[HPFGU-Movie] Re: Amusing comment from Cuaron

[Shaun Hately]

On 28 Jun 2004 at 22:05, huntergreen_3 wrote:

> Shaun Hately wrote:
> >>The scene with Hagrid's class doesn't particularly worry me -
> because Hagrid would, I think, be pretty flexible on this and the
> students would know that.
> 
> But teachers like Snape and McGonnagall would *not* be flexible on
> these points - and even in their classes, while the students aren't
> *quite* as badly dressed as they are in Hagrid's, it's sloppy
> enough to not match reality. Top buttons are done up when you wear
> a tie.<<
> 
> But we didn't see any of their classes (as I said, I'm sure if we 
> did, they'd be well-dressed, Snape (IMO) would *not* allow 
> sloppiness). We did see DADA classes, and I can't remember if they 
> were sloppy in those or not. (but if they were, it could say 
> something about their relationship with Lupin).

We *did* see a class taken by Snape. It was a DADA class - but he 
was in there teaching, and their clothing was sloppy - not 
incredibly so, but enough that it's noticeable. And enough that 
Snape should have taken the excuse to rat the kids out (which would 
have been a waste of film time, of course, but wouldn't have been 
necessary if they'd done this 'right').

Part of the point is, though, really, that wearing a school uniform 
- shirt and tie - properly is not generally uncomfortable if kids 
are used to it. In a school where kids are expected to be neat and 
tidy and properly dressed, they will tend to stay that way.

Where I live, school uniforms are almost universal. They differ 
significantly depending on the school, but a fairly significant 
proportion - at least of the private school kids - wear shirt and 
ties.

Every day, on the train, I will typically see kids from 13 
different schools which wear shirts and ties as part of their 
uniform.

Only from *one* of those schools would I regularly see anybody 
looking as sloppy as the kids we see in PoA.

I regularly visit 9 of the schools in Melbourne that most closely 
draw upon the British traditions (for historical reasons, many of 
Australia's "top schools" are based heavily on the British model). 
I would *never* expect to see a student at one of those schools 
looking as sloppy as we see Hogwarts kids in PoA. unless they were 
actually playing something like football at the time. If they do 
get messed up - and it does happen sometimes - they will neaten 
themselves up when it's over. It's more or less instinctive. There 
are times you temporarily don't need to worry about your appearance 
so you can let it slide. But you do correct it when it's over.

With experience of wearing a tie to school at the age of 5, and 
still wearing one when I was 17, and with experience of seeing kids 
from dozens of schools where wearing ties and shirts is a normal 
part of every day life, I have to say  - the only way you'll get 
entire classes of kids looking the way they do in PoA is if the 
kids deliberately aren't wearing their uniforms properly. A shirt 
button may occasionally become undone. A tie may occasionally 
become loose, a shirt tail may certainly slip out.

But not on entire classes at a time (-8.

It looks sloppy *because* it is sloppy.

And while that's not unrealistic for some schools (as I said, I see 
one out of thirteen every day - it's my brother's old school, 
actually - where they are that sloppy), it is unrealistic and 
unlikely for the particular type of school JKR has written in the 
books, which draws on very real traditions.

And, on that point, PS, and CoS, actually got it pretty much right. 
Those kids looked realistic for that type of school.


Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia