Disclaimer: This fic is an analysis of the canon Harry Potter series. I own nothing that is mentioned here except my own opinions. This fic is not making any money. nor do I want it to.
Books To Film
I've decided to write this up because I have been reading quite a lot of old posts on various websites saying that the Harry Potter films are terrible because they often stray from the books. This statement annoys me and I need to write it now before my anger wears off. Bear with me.
I'll start with the idea that the films often stray from the book. Guess what? That is an absolutely correct statement. Why? Because if they followed the books exactly, the films would take forever and it wouldn't be as engaging.
Books and film are two vastly different mediums. Films can show what needs to be shown in a second when books take a paragraph or two to describe it. Books are more descriptive and are required to have more in them just by the nature of them.
Take Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for example. In the book there are a lot of little mini plots that are there to keep people enthralled, like Hermione trying to help the House Elves. The movie adaptation doesn't have those smaller plots because they are, in terms of the big picture, unnecessary. The film version goes from task to task with minimal in between. It does this because a film has to be action orientated to be interesting.
A book can have these extra bits because the reader already knows that they will be getting into something large. A moviegoer wants a 2-3 hour experience. A moviegoer doesn't want to sit through ten minutes of Hermione trying to help House Elves. It would be boring. Sure, you would have a niche audience that would watch it, myself included, but they aren't looking for a niche audience, they are, looking for a mass audience.
The books were not written to become movies. Honestly, I think that statement sums up the whole argument. To me, the books and the films are two separate entities. I love the movies just as I love the books. Why? Because I can separate the two concepts in my mind. Anyone who truly thought, going into the films, that they would get precisely everything that happened in the books shown in the films was deluding themselves.
If you hate the movies for actual reasons, I will fully accept that. It's when you bring in the idea that the movies aren't the books that you annoy me. If you want the books, read them! Simple as that.
I like to think that the movies help to enhance the books. Personally, every time I read anything said by Luna Lovegood, I always hear Evanna Lynch's voice in my head. When I read the characters names, I often associate them with who plays them in the movies, with a few exceptions.
On that note, I think the films actually did a very good job with casting for all of the characters. Granted, the Golden Trio were a lot more good-looking in the films than the book versions were meant to be, but it's film. They would have to be to a point.
I think the movies do what they need to do. They get rid of anything they don't need from the books and boil it all back down to just the primary plot. Does that make the movies inferior to the books? Perhaps. But they aren't terrible by any stretch of the imagination.
There are actually things in the movies that I think are superior to the books. The portrayal of Bellatrix Lestrange by Helena Bonham Carter for one. I honestly feel that the Bellatrix in the movies is more interesting than the one in the books.
Now, don't think I'm saying that the movies are better than the books. I don't believe that for even a second. What I'm trying to point out is that the films are not meant to be the books. If they were, the main characters would be, at best, very plain, the plot would be full of things that would bore moviegoers and the movies would go on forever.
This is why I think that the movies should be judged on their own merits and should not be completely compared with the books. I love both the books and the movies, though the books win by a mile.
Now that this is done, I would like to say that I will be writing up an analysis for each of the books and each of the films over time. That's why I haven't gone into those here.
Author's Note
I know I said I would do other things, but I wanted to get this off my chest. I don't think that this is very well written or structured, but my rants rarely are. I will write something better next time.
My thanks go out to red-jello04, Sybil Corvax, madeyemarauder, whatweareafraidof, Luiz4200, Aurors of Olympus, CyberArcRotarr and franv for reviewing. I would reply right now, but I am so damn tired. I apologise.
Thanks for reading and let me know what you think, whether you agree with me or not.
Beletrium