Philosopher's Stone Chapter Eleven
Dec. 27th, 2011 11:54 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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*Magnificent title. In this chapter JKR tries and fails to emulate school sports as they are depicted in the British Boarding School genre.
*I wonder if Hagrid ate the animals whose skins he wears?
*Gryffindor is all set to move up to second place in the House Championship. Just don’t ask how, JKR’s maths wouldn’t stand it.
*Harry is officially the secret weapon, but that should read “the only player of any significance.”
*Well where were those useless mattress carriers? I ask you. We never saw them during the game did we?
*Hermione is Harry’s friend as long as she does his homework for him...! Poor girl. Does she actually believe that Harry counts as a friend or has she realised that he is the centre of the Potterverse and is latching onto him for that reason?
*The A5 Quidditch Through the Ages is about Harry’s reading level, I know, I read it too. Deathly Hallows contradicts everything it says about flying with magic.
*Seekers get the worst injuries, because they are the only players that the beaters need to bother about.
*No no, Hermione was a stickler for other people obeying the rules, she was always relaxed about breaking them herself!
*Hermione lent Harry a library book because he was too lazy to take it out himself?
*That’s the spirit Ron! I always liked his witty aspersions, delivered in the true Gryffindor character.
*Yeah why should Hermione let the boys copy her work? She should just keep doing it for them to save them the trouble.
*Harry sees a horrible sight – Snape and Filch are alone and Snape has his robes pulled up. I wouldn’t want to see Filch in that position either.
*Yeah clear off Potter, this isn’t a peep show. Snape must think he is as voyeuristic as James was about seeing Snape without his pants.
*So for a teacher to deduct points, the pupil has to hear them say it?
*Harry’s mind can only hold the one question; “what is the dog guarding.” Without that question, his mind would be completely empty.
*Is Seamus trying to rub it in, or is this a compliment delivered in the Gryffindor fashion?
*Harry can remember who Dean is because of the association of his supporting West Ham. Random historical fact – Rasputin’s memory was so bad that he could only remember his friends by making nicknames for them. Should Harry have tried this more often? Dean is “the West Ham Fan.”
*The banner says “Potter for President”?! President of what?
*Wood’s speech is taken from a muggle context – but he is not muggleborn, since he didn’t know about Basketball. I suppose he must have heard it from a muggleborn and thought it sounded cool.
*Flint may have troll blood in him, that would explain his shortcomings – his ancestry is impure. Are we sure JKR does not have a nationalist or neo-nazi type of mindset?
*”What an excellent Chaser Angelina is – and rather attractive to...” That Lee Jordan, he fails to keep the commentary impersonal as badly as Zach Smith failed at doing so. Oh well. IOIAGDI!
*Why bother commenting on the Chasers? Their work is completely superfluous. It’s the Seekers who matter, with their catching of the shiny object.
*In this chapter the narrator jumps around a lot. Normally it follows Harry, but now it suddenly distances itself from Harry and settles on Ron and Hermione amidst the spectators. Oh no, Hagrid is here...
*Wood had a talent for stating the obvious. All Harry needed to know was “catch the small object that moves suddenly.” Even a cat could comprehend Harry’s role in the game. Which sadly, is the only role that matters.
*The Twins had a taste for the tacky even here. Harry sees them flashing their wristwatches ostentatiously.
*Does Higgs have as expensive a broom as Harry has?
*Flint blocks Harry from winning the game! Really Flint, that would only be Okay If A Gryffindor Had Done It.
*Dean would rather be watching a football match. Boring as they are, at least the rules are logical!
*Hagrid suddenly considers Quidditch too brutal now that Harry’s playing it...? But surely he always knew that the beaters hit solid iron balls at all the other players? Perhaps he believes the rules should only be changed so that no one should attempt to knock Harry out of the air.
*But then no one, not even Lee Jordan, makes aspersions about the bludger nearly hitting Harry on the head.
*Interfering with a broomstick is powerful Dark Magic. No, the definition of Dark Magic will not become any clearer as the series progresses.
*Hermione changed her view on Snape very quickly. I suppose she must have taken Ron’s word earlier in the chapter, that he wouldn’t put anything past Snape. In the film we get to see Quirrell acting very nearly as suspiciously as Snape was (he was gazing at Harry and being unnaturally still).
*The referee is useless. Oh well, Flint is a cheat. Scoring in a surreptitious manner should only be Okay If A Gryffindor Does It. I have no doubt that everyone agrees.
*Hermione knocks Quirrell over by accident...! Lame. In the film it is Snape who knocks Quirrell by giving a start when he realises he is on fire. That looks better, although it leaves the question of why he didn’t just punch or knock Quirrell to stop him casting his hex.
*Really Neville isn’t acting like a Gryffindor here. He should relish the sight of danger! No wonder Malfoy taunted him about not being in the right house.
*Well since Harry was not unconscious, he won the game. This is actually better than JKR’s original idea of Hedwig catching the Snitch for him...! Oh for the days when the editors still did their job ;)
*The narrator rejoins Harry and does not leave him again during this book.
*Did Hagrid win Fluffy in a game of cards?
*Egodore giving Hagrid important information was just a way of ensuring that it would be leaked to the trio. He would not even have needed to tell Hagrid to leak it to them, Hagrid’s incompetence is his only reliable quality.
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Date: 2011-12-29 01:35 am (UTC)I don't think she gave a rat's ass by that time, if she remembered at all, which she probably didn't. DH's atrociousness always reminds me of a story I read about Trent Reznor in Rolling Stone. When he was working on The Downward Spiral, he got bogged down and couldn't finish it. A friend tried to help motivate him, and their conversation went something like this:
Friend: What's your motivation in doing this album?
Trent: To get it fucking done.
Friend: That's the stupidest goddamn reason I've ever heard for doing an album! If that's the way you feel, don't do it! Don't do it until you can come up with something so great it's a crime for the world not to hear it!
JKR's problem is she didn't have anybody like that friend who was honest and independent enough to get in her face and say, "This book sucks, Jo. You're going to be ripping off your fans if you release it as is. Is that what you want? To steal from little kids and their parents just because you can't be arsed to write something decent, not even good, just decent? And where did all that wand allegiance rubbish come from? Did you just pull that out of your arse so you could finish off the book?
"If this is really the best you can do now, go to your publisher and tell them you're burned out and you need an extension. It's not like they're going to refuse you. It's far better for you to temporarily disappoint your fans by releasing the book six months or a year late than to disappoint them permanently by shoveling a load of shite on them, and then charging them big bucks for the privilege."
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Date: 2011-12-30 12:00 am (UTC)No, JKR's problem was that by that time she was writing for the movies, which had a rapidly aging cast and therefore could not afford to wait for her to get real inspiration for the tale.
She had painted herself in the corner of releasing her volumes in July to coincide with the release of whatever latest Potter movie was hitting the theaters that summer; the Half Blood Prince movie was being released in July 2007, and she had to get the last book published and released to coincide with the movie's premier.
So integrity flew out the window (if there was ever any to begin with)...
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Date: 2011-12-30 02:57 am (UTC)That's a good point, though, about the release dates of the books coinciding with that of the movies. I hadn't thought about that because I went way out of my way to ignore the HP hoopla as much as possible until well after all the books were released so I could read the series with as open a mind as possible. I've still never seen any of the movies, but then, I'm not much of a movie fan anyway.
I still maintain JKR could have delayed the release of DH for another year. So what if its release didn't coincide with that of the latest movie? It was guaranteed to be a huge bestseller no matter when it came out. An author with artistic integrity and respect for their audience would take advantage of that fact to delay their book until it was good enough to show the world.
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Date: 2011-12-30 06:27 pm (UTC)It DOES make a difference when we're talking about the author taking another year or two to finish the book, at which time only then could the script for the final movie be drafted, and some months after that filming commence...
