I am still sometimes rankled, though, by the imcompetence of the Wizard Leadership. For example: the students are not allowed in the Black Forest, because it's dangerous. And they are not allowed roaming the castle after dark, because it's dangerous. So what is the punishment if they are found around the castle after dark? They are sent into the Black Forest! Come on! That's insanity and buffoonery, and not worthy of a "great leader" like Dumbledore.
I greatly enjoy the stories, but there are just a couple of examples like this, where I think Rowling is being illogical for the sake of creating suspense. She could have done that more logically with just a little more thought.
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... Anyway, one of the things I love most about movies these days is the amazing designers and concept artists who work in them. Take for example the giant chess set in The Philosopher's Stone. What an amazing design. Both in terms of the basic design of the individual pieces, and in terms of the weathering and aging they have applied to them.
Oh, I'm not sure about that. Dumbledore probably figured a half giant with a crossbow who spends his days tramping about that very same forest would probably be able to protect them. Dumbledore didn't know there was anything that bad in there - he couldn't have known that Voldemort was back at that point - and even the centaurs weren't a problem at that stage.
ReplyDeleteActually, you know, what bothered me about that movie was the staircases that moved about. I don't recall if they behaved in quite that way in the book. It seemed exceedingly dangerous to have them doing that all the time. Far more dangerous than sending kids into the forest with a 10-foot-tall escort.
ReplyDeleteOr, she's just deliberately designed a world where many things are illogical.
ReplyDeleteLike those Bizarro adventures in Superman. Their authors aren't necessarily hopping mad TOO. ;-)
If you've read the complete series, you'll know that Dumbledore himself confesses not being as wise as others sometimes think.
Also, Harry needs to grow up and become prepared for his destiny as the Child who Lived, so maybe it's a calculated risk so that he'll gain experience. Maybe as early as Book 1, Albus knows Voldemort's return is only a matter of time, since he couldn't "really" die.
Now, the Triwizard Tornament, I'm not sure that risk was very calculated. Maybe it was, and maybe not...
Remember, the wizard Justice System is also quite... "special". It might just be all a very conscious social satire.
I thought somebody would bring up Hagrid. But the first thing Hagrid did was send Harry and Draco off on their own, except for a cowardly dog.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, even if we assume that the tactic was just to scare the kids, I think that's a despicable method.
The moving staircases don't bother me, obviously they would have to do that in a sort of abstract and magical way, if they do it at all. Only it can only be shown in the film in a rather mechanical way.
"Now, the Triwizard Tornament, I'm not sure that risk was very calculated."
ReplyDeleteYes, that one rankled me even more. The dragon was reckless beyond belief, and the "drowning friends" game was just psychological torture. Even if Harry berates himself for "should have realized it was not serious", that's BS, there's no way he could have known.
"Remember, the wizard Justice System is also quite... "special". It might just be all a very conscious social satire."
That has actually occurred to me. In that case it's deeper than most realize.
the first thing Hagrid did was send Harry and Draco off on their own, except for a cowardly dog.
ReplyDeleteWhich was not part of the plan. I'd have to see the movie again, but was Hagrid ordered to do that? It was probably just him being thoughtless. He could be said to be irresponsible.
Again, the forest was not thought to contain anything truly dangerous - like Dark Lords. Something was killing was unicorns, so it was stupid of Hagrid to send two kids off on their own.
The moving staircases don't bother me, obviously they would have to do that in a sort of abstract and magical way, if they do it at all. Only it can only be shown in the film in a rather mechanical way.
I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean. It must be use of the word abstract with which I'm not familiar. They make absolutely no mention of there being any kind of protection for anyone who happens to fall off. You've got a much greater chance of dying inside the school than moseying around in the forest.
Now, the Triwizard Tornament, I'm not sure that risk was very calculated. Maybe it was, and maybe not...
The Triwizard Tournament is I think an example - and there are many - of how the Wizardinging World is kind of stuck back in medieval times.
Strewth.
ReplyDelete(I think that means "god's truth", but I could be wrong.)
Joe, how come you keep amending posts and repost them?
So is it just me, or do the last three kinda follow the same story arc as "Enders Game"? The first four I kept seeing parallels to classic fantasy, but the last 2 or 3 books just made it look like "take a hopeful, shat upon individual, and browbeat him until he becomes the dedicated killing machine we need. Then never let him know it's the real thing."
ReplyDeleteI just wished they could have filmed them all back to back. The kids are credibly 11 in HP1, and should be finished with RADA before they even start filming the last one. They could then add the CG and FX later, but the raw filming would have been better done in a great big lump - one a year - as the story goes.
Joe, how come you keep amending posts and repost them?
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm trying not to do that as much lately. But the one here I did because I used "their" instead of "there." It kind of bugged me. Crazy, but there you have it. I'll try to just let it go from now on. People will hopefully just chalk these things up to typos.
The first few movies are some of the best book adaptations I've ever seen, but I feel they go downhill with the latest two.
ReplyDelete"In that case it's deeper than most realize."
ReplyDeleteI'll say!
I've always perceived it that way. Remember, when Dumbledore says about Barty Crouch's house elf: "Harry, to know what a person is truly like, look not at how they behave with their equals, but with their inferiors."
It's exactly as if the Headmaster had met the Lebanese, with their african/asian housemaids. :-(
Reading that quote made me realize just how valuable JKR's work really was.
Perhaps stuff like the BS moral torture or the dragon is both an allegory of the world that can be very unfairly tough with you, and of the adults who will sometimes throw a horrible pressure on your young shoulders, as if they just "can't understand what it feels like".
Harry Potter is not a realistic story. At all. It's a realistic-styled legend, a modern epic for teenagers.
And as such, it's masterfully done. Its true goal is reached.
As I once read in my childhood about the Grendizer debate: "Grendizer is worse than pernicious: it's childish."
You, Eolake, are maybe too much of an adult to get into the full depth of the required suspension of disbelief. Too many symbols and images you take literally. Layers you're "not getting into", with your over-sensible adult mind.
Little children don't "play pretend", in a way they BECOME what they pretend, for the duration of the pretending. They don't hold back. But you do.
Me, I just chose never to fully grow up into a typical adult. :-)
Keeping the spark of magic alive.
"but was Hagrid ordered to do that? It was probably just him being thoughtless."
Good old typical predictable Hagrid! He'd take an Avada Kedavra curse for you in half the blink of an eye, but would think nothing of sending you defenseless for a midnight family reunion with his beloved cranky Acromantula...
Hagrid is the symbol of the very embarrassing, sometimes clumsy friend, but to whom you remain unfailingly loyal because so does he. The dear oaf. Draco is the guy you'd be tempted to befriend if your sole goal was to be popular and powerful, no matter at the price of what selfish insensitivity. The rich politician's kid. Snape... well, Snape is the double agent, til the very end you're never quite sure for whose side he's really working (perhaps only his own).
"They make absolutely no mention of there being any kind of protection for anyone who happens to fall off."
There WAS some of protection. It's called a prefect warning. Remember? A PERFECT prefect warning, crystal clear!
"Watch out for the staircases, they sometimes move on their own."
What, you want magic airbags (a.k.a cushioning spells) down every elevator shaft, too? Hogwarts school is not for wimps, sissies and daydreamers! Okay, Luna Lovegood excepted. :-D
"of how the Wizardinging World is kind of stuck back in medieval times."
Talk about stating the obvious! :-)
They DO have the very cool Patronus gimmick instead of secure e-mail, but internet for general-purpose information? Nu-uh! The "wireless", but no TV. I bet those kids who are used to chatting with portraits would be startled by the first glance of a Muggle action movie! Not to mention today's videogames. Really curled up on themselves, these folks.
Like many minorities...
Muggle Studies should be a mandatory class, and academic prodigy Hermione made its teacher!
"Joe, how come you keep amending posts and repost them?"
Must be a guilt complex. Clearly. Like a compulsive Freudian slip.
Perhaps, like Hagrid, Joe's hasty words once got a schoolboy almost killed by Darth Vador in exchange for a T-Rex egg found in Norway and a few pints of firewhisky. (Okay, SEVERAL pints. Hagrid-sized.)
P.S.: What's RADA? Rushes And Digital Audio?