Harry Potter Blatherings (Finally)
So, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Yeah. I was not looking forward to this film. Book 7 is not my favorite... or, as I like to call it, "Harry, Ron and Hermione's Camping Trip From Hell" which should give you a clue to my main objections.
Never had I been more excited to know that a movie would be forced to leave stuff OUT. But then they decided that they were going to split the film into two parts. And I thought to myself "Ah hell, the camping trip is back on!" Actually, I was quite delighted that those scenes seemed to move along pretty quickly, though my brother (who never finished reading the series) later commented about how the camping scenes went on forever. I quickly assured him it was much longer in the book!
The truth is... I actually really enjoyed the film! I think a lot of what I was what they changed or how they reinterpreted certain parts. I loved the scene where Hermione tells the story of the Deathly Hallows. The animation was lovely and a welcome change of pace. More importantly, it took a long bit of narrative and made it watchable and interesting.
On a whole, the movie did pretty well with all the useless exposition that was Book 7. Harry's angst over not knowing who Dumbledore truly was toned down and Grindelwald seems to be nothing more than a petty, arrogant thief. Normally I'm not a fan of such glossing over, but frankly the Grindelwald/Third Reich parallels would be a little much for a family film.
I really enjoyed the bit with the polyjuiced Harrys. The Godric's Hollow was as lovely as I was hoping it would be. (Though I wish they had included the bit with memorial where his house used to be. It was a nice bit in the book that captured pretty well how we grieve together as a society.) But I think my favorite moment was during the opening scenes, when Emma Watson knocked it out of the park, as she disappeared from her parents life. And later, in that random London cafe, when she has to erase the memories of those two Death Eater, you can see what it's costing her and how she's thinking about the last time she used that spell. In the books, Hermione modified her parents memories, gave them new names and sent them to Australia. Even without it being explicitly stated, it was a pretty safe guess that she would be back after the war to give them back their lives. But in the movie, it felt... permanent. Hermione had erased herself from their lives and basically just turned herself into an orphan. What a strong, heartbreaking moment to start things off on.
It also made the connection between Hermione and Harry seem that much stronger. And yes, we've now come to the shipper's rant part of the post. So, it's no secret that I've always thought that Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson have marvelous onscreen chemistry, even from the early films. But I'm beginning to wonder just how many of the cast and crew are closet Harry/Hermione shippers. Because you don't get THAT many shippy moments by accident. The two canon pairings only got a couple a piece. At least, the Hermione/Ron one were believable, like how their hands were almost touching while they were sleeping (even I will admit that was lovely). Harry/Ginny didn't fair nearly as well, but then they had less to work with. (And why does Ginny/Neville make so much more sense to me in the movie-verse? They're like two peas in a pod.)
But from practically the very begining and definitely when they were on the run, the movie was chock-full of Hermione/Harry sweetness, to satisfy even the most rabid shipper. Now, granted a lot of it was to show Ron's growing jealousy... but that moment in the woods when Hermione suggested that they just stay there and grow old? It was just the two of them. (Was it even in the book? I can't remember. Even if it was, I don't think it would have sounded quite so proposal-like.) And then there was Harry dancing with Hermione to cheer her up. I don't think the two every quite connected like that in the book after Ron left. Not until they got to Godric's Hollow, at least.
In the movie, for all intents and purposes, Harry and Hermione were a couple... until Ron had to come back, all sweet and heroic-y. At least they left off the "she's like my sister" bit. (Though I always figured that line in the books was less a ship death sentence and more only-child Harry trying to explain how important his relationship with Hermione was to Ron in terms he'd understand.) And even though it wasn't quite as in-your-face-Ron as before, Harry and Hermione were still close as ever. ("You're not still mad at him, are you?" / "I'm always mad at him." Which, come to think of it, is one of my objections to Ron/Hermione!)
But as I watch the movie, I suddenly realized something. The movies and books are different enough that shipping movie-Hermione/Harry is a totally different thing. Even better, there probably wouldn't be the epilogue (since an epilogue with adults that look nothing like the kids we've watched grow up would be meaningless), so the movie series would be left wide open in terms of future parings. But then I found out on Wikipedia that they are planning on filming the stupid thing with the original crew and using computers to age the actors ala Benjamin Button. Damn you, shiny-new-CGI-techniques for killing my buzz!! *shakes fist*
Preferred pairings aside, I hated the epilogue. HATED IT! It was so unnecessary and read like bad fanfic! (Albus Severus? Really? And no Fred? Did Ginny get a say in these names at all? Oh, right. Lily's middle name is Luna. Never realized that Luna and Ginny were so close that she would blow her one chance at naming one of her kids on her.) Oh, well. I shall just ignore that last scene of the movie, the same way I ignore the book epilogue, the same way I ignore the last scene of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Speaking of A:tLA, between Harry Potter and Avatar: the Last Airbender, I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me since I never seemed to be able to pick (or even like) the canon ship. I can't tell you how relieved I was when I found out that Kyo/Tohru was the endgame pairing in Fruits Basket (my very first manga ever-awww) . It made me feel like I wasn't completely crazy. (I also had to keep reminding myself I was right about Josh/Donna & Luke/Lorelei.) But it doesn't make it any easier when a pairing you hate becomes the endgame.
Sigh. I enjoy shipping, but sometimes I wish I could just put it in a box and just not care at all who's with who. Since that's apparently impossible for me, I guess I'm going to have to write my own ending instead. So, for those you who care about this sort of thing, yeah the Harry/Hermione fic is back on. I was even writing parts of it in my head as I watched the film. :-)
And now, the only thing I ask of the Movie Gods is that Part 2 gives me a couple more shippy moments for me to cling to before canon comes crashing down on my head. But sadly, I think Part 1 was my ship's last hurrah. Sigh. Well, at least the dragon scene looks cool.
