I need a Harry Potter history lesson
- Thread starter RoJoHen
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At this point, that's not a bad plan. The only thing you'd gain by reading the books at this point is if the books deliver on some of the "big" moments better for you than the last movie will end up doing.
For me, I was much happier reading the books first because the twists/surprises ended up being much more effective for me in the context of the book than they ended up being the movie. Course, Had I not been spoiled by the books for the movie, it's hard to say what I would have thought, though I suspect I would have done it the same way if given a choice again.
Loads was trimmed out. To the point that, particularly in films 4 and 6, imho the narrative is almost lost and we get instead 'Some Short Films About Hogwarts' - basically, just filmed versions of a sequence of scenes from the book without too much tying them together. I enjoy them a lot, don't get me wrong, but confusion abounds where things are missing.
See, I actually disliked 4 for that very reason when I first watched it. Not because it was confusing, but because I didn't really feel like it was telling a story. It was, like you said, just showing a bunch of short scenes that didn't really tie together. I didn't really feel that anything was missing, though, just that it wasn't a particularly well-crafted story.
That has since changed, however, now that I've seen it several times. In fact, I find all the Harry Potter movies get better when you watch them a couple times because there really is a lot more going on than you may realize at first.
Ugh too many books not enough life. The only books I've ever re-read are some Terry Pratchett (after 10 years or so), LoTR (after 20 years or so) and Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis because it's beyond awesome.
I'll add that I might not have gotten into HP -at all- if Stephen King hadn't held it up as one (of many) examples of good fiction in "On Writing". I was frankly kind of shocked to see it there at the time, and ended up wondering whether I actually was missing out on something.
Yeah, well, that's my plan anyways. I've already re-read all of the books twice now except for the last one so I may find myself with too much of a backlog and just re-read the final book, but we'l see.
I don't reread books often. The only other books I've ever reread have been:
- LOTR triology
- The stand
- Dark Tower series
and that's about it. Rowling's books....particularly 3-7... are just so enjoyable though it's easy to get sucked back into that world again.
Good thing you missed the YouTube video going around of a guy who stood first in line to buy the HBP, knew there was a big reveal at the end (Dumbledor getting killed by Snape), and video taped himself driving along the line of people still waiting to purchase the book and yelling, "Snape kills Dumbledor at the end!". The sound of horror is terrible!
I must admit there are one or two that irritate me, but then it is very unusual that I pay close enough attention to an author to notice or for that matter care about stuff like that. One particular fondness JK has that annoys me is how everyone is always blushing.
But these are very minor points; I read HP for the world, and for the characters. I am still a devoted fan of both.
too true... as exciting as this part one is.... I consider it boring next to what is going to be happening in part two.
Rather the reverse, I fear.
Oh, he's not misunderstood, there's no question. He has understandable motivations, but not forgivable ones. He is, in many ways, the embodiment of evil. He was driven that way instead of starting that way, but there's no question about it.
Can you back that statement up with textual evidence? Because his being the last descendant of Slytherin heavily tilts the evidence in the other direction.
See I think that's a red herring. Textual proof of my thoughts would be long, since it's just a general trend, not anything specific. I can see the Slytherin connection as being an inspiration, but I don't see it as conclusive that it was in his nature. There's a lot of stuff in his upbringing that point to a nurture viewpoint of why he is. There's also the whole Harry-Riddle connection that would be meaningless if bloodline is the only factor.
In fact, bloodlines have been shown to be given too much weight in the wizarding world, which is why you have mud bloods and squibbs. They trace their lineage like it means something, when it really doesn't. But, like I said, my arguments are a little too nuanced for me to feel like writing right now (especially since I haven't read HBP in quite a long time).
In fact, bloodlines have been shown to be given too much weight in the wizarding world, which is why you have mud bloods and squibbs. They trace their lineage like it means something, when it really doesn't. But, like I said, my arguments are a little too nuanced for me to feel like writing right now (especially since I haven't read HBP in quite a long time).
In a way the Sorting Hat would seem to perpetuate the problem. Students are sorted based on their own wishes and attributes, but their wishes in most cases are pre-defined by their understanding of what each house historically represents. Draco and Voldemort joined Slytherin because they wanted power...Draco is probably somewhat of an exception to the rule in the long-term, as he has enough of a conscience that he regrets where he's headed once he starts playing with the big boys. One might wonder whether he'd choose Slytherin if he had the chance to do it all over again.
In a way it's a miracle that the wizarding community doesn't pay close attention to Slytherins by default, as it seems like the personality traits that would make one favor Slytherin are not exactly the kind that lend themselves to law-abiding citizens. Of course, the wizarding community as a whole seems to have some rather glaring blind spots as portrayed in the stories.
In a way it's a miracle that the wizarding community doesn't pay close attention to Slytherins by default, as it seems like the personality traits that would make one favor Slytherin are not exactly the kind that lend themselves to law-abiding citizens. Of course, the wizarding community as a whole seems to have some rather glaring blind spots as portrayed in the stories.
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