COS: (mis)quotes :-)

[GulPlum]

Susan Miller wrote:
> GulPlum wrote:

> > Huh? How can the term in "You were seen by no less than seven 
> > Muggles" refer to *anything* other than the number of Muggles?
> 
> "You were seen, no less, by 7 muggles!"

Err... The line as I quoted it is as it appears in the movie (I say 
that without any possible fear of contradiction). :-) 

Your interpretation *depends* on a mis-quote. :-)

Richelle wrote in reply to what I'd said:

> > I absolutely HATED it.
> > Much has been made in some posts of the way Kloves and/or Columbus
> > seem to misunderstand what Harry's about. That line of Harry's
> > (suggested to Dan by Columbus, and furthermore to be 
> > delivered "like Clint Eastwood") is *SO* not Harry.

> I'm still confused on who's idea this line was. According to Jason 
> Isaacs he suggested it *and* told Daniel to "say it like Clint 
> Eastwood." Well, that's beside the point, really, I suppose.

As I understand the various interviews, Isaacs came up with "Let's 
hope Mr Potter will always be around to save the day"; there's been 
some ambiguity about who came up with Dan's line, but Columbus has 
consistently said that he came up with both the line and the directed 
delivery. I've not seen anything which suggests that Isaacs gave Dan 
any pointers.

> I think I know what they were aiming at. Not necessarily that Harry 
> was taking pleasure in being heroic, but that he was standing up to 
> someone. As you know, I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know if 
> Lucius says anything negative about Harry's parents. But in the 
> book he did. 

Lucius's very last words of the movie (as he gets up from being 
sprawled on the floor) are "your parents were meddlesome fools, too. 
Mark my words, Potter. One day soon, you are going to meet the same 
sticky end." (which, together with his entrance, probably counts as 
my single favourite Lucius line - the way he says "sticky" can only 
be described as... sticky and luscious). :-)

That line comes, of course, well after the confrontation in 
Dumbledore's office. 

I'm all for Harry sticking up for himself - one of my major gripes 
about the first movie was that it made him into an utter wimp by the 
loss of his ascerbic tongue. The "Don't worry, I will be" line is WAY 
too far in the opposite direction, as indeed is most of the Harry 
(mis)characterisation throughout CoS. He comes out as a major hero, 
wanting to be a hero and trying to live up to the WW's expectations.

My point is that Harry doesn't want to be a hero and most of the time 
is quite fearful (not to say scared) of whatever might happen next. 
He certainly doesn't think he can live up to anyone's expectationf, 
and indeed has a pretty low opinion of his own abilities. That 
riposte to Lucius simply goes against all of that.

> That point aside, I think they were aiming at building Harry from 
> the rather timid little boy in SS/PS to the rather bold young man 
> who yells in Snape's face when his father is insulted. A 
> transitional phase so to speak. 

Harry is nowhere near that position yet. His outbursts directed at 
Snape (and Remus and Sirius) in PoA are borne out of indignation, not 
the quiet confidence with which he says the line in question. 

Sure, anyone else would be brimming with confidence in Harry's shoes 
at the end of CoS: he's solved a thousand-year-old mystery, he's 
defeated the heir of Slytherin and his beast, he's saved his best 
friend's sister and had his doubts about his House allegiance 
dispelled. But not Harry. Harry is aware within himself that he 
couldn't have done it without help, and still doesn't believe that 
he's anything special. That quiet confidence simply isn't Harry. If 
he'd said the line with his usual indignation (the way he spoke to 
Riddle), it might have worked, but *not* said with Clint Eastwood's 
devil-may-care authority and confidence.