Lack of tears

[serenadust]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "Amanda Geist" <editor at t...> 
wrote:


> Amanda clarifies:
> 
> Just for the record, I did see it in IMAX; I went on opening night 
and then
> I took the family (where my four-year-old made his amazing 
observation that
> the tree should be hitting them after they came back out). I was 
bothered by
> the scene the first time around, so I was looking fairly carefully 
the
> second time; I saw what could be nose-running, but by itself, it 
didn't
> "carry" it for me. His eyes didn't look teary (which they will, 
even if
> you've just wiped the tears away).
> 
> I also found it out of character, which is possibly why I needed 
the
> externals to make the scene work. I also didn't get a sense of the 
depth of
> grief or rage that could produce that type of sob without tears; 
they
> weren't racking sobs, just crying. You're correct, everything 
isn't going to
> work for everyone; I'm just trying to figure out why this 
particular scene
> seems to have failed so, to me.


I think that you nailed the reason the scene doesn't work for me 
when you said it was out of character.  I realise that the 
screenwriter and director must have the latitude for some dramatic 
license, but for me, having the audible sobs in that scene was just 
a bridge too far. 

Harry. Does. Not. Cry. Period.
His eyes may tear up during the boggart lesson, he may be at the 
point of breaking down at the end of GoF, but he is quite the stoic 
and he would never allow anyone to hear him sob out loud, and 
*certainly* not in front of Ron (who he knows darn well is right 
there).  A Harry who would cry at that point in the story would 
never be tough enough to keep himself under control at the end of 
GoF when he actually sees a fellow student murdered.  The Harry who 
cries in POA would break down sobbing after witnessing Sirius die.
Frankly, No actor in the world could have made me believe in a 
weeping Harry at that point in his story because it simply goes 
against my own perception of who Harry is.

I realise that the scene rang true for many others who saw the 
movie, and of course, that's fine.  It's just that I like *my* Harry 
to be as tough and emotionally repressed as he is in the books, not 
emoting all over the place.  Not until, book 5, anyway.

And don't even get me started on how OOC I thought poor Ron and 
CharliesAngels!Hermione were <g>.

Jo Serenadust, praying hard for a new screenwriter for OOP