[HPFGU-Movie] PoA movie vs. book

[Rebecca Fessler]

>> I am rereading the series now, and I am once again bothered by a 
 discrepancy.  In the book, Peter Pettigrew is discovered alive by 
 Lupin using the Maurader's Map after H/R/H had already met up with 
 Padfoot and Crookshanks.  He then goes into the Shrieking Shack 
 after them.  In the book, however, Harry tries to find Pettigrew in 
 the school one night after he (Scabbers) disappeared.  Harry follows 
 the map by wandlight and appears to walk right past him.  
 
 Unlike the other discrepancies in the plot details, I don't see any 
 cinematic reasons for changing this pretty significant (in my 
 opinion) detail in the story line.  Is anybody else bothered by 
 this, or does anybody have any explaination as to how this change 
 had ANY positive effect to the story or why the director chose this 
 means to an end?  >>

I'm new here, so I don't know if this has been discussed (and
answered) before, but I thought I'd offer my theory on why this might
have been done.

In the book version of the Shrieking Shack scene, Lupin explains the
backstory behind the map, so we learn that he saw Pettigrew on the
map, and we know he knows how to use the map because he was one of its
creators.  In the film, that bit of backstory was left out (a mistake,
IMO), and Lupin could not very well say he saw Pettigrew on the map
without either a) explaining how he knew about the map or b) leaving a
gaping plot hole.  As such, there has to be another way for him to
have known, and Harry pointing it out to him solves that problem.

Also, there is the 'show, not tell' theory popular with English
teachers (or with mine, at any rate) wherein it's better to show an
event than to tell about it.  If Lupin simply tells them he saw the
map, that's not as visually interesting as seeing Harry see Pettigrew
on the map.  In that way, I think it does make for better cinema.

Incidentally, when I first heard about this particular change (before
I saw the film), I was upset by it, but when I actually saw the film
itself, I thought the scene worked quite well, so I wasn't bothered by
it at all.  Just my opinion.

Hope this made some sense.

Rebecca