Pottermore

[breebree711]

They mostly did the best with what they could. Meaning, the director had to make the movie appeal to all viewers, and because many haven't read the books, they had to create a crutch for them to understand :/

[Minty]

(27-08-2011 05:07 AM)breebree711 Wrote:  They mostly did the best with what they could. Meaning, the director had to make the movie appeal to all viewers, and because many haven't read the books, they had to create a crutch for them to understand :/

The impression I've had since "Goblet Of Fire" is that its directors don't trust the abilities of their cast to act - despite Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Tom Felton all showing they can cut the mustard away from HP - and are more interested in special effects and making the film look as much like the video game spin-off they always shove down everyone's throats afterwards.

It was the bit where they had Neville giving that long droning sollioquy with all the emotional range of a drugged opossum upon Harry being dead that convinced me they didn't trust their cast. Why didn't they do it more like the book - have him go over to Voldermort (as if to chance sides), but then telling him "I will join you when Hell freezes over!" and killing Nagini (and thus looking initially like suicide on his part, reinforcing the "sacrifice for a better day" theme of the 7th book). My suspicion is they didn't because they didn't think he could cut it. They could have at least let him try.

Instead they saved Nagini's demise for after yet another meaningless piece merely to inflate Emma Watson's role (yet again!) - doubtless at the insistence of JK. I've grown to utterly loathe her in the last four movies thanks to the interference in the scripts to inflate her role so that it's pretty obvious her part had become more JK relieving her teenage years through a beautiful young girl the world adores (most of it) - everything JK wanted to be at that age instead of a spotty unpopular nerd with an inability to get on with people (as she herself confessed).

Don't get me started on Helena Bonham Carter. She played a heartless bitch brilliantly and chillingly in Enid (about Enid Blyton, who was a total cow to her own children). Why couldn't she do the same in the biggest films of her career. Half the time she looked like she was taking the pi$$ out of the whole series by doing it as badly as possible, as if it was just a skiffy film to top up her pension pot with before doing a season of Joyce's "Ulysses" or whatever with the luvvies in the West End or whatever to 10 people a night, two of whom are tramps in for a kip and another an escaped lunatic from Broadstairs, with after show sherries at the Connaught and lickfawn reviews in The Guardian supplements.

All of those I know who did watch the movie but hadn't read the books found a lot of it confusing. They know Harry "won", but don't get how he got there, because the directors seemed more interested in rushing through a checklist of bullet-points they needed to tick off to satisfy those that had read it and would "know" what was meant at every stage - like it was Movie Orienteering. I've a feeling that sooner rather than later the Harry Potter films will be remade as a TV series where there will be more scope to expand on what was in the books.

[breebree711]

Well, Im going to have to disagree with most of what you're saying. If you hadn't noticed, Im obsessed with Harry Potter, where as the majority of my friends arent. So when they watched the movie, they came out thinking it was awesome and the bomb and the best HP film they had watched, and they understood completely what was going on the entire time, despite not having read the books.

And you have to keep in mind that the movies aren't supposed to be EXACTLY like the books. Yes, yes, they should be as close to them as possible, but that's NOT what makes money. If all the movies were spot on, you'd have a bunch of dull scenes with Harry staring at the Mirror of Erised for a long, dull time, a lot of scenes with no sound, because pages and pages and pages are commentary in Harry's head. They have to somehow give the viewers a way to understand what's going on in Harry's head by changing the scenarios to make them easier to understand his motives without having him commentate the whole thing.

I can assure you Harry Potter will never become a tv show. That would bring ruin to everything Harry Potter, and JKR wouldnever let that happen.

Plus, she has Pottermore which is going to keep Harry Potter alive for YEARS more to come. Right now the site's only open for beta testers (MEMEMEMEMEME!!! I GOT IN! JKR SPOKE AND SORTED ME INTO SLYTHERIN!!! I LOVE IT!!!), then in October it opens to the public. Well, the site only let's you explore book one. So, if she wanted to drag it out as long as possible, seven years from October she could be uploading book 7 to the site. So she has AT LEAST seven more years of her PHYSICALLY keeping the series alive. Who know what else she'll come up with.

[bobert26]

I came out if DH2 (abbreviations... I'm tired, lol) thinking that it moved quite quickly, and I wasn't sure if I would have been able to undestand everything that was happening if I hadn't read the books. I still really enjoyed it, though. I got into Pottermore on the last day! Still waiting for my email. I just hope I don't get sorted into Hufflepuff! :/

[breebree711]

lol, DH2 was the shortest film of all of them! Shorter than Philosopher's Stone!

BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Pottermore is amazing! You go chapter by chapter and you "explore" all the main parts of those chapters. Every single character, place, animal, spell, potion, book, etc, mentioned has a little bit about it written down for you to read (mostly everything from the books - it's like spark notes for Harry Potter, lol). But JKR has exclusive content for you to read, so if there's a little quill by something, when you read it it's a little explanation by JKR about how she came up with the idea, why she chose it, even some back stories. So far (I'm going through Pottermore slowly so I still have stuff to do, lol) I've learned how Petunia and Vernon met, when Petunia first told Vernon about her sister being a witch, then the first dinner shared by Lily/James and Petunia/Vernon. I also learned McGonnagal's story, which is beautiful and tragic all at the same time. JKR write's AMAZING love stories in about 4 paragraphs, haha.

The chapter when Harry goes to Diagon Alley, you can explore the shops and buy everything you need (or want!). You start off with 500 Galleons, lol. You take a test to determine your wand (and trust me, this test is brilliant. I have no idea how JKR can come up with this stuff.) Then when Harry's sorted, you're sorted. You take another test for your sorting, and it's impossible to pick certain answers that'll get you the house you want. Meaning, you know those quizes online that sort you into a house? Well, those are like, "What's your favorite from these four: Raven, Lion, Snake, or Badger?" Those questions are obvious. JKR's are psychological. The first question was, "What name offends you most when someone calls you it? Normal, etc, etc, etc." I picked normal, lol. I HATE when I'm called normal! Anyways, another question was like "You come to a fork in the road. Do you: Go towards the ocean, the forest, or the castle?"

Yeah, deep, amazing questions.

And I'm in SLYTHERIN haha, dream come true! Though, Mother doesn't claim me anymore...

[bobert26]

I'm excited to learn more about Petunia! I had a soft spot for her after reading DH and I was always sad that JK hadn't developed the Dursley's characters a bit more in the books.

Sounds awesome. :]

[breebree711]

Yeah, I did hate that about the movies though. What little development JKR gave the Dursley's at the beginning of DH was left out of the movies completely. It made them seem like they were all running away, thankful to be rid of Harry. bollards! Petunia was like Severus, I'm sure: Harry had his mother's eyes. And you know Petunia, no matter how horrid she was to Harry, did love him, if only a little. And Dudley. Well, he became a better person.

[bobert26]

Yeah, I agree. There was a deleted scene that showed Harry and Petunia together, though. I kind of wish they would've left it in.

[breebree711]

Oh! You know what? I saw that mugglenet linked to a bunch of deleted scenes, but I never looked at them! But I'm going to get the collector's edition when it's available, so I'll see them eventually, lol.