{"id":22078,"date":"2011-08-10T22:31:02","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T04:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=22078"},"modified":"2014-01-09T07:59:52","modified_gmt":"2014-01-09T14:59:52","slug":"reading-harry-potter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/10\/reading-harry-potter.html","title":{"rendered":"Reading Harry Potter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Harry-Potter-and-the-Sorcerers-Stone.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-22087\" title=\"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone\" src=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Harry-Potter-and-the-Sorcerers-Stone-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Harry-Potter-and-the-Sorcerers-Stone-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Harry-Potter-and-the-Sorcerers-Stone-440x650.jpg 440w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Harry-Potter-and-the-Sorcerers-Stone.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 203px) 85vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-book.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-22088\" title=\"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone\" src=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-book-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-book-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-book.jpg 318w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 85vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>So I have been rereading the <em>Harry Potter<\/em> books, in commemoration of the final movie. \u00a0And it&#8217;s &#8230; interesting.<\/p>\n<p>I think I finished the first book before the first movie, in fact (and intentionally), which is now a decade ago. \u00a0I&#8217;m surprised to find that it&#8217;s only been 4 years since the 7th book<em> (Deathly Hallows)<\/em> came out &#8212; but, in the interim, having a young daughter, I&#8217;ve probably watched each of the movies three, four, five times, and that experience has deeply overlaid my whole Potter experience.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s interesting looking at my movie reviews here. \u00a0Beyond general applause for most of the acting and the FX, my criticism is always the amount that got trimmed out to make the books fit into a 2 hourish time slot. \u00a0Even <em>Deathly Hallows<\/em>, split into two movies, felt rushed and sketchy at times. Plotlines get snipped, characters&#8217; screen time gets minimized, big background plots (Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, anyone?) get elided.<\/p>\n<p>But reading the books now, with greater familiarity with the movies, there&#8217;s an interesting complementary effect:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The movies are often visually stunning. \u00a0This is sometimes gratuitous, but often the imagery of the movies surpasses the imagery of the books. \u00a0Seeing can be better than telling. \u00a0Not always, but sometimes.<\/li>\n<li>The actors stick with me. \u00a0It&#8217;s impossible for me to read any of the major, recurring characters without visualizing and hearing them as their screen counterparts. That&#8217;s not necessarily a bad thing, as the movie casting tended to be excellent, and the actors in the movies really did a fine job.<\/li>\n<li>Music has an impact, too.<\/li>\n<li>While there are cool things that the movies cut out, there are also lots of excess dross that they cut out, too. \u00a0This is (as I recall) something that becomes more true as the series goes on. \u00a0Alternately, in a few instances (to cut time, reduce costs, do something fun, or provide a big visual), the screenwriters actually improved on Rowling&#8217;s tale.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So I suppose what I really want is the 5-6 hour &#8220;director&#8217;s cuts&#8221; of the <em>Harry Potter<\/em> movies, incorporating all of the cool stuff that the released movies didn&#8217;t include, but with the acting talent and bling that the movies brought to the equation.<\/p>\n<p>Such things don&#8217;t exist, of course. \u00a0But I can still want them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So I have been rereading the Harry Potter books, in commemoration of the final movie. \u00a0And it&#8217;s &#8230; interesting. I think I finished the first book before the first movie, in fact (and intentionally), which is now a decade ago. \u00a0I&#8217;m surprised to find that it&#8217;s only been 4 years since the 7th book (Deathly &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/10\/reading-harry-potter.html\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Reading Harry Potter&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36,527,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-books","category-harry-potter","category-media-movies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-book.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21925,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/02\/book-review-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-by-j-k-rowling-1997.html","url_meta":{"origin":22078,"position":0},"title":"Book Review: &#8220;Harry Potter and the Sorcerer&#8217;s Stone&#8221; by J.K. Rowling (1997)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 2-Aug-11 10:38pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling My rating: 4 of 5 stars It's difficult to extricate myself from the movie version of this book when considering the book itself. I read the full series some time back, but have seen the movies (courtesy of my daughter) so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22338,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/24\/review-harry-potter-and-the-goblet-of-fire-by-j-k-rowling-2000.html","url_meta":{"origin":22078,"position":1},"title":"Review: &#8220;Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire&#8221; by J.K. Rowling (2000)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 24-Aug-11 8:41am","format":false,"excerpt":"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling My rating: 3 of 5 stars In some ways, Goblet of Fire is the best HP book to this point in the series. While we miss the obligatory Hogwarts Quiddich matches, the combination of the World Cup at the beginning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9711,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/05\/05\/oh_harry.html","url_meta":{"origin":22078,"position":2},"title":"Oh, Harry &#8230;","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 5-May-06 9:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"Titles of Harry Potter fanfic we'd rather not see: Harry Potter and the Uneventful Year When No One Tried to Kill Him Harry Potter and the New Love Interest Who...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21606,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/07\/15\/just-in-case-you-need-a-harry-potter-recap-before-you-go-and-see-the-new-movie.html","url_meta":{"origin":22078,"position":3},"title":"Just in case you need a Harry Potter recap before you go and see the new movie","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 15-Jul-11 10:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The first seven movies recapped in seven minutes! Vaguely wish I'd run through this before I went to see HP 7.2. (via kottke and Doyce)","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Harry Potter&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Harry Potter","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/harry-potter"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25376,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/13\/the-theme-of-the-harry-potter-books.html","url_meta":{"origin":22078,"position":4},"title":"The theme of the Harry Potter books","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 13-Jan-12 11:55am","format":false,"excerpt":"And, no, it's not that \"witchcraft is cool and you should sell your soul to Satan,\" no matter what people think. Though I suspect many of those same people would be just as aghast at what Rowling says she's trying to convey. #ddtbReshared post from +Dan EastwoodJUST A THOUGHTThe Potter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10378,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/02\/01\/pottermania_countdown.html","url_meta":{"origin":22078,"position":5},"title":"Pottermania countdown","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 1-Feb-07 7:40am","format":false,"excerpt":"The last Harry Potter book will be published on 21 July (a week after the next flick, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). Let the bookstore-line-standing begin! She...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40647,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22078\/revisions\/40647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}