Divergence between canon and the films

[John]

No: HPFGUIDX 192421



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff" <geoffbannister123 at ...> wrote:
>
> Geoff:
> I have been interested to see the views expressed about the films and their
> divergence from canon. A lot of criticism was originally voiced along this line when DH2 was released.....

Snipped.


But My biggest beef is the shambles (IMO) that David Yates made of the final 
> confrontation between Harry and Voldemort which, in the book at least was 
> in the Great Hall and not zipping around the wreckage outside....


Snipped.


Finally a smaller beef from a UK member after John's post about seeing people 
> at Kings Cross railway station. Why was it that the interior scenes in the films 
> were shot at Kings Cross but the exterior scenes – as at the start of COS for 
> example – were at St. Pancras station? OK, this latter building is literally 100 
> yards from Kings Cross because the two stations in pre-British Rail days 
> belonged to different companies; the outside is probably prettier but no one 
> with any decent contact with London (and mine ran to 45 years before I moved) 
> is fooled!
> 
> Right, that may provide some food for thought and further enlightened 
> discussion.
>


Hi Geoff.

Indeed your excellent post does add 'grist to the mill' for further dicussion. :o)

I am not going into all the movie/canon differences but to kick off, let's just mention the scene where all the DA meekly allow themselves to be tortured by Umbridge with her blood quills, I agree that whilst Harry may have (wrongly) decided to keep quiet about his own torture no way would all the others have done so and Umbridge would have been reported, via their parents.

Silly was this scene was I myself, despite my limited talent, found a way to use it in a fan fiction I wrote called The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword, in which Umbridge comes to a 'sticky end' due to this torture session, being effectively 'hoist by her own petard'. Not perhaps my best story, but one that was very satisfying to write as like most I had the loathsome 'toad woman'.

Regarding your point about the stations, I believe I have an explanation for the 'station switch'. I am almost certain that JKR herself once admitted in an interview that she made an error confusing and conflating the exterior and interiors of the two stations (King's Cross and St. Pancras) in an early draft of the first book and that is why the inside of one and the outside of the other also appear in the movies. She was, of course having some personal problems at the time and had relocated to Edinburgh from Portugal following her relationship breakdown, so this 'rare as hen's teeth' error was not perhaps so surprising. :o)

In any case the photogenic superiority of the magnificent Victorian Gothic frontage of the adjacent St. Pancras Station, (even better now the station's hotel is restored and re-opened) would probably have been chosen by the film makers anyway, since the real King's Cross exterior was visually dire when they first filmed there. Although recently King's Cross has also had a magnificent, but very modern entry concourse added and the exterior environs when finished will be far nicer than the previous unremitting 'grott' that previously was there. 

By the way, just for further info, sadly the famous footbridge that once spanned the platforms at King's Cross has now been replaced during the refurbishment programme. This too was a bit of a 'Potter Pilgrimage' site, as it was where Harry was given his Hogwarts Express ticket by Hagrid in the first film and told to 'stick to it' before the half-giant mysteriously 'dissappeared'. The venerable old bridge also featured in a scene with Tonks, Alastor Moody and (I think) Kingsley, along with Sirius in his animagus form. Sirius then transformed and had a chat with Harry in a waiting room and gave him a photograph of the original Order of the Pheonix. 

For anyone wishing to make their own 'pilgrimage' to 'Platform Nine and Three Quarters' when in London the novelty trolley and platform sign are to be found at the rear of the large new entrance/concourse area, on the right hand side of the entry gates to platforms 9 -11 at the rear of the new entrance hall.

As to the rest of your post and it's points Geoff, well I'll leave it to others to get the ball rolling on the rest of the earlier films, which in general I like although they're not, (as you pointed out), perfect. I'll stick to the final terribly flawed movie and say that I too dislike the interminable wand battle between Harry and Voldemort (parts one and two!) and the associated 'additions' to the fight, like the flying scene. Far from making it more exciting it detracts from the drama, goes on forever and is like watching paint dry. :o(

The original confrontation in the Great Hall as written by Jo is far superior and much more dramatic, so ideally intensely cinematic in fact that one wonders what Steve Kloves was 'on' to think it needed any changes at all, yet alone a full scale 'dodgy rewrite'. Also the dramatic revelations in the 'little chat' between Harry and Tom Riddle as they circle each other are sadly missing. How JKR came to permit this hopeless mess I cannot understand. :o(

And don't even get me started on Voldemort's death by what looks like a severe case of leprosy crossed with malignant terminal dandruff! :o) Or on the ludicrous casual destruction of the Elder Wand! :o)

Thanks for mentioning the previous posts on these matters Geoff, I may well try and 'go back' and review/add to these when time pressures permit.

Many Blessings.
John, (Oriondruid).