It Will be Tough to Bring Harry Potter Magic to Life in Film
When the potential blockbuster movie "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" opens on Friday, November 16, Warner Brothers is expecting adoring fans of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series to be in attendance. Dr. Anne Collins Smith will likely be among them, but she warns them that the very elements that made the Harry Potter books so enjoyable could also make it difficult for the stories to come to life on the big screen.
An assistant professor of philosophy and classical studies and science fiction/supernatural film scholar at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., Smith studied the Harry Potter books -- authoring an opinion piece "The Harry Potter Series: A Defense Against the Dark Arts" that was distributed nationally by the Scripps Howard News Service.
"Part of the joy of reading the Harry Potter books is the author's masterful use of language and inventive vocabulary. The movie can't really reproduce the author's narration exactly, so I fear this aspect will be lost," she says.
Another aspect Smith predicts will be lost in the film is the use of each individual's imagination in constructing the world described within the books.
"Until now, there were as many different visions of Hogwart's as there were people reading the books. Now there will be just one," Smith says. "Anyone who has seen the movie will find it difficult to read the books without the movie's imagery intruding, and one's own idiosyncratic construction of the world will be lost. It will take a strong individual indeed to say, "No, that's not what it looked like inside my head," and set the movie version aside.
"And those who see the movie before reading the books will never have the chance to make their own vision. Even if the movie is very, very good, and even though its vision has apparently been guided by Rowling herself, that's not the issue -- no matter how good it is, it will become 'The One,' and for many people it will replace their own imaginations."
Smith is also concerned that the sheer sense of wonder that Harry experiences as he encounters various forms of magic may also be lost in the film adaptation, leaving the audience thinking, "Hmm, I wonder how they did that?"
But she also believes there are important elements from the books that the movie can not only capture, but enhance.
"One of these is the sharp contrast between Harry's life with the Dursley's and his life at Hogwart's. A movie can manifest a powerful visual contrast between the two. The movie can also provide a visceral excitement in its depiction of exciting sequences like the Quidditch game," she says.
One of the central themes to the books, according to Smith, was the underlying battle between good and evil. She believes that battle will survive on the big screen.
"When you film something, you automatically lose some detail and subtleties -- so the battle between good and evil could be reduced to something very simplistic, without the shadings present in the novel. But I don't think that will happen," she says. "Although there aren't the strict narrative complexities, there can be some depth and subtleties in the way the actor portrays the character, and the way a director constructs a scene -- for example, the camera angles, the background music, and other elements -- just like the way a composer scores a musical composition. In other words, there are ways to introduce the subtleties from the narrative of the book."
Although some critics have predicted that the dazzling special effects will overwhelm the human elements of the story, Smith predicts that this will not be the case - because of the film's nature.
"One classic phenomenon that will overcome the dazzle factor is that both children's movies and fantasy sci-fi movies tend to attract audiences that tend to watch them over and over. For example, the only movies I own are the Star Wars trilogy and a bunch of Disney movies. The Harry Potter film will cross both genres -- fantasy and children's -- and will therefore have a large audience that is very likely to watch the movie over and over again. Because of this, many of audience will look past the first dazzling visual presentation in their first viewing, and pick up on some of deeper motives and important subtleties upon further scrutiny in future viewings."
You may contact Smith by calling her office at 570-372-4167, or her home at 570-374-8408. Her email is [email protected].
Please feel free to also call me at 814-867-1963, or email me at [email protected]. Dick Jones Communications assists Susquehanna with its public affairs work.
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