CoS: MOVIE DISCUSSION

[potioncat]

> Carol:
(It does make sense to have the line about
> carrying a student home in a matchbox relate to Ron's defective 
wand,
> so I think that the filmmakers were right to shift that line to 
relate
> to Ron (and Harry) rather than to poor Neville (and Seamus) for
> simplicity's sake. 

Potioncat:
At one point I thought the matchbox line was a hint that Snape had 
Muggle connections. Why would a wizard need matches? But, Draco 
speaks of ballet, so I think it's just an oversight.

> Carol:
> As for Evanesco, it's true that Snape Vanishes the conjured snake
> nonverbally in the book, but Evanesco *is* the Vanishing Spell that
> the students learn later. 

Potioncat:
But it isn't in CoS-the-book. Could it already have been in PoA? Was 
that out yet? There is also the spider-spell, but I don't think it 
ever shows up again. I think you might be right, it could have been 
that the movie needed a spoken spell. JKR and Kloves may have worked 
it out together.

 
> Carol responds:
 I don't like the way Film!Dumbledore
> steps in and says that Snape isn't in charge of Harry's and Ron's
> punishment (I don't recall his doing so in the book), but at least 
we
> get Snape teaching the group Expelliarmus, Vanishing the snake, and
> (to a lesser degree than in the book) exposing Lockhart as a fraud.

Potioncat:
In the book, McGonagall and DD are more upset about the flying car 
than in the movie, but DD does say that McG has the responsibility 
for the boys' punishment. So it's very similar.

 
> Carol:
 To me, though,
> the whole point of Ron's following the spiders is to show his
> particular brand of courage, loyally following Harry into places 
where
> he, more than Harry, doesn't want to go <snip>

Potioncat:
Agreed, although I haven't re-read that portion of the book. Perhaps 
I feel it especially because I am also afraid of spiders. I can't 
watch it, I know I wouldn't have followed the spiders.



 
> 
> Carol responds:
> Can you clarify? IIRC, the book says that Harry has traits that
> Salazar Slytherin valued. Do you think that the alteration was 
accidental?

Potioncat:
I don't know. But it changes what DD is saying. Harry is worried that 
he should have been sorted into Slytherin and movie!DD says that 
Harry has qualities that LV values. LV, not Slytherin. It makes 
Slytherin House more than ever the Voldemort House--and gives Harry 
more in common with Voldemort.

 
> Carol:
> I love the costumes in CoS, even though Lockhart's don't look like
> Wizard's robes. Maybe that was what led Cuaron to Muggleify the 
kids'
> clothes, which in SS/PS and CoS followed the books in everything but
> the emblems on the robes distinguishing the houses. But, Lockhart
> aside, CoS was the last film in which the characters dressed more or
> less as they do in the books. But Snape in pants? Didn't he wear 
robes
> and cloaks in SS/PS?

Potioncat:
I think DD, and maybe Arthur, are the only wizards who really wear 
robes. Snape wears a robe or cloak over his Edwardian outfit, the 
kids wear regular Muggle-looking clothes under school robes. But for 
the first time I noticed that in CoS, the boys go around in Muggle 
clothes when not in class. Harry and Ron are in sweaters and slacks 
when they go into the Dark Forest.