PoA-In defense of Gambon, forshadowing, etc. !!small spoilers!!

[Tyler Hewitt]

Michael Gambon's Dumbledore seems to be the big controversial casting this time around, 
but to tell you the truth, I like him a lot. Richard Harris's DD always seemed like a 
stereotype of an old, wizened wizard to me. It was too much Merlin and not enough 
humor.
The playful, ageing hippie Dumbledore as played by Gambon is much closer to how I 
imagined him, and it reinforces DD's status as one of the greatest living wizards. Think 
about it-when you meet very intelligent people, they are almost always kind of offbeat, or 
even weird. I say this with the highest regard-I'm not trying to make fun. I am naturally 
attracted to people who don't swim well in the mainstream, and have a lot of friends who 
are naturally offbeat.
In my experience, it's been true. The more intelligent you are, the more you walk to the 
beat of a different drummer. To play DD as Gambon does reinforces this connection 
betwen being intellectually superior and, well,  kind of weird.


On another topic:
Another possible book 6-7 clue in the movie. In the scene where Harry is crying under his 
invisibility cloak and Hermione comforts him, when Harry says somethig about Sirius 
betraying his parents, you can see Ron in the background looking kind of dejected and left 
out. Could this be forshadowing?
My partner has been theorising that Ron will betray Harry in book 6 or 7. Maybe not a 
permanent or fatal betrayal, but a betrayal nonetheless. Jealousy, and a desire to break out 
of his family's being poor will contribute to this. Percy succumbs to similar feelings, 
combined with a drive for power, in book 5. Even the last name, Weasley, suggests this as 
a possibility. The American Heritage dictionary tells us that to 'weasel out' is "to back out 
of a situation or commitment in a sneaky or cowardly manner" (I must admit I've wondered 
about the name Weasley for a long time, it seems at this point to run counter to much of 
the name irony in the books. Maybe we just havent seen it become accurate yet). 

Tyler