Never had I been more excited to know that a movie would be forced to leave stuff OUT. But then they decided that they were going to split the film into two parts. And I thought to myself "Ah hell, the camping trip is back on!" Actually, I was quite delighted that those scenes seemed to move along pretty quickly, though my brother (who never finished reading the series) later commented about how the camping scenes went on forever. I quickly assured him it was much longer in the book!
The truth is... I actually really enjoyed the film! I think a lot of what I was what they changed or how they reinterpreted certain parts. I loved the scene where Hermione tells the story of the Deathly Hallows. The animation was lovely and a welcome change of pace. More importantly, it took a long bit of narrative and made it watchable and interesting.
On a whole, the movie did pretty well with all the useless exposition that was Book 7. Harry's angst over not knowing who Dumbledore truly was toned down and Grindelwald seems to be nothing more than a petty, arrogant thief. Normally I'm not a fan of such glossing over, but frankly the Grindelwald/Third Reich parallels would be a little much for a family film.
I really enjoyed the bit with the polyjuiced Harrys. The Godric's Hollow was as lovely as I was hoping it would be. (Though I wish they had included the bit with memorial where his house used to be. It was a nice bit in the book that captured pretty well how we grieve together as a society.) But I think my favorite moment was during the opening scenes, when Emma Watson knocked it out of the park, as she disappeared from her parents life. And later, in that random London cafe, when she has to erase the memories of those two Death Eater, you can see what it's costing her and how she's thinking about the last time she used that spell. In the books, Hermione modified her parents memories, gave them new names and sent them to Australia. Even without it being explicitly stated, it was a pretty safe guess that she would be back after the war to give them back their lives. But in the movie, it felt... permanent. Hermione had erased herself from their lives and basically just turned herself into an orphan. What a strong, heartbreaking moment to start things off on.
It also made the connection between Hermione and Harry seem that much stronger. And yes, we've now come to the shipper's rant part of the post. So, it's no secret that I've always thought that Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson have marvelous onscreen chemistry, even from the early films. But I'm beginning to wonder just how many of the cast and crew are closet Harry/Hermione shippers. Because you don't get THAT many shippy moments by accident. The two canon pairings only got a couple a piece. At least, the Hermione/Ron one were believable, like how their hands were almost touching while they were sleeping (even I will admit that was lovely). Harry/Ginny didn't fair nearly as well, but then they had less to work with. (And why does Ginny/Neville make so much more sense to me in the movie-verse? They're like two peas in a pod.)
But from practically the very begining and definitely when they were on the run, the movie was chock-full of Hermione/Harry sweetness, to satisfy even the most rabid shipper. Now, granted a lot of it was to show Ron's growing jealousy... but that moment in the woods when Hermione suggested that they just stay there and grow old? It was just the two of them. (Was it even in the book? I can't remember. Even if it was, I don't think it would have sounded quite so proposal-like.) And then there was Harry dancing with Hermione to cheer her up. I don't think the two every quite connected like that in the book after Ron left. Not until they got to Godric's Hollow, at least.
In the movie, for all intents and purposes, Harry and Hermione were a couple... until Ron had to come back, all sweet and heroic-y. At least they left off the "she's like my sister" bit. (Though I always figured that line in the books was less a ship death sentence and more only-child Harry trying to explain how important his relationship with Hermione was to Ron in terms he'd understand.) And even though it wasn't quite as in-your-face-Ron as before, Harry and Hermione were still close as ever. ("You're not still mad at him, are you?" / "I'm always mad at him." Which, come to think of it, is one of my objections to Ron/Hermione!)
But as I watch the movie, I suddenly realized something. The movies and books are different enough that shipping movie-Hermione/Harry is a totally different thing. Even better, there probably wouldn't be the epilogue (since an epilogue with adults that look nothing like the kids we've watched grow up would be meaningless), so the movie series would be left wide open in terms of future parings. But then I found out on Wikipedia that they are planning on filming the stupid thing with the original crew and using computers to age the actors ala Benjamin Button. Damn you, shiny-new-CGI-techniques for killing my buzz!! *shakes fist*
Preferred pairings aside, I hated the epilogue. HATED IT! It was so unnecessary and read like bad fanfic! (Albus Severus? Really? And no Fred? Did Ginny get a say in these names at all? Oh, right. Lily's middle name is Luna. Never realized that Luna and Ginny were so close that she would blow her one chance at naming one of her kids on her.) Oh, well. I shall just ignore that last scene of the movie, the same way I ignore the book epilogue, the same way I ignore the last scene of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Speaking of A:tLA, between Harry Potter and Avatar: the Last Airbender, I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me since I never seemed to be able to pick (or even like) the canon ship. I can't tell you how relieved I was when I found out that Kyo/Tohru was the endgame pairing in Fruits Basket (my very first manga ever-awww) . It made me feel like I wasn't completely crazy. (I also had to keep reminding myself I was right about Josh/Donna & Luke/Lorelei.) But it doesn't make it any easier when a pairing you hate becomes the endgame.
Sigh. I enjoy shipping, but sometimes I wish I could just put it in a box and just not care at all who's with who. Since that's apparently impossible for me, I guess I'm going to have to write my own ending instead. So, for those you who care about this sort of thing, yeah the Harry/Hermione fic is back on. I was even writing parts of it in my head as I watched the film. :-)
And now, the only thing I ask of the Movie Gods is that Part 2 gives me a couple more shippy moments for me to cling to before canon comes crashing down on my head. But sadly, I think Part 1 was my ship's last hurrah. Sigh. Well, at least the dragon scene looks cool.