[HPFGU-Movie] Re: dvd deleted scenes

[CLShannon at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/12/03 5:16:42 PM, siskiou at earthlink.net writes:

<< Lucius is lovely in general, and I have no complaints about
the actor's performance, just about some of the
characterization choices.
 >>

I agree with this - I just reread the whole scene in the book and it is 
decidedly different than the deleted scene we got on the DVD. I for one, am 
glad they didn't include it because it does change the original 
characterization of the father-son dynamic. In the book, Lucious does tell 
Draco to touch nothing, but there is not an indication that his voice or 
manner are full of menace.  
And there is no reply from Draco  of 'Yes father' with the trepidation 
underlying the delivery, like we got in the deleted scene. He never replies 
at all like that in the book.

Draco then says, 'but I thought you were going to buy me a birthday present.' 
to which his father replies, 'I said I would buy you a racing broom', while 
drumming his fingers on the counter. Hardly the manner of someone who causes 
quakes of fear around his son, at least not here.  
Then they go on with a lot more conversation about Harry, Hermione, etc.  
Draco even whines a bit about Potter and only gets that one 'quelling' look 
from Lucious.  
Lucious makes this statement, 'And I would remind you that is it not -- 
prudent -- to appear less than fond of Harry Potter, not when most of our 
kind regard him as the hero who made the Dark Lord disappear.' This to me 
shows that Lucious is grooming and training Draco to follow him in his 
footsteps, not beating him into submission. 

Also, during the talk they have, after Draco looks at the hand of glory and 
Lucious says he hopes his son will amount to more than a thief or a 
plunderer, he goes on to say, 'though if his grades don't pick up, that may 
indeed all he is fit for.' 
Draco responds to this with argument - 'it's not my fault, the teachers all 
have favorites...' He doesn't shake in his shoes here, he talks back. 

And later when Draco approaches the cabinet that Harry is in, Lucious doesn't 
swing his cane menacingly over and stop Draco's movement, he merely says, 
'Come, Draco.'

There is really nothing overt in that scene that shows a cruel, abusive 
father.  A stern, demanding one, for sure, but one that also has hopes for 
his son, however evil and demented they are. I never felt that Lucious was 
disgusted with his son, but rather trying to sternly mold him into a proper 
dark wizard and molding his ideas to match  his own.
I think the objection I have to the deleted scene and the reason I am glad it 
was not included is that it shows a false interpretation of the father-son 
dynamic, if you compare it to the book. 
Of course, we don't know what's coming in the books, so time will tell what 
the whole story is behind those two, if JKR intends to even get into that 
part of it. Right now, it appears that the Malfoys serve as good villians 
with no other motivations other than evil ones ;-)
Perhaps she will redeem Draco and/or Lucious in some way in future books, I 
don't know. It's all up for grabs ;-)

The only other reason for the scene might have been to demonstrate that 
Lucious does indeed have some dark arts objects in his house and it confirms 
that he is a dark wizard. It's a shame that doesn't get demonstrated in some 
other way, but if they had used this scene, it would have sacrificed the 
characterization that JKR already set up in the books for the father-son 
relationship.


And finally, as for why the scene was deleted - probably mostly for time, but 
we never know if JKR might have had some input into that process, abeit small 
;-)
Cindy