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[Book vs. Movie] Harry Potter (1.9)

Book : The Philosopher's Stone Chapter 9 : The Midnight Duel

NEVILLE IS SUPPOSED TO BE THERE WHEN THEY SEE FLUFFY FOR THE FIRST TIME ?!

(Yes, I know, I skipped Chapter 8, but we're in the part of the book where everything is pretty much the same or not different enough to be interesting. Except for, you know, NEVILLE ?! His character is so much more developed in the books it's blowing my mind.)

[thecerealbox]

[Book vs. Movie] Harry Potter (1.7)

Book : The Philosopher's Stone Chapter 7 : The Sorting Hat

Not many changes from the movie, so I'll just link you another theory that I really like about why nobody seems to know about the Sorting Hat until the moment they see it for real (spoiler : It's a Fidelius Charm).

[thecerealbox]

[Book vs. Movie] Harry Potter (1.6)

Book : The Philosopher's Stone Chapter 6 : The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters

So, this is going to be a long one.

First, let's get this out of the way : The Dursleys literally ABANDON Harry at the station. I mean, we, the reader, know that there actually IS a platform 9&3/4, but they don't and when they get to platforms 9 and 10 they basically are like "Well, that's embarrassing" AND JUST LEAVE HIM THERE AND LAUGH. To them he's just going to die there and they don't care.

Now. I read too many theories about the Harry Potter franchise. And the thing is, some are very good and I can't read the books without having them in mind. One of them, which is my favorite, is that Dumbledore actually set up Harry's whole first year just to test his character. And here, we have the first example of that : Mrs. Weasley was OBVIOUSLY asked by Dumbledore to guide Harry to the train. I mean, you're telling me that she's brought Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George EVERY YEAR to the platform for the last decade or so - not to mention that she also went to Hogwarts herself - and that she still has to wonder OUT LOUD what the platform is ? And, luckily enough, it happens at the exact moment they pass by Harry ? You're also telling me that SHE DOES NOT RECOGNISE THE SON OF JAMES AND LILY POTTER WITH WHOM SHE WAS IS THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX ? It does not make sense. She knows who he is, she knew he would be there, because it was important that Harry didn't miss the train, and probably even more important to Dumbledore that Harry's first connexions/friends were ex-members of the Order.

One last thