Amph Gaming Diagon Alley: The Official Harry Potter Thread/Hogwarts Legacy

What it adds is more understanding of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Harry’s parents and the connection that Harry has to the Marauders in general and to James in particular. There’s a reason why Harry’s Patronus usually takes the form of a stag and that was completely omitted from the film. So, yeah, it matters.

 

Ok, but I thought (perhaps incorrectly) the stag connection was made clear in the film. I don’t see specifically what the backstory adds to Harry’s journey in PoA.

to be clear, I’m operating from ignorance here- but that ignorance feels useful, as a means of clarifying what exactly should have been in the film. I can understand the rationale for jettisoning that stuff on film- all those Tom Riddle / Hattie flashbacks didn’t exactly play in the CoS movie.

 

The connection between Harry’s Patronus and James is only clear if you’ve already read the book and even in the book, Harry initially thinks that the Patronus was somehow cast by James, which he readily acknowledges is crazy because James is dead. So, yeah I get that the movie needs to keep things in order to avoid an unacceptably long runtime, but it would have a taken a couple of lines of dialogue to make that connection clearer.

 

So is the patronus link the main idea missing that contributes to Harry’s arc / growth?

 

Yeah. The books repeatedly tell us that Lily and James loved Harry were willing to die for him to protect him from Voldemort, but their sacrifice left a permanent fingerprint on the shape of his magic. The movie should have made that more clear and didn’t.

 

Yeah the occlumency stuff landed so much more in the books, but I’m not so sure if the blame can be laid at how much they cut out vs the fact that the entire film of OOTP was basically constructed as an endless montage to cram it all into two hours.

 

Well, I think 5hat one of the things that hurt Order the Phoenix was that Steve Kloves wasn’t available. I think by that point it was clear that Warner Bros was going to adapt the entire series. My issues with the stuff left out of Prisoner of Azkaban aside, overall Steve Kloves did brilliant job of adapting the six books that he worked. The narrative purpose of OOTP was to set up the endgame. Warner Bros should have waited for him to become available again.

 

Pretty sure it’s the absolute worst HP film, despite how pretty I remember it being.

 

Yeah, it’s the longest book and it’s the shortest film. I’ve heard that the initial cut of OOTP was something like three hours long. I’d be interested in a Peter Jackson-style ultimate cut of Order of the Phoenix, to see if it makes the movie better, At the very least, it could use like another 20 mins of runtime. I was really disappointed that so much of the Department of Mysteries was cut. That was a really great set piece action sequence.

 

I'm still mad they cut out Peeves entirely

 

Yeah, like that moment where McGonagall tells Peeves how to unscrew the chandelier, and Gred and Forges’ indoor swamp, which Flitwick actually kept a piece of because it was a really good bit of magic.

 

Speaking of indoor swamp, I had a silly image in my mind when reading about Filch punting students across the swamp. As an American, I took that to mean he kicked them across (like American football punting), instead of rowing them across (as what it really means).

 

Oh no, Filch was totally kicking them. He hates kids and just wanted to hang out with his cat. And plot revenge against Arya Stark

 

Oh, now that I think about it, I totally see Filch wanting to do that, because he hates the students. And I can see the disappointed look on his face when McGonagall tells him that he can’t.

 

my issue with the film was always structural. I don't think deleted scenes would change that, but it could alleviate the ratio of montage vs AN ACTUAL SCENE to some degree.

 

Really good piece about Rowling's transphobia and how it fits into the broader context of her work: https://www.thecut.com/article/who-did-j-k-rowling-become.html

 

Factoid: Filch lives in St Albans. Well, the actor does. I drive through there a fair bit and I've seen him out walking the Wheathampstead side of the city a few times this past couple of years.

 

Half-Blood Prince is my least favorite.


I can get into movies and shows with teen drama, but for some reason it’s not that appealing in Harry Potter. I don’t mind it in Deathly Hallows, but that’s because the movie as a whole was better paced and had enough else.

 

It’s touched on in that book in a way it isn’t anywhere else— that’s what makes it feel inorganic and less embedded into the tonal fabric of the series, I think. I actually really like it, but wish it didn’t feel like it came out of nowhere

 

Yeah, there are points where the Harry Potter books definitely could have used a B plot.

 

I wonder what’s next I really think they should do a Harry Potter universe show on hbo max maybe the marauders or maybe Harry’s children. Something.

 

I’d potentially be interested in seeing a Harry Potter Expanded Universe.

 

It could be so cool!