Friday, May 18, 2007

Harry Potter and the Suspension of Disbelief

Today my dear friend Trillwing pointed out something very interesting about Harry Potter. So here is the question...Why does Harry Potter wear glasses? If you can transform someone into a cat, wouldn't it be fairly simple to fix the shape of their eyes?

In response to this I thought that certainly Harry Potter fans must have thought of this and explained this plot flaw. As the story line of Galaxy Quest points out, fans often have the important details of fiction worked out more clearly than the stars (or writers) do.

So here are a few quotes from The Leaky Lounge...

"why doesn't Harry or a better witch at charms or transfiguration, just say, "REPARO!" and fix Harry's eyesight!!!"

"I've actually wondered about this too - I mean Hermione fixed her teeth didn't she? And yet, it always seems there are things in the wizard world that just can't be fixed with magic. Also, I believe Arthur, Dumbledore, and Percy (?) all wear glasses, so maybe its not that simple."

There are also some interesting speculations about the symbolic meanings of Harry's glasses and the possible plot significance of the glasses. I'm still not satisfied with any of the explanations.

6 comments:

Harmony Sweetpea said...

I actually never thought of that. What a good point! If Hermoine can repair his glasses, why not just up a step and repair his eyes! Perhaps it is symbolic!

http:psychmumble.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Of course it's just symbolic; it's just part of the outfit of Harry, like the scar.
First: he wore glasses all his life; I don’t think he would say: “Oh! I’m a wizard now, so my first official act as the most famous wizard all over the world would be.... Fix my eyes”
And now, it would be weird to see Harry without his glasses
On the other side, Harry has better things to do, like fighting Lord Voldemort.

Breena Ronan said...

Some fans on The Leaky Lounge speculated that the glass might be part of some sort of plot twist, but I think that is pretty unlikely.

Anonymous said...

Well, it could simply be that glasses give the appearance of a scholarly hero. Perhaps it's simply a mark of our society that we are so obsessed with women's appearances that we wouldn't think for a second for Hermoine not to be desperate to fix her teeth, but that Harry Potter, as a male, would have value beyond his goofy, unkempt appearance.

Breena Ronan said...

Wait, maybe I'm exposing my lack of obsession with these movies, but what is wrong with Hermoine's teeth?

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