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.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Harry Potter and the Suspension of Disbelief
Thursday, April 05, 2007
The Golden Compass as a movie?
The meteoric rise of cgi has resulted in the making of many of my favorite books into movies. At times I'm not sure how to feel about it. Kermit pointed out that photos and clips of "The Golden Compass" are online.
Without giving the story away, it's the first book in Phillip Pullman's trilligy, His Dark Materials, which tackles some very heavy themes including death, sacrifice, the human soul, and the role of God and the Church in oppression. According to the BBC, "Pullman acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy tells of a battle against the church and a fight to overthrow God." That is some pretty heavy shit for a movie that will most likely be marketed to children and families.
I'm not sure how I feel about this story becoming a movie. It could be done so poorly. Pullman is an atheist and a strong critic of C.S. Lewis' stories The Chronicles of Narnia. Personally I liked both series.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
D&D is evil (the comic)
Beorn pointed me to this comic. I kept on reading, expecting a punchline. It never came. I thought this negative stereotype of role-playing died out in the 80's. I'm more used to the stereotype that all gamers are teenage boys with no social skills, but the main characters in this strip are both young women.
(I'm not going to the trouble of reposting the pictures, although they are hilarious.) Here are the things I learned from "Dark Dungeons":
Remember, if your character dies, your friends won't allow you to roll up a new character, so your life is over.
Playing D&D is intense occult training!
Priestesses of Diana are into bondage.
Spellcasting results in financial windfalls, that's why witches are all millionaires.
Publish
Next time I get stressed out I'm going to let Breena take care of things.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Movie Review: Bridge to Terabithia
In case you haven't seen it yet, I must warn you now, Bridge to Terabithia is not at all the movie that is portrayed in the TV previews. It's not a bad movie at all, just not what the previews promise.
I remember reading the story as a pre-teen and being struck by how sad it was, but there is no hint of that in the previews. I didn't want to spoil the story for you, but it isn't something I would want to take a child to unaware.
I would classify the story as part of the tradition of literature called Magical Realism, which blends aspects of fantasy and realism. In this particular story the realism hits rather hard at times. When one is expecting a straight forward fantasy story ala The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, sudden realism can be quite a shock. Apparently the book is often censored by parents when read in elementary school classrooms. I'm not saying that children shouldn't read it, it's just that parents should have some warning that their kids might be upset and need to talk.
On the positive side, the characters are much more multifaceted than are common in children's movies. Bullies and neglectful parents are not shown as one dimensional villains, but real people dealing with life in imperfect ways. To their credit, Disney created a movie that stays fairly true to the book, but why their marketing people then strayed so far from the mark in creating the previews I can't understand.
