Harry Number 6 - The Film

Written 17/7/09 (have been dreadfully slack with postings. seems like July went by without much of a squeak from me)

When HP6 the book was released, it was to resounding disappointment from the action fans – “Nothing actually happens!”.

But for those of us who aren’t into reading for the action sequences, it was fantastic. Infallible. JK was just pulling back the robes a little bit more to reveal that in the 7th book, all would be revealed.

I went to Gold Class with my Gold Class cousins to see the film version. Only the second day of its wide release. Not only because I was excited to see it, but also because I hate being swept up in the hype of a film and raising my expectations, only to have my hopes dashed like waves against a wild cliff facem, and disappointment deflate me, til I am but a wrinkles sinking, loveless helium balloon. That was like what watching My Girl was like. So I try to avoid reviews, I steer clear of “Making of...” shows, and I just try to get my eyes to it as soon as possible. All the while, chanting my lower-your-expectations mantra “It’ll probably be shit” on the way to the cinema.

And for the book, so shall it be for the film. Not a whole lot happens. There are no showdowns with Voldemorte. No huge battle scenes. The few battles from the book seem to have disappeared altogether. The shift in Harry’s attitude from “Bollocks to you all” to “Actually, would you mind...?” is what this tale is all about. Actually, come to think of it, he is still making that transition in Book 7 too. And now I discover that the 7th book will be made into 2 films. So HP6 and HP7 are really being made into a trilogy. Again, JK borrows from Tolkein...

The focus of this film is not really about battling evil, but about connecting with good. It is more about fostering the friendships and relationships you have, forging alliances and gathering together your resources in order to face the epic quest battle that lies ahead in the final instalment of the series. Which I think is a perfectly acceptable reason for not much action. There is a Quiddich game, and a bathroom duel between Draco and Harry that gets a bit nasty. And the Dumbledore-&-Harry-steal-a-necklace-from-a-cave scene is full of tension and excitement. Oh, and there is a really creepy corn field scene. Is wind through corn stalks not the most scary of sounds?

These kids are hitting 17. Their hormones are running completely amok. They are resorting to the vomitous behaviour of teenagers in love, to hilarious results. This is the most successful part of the film, the parody of teenagers in love. It is a highly honest portrayal of the exaggerated emotion and heightened stakes of first, unrequited and puppy love. (I purposefully tried to make sure I had the Danne Quiet Laugh happening so as not to entirely humiliate my teenage cousin. I told her afterwards that I don’t generally inhibit the Danne Loud Cackle for just anyone and she should feel very very special.) In a film that is meant to be about amalgamating the good relationships you have, I thought it was a great feature.

I have heard (through twitter, because I was still avoiding all forms of reviews) that David & Margaret (though I am thinking more that it sounds like something the stuffy David would say) have levelled the accusation that if you haven’t read the books then the film will make no sense at all. And there is some truth to this. Teenage Cousin had not read the books, or seen any film past Azkhaban (still the best film, I think). We had a bit of a tutorial on films four and five so she would be a little less lost (plus the spaces between the chairs in the cinema are so vast it was difficult for her to ask me questions during the film). And yes, she was pretty lost. Vast tracts of exposition have been discarded. And maybe they will catch it up in Film 7, but there is a lot to cram into that film, and so there may not be space for such luxuries as backstory and explanation of character motive. But if you have read the books, you know why Dumbledore makes those choices, and why Snape does the unthinkable with the unbreakable.

On a completely random-observation kind of aside, I have noticed in this film the use of semiotics of hair colour. The mud has been flung at those with a tinge of ginge in their fringe (thanks Tim) in recent years, particularly in the comedy scene. But not so in the HP films. The baddies all have jet black or snow white hair. Narcissa Malfoy has both. But the goodies don’t have such stark hair. Their follicle shades fall into more of a rainbow –with a high representation of the ranga. Of course the Weasleys up the red count, by virtue of the numbers in the family. Tonks sometimes has red, but she can change on a whim. Luna’s hair could be construed as white, but I think of it more yellowy. Hermione in the book has bushy brown hair, but Emma Watson has much more honey blonde tones (though in the potions scene, her hair does become a delicious texture of frizz with the pressure of not succeeding). Dumbledore and Mad Eye Moody are grey, as is McGonagall. Harry, Hagrid, Nevil, Sirius, all shades of chocolatey brown. The black of Snape is there to keep us guessing, perhaps? To make us think the worst of him, as Potter does? But back to my original point about the ranagas. This over representation may reflect the authorial authority – JK being red as they come!