Even if she only took one more year to finish the book, since they'd always released in July, that means that Deathly Hallows wouldn't have made it to bookstores until July 2008. Add a good six months to then get a movie script written and approved, and another couple of months to then get sets designed and built, and filming wouldn't have started until well into 2009...
And while it is not impossible for actors who are 22 y.o or so to play a character 5 years younger, it gets progressively more difficult to do so, especially considering that up until then the youngest actors were basically playing their own ages, perhaps a year off.
There's also the problem of the cast having made prior commitments past 2008-9, when filming was expected to be done on the final volume. Watson was committed to going off to college, Radcliffe was committed to various Broadway roles (and I'm sure the older cast members also had committments made based on what they thought would be the filming dates for the last HP movies).
Bottom line is this: doesn't matter if Radcliffe, Watson, et al would still be believable in their roles if they were 21 and not 18, it's the fact that Rowling was being pressured by her publisher to get the book done, and pressured by the movie folk to get the book done so that its release would coincide with the release of the HBP movie.
As for the adult cast members, they were so far overage already, another year wouldn't have mattered for them, either.
As far as how they look on screen you're correct.
But as I pointed out, cast members would have been making commitment for other work based on when they expected to be done filming the last HP movie.
You also have the unfortunate possibility that the really elder cast members may not survive to film the last movie if there was a significant delay in the release of the last book. Maggie Smith in particular hasn't been in the best of health...
The series could survive needing to cast a new Dumbledore for the third movie -- needing to recast a major role for the last movie would have been disasterous.
I hadn't thought about that because I went way out of my way to ignore the HP hoopla as much as possible until well after all the books were released so I could read the series with as open a mind as possible.
I didn't read any of the books until DH came out in July 2007, and only because my local grocery chain had the books on sale at significant discount. But I know that once the movies started being made, that each movie that was scheduled for a summer release timed its release to coincide with the release of the next HP volume.
I've still never seen any of the movies, but then, I'm not much of a movie fan anyway.
Each subsequent movie basically veers more and more from published canon that what they ended up with was a story that was similar to the books, but really ended up being pretty much AU! lol
An author with artistic integrity and respect for their audience would take advantage of that fact to delay their book until it was good enough to show the world.
Well there you have it; Rowling does NOT have any integrity, artistic or otherwise, and definitely doesn't respect her audience, as she's amply displayed in many interviews.
She is in love with herself, and in awe of the hoi polloi of both the publishing world and Hollywood, even if it's British Hollywood. Her denials notwithstanding, she was obviously writing with the movies in mind from at least GoF onward...
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Date: 2011-12-30 08:38 pm (UTC)The movies are essentially expensive fanfic. But it is fanfic that influences much of fandom, especially wrt what the characters and places look like, but to some extent also on how people remember the plot.
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Date: 2011-12-31 05:10 am (UTC)But that was the case anyway, right? Part 1 didn't come out until late Nov. 2010. But I see what you're saying, i.e., that given another year's delay, Part 1 wouldn't have come out until last month.
There's also the problem of the cast having made prior commitments past 2008-9, when filming was expected to be done on the final volume. Watson was committed to going off to college, Radcliffe was committed to various Broadway roles (and I'm sure the older cast members also had committments made based on what they thought would be the filming dates for the last HP movies).
Dear me, this is embarrassing. I think I was subconsciously imagining everybody sitting around, twiddling their thumbs, waiting for Rowling to finish, putting off the rest of their lives until the book was ready, or at least willing to drop everything once it became time to shoot the movie. Aaaaggghhhh!!! I've bought into the hype about the primacy of Potter! : (
You also have the unfortunate possibility that the really elder cast members may not survive to film the last movie if there was a significant delay in the release of the last book. Maggie Smith in particular hasn't been in the best of health...
She can't be doing too badly, or she wouldn't be starring in the new season of Downton Abbey. But I take your point. OTOH, I think the hype and momentum were such that, although it would certainly be a problem to recast a major role, the series would have survived it. Potter fans have been amazingly forgiving of far worse continuity errors, such as the kind we discuss here all the time.
Well there you have it; Rowling does NOT have any integrity, artistic or otherwise,
That's pretty harsh. Do you really think she's that morally debased?
and definitely doesn't respect her audience, as she's amply displayed in many interviews.
That's certainly true--especially the part of it that likes Snape and/or dares to criticize her or her work. ;-)
She is in love with herself
So you agree she's a narcissist?
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Date: 2011-12-31 02:55 pm (UTC)It was originally scheduled for release in November 2009, and Part 2 was supposed to be released July 2010, but they ended up delaying the release due to a combination of needing more time for editing (they claimed), plus a conflict with whatever other blockbuster movie was being released in late 2009.
And remember, they were refilming the Epilogue early in 2011...so they went down to the wire with the thing.
They started writing the script immediately after the book got released in July 2007, and were filming in 2008 for the projected original 2009 release date. If Rowling had delayed release of the book even one year, they wouldn't have been able to start filming the movie until 2009.
She can't be doing too badly, or she wouldn't be starring in the new season of Downton Abbey.
Her role as the dowager in that series can hardly be called "starring" -- strong supporting character, yes. Where she mostly just sits. Nothing too strenuous. Doesn't change the fact that she's been dealing with breast cancer these past couple of years.
That's pretty harsh. Do you really think she's that morally debased?
Yes. At the very least she's one of the worst hypocrites around.
And I'm including politicians in that group! LOL
So you agree she's a narcissist?
I'm not qualified to make an exact and precise diagnosis, but she definitely is someone who's displayed in interviews that she is full of herself, and desperately wants to control her audience.
I myself dabble in writing. I have no idea if I'm a good writer, or even just an adequate one.
But one thing I actually strive for is to NOT lead my readers by the nose. I love leaving situations and/or characters open-ended, and letting each reader come to their own conclusions. Many times I'm surprised at what a reader surmises, as it often is not what I'd intended. But by leaving it open for interpretation, I sort of allow a type of "interactive" experience for my readers.
And I have a blast doing so. I'd be very bored with my writing if it became dogmatic, and if I tried to force my readers to only see things the way I state they should be.
Maybe that's Rowling's problem. Maybe she thinks that that is what being an author should be about, FORCING readers into one narrow authorial vision. And no wonder she seems to have gotten bored with the whole thing by the end.
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Date: 2012-01-04 04:40 am (UTC)Yes. At the very least she's one of the worst hypocrites around.
And I'm including politicians in that group! LOL
I don't think she's either morally debased or hypocritical, at least not consciously. I think she's just incredibly lacking in insight into her own personality and motivations, and that makes her look immoral and hypocritical. IOW, she's like my own bete noire, Laurie R. King.
King insists she's a feminist, and seems to honestly believe she writes feminist empowerment novels, particularly those featuring her bread and butter character, Mary Russell. But not only is Russell an Ultimate Mary Sue and capable of doing the physically impossible, she's also an alcoholic heiress who's never worked a day in her life, who rushed into marriage with the first man who asked her--and who is both her surrogate father and old enough to be her grandfather--less than a month after she turned 21, and after having dated only 2 men her own age, neither of them seriously.
King is another author who tells rather than shows, too. For example, we're told over and over that Russell is one of the most brilliant theologians of her generation, yet we never hear about her publishing any books or articles, her ideas are never discussed in detail, and in the one book in which theology comes up as part of the story, this Oxford graduate is outthought by a women who quit school at 15, and whose knowledge is instinctual rather than analytical. Like Rowling, King's attitude is, we've been told Russell is a super-competent genius, so she is dammit, and nobody better question that if they know what's good for them! >:-(
Apropos of your remarks about not leading your readers by the nose, I think wanting to do that is characteristic of immature, narcissistic people with a lot of unresolved psychological issues. People who are more secure and mature can allow others to have their own opinions and ideas.