[HPFGU-Movie] re: Dan vs. Harry's emotions

[Valerie Flowe]

> 
> Jen interjects:
> I have absolutely no problem with Harry expressing emotion! I am
> always moved at how Jo writes about him expressing emotions, how
> much it seems to mirror how a real boy feels, how well he "gets" it
> such as when Dumbledore explains his mother's sacrifice. Harry's
> emotions are fine with me. But you have to understand my question.
> Why "make up" an incident to demonstrate emotion on Harry's part
> when you have so many really fine examples in the books (which
somehow should relate to the script)?

I just finished reading GOF, which I had refused to read PRIOR to the movie.
I did not want to be disappointed at how much was changed/left off of the
book. There were many, many changes from the book, obviously for the sake of
time. After re-reading the book I do feel that the movie is not quite as
rich in story as the book. That¹s why if you become an HP fan as a RESULT of
watching the movies, you owe it to yourself to go back and read the books.
That said, I was surprised when I re-read the Molly/Harry interaction at the
end. It was not as outwardly emotional as I recalled.
As we know it was changed in the movie to have Harry sobbing over Cedric
upon his return (very well done, Dan, as we¹ve all agreed!). In the book,
Harry DID NOT sob over Cedric.
[He clutched Cedric to him more tightly...²Harry, let go of him ,² he heard
Fudge¹s voice say, and he felt fingers trying to pry him from Cedric¹s limp
body, but Harry wouldn¹t let him go. Then Dumbledore¹s face came closer.
³Harry, you can¹t help him now. It¹s over. Let go.²
³He wanted me to bring him back,² Harry muttered ­ it seemed important to
explain this. ²He wanted me to bring him back to his parents²] then Moody
comes and drags him away...
So in this regard the movie was MUCH more emotionally impactful than the
book. The movie audience was either tensely silent or sniffling during this
harrowing scene.

For some reason I thought that the Molly/Harry scene was when book Harry
broke down and sobbed. But he did not.
[The thing against which he had been fighting on and off ever since he had
come out of the maze was threatening to overpower him. He could feel a
burning, prickling feeling in the inner corners of his eyes. He
blinked/stared up at the ceiling. ³It wasn¹t your fault Harry,² Mrs. Weasley
whispered. ³I told him to take the cup with me,² Harry said.
Now the burning feeling was in his throat too. He wished Ron would look
away. Mrs. W put her arms around Harry. He had no memory of ever being
hugged like this, as though by a mother (sniff!!! poor Harry, having just
seen the ghost of his mom!!!!) The full weight of everything he had seen
that night seemed to fall in upon him as Mrs. W held him to her. His
mother¹s face, his father¹s voice, the sight of Cedric, dead on the ground
all started spinning in his head until he could hardly bear it, until he was
screwing up his face against the howl of misery fighting to get out of him.
There was a loud slamming noise and Mrs. W and Harry broke apart. (Hermione
catching Rita-the-beetle).]
So yes, there was a big difference in book Harry, who has a VERY hard time
letting his gut-wrenching emotions out, and movie Harry who cried in public
in GOF after the maze task. Both different, yet effective for their
respective mediums.
I still love the movies, as a companion piece to the wonderful books!

Valerie


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