films are not canon: Kloves + screenplay of HPSS (long)

[Petra Pan]

Once upon a time, Oradork wrote:
> my basic point was that you can't say
> that "such and such from 
> the movie" was all the director's fault
> or the writer's fault.  Even 
> if Jo had involvement in a whole 3 lines
> of the script, you don't 
> know exactly which ones.  She didn't let
> them run totally rampant with her story

and included a link to an interview with Kloves

http://www.wga.org/WrittenBy/1101/
Kloves/Kloves.html

Jazmyn replied:
> Thank you for posting this. Its close to
> the article I was trying to
> find again to show people on the 'literary'
> list just how much input
> Rowlings had in the script, thus proving
> that yes, the movie can be
> considered 'canon' as the books, due to
> the author's input and how much
> she has had to have told them

To add to the various objections raised already
in other posts, I would like to point out that to
cite JKR's influence on the screenwriter as
support for canonizing the movies relies on an
assumption that what we all saw on the screen/DVD
is exactly as Kloves had set down on paper.

This assumption would be incorrect.

Recently I discovered a collection of screenplays
that include the one for HPSS.  BTW, I don't have
a personal copy of it...Madam Pince has nothing
on the librarian in charge of ensuring that no
copyrights get violated...so no amount of
emailing me will get you a copy, I am sorry to
say.

This version of the script is dated from Sept.
11, 2000 to April 19, 2001 and incorporates 14
revisions from that period of time.  These
revisions led to omissions, additions, and
combinations of so many pages that only 49 out of
the 133 were from the original shooting draft
dated Sept. 11, 2000.

The significance lies in the fact that the movie
as envisioned by Kloves should be represented by
the shooting draft.  His vision then underwent 14
revisions.  Some of these revisions are major,
some are minor, and some seem to bear the
fingerprints of person(s) other than the one who
originally set the shooting draft down on paper. 
This is too many degrees of separation from JKR
for my comfort - to canonize materials that can
only claim tacit approval from JKR seem rather
dodgy to me which is why I now consider the
movies in the same category as fanfics.

And all this is just the changes made to the
script - don't get me started on all the
instances where what I read on the pages DOES NOT
MATCH what we all saw on screen.  There are
materials in the script that are not on screen
and vice versa.  I knew that screenplays are
rarely followed to the letter, the way a play
usually is on legit stage, for example.  But the
amount of deviation from the words on the pages,
if the version of the script I looked at is fully
updated and complete, really gave me pause.

You know, *if* JKR was consulted at *every* step
of the long and complicated process (book adapted
into shooting draft,  revised 14 times on paper,
changed who-knows-how-many-times on set, and
reshuffled who-knows-how-many-times in the
editing room), then she must possess a
Time-Turner!

With all the tinkering, it's little wonder that
in the relay races that are plotlines, some
batons have been dropped, or even passed to the
wrong runners.  Heck, even JKR have her Flints
after all.  So, I will now speak less harshly of
Kloves than before examining the script that
bears his name, especially when I take into
consideration the specter (some might even call
it a Grim) of script doctors.  There are several
instances of stylistic/format/spelling
inconsistencies in the script that support the
possibility that script doctor(s) were called in.
 I am not against the IDEA of script doctors per
se but if the medics can't keep in mind that
first, they must do no harm, then I must consider
the operations less than successful.

(For an interesting article on this, see To the
rescue?; Summoned at the last minute, script
doctors can come off as superheroes -- or, just
as likely, supervillains.  By Rachel Abramowitz;
The Los Angeles Times; Oct 27, 2002; pg. E.1. 
Sorry but I've no link...and we all know we
shouldnt cut-and-paste full text of articles
here.)

Blaming Kloves for the words not of his own
choosing is a hard case to argue.  Even harder is
figuring out which words are his and which
aren't.  For example, the change from "Greek
chappie" to an Irish one.  

A year ago, before I had posted that wga.org link
in Priori Postis #1529, I had posted about a Q&A
with Kloves (under my no-longer-for-HPFGU Y!ID
OhToResonate).  In response, Heidi had asked that
I find out why the change.  As most people read
it, Fluffy's Greek origin fingers it as a
Cerberus figure.

That page in the script tells me only this much -
one or more of these following words was changed
as of Sept., 22, 2000: 

"...bought him off an Irish bloke I met in..."  

This is pure conjecture on my part: someone read
that line (and not getting the Cerberus
reference) decided that surely Hagrid is more
likely to meet an IRISH bloke in a PUB than a
Greek one.  Talk about an old joke repeated in
knee-jerk fashion!

If I've read this situation correctly, little
wonder then that Kloves was clearly not keen on
the topic when asked about that change.  After
Kloves muttered something about how this matter
had come up for discussion, the conversation
turned to another topic.  Since Kloves conducted
himself thoughtfully, intelligently, and clearly
a LOON who knows his canon, I was inclined to
give him the benefit of the doubt at the time and
wondered if perhaps it was the fault of someone
on the set...perhaps Coltrane memorized
incorrectly?

Then seeing the word "Irish" on the page recently
made me wonder why he wouldn't just be upfront
about his mistake, for crying out loud!  Well, it
has since occurred to me that perhaps he didn't
want to admit that his work has been "doctored."

And yes, all this waffling is making me dizzy...

The above referenced article in the LA Times
explains wherein lies the rub better than I can. 
The sad part is, all the "medicine" this
franchise really needed are in the books...and
I'm not entirely convinced that every person who
put fingers to the keyboard have read every word
JKR has made available and understood all of her
references and themes.

That's not to say that the film doesn't have it's
moments of whimsy and genius, of course.  From
details like the motorcycle next to Hagrid's hut
(seen in the sketches portion on the DVD) to
changes that managed to one-up its counterparts
in the books, like trapping Dudley in the snake
exhibit and the Attack of the Winged Keys, it is
quite evident that plenty of the film's team
"got" the books.

But not everyone, it would seem, had the kind of
access to JKR that Kloves did.

Petra, ONLY a week late with this - sorry!
a
n  :)

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