldn’t hold it against JKR for not making Ron figure out about the connection between the invisibility cloak and the tale of the 3 wizards because, now that you mention it,wouldn’t the Potters have made the connection long back? Or did they?!
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Aman Basha
June 3, 2020
@RahiniDavid: I hate this comparison so much, but Fantastic Beasts is sort of like the Star Wars prequels but much better in the first part like they blew it with Crimes of JK Grindlewand. It’s worth a watch but comparisons to Harry Potter definitely hurt. The timeline is weird or she considers books and movies to have different timelines
@abhishekspeare: Cursed Child had an interesting concept and wouldn’t have attracted so much attention if JKR didn’t declare something she was not heavily involved in as canon. The lack of a fresh villain and the way everything is messed around characters, time travel rules and legacy left a very sour taste.
@Aparna: You ought to see how Ron ends up in the Cursed Child
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Rahini David
June 3, 2020
BR: Trust me, it is very different on rereading. At first we go “Poor Dumbledore, He is trying to identify the horcruxs and help Potter get prepared and that idiot Malfoy was attempting an assassination, and Dumbledore is so gentle with the assassin, he thinks of every single person”
Reread it after a decade and it is “Katie Bell may have died, you fool. Ron was accidentally poisoned.”
It is like not taking a loaded gun from a child’s hand in a crowded room because he is not good at aiming.
Dumbledore is killed immediately afterwards so we just don’t think about it when we first read it.
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Aparna
June 5, 2020
@rsylviana: Haha yes lots of possibilities there.
@Aman Basha: Poor Ron in Cursed Child! No idea what JKR was thinking when she slapped her name on the book.
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Rahini David
June 5, 2020
Best HP content in YouTube, IMO.
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nikkie1602
June 6, 2020
On re reading, it is the Sorting at Hogwarts that I find the most problematic. Dumbledore’s grey areas I think are well explored in the books themselves. Like, Aberforth doesn’t think too much of him and even Snape is surprised that Dumbledore has been preparing Harry “to die at the proper moment”. But what is going on with the Sorting? It is like you are ensuring that the pure blood fanatics just stew in their mutual hatred. And this continues even after the events of Chamber of Secrets.
About Snape…dont we see that in fiction? We always latch on to that one redeeming quality. I feel James Potter doesn’t get called out enough for being the bully that he was. The whole incident is brushed off in the books just as him being a bit of an idiot.
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Voldemort
June 7, 2020
https://www.google.com/amp/s/variety.com/2020/film/news/jk-rowling-transphobic-tweets-controversy-1234627081/amp/
2000 – Writes about Slytherin and Voldemort.
2020 – Well, probably they had a point maybe?
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Voldemort
June 7, 2020
Rahini : Thanks for sharing those videos. Loved the videos. Super Carlin brothers earned a new subscriber!
Reg Dumbledore – As mentioned by others here, I think Dumbledore was established as an irresponsible principal even as early as the first book – Ron and Hermione tell Harry how Dumbledore very matter of factly had said “Harry’s gone for the stone hasn’t he?” , giving zero regard to the dangers there.
Also, Ron adds, “I always said he was off his rocker”
In the GoF, when Hagrid resigns because of the article Rita Skeeter wrote, he says, “Not a week has passed, since I became Headmaster of this school, when I haven’t had at least one owl complaining about the way I run it. But what should I do? Barricade myself and refuse to talk to anybody”
This might be told just to console Hagrid, but there might be at least partially true.
And in the seventh book, there is so much told about Dumbledore’s life and lies (:P pun intended) and the trio despises him until the last turn of events.
Even about James Potter, Harry, after seeing the Pensieve despises his father’s actions, goes to the extent of wondering if James had bullied Lily into marrying her. He confronts Sirius about this immediately after through the fireplace, which is a very risky thing, considering Sirius was still an outlaw then. When Sirius replies saying, “A lot of people are idiots at the age of fifteen, Harry”, Harry yells back, “I AM FIFTEEN NOW”
Also regarding the Sorting, this is what Dumbledore has to say to Snape – “Severus, you know, sometimes I think we sort too soon.”
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Voldemort
June 7, 2020
I re-read the Prince’s tale – the chapter in DH about Snape and was totally moved to tears.
I agree with a lot of points put out here and in various places on the internet of how certain bits of the story are inconsistent, brought in just to prop the protagonist, not very logical, etc, but when you read the books, you are deeply invested in the story. The story is put out so beautifully that, at least, while you are reading you don’t notice and question the logic of certain actions. And that, I guess, is the biggest success of JK Rowling.
It is, with all its faults, one of the best books I’ve ever read and loved.
I doubt if there will ever be another phenomenon like Harry Potter, another book series that continues to enjoy limelight and success and praise, even years after it ended. Truly, the pop culture phenomenon of our generation.
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nikkie1602
June 7, 2020
@voldemort: Reg what Dumbledore says about sorting, it still champions the very basis of sorting no: that kids with similar qualities are grouped together. And the onus is on the kids to override the sorting hat. Why would you let a disturbed kid like Tom Riddle Jr. Be sorted into Slytherin?
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Rahini David
June 8, 2020
From a real life perspective, sorting is absurd.
But I guess it makes sense in a emotional logic that BR says above. Even in a normal school we like to think that our set of friends are the truthful and brave ones and very unlike that other snob group over there which values money and that other snob group which values marks and grades.
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nikkie1602
June 8, 2020
@rahini: I get that. But that is done by the kids themselves. Sorting is school sanctioned.
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nikkie1602
June 8, 2020
Cont.
I mean McGonagall says something like the time has come for the Slytherin house to prove their loyalty during the War of Hogwarts. The other houses at least interact a bit with each other. Slytherin have always been set apart.
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Anu Warrier
June 8, 2020
Isn’t the sorting explained because that’s how the four founders of the school set it up? That the students with the values they cherish most are the ones who will enter their house?
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nikkie1602
June 8, 2020
@anu: yes that’s how it is explained. I am saying I find the whole premise of the sorting business problematic. On re-reading that is. The series remains one of my absolute favourites.
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