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MissRastaban · 06-20-2009, 11:33 AM

ladycplum - I agree with everything you say!

After the film of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the audience reacted very positively to Ron. A best friend, who had a great family and was loyal and funny. However, instead of WB seeing it as an opportunity to attract twice as many fans, they thought he was a threat to Harry! Therefore, since Prisoner of Azkaban, he's been systematically downgraded and made into a caricature for people to laugh at, not with. His cringing throughout Chamber was too similar to McCauley Culkin to lay the blame anywhere but at Columbus' door - especially as Kloves has admitted Columbus insisted on that clapping, cheering ending to Chamber which was so over the top.

The out of character Hermione is because WB wanted to attract the Disney crowd. Hermione was written (certainly in the earlier books) as being closer to Velma from Scooby Doo, rather than Daphne. Yet WB turned her into Hermione Cyrus, in order to attract Tweens. This is a large group of fans who are frequently unruly - where do they get off attacking Rob Pattinson in the street?! I know nothing about Twilight, but maintain some self-respect girls (and women) and leave Cedric alone!

Sadly, they didn't understand that this group may be the loudest, but they're not the largest. There are lots of people who don't post on websites, who prefer the characters and plot as JKR wrote them. Mostly because she's a creative author. I'm no Kloves fan, but believe his average, but accurate first drafts were then amended to nonsense by various Hollywood types trying to tone down Ron, target Disney fans, and make Hogwarts as similar to US High Schools as possible. Sadly they lacked the storytelling ability necessary to make such changes. The Yule Ball was just another prom, the dress robes just tuxedos and the differences that make JKR's original vision throughout the series have been frequently been thrown out to make money/save time. They didn't understand that the things that were different were what attracted lots of fans - they wanted to escape to another world.

The films were wildly successful it's true, but how could they not be with the books being released at the same time and giving the films publicity beyond anything WB's distribution wing could dream of? I still think they could have been far more successful artistically, while earning at least as much money. Prisoner of Azkaban, the film that introduced normal clothes 90% of the time and butchered characters, remains the least successful of all those released. NOT because of a reaction to Chamber of Secrets, because it had a massively sucessful opening weekend. It was the repeat viewings that dropped.

I'll see HBP, but a lack of respect for WB's decisions and an awareness that the Director and Producers have to accept Hollywood interference (the film makers lack the influence someone like Stephen Spielberg has in his films) means that my expectations are low. I'd never expect a film to be as good as the book, but that aside, the series has never reached the heights that it easily could have, considering the source material.

06-20-2009, 11:33 AM	#20 (permalink)
MissRastaban Horklump Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 44	ladycplum - I agree with everything you say! After the film of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the audience reacted very positively to Ron. A best friend, who had a great family and was loyal and funny. However, instead of WB seeing it as an opportunity to attract twice as many fans, they thought he was a threat to Harry! Therefore, since Prisoner of Azkaban, he's been systematically downgraded and made into a caricature for people to laugh at, not with. His cringing throughout Chamber was too similar to McCauley Culkin to lay the blame anywhere but at Columbus' door - especially as Kloves has admitted Columbus insisted on that clapping, cheering ending to Chamber which was so over the top. The out of character Hermione is because WB wanted to attract the Disney crowd. Hermione was written (certainly in the earlier books) as being closer to Velma from Scooby Doo, rather than Daphne. Yet WB turned her into Hermione Cyrus, in order to attract Tweens. This is a large group of fans who are frequently unruly - where do they get off attacking Rob Pattinson in the street?! I know nothing about Twilight, but maintain some self-respect girls (and women) and leave Cedric alone! Sadly, they didn't understand that this group may be the loudest, but they're not the largest. There are lots of people who don't post on websites, who prefer the characters and plot as JKR wrote them. Mostly because she's a creative author. I'm no Kloves fan, but believe his average, but accurate first drafts were then amended to nonsense by various Hollywood types trying to tone down Ron, target Disney fans, and make Hogwarts as similar to US High Schools as possible. Sadly they lacked the storytelling ability necessary to make such changes. The Yule Ball was just another prom, the dress robes just tuxedos and the differences that make JKR's original vision throughout the series have been frequently been thrown out to make money/save time. They didn't understand that the things that were different were what attracted lots of fans - they wanted to escape to another world. The films were wildly successful it's true, but how could they not be with the books being released at the same time and giving the films publicity beyond anything WB's distribution wing could dream of? I still think they could have been far more successful artistically, while earning at least as much money. Prisoner of Azkaban, the film that introduced normal clothes 90% of the time and butchered characters, remains the least successful of all those released. NOT because of a reaction to Chamber of Secrets, because it had a massively sucessful opening weekend. It was the repeat viewings that dropped. I'll see HBP, but a lack of respect for WB's decisions and an awareness that the Director and Producers have to accept Hollywood interference (the film makers lack the influence someone like Stephen Spielberg has in his films) means that my expectations are low. I'd never expect a film to be as good as the book, but that aside, the series has never reached the heights that it easily could have, considering the source material.