Harry Potter 6 Movie

[StoryForge]

There is no doubt that the series is getting grittier and edgier, and as much as I enjoy it......do the kids?

 

[paranoid marvin]

The movies went downhill after number two , the novels after three imho. Childrens novels can be dark , nothing wrong with that - but the darkness should be tinged with a least a modicum of humour; Dahl knew how to do this perfectly,I'm not so sure about Rowling or the film directors are Chris Columbus. Sales figures obviously dismiss my opinion , but I would ask this question; would the series have been as popular if the first novel had been written in a similar dark style to that of Goblet Of Fire?

 

[Pyan]

JKR has stated that the series is designed to keep pace with the original readers getting older and more able to cope with the darkening of the story as they read them; ie, they keep pace with HP & Co growing up.

How that leaves 9-year-olds reading the whole lot in a matter of weeks, I'm not quite sure.

 

[paranoid marvin]

JKR has stated that the series is designed to keep pace with the original readers getting older and more able to cope with the darkening of the story as they read them; ie, they keep pace with HP & Co growing up.

How that leaves 9-year-olds reading the whole lot in a matter of weeks, I'm not quite sure.

That's what I feel too. In many ways it makes the work quite unique in this respect, but also somewhat unsettling for new readers, as the further in you get , the darker - with virtually no let up right up to the last chapter of the final instalment.

Maybe I'm behind with the times,but I'm not sure I would want my 9 year old reading the latter half of the series ; but what would be the alternative?Artificially drip-feeding the novels year on year?

When I say the series has gone downhill , I don't mean that the writing style is poor or that the stories arent exciting ; I just mean that for me they cease to be enjoyable. By the final novel , I was just reading to see the end of the story played out.

 

[Boaz]

StoryForge, I won't include any spoilers, but there may be a strong hint or two as to what to expect.

I think the aging process of the protagonists is a key theme of the Harry Potter series.

In C.S. Lewis' Narnia books, we get glimpses of the Pevensie children, Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Shasta/Cor and Aravis at a certain age. They are all roughly between the ages of seven (Lucy in Wardrobe) and thirteen (Peter in Caspian and Shasta and Aravis in Horse's Boy). While the time period (about seven years) is comparable to the age differences from beginning to end, of Harry, Hermione, and Ron, I don't feel the changes nor challenges from six to thirteen are as great as from eleven to seventeen. Lewis deals with the gamut of childhood through different characters, but he never shows one character moving toward adulthood. We're left to project Lucy's development by reading about Jill, Polly, and Aravis. On the other hand, Rowling takes each character though the aging process... and we get to see how Hermione, Cho, Ginny, Fleur, and Luna develop individually.

I'm not saying that Potter is better than Narnia because of this. Heavens, no! But I am saying that it's a different perspective from what I'd become accustomed to...

Roald Dahl was mentioned above. I only read about Charlie, Danny, and James when I was a kid, but it seems that Dahl's heroes are also set at a certain point in time. Danny saves his father's livlihood, James escapes slavery, and Charlie saves his family (plus the entire Earth)... and they all do this before they reach adolescence. We never learn if James became as nasty as his aunts, if Danny became a professional thief, or if Charlie went on to oppress the Oompa-loompas.

If Rowling had stopped with the Philosopher's Stone/Sorcerer's Stone, then we'd just see Ron as Harry's loyal and dependable sidekick. We'd never know how petty, how jealous, how negative, how self-justifying, how stupid, and how two-faced Ron can be. Then again, we'd never know how gallant and how encouraging Ron can be.

I felt that Rowling really tried, especially through Ron, Draco, Luna, Neville, and Ginny, to show the ups and downs of the overall physiological and psychological changes puberty brings about.

I'm not saying the Potter series is a model guide for surviving adolescence. But Rowling tried to let kids know that you can survive family spats, romantic heartbreaks, sports injuries, and even betrayals. It may take years to overcome emotional and physical scarring, but it can be done. She tries to let kids know that failure is not permanent. A mistake at age twelve does not define you for the next sixty years. And I think this is part of the beauty of the aging process that we get to witness.

Now as to how to give this series to a prepubescent child? I don't have a definitive answer. I'm going to try and give it out piecemeal... one every six to nine months when my niece turns ten. She's already read James and the Giant Peach. I am planning on giving her the entire Narnia series soon... on her ninth birthday. I think she can read the entire series fairly quickly without the pitfalls that paranoid marvin mentioned earlier.

There is a window for being the right age and finding the magic within a story. Ages seven to nine will find the magic in Charlie's, Danny's, and James' stories. Ages eight to ten will find it in Narnia. But the window for finding the magic of Harry Potter is quite a bit longer.... ages ten to seventeen.

 

[Dozmonic]

I always felt that the books transitioned from children to young adult and I loved them for it. The tone of the books had to age because the audience who grew up reading the first ones had also aged.

I felt that the first two books showed Rowling as a writer learning her craft and from the third book onwards she hit her pace. The ideas and plot lines became ever more interwoven as her capability grew and left a magnificent tapestry rather than a small plain piece to look at briefly before moving along.

 

[Swurve]

I think that the way she wrote the books, going from a lighthearted tale of destiny to a dark and gritty tale of fate, has coincided well with the movies. The amount of time that it took for the books to come out also kind of grew with their audience, but not so much that new readers would have trouble grasping the concepts of the books.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I also think that the Harry Potter books strip away the children's innocence one book/step at a time. The innocence of childhood and the wonder of new and exciting experiences is what drew me in to reading the books. Philospoher's Stone and Chamber Of Secrets maintained this wonderment , as did the films ; however as the series (and the films) became much darker and 'grittier' this disappeared , and I was left reading an entirely different kind of novel, far more 'adult' in nature. I assume this was the intention , but it's not something that I liked.

 

[Boaz]

marvin, there are certain movies, books, paintings, and other artistic expressions that I appreciate for the planning, the expertise, the thinking outside the box, the level of detail, and the overall high quality of work and yet still not like them. For example, Citizen Kane, the Mona Lisa, War and Peace, and Eine kleine Nachtmusik are all renowned works... yet none of them move me. Yet... I find that It's a Wonderful Life, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Les Miserables, and Sonata Pathetique all stir something within.

I feel for you that the Potter series was not ultimately satisfying for you. I've read lots of books that have not quite panned out the way I wanted. But the works that started wonderfully and yet failed most miserably for me were the film series Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings.

If you do find other children's books that meet your expectations, I'd love to know. My niece and nephews are growing up and I always need books for them.

 

[The Procrastinator]

Boaz, on the theme of kids books, a wonderful series for kids of all ages is Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain, starting with the Book of Three. It, too, is about growing up, although in a rather more lighthearted way than Potter. Perhaps Taran's (and Eilonwy's) journey to maturity inspired Harry's a little, who knows. I wouldn't hesitate to let younger kids read it, either, whereas I do understand the misgivings raised by others above about Harry Potter. Prydain is more the sort of series that can speak at different levels to different ages, rather than being specifically designed for any particular age as it goes along. Anyway I highly recommend it, and think that no child should miss out on the adventures of Taran Assistant Pig-Keeper, even if they've gotten older and hairier.

 

[Grimward]

Seconded, Pro. If nothing else, Gurgi's smashings and bashings are not to be missed!

 

[Boaz]

Thanks, Pro. I did read Alexander almost thirty years ago. I meant to mention in my first post that Taran and Eilonwy, like Harry and friends, mature and develop from adolescents into adults. Heck, even Flewddur Flam and Gurgi did a little growing up.

 

[Grimward]

Meanwhile, Potter 6 debuts in about an hour here in the States.....the news said folks were getting in line for tickets as early as 5:00 am this morning.....I guess that's not as bad as Star Wars, but still.....

 

[KESpires]

I just reread Sorceror's Stone and I must say, I don't see what all the fuss is about. He was an abused and neglected child at the beginning, picked on at school when he wasn't being revered, and sure, the tone may have been light, but there are some dark moments in the first book and the second gets much darker.

But to the topic of the movie. I just got back from the first showing at my local movie theater and I loved it.

'Course I love all the books as well.

I don't find them too dark.

 

[KESpires]

Thanks, Pro. I did read Alexander almost thirty years ago. I meant to mention in my first post that Taran and Eilonwy, like Harry and friends, mature and develop from adolescents into adults. Heck, even Flewddur Flam and Gurgi did a little growing up.

I love the Prydain Chronicles.

And once upon a time I had them all collected into one volume.

I wish I could find that. I'd love to read them again.

 

[sffhound]

I'm not a big fan of the books myself, but I did very much enjoy the latest movie I think they greatly improved the romantic bits (The way Rowling wrote the romantic bits of the books didn't touch me very much at all) and the rest they didn't screw up at all, but that is my opinion. I was also very touched by the portrayal of Draco.

On the subject of the "change in tone" of the books, my personal opinion is that I feel that the books went from a rather new and fresh childrens book to a pretty standard fantasy series. They are very good books, they just stopped being all that interesting to me when they went down the same lane as pretty much everything else I read at the time. So I personally feel that the "darkening" of the Harry Potter series was a bad idea, but that's just me

 

[AE35Unit]

I heard that the last book will be done as two films.

 

[sffhound]

It will.

 

[purple_kathryn]

Thank goodness as most of the book (6) was (understandably) missing from the film

 

[thaddeus6th]

Bit out of place here but I'm glad I didn't read the later books if the earlier ones are considered the best. I only read the first book. It was pleasant but decidedly unspectacular, and I particularly disliked the bolted on ending when (I think) it would've been better to have Slytherin finish ahead and show that sometimes you have to make sacrifices to do what's right (even if it is a poxy house competition).

Also unimpressed with the films. Child actors can be good (the two in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events were very impressive) but the three lucky millionaires (in the first one or two films anyway) were not.

Oh, and making the last film sliced in half is blatant profiteering from a brand that's already had revenue of millions, perhaps edging into billions.

/grumble