Snape and DD in GoF/missing scene/setup for OOTP

[lupinlore]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" 
<susiequsie23 at s...> wrote:
<SNIP>
> 
> SSSusan:
> It *is* a nice lead-in to why DD tried to hard to keep Harry out 
of 
> the (in his mind too dangerous) loop in OOTP.  OTOH, the OOTP!DD 
we 
> see in canon is also *distant* from Harry, and I think the movie 
left 
> me thinking that the DD we saw at the end of Harry's 4th year 
would 
> try hard to be there for Harry.
> 
> I don't have any answers or insights (obviously!), but I do think 
> this whole discussion of what these two or three scenes might have 
> been about, might have been trying to convey, is a fascinating way 
of 
> looking at what a screenwriter does.  I just wish I knew more of 
> the "why" of what Kloves did with that "decision" scene and what 
he & 
> Newell were trying to tell us concerning what DD is all about.
> 


The task of the screenwriter seems, in some ways, rather like that 
of an editor.  A good friend of mine had a pretty successful career 
as an editor before being crippled by MS.  She often opines (whether 
fairly or not I can't say) on the decline of the editing profession, 
saying that most editors now act as acquisition and administration 
agents for publishers, really doing nothing except sniffing out 
marketable manuscripts and arranging for them to be spell-checked 
and type-set.  In her view the editor is supposed to be the 
author's "friend," pointing out where they have mistakes and 
problems and trying to find ways to solve those difficulties.

Perhaps in reading GoF Kloves and Newell felt that JKR had problems 
in the text when it came to explaining Dumbledore's motivations and 
doing an appropriate setup for the next book, so they tried to "help 
her out."  Whether they did a good job or not is a matter of debate, 
particularly with regard to the "decision" scene.

I think if they are indeed trying to help in the setup for OOTP, it 
will be crucial to see how that book is handled (I believe by a new 
screenwriter/director team).  Kloves and Newell actually had a great 
advantage with GoF, as it is easily the most inherently cinematic of 
the books.  The Tri-Wizard Tournament is by its very nature a 
cinematic event, as are the Quidditch World Cup and Harry's 
confrontation with Voldemort in the graveyard, and the costumes and 
accents brought in by the contingents from Durmstrang and 
Beauxbatons are a film maker's dream .  OOTP, on the other hand, 
isn't nearly so cinematic, at least not until the very end with the 
fight at the MoM -- although some things such as the thestrals and 
the DA have a lot of potential.  I would think adapting it to a 
movie, particularly a movie that would not test the patience of the 
audience, would be quite a challenge.  Let's face it, much of the 
criticism of OOTP comes from the fact that people find it a murky, 
frustrating, plodding, and difficult story even as a *book* that you 
can put down, much less as a movie you have to sit through and 
watch. And I'm not sure that the device of withholding everything 
until the end and then having DD do a grand revelation would work as 
well in a movie (and it is of course not at all clear that it works 
that well in the book). 

The question of DD's behavior and attitude is one of the most 
controversial of the issues that plague OOTP.  How the director and 
screenwriter handle it will, I think, largely determine people's 
reaction.  Perhaps they will "play up" DD's belief in the inherent 
danger of him getting too close to Harry, and his determination not 
to put Harry in danger again.  If that is what they plan to do (and 
I think that would be far from the worst strategy), I wonder if one 
of two scenes similar to the "decision" sequence might help out.  
Granted, that would be a different approach than JKR tried in the 
book -- but a movie might require a very different strategy.  A 
scene or two along the way where Dumbledore explains his beliefs and 
motivations to the viewers, if not to Harry, would probably help 
keep the viewers engaged as well as preserving the image of DD we 
get at the end of GoF.  That is we might have a scene like:

MINERVA:  Albus, you know that horrible woman is trying to bring 
Harry down.  Don't you think you had better speak to him?

ALBUS: Voldemort is attempting to subvert Harry's mind, Minerva.  I 
would be putting him in horrible danger if I let him get close to 
me.  I put him in terrible danger last year, I will not do so 
again.  Just keep an eye on him.  I have every confidence that we 
can handle the likes of Dolores Umbridge. 

MINERVA:  But Albus...

ALBUS:  We are all worried, Minerva.  But I must protect Harry - I 
must.

MINERVA:  <Purses lips and looks very worried>

We probably won't see any such, but it *is* a way that they 
could "help JKR out" by making the whole thing more palatable as a 
movie while preserving the image of DD they seem to have been 
projecting in the later part of GoF and being reasonably faithful to 
canon in terms of DD's behavior.  Otherwise I'm afraid we'll have an 
entire movie of Angry!Harry and Frustrated!Harry and Untrustworthy!
Dumbledore and Distant!Minerva that will leave a bad taste in 
viewers' mouths (particularly after the portrayal of Minerva and DD 
in GoF) not much palliated by Dumbledore's big revelation at the end 
(as indeed was the case with the book).


Lupinlore