12:54 a.m. - 2002-11-19
The Chamber of Secrets
My youngest son and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie today. He did some school work on the weekend to make up the time. It might not be the best move budgetwise, but I needed a mental health break. It was a good choice.
Our feeder bus takes us to within a short walk of the theater. Enroute, there was a bit of a life lesson. At the front of each bus is seating for people with diminished mobility. This can mean anything from a young parent with a stroller or a few young ones in tow, to someone with a cast on their leg or on crutches, a senior, or someone in a wheelchair. In the past few years, a number of kneeler busses have been added and are now the vehicle of choice. When I was volunteering on the Go Plan to help set transportation policy, handicap accessibility wasn't regular practice. Transit issues were barely in the scope of the project; cyclists and pedestrians were considered an offense against traffic engineers' weave patterns - an unnatural manifestation. At one meeting I, as the only regular user of transit, was describing a scene I had seen earlier in the day. We stopped at a seniors' lodge. Three elderly people got on pulling their oxygen tanks up three very steep steps then sat next to the driver. One of the consultants went white and there were a few strangled groans. I don't think there was any awareness how common this was. Concerns about heart attacks and ruptured oxygen tanks and the liability entailed had never occurred to them. The stress in the room increased as it was noted that this phenomenon would balloon as baby boomers reached those critical years in the next decade. Fast forward to today and a frail woman in her sixties, tubes in her nose; those tubes attached at the other end to an oxygen tank, managed to slip onto the bus after it "knelt" to ease her way. Emphysema. Another woman in her 40's, who had been on the bus for 10 minutes, brushed past her to reach the driver. She wanted to know how long the bus would be at the stop. The bus driver responded and I saw her lighting her cigarette, right beside the woman with the oxygen tank, as she stepped outside. She didn't even notice the image of herself in the older woman, nor did she care about the risk she had just put a whole busful of people at by her addiction. My son noticed; no words necessary.
We caught the noon show. 8 people in the entire theater - my son the only person underage. Everyone else over 30. One of the experimental radio stations provided the pre-movie music. Interesting Spanish trio called "Las Ketchup" was featured. My Spanish is quite limited so all I could catch was that the young ladies were singing about a dance and the young man that was there. Really good beat. Interesting trailers for future movies.
The movie itself was very well done. As with most adaptations from a book, there were portions missing that should have been included - particularly about the diary which is central to the plot. Also softened, unfortunately, was the key theme of this story. In this book, Harry displays some unusual powers, even for wizards. The result is his ostracism by almost all the students, especially as strange, frightening things begin to happen to some of the pupils. He is automatically blamed for everything because he is different. Flashback 50 years (the diary) and the outcast is Hagrid, whose ostracism becomes a conviction for a crime he didn't commit. As events unfold in the present, Hagrid is punished a second time. The three main characters plus those of the teachers model how to deal with such difficult issues. It certainly resonated with my son, as bullies usually blame their behavior on some "unacceptable" characteristic of their victim saying they deserve what is meted out to them because of it. It resonated for me too. I was in special classes for rapid learners thoughout most of my schooling. I was often chased home by a gang of girls, none of whom were in the program and many who were in higher grades, who threatened to beat me up because I was in the program. One of them is now a teacher in a senior high - I hope she's changed. The worst of it was I was never told by my parents why I was in the class. They just told me it was to keep kids like me busy with extra work. One of my classmates enlightened me years later, when she was taking teaching - her parents had never explained either. So the reaction of students I didn't even know was always a puzzle to me. I didn't even know how to change - and I would have if I could have - what was "wrong" with me. Perhaps, JK Rowling had also experienced this ostracism in some way and was trying to tell the story from a child's point of view. She did a good job.
This story is full of foreshadowing of events in future books, even as the first book was. JK Rowling, in an interview published at the beginning of 2002, stated that there were seven books written in total, the last of which she had just mailed as a manuscript to her publisher. For whatever reason, she has chosen to withold the fifth book, which was slated to be released earlier this year, and to rewrite it. Not everything curious is on the screen.
There was a lot of media hype about how scary this story was, but I'm not certain I agree. Yes there were spiders and snakes, but the visuals, although very well done, were no different than those often seen on television. This is coming from an adult (me)who gets the shivers around spiders. Ditto for the strange experiences of some of students. Yes they were frightening, but if a child has been exposed to television, then they've likely already seen something similar.
The house elf, Dobby, was a delightful animation. My favorite actor in the group is Alan Rickman, who plays Professor Snape. I think he most likely intuits the full scope of this series most clearly and therefore plays his role with the most clarity. His character's history is more fully developed in the next book/movie and I hope he is given the opportunity to play the role fully. I think this character will provide some of the more surprising revelations of the series; especially toward its end.
Anyway, it was a very good mental health break. My son and I walked about half way home discussing literary conventions and plot development of this and several similar series from Lord of the Rings, to Alice in Wonderland, To Star Wars, plus the Socratic school of thought, John Lennon and quantum mechanics. Somehow they all fit together. Just don't ask me to explain it.
�
�
