paintings versus photos

[joanne0012]

No: HPFGUIDX 30964

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Elizabeth Dalton <Elizabeth.Dalton at E...> wrote:
> Has anyone else noticed that wizard's moving photographs are silent, 
> whereas painted portraits can speak? Or is that just because we've 
> only seen "cheap" photos (on candy cards and newspapers), and 
> speaking images with personality are more difficult to create, 
> whether painting or photograph?

My kids and I just noticed this while recently re-reading the books aloud for 
the umpteenth time.  (Thanks, JKR, for helping me preserve this tradition into 
their teens!)  I suspect, though, our experience at the movie is what really put 
it into our minds. (My dd, a Tudor fan, spotted a portrait of Anne Boleyn in the 
hall and wished they could visit.)

We decided that the difference is that there is more interpersonal, human 
effort put into the paintings. They're produced by hand, rather than by 
chemistry, and are products of a material (paint) rather than just light and 
shadows.  The one hole in our theory is that of course the pictures of witches 
and wizards on the trading cards aren't photographs (since most of them 
predate the invention of photography).  But (in the muggle world, at least) 
cards like that are reproduced using printing/photographic techniques -- our 
theory is saved!

Another theory we developed was that since photography is a relatively new 
process, wizard photo-developing has come up with the moving pictures but 
not yet the sound, just as muggle movies developed picture images before 
adding sound.

We're still working on concepts like whether it matters whether the person in 
the painting is dead.  

And my cynical son pointed out how creepy it would be if Harry could converse 
with the photos of his parents; it would be worse than the Mirror of Erised.  

Finally: perhaps only SOME paintings can talk, and these were produced in some 
special magical way, or enchanted so they can serve as guides and guards 
throughout Hogwarts.

I know it sounds like we have WAY too much time on our hands, but, hey, if my 
adolescents are willing to have a conversation with me, I'll take what I can 
get!  I'm hoping that eventually we'll work our way up to more in-depth 
literary discussions.