CHAPDISC: DH36, THE FLAW IN THE PLAN

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 185290

> > 11. There has been quite a varied response to Molly Weasley in this 
> > scene.  What is yours?
> 
> Kemper now:
> Hmm... It seemed a bit movie-ish and I've been a bit eye-rolly with
> it... but now that I have a child (I did not at the time of the first
> reading), I hope my child outlives me and can understand her rage/fear
> at the possibility of losing second child (and on the same day!).  If
> it were real life, I can see her dropping the sixth and, the forbidden
> and most tabooed, third letter words.  
> 
Montavilla47:

I agree with you that it's a natural reaction for a mother to protect her
chid--and that it's movie-ish and eye-rolly at the same time.  If that
makes any sense.

The problem for me is that it's so much an homage to "Aliens."  Of course,
that's not a problem for the younger readers, who hopefully haven't seen the
movie!  And, as years pass, the film will become more obscure and probably
will become even less of a problem for the reader.

But it's as if Dumbledore (or Voldemort, hehe) to have uttered the word 
"Rosebud" as he expired.  It could make the most perfect sense in the 
world and still be too close to a movie-moment not to pull unnecessary
images into the reader's mind.

Now, JKR may never have seen "Aliens," so I don't fault her for writing
that moment.  If I had been editing the story, though, I would have flagged
it and asked her if she intended that particular reference.