I Saw PoA! (Sirius' accent)

[Sara_ELL]

Goodness! Children (to use an old cliche) seem to be much more 
sophisticated in this day and age to be blase about POA. I haven't 
had the time (or energy)to go through the 1000+ posts that were made 
here last month shortly after POA opened however I'm surprised that 
not many seemed to think that the film was inappropirate for kids. 
In my time (the 1970s, mind) thanks to an extremely overactive 
imagination, I used to imagine ghosts and evil spirits around every 
corner. I wasn't able to sit through "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with 
my eyes open for the whole film until I was at least 13 and I would 
certainly not have been able to watch POA at the age of 10 (though 
I'm heartened to see the contingencies (flashlights, and the 
ubiquitous chocolate) taken by some to help their kids out). A bit 
off-topic but after pestering my parents to take me to see "Jaws" at 
the age of 8, their brilliant strategy was to go to the latest 
session with the delusion that I'd fall asleep and not see the film -
it was spectacularly unsuccessful, though arguably "Jaws" was 
certainly not an appropriate film for an 8 year old.

Sophia wrote:

>Have you noticed that GAry's/Sirius accent changes through this 
> scene? 

Me:
I really didn't notice it however, I have yet to see it another 3 or 
4 times. It'll probably be more noticable on the DVD.

[SNIP]
> at the beginning of the scene, Sirius speaks a "less refined"     
> english than when he swithces to the RRRRRRRRRat 
> mode, which is when we get to the Pettigrew business. The way he 
> says, for instance "You'll know all about the madness within" to 
> Lupin, it's comletely different! 

Me:
Hmmm. I sort of see what you mean here. I construed things in this 
way: for most of the film (and the book), we are unaware of 
Sirius' "goodness". For better or worse, working class accents (non-
received pronounciation / Eton accents) are perceived as being 
associated with the rougher, more sordid elements of life (though of 
course, my favorite character in COS was the divine Lucius "Meelfoy" 
with a very wicked "posh" accent). It is therefore appropriate 
(cinematically, NOT socially of course) for the "criminal" Sirius to 
be a bit more "street". Also, remember that the character has had 
very little contact with other humans for a long time and would 
therefore be excused for having problems finding his voice 
(literally and metaphorically). At the Pettigrew scene that you 
mentioned earlier, Sirius is of course revealed as the ultimate 
selfless hero hence, (IMO again) his "nobility" is revealed via 
his "true" voice; he starts regain his old sense of self and speaks 
with his natural accent. On the other hand, it could just be that 
like all people Sirius reverts to a more relaxed tone when he's with 
friends with his "real" accent coming out when he's excited or angry.

Sophia:
[snip]
> But since Gary is a great actor, I can only think that there is    
> some purpose to this, unless he changed his mind about Sirius´s   
> accent between takes, and it's a result of botched editing...

Me: 
You may be absolutly right as often the simplest reasons lie behind 
the creative decisions that we the fans) overanalyse (case in point -
the whole "Mark Evans" business finally debunked by JKR). Having 
attempted really, really hard to sit through Gary Oldman's 
directorial debut ("Nil by Mouth") with the broadest Eastend accent 
ever to grace my ears (I eventually gave up on it as not being 
British, I really could NOT understand a word that was being said in 
the film), I feel that Gary Oldman made a conscious decision to 
stick with the voice that he did in the "rolling Rrrrrat" scene. 
We'll have to wait for GOF and OoTP to see how "cockney" Sirius gets.

Other thoughts (after a days reflection): Lupin's pre-WW1 gentleman 
(with the suit, moustache and gramaphone) added to the tragical 
element of his whole character. I imagined that he would probably 
have read tragic WW1 Wilfred Owen war poetry in his spare time. I 
personally didn't like the bald werewolf scenes but each to their 
own, I suppose. I sense that many people were upset about the whole 
MWPP business not being clearly elucidated. My view (albeit a very 
unashamedly selfish one) is that for those who'd read the book, the 
reference is obvious and the film can flow without another 
expository scene (which I suspect, may end up in the DVD version). 
If it made the film confusing for the "uninitiated" well, I'd 
suggest that they be directed to the books.
 
Cheers!

Sara_ELL
(whose head is in danger of approaching Aunt Marge proportions on 
account of Valeries very kind words)