Harry Potter and The Cauldron Of Kloves
Connie Lane is a Steve Kloves apologist. Many fans place the blame for the movies' wild off-course veering squarely on the scriptwriter's shoulders. Connie has written a painstaking defense of his work to tell us why we shouldn't. There are several scenes that should be included, written by Kloves, that were left out. They do more to further the true romance of Ron and Hermione, the humourous and witty character of Ron and the magical nature of the books. Yet somehow, some way, these scenes were left out of the movies, giving us instead the non-canonical HoYay! of Remus and Sirius, along with the Eejit!Ron the filmgoers have come to know.
I still blame Kloves. And Warner Bros. And the directors. And even Rowling. Sorry. I don't know how much say she actually has in every aspect of the projects, but I gather from interviews and press reports that it is considerable. Surely she could have spoken up for Ron's integrity, and for the better background of the Ron/Hermione romance we know to be lurking.
I'm rereading the books, as I do every October and have come to the conclusion that the books and movies just simply can't be judged by the same standard. As I said over at Connie's, the movies are interesting glimpses into someone else's imagination of different pieces of the books. Just as fan art shows us visual concepts of scenes, so do the movies. I'll still see them, but as far as my imagination of the books goes, I have more in common with the [Book 6 Spoilers In Links] magnificent stuff Marta has done over at Art Dungeon.
posted by Kat Coble @ 5:43 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
You totally made my day by mentioning Marta.
I love Marta in a freakyweird kind of way. I'm used to people illustrating books. She's the only person I've ever seen whose illustrations are DEAD ON my image of the people/scenarios. For me she's the Alan Lee of the Potter books.
Mary Gran'Pre's stuff is good, but juvenile and more of a grace note. Nice chapter headers but that's about it. Marta's stuff continually amazes me.
I would love it if she could publish a companion book, sort of like Alan Lee has done with LOTR. Whenever I read the books I find myself going back to ArtDungeon just to get a visual refresher.
I've been blaming the director of POA. The movies were fairly close up until that point, though they've always trivialized Ron. It was obvious in Azkaban that WB had decided to hitch their star to a glamorous Hermione.
I saw an interview with Rowling after Chamber of Secrets. She said at through that point Kloves had included more relating to Ron and Hermione than had been in the book.
W
I blame Cuaron for sending me over the edge. Prior to him, my issues with the movies had been more nitpicky in nature. You know " why'd you leave out the best stuff with Fred & George, why'd you shorten Harry's first visit to the Burrow to a 12 minute duration, etc."
POA pushed me into the seething vat of movie dissatisfaction all on its own. Which is sad, because taken solely on its own merits POA is a fine movie. But when you give us:
-GrrrlPowa!Hermione
-HoYay! Remus & Sirius
-No Jinxed Firebolt
-Only Harry hearing the backstory of Pettigrew et. al. when students are clearly allowed in The Three Broomsticks & the Hog's Head, a fact which is very important when OotP rolls around
-No Mauraders?!?! That's the texture and beauty of the book. To not take two minutes for Remus to deliver the exposition on the Map is unforgivable.
Cuaron is famous for his style. It's a good style for a movie, and was a good style for The Little Princess. But it perhaps isn't well suited to the Potterverse because when you adapt one book, you are actually adapting one 7th of a larger book. Unlike The Little Princess, Cuaron didn't have as much room to play around. For instance, it matters to book 6 that Remus and Sirius are not gay lovers. It matters to book 4 that Hermone, while gaining a little testicluar fortitude in Book 3, remains somewhat timid and aloof.
Well, we always know the books are better....it's just how it goes.
Thanks for the pointer to Art Dungeon Katherine. I hadn't been there before. Marta does good work.
W
Michael, you sound like Miss Bee. Those were her words exactly.
Except she also added a "duh" at the end.
W, I'm so glad I could get at least one person to go to Marta's! She's just IT in my book....
Post a Comment
<< Home