I hope you're all holding up under lock-down. I am -- it feels strange how it's become the new normal so quickly.
 |
| The book series and the movie series |
This week, I will be reviewing the Harry Potter books. Last time I tried to review books on the blog, it didn't take off -- 22 readers, in total, for two separate posts! Not that I'm trying to blame or guilt people, just a simple statement of readership statistics during lock-down. I figured this time I would do a more well-known book series for the first review -- one of the most famous series of our time.
| Harry, Ron and Hermione |
The Harry Potter series, as most of you probably know, is about an orphan named Harry Potter with a strange scar and strange abilities, who -- on his eleventh birthday -- is greeted by a giant named Hagrid who reveals that he is a wizard. Harry then leaves his abusive relatives to go to Hogwarts; he also gets saddled with the task of defeating Voldemort, the man responsible for killing his parents, as he's the Chosen One. Said Dark Lord returns to a corporeal form in all his nose-less glory in the fourth book. Sorry about spoilers, for anybody who hasn't read the series. At least I haven't revealed the greatest plot twists: Harry is [REDACTED] and Snape [REDACTED], and later turns out to [REDACTED]! Another summary of the series, found in the blurb of an older edition of Prisoner of Azkaban, is "Harry Potter is a wizard! He can't wait to go back to Hogwarts and see Ron and Hermione again" (or something to that effect); as my sister pointed out, that is the worst possible summary you could possibly think of. The Harry Potter series is my favourite -- it was the first 'proper' series I read, growing up.
 |
| If you look really closely, you can see what looks like a wobbly lightning-bolt scar. It used to be more prominent. (Also, don't worry, it's not so I could be Harry Potter! I got the scar when I was around 3.) |
Ratings
Romance-o-meter: Quite low, initially; Ginny Weasley has a crush on Harry early on, and Harry experiences the pangs of jealousy in book 4 (for a different woman). Ron and Hermione bicker like they've already been married 40 years throughout. By the end of the series, with petty, jealousy-driven immaturity rampant in Half-Blood Prince, I'd say a solid 8/10.
Adaptational faithfulness: This rating is to do with how faithful the movies are to the source material; for the Harry Potter series, probably initially a healthy 7/10, dropping over the course of the movies to more like 4 or 5. Particularly the butchering of Ron's character. Also, "Calmly". If you are a fan that spends a lot of time on the Internet looking at Harry Potter related stuff, you will probably get the reference.
Magic versus science: The techno-magical spectrum! Although, heavily on the side of magic here; technology won't even work where there's lots of magic, such as Hogwarts. Additionally, as the series is set in the 1990s, there's nothing like the Internet or mobile phones.
Would you survive if you travelled to this world? Depends. If Death Eaters are around, probably not, as we'd be muggles. Then again, they aren't the sort of maniacs that kill on sight -- just your bog-standard bigot. Wouldn't want to get in the way of Dementors, though.
Sci-finess: Low. Very low. In fact, since Harry Potter is set in the past, technically non-existent.
What would happen if the book characters met the movie characters? This is related to the adaptation rating -- for some adaptations, they're so bad, the characters from the source material wouldn't even recognise themselves. For Harry Potter -- the characters would mostly be able to recognise themselves. Book Ron would probably punch Movie Ron; Movie Ron was a bit selfish and cowardly. And if anyone tries to say Book Ron was like that as well, I will fight you. In lock-down.
Overall ranking: 9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment