Question for parents

[Carol]

Valerie Flowe wrote:
>
> Hmm...well as a parent of two 9 year olds who have seen all 5 of the
HP movies, I guess I would have to say that each parent must know
their children's ability to handle scary scenes in movies.
<snip>

> I do think they will opt to delete the Sectumsempra scene between
Draco and Harry. I thought that was horrifying in the book!

Carol responds:
Thanks very much for your thoughtful and inteeresting response, which
I've snipped because I can't agree or disagree with anyone's
experiences. I did find it enlightening, though that the kids found
GoF scarier than OoP. As for cutting the Sectumsempra scene, I hope
not because it's important for the idea of Snape as an inventor of
spells and a Healer (and the irony that he can't heal himself when he
bleeds to death in DH). Besides the foreshadowing, the incident
teaches both boys a lesson, giving Draco an idea of what it would be
like to die and teaching Harry that, even though he hates Draco, he
doesn't want him dead, especially by his hand. It may tie in with the
mixture of contempt and pity he feels later. It's certainly better,
IMO, than the gratuitous Crucio he casts in DH, for which he feels no
remorse whatever. At least, for awhile, he feels the horror of what
he's done in HBP. And for cinematic reasons, it's a great scene for
Snape, healer, Legilimens, and all-around sarcastic teacher. So for
the sake of canon and scene-stealing, I'd want it to stay in. But
kids, maybe even ten or eleven-year-olds might well find it
disturbing, especially because Harry-the-hero is casting such a
horrific spell. Definitely PG-13 material, then, but please not the
cutting room floor! (Besides, how else is Snape supposed to learn that
harry has his book? He Suspects it at the Christmas party, I'm sure,
but in this scene the book floats to the forefront of his mind (a
challenge to the CGI people?). Without that scene, "I, the Half-Blood
Prince," which Snape shouts as he's parrying all of Harry's curses,
makes no sense. Snape has to know that Harry has read those words on
the back cover of the book.

Valerie:
> I know they will be filming the cave scene; Dan said he was
definitely looking forward to it. The sight of Dumbledore falling off
the tower will certainly freak many out, me included!

Carol:
Yes, and the Inferi have to be terrifying, amke that horrifying, to be
effective. As for DD, I think just showing him floating like a rag
doll over the battlements (and later, looking as if he's peacefully
asleep) will be enough. They won't show his fall from the tower, I
don't think, because Harry doesn't see it. (I just hope that Gambon
knows that DD wants Snape to kill him and doesn't do the scene as if
Snape were a "murderin' traitor." It has to be ambiguous, but it also
has to set up he revelation of Snape's loyalties in DH.) At least, as
you say, we know they're not cutting those scenes. I just hope they
retain the other Snape scenes, including Sectumsempra, because of his
importance to the book that's named after him. To return to the
question of kids, if they don't know that DD is going to die, they may
find this movie disturbing, Sectumsempra or no Sectumsempra, and they
may be terrified by the Inferi as well. PG-13 for sure, and I think
parents should be advised that it's going to be a lot scarier in
places than GoF. And given that rating and the scenes we know won't be
cut, they might as well include Sectumsempra, too.

Valerie:
> DH will certainly be a frightening movie. Most assuredly PG-13. Many
beloved characters get killed (though unfortunately I think they'll
leave Dobby out, as they have chosen to do since COS. Too bad, as that
is a very touching scene when Harry is burying him).

Carol:

I don't see how they can. The scene at Malfoy manor is crucial for the
Elder Wand plot, if nothing else, and Dobby has to rescue them. They
might leave out Wormtail's hand strangling him and/or Fenrir Greyback,
but they will certainly show Bellatrix torturing Hermione (probably,
like Harry and Ron, the audience will only hear that scene, not see
it). Also, Dobby's death gives Harry a chance to think, to feel
compassion, to choose Horcruxes over Hallows. I don't think it will be
omitted. They might omit the George's ear scen, though, especially if
they omit Sectumsempra from HBP.

Valerie:
> Hedwig, Moody, Fred. I can't believe I'm saying this, as I believe
the movies should reflect the books verbatim, but I do hope that the
directors let us see Lupin and Tonks getting killed heroically in
battle. They were cheated, in the book. I mean, if you're gonna kill
them off, give them a heroic send-off, no?! 

Carol:
I don't think they'll show Mad-Eye's death, which is off-page, but
they may well start with Charity Burbage's death as GoF started with
Frank Bryce's. I think they should because it's important to the Snape
arc and thematically (it introduces the vendetta against Muggle-borns,
Muggle lovers, and other "undesirables (family members who marry
werewolves). Also, we have to see Lucius losing his wand to foreshadow
that wand being destroyed in the Seven Potters sequence. They should
also show Hedwig's death because kids will have to understand why
she's not in the rest of the film even if they don't understand the
symbolic loss of Harry's childhood. Fred's death *could* be omitted,
but the irony of it after his reconciliation with Percy is so poignant
that it ought to be kept, and Molly's protective fury when Bellatrix
goes after her daughter takes on an added dimension (instead of just
being a pop culture allusion) if she's just lost her son. I don't
think they'll show tonks's death unless it's to show Bellatrix
murderously going after her own niece, but Lupin is important enough
that he merits an on-screen death. Don't know if he'll get it, though.
They may go for the shock value of having Harry see him and Tonks
lying there on the table, peacefully dead. Snape, of course, has to
get his death scene or half the plot of the last four chapters is ruined.

As for the movies reflecting the books verbatim, obviously, they can't
because the media are so different. DD's backstory will be cut back
for reasons that have nothing to do with JKR's recent revelation--it
slows down the action and is hard to show cinematically. They *might*
cut Bathilda!Nagini, which will be horrific and have Harry's wand
broken some other way, but they also need to show the murders at
Godric's Hollow from LV's perspective, and they need the Bathilda
scene for that. Like the Inferi in HBP, it has to be horrifying to be
effective, and it won't be suitable for kids younger than eleven or
twelve unless they don't scare easily. At any rate, some key elements
can't be left out, but they can be altered for cinematic effect (like
the maze scene in GoF) or to simplify the plot (making Cho the traitor
in OoP).

Valerie:
The terrible scene when Harry walks to his death, accompanied by his
dead family and friends will be hard to watch. Then to see him getting
killed is going to be the worst. 

Carol:
Well, we know that one will be in there; JKR promised Dan Radcliffe a
death scene and, of course, it's essential to the plot. Kids may have
to be forewarned; this is one case where I think they should have
either read the book or had it read to them before they see the film.
I suppose that a kid who can handle DD's death can handle Harry's, but
I certainly wouldn't take a child who found the HBP film disturbing. 

Valerie:
> Of course everyone will know that he will come back to life, so I'm
not sure if they'll be crying their eyes out like I was when I first
read the book!!! Well, maybe so?!

Carol:
Will everyone know that? What if parents who haven't read the books
take their kids to see the film? There must be someone in Britain or
the U.S. or Europe, not to mention non-English-speaking countries, who
doesn't know that Harry lives. (You know. Someone who doesn't use the
Internet? ;-) ) Actually, I know at least two such people, one who
doesn't know what happens to Harry because I can't get her to read the
books and she's only seen the first three films (my mother!!!) and one
thirty-seven-year-old American man who doesn't know how to use the
Internet (though his fourteen-year-old son does).

Valerie: 
> Harry Potter, books and movies alike, are what they are. This is the
story and world that JK Rolling created, and it should not be altered
to cater to every age-group of the movie-going audience.

Carol:
But the films have been altered in various ways, especially from PoA
onward--scenes added, scenes cut, scenes altered, lines given to a
different character. And without question, the slower scenes will have
to be cut, as will a lot of minor characters. I expect the MoM
adventure to be handled rather differently and much more concisely
than it is in the books. I expect that the Regulus scene will be shown
as a dreamlike sequence with Kreacher narrating, interrupted by shifts
to the present when Harry interrupts. They'll probably cut that one
off just before the Inferi reach poor Regulus.

At any rate, they can cut or alter some of the disturbing scenes but
not all, and there will be a lot of scary moments in that film (not to
mention the tear jerkers when the adults in the audience are trying
not to embarrass their kids by making public spectacles of themselves!)

Carol, who plans to see both films at times when kids under ten are
unlikely to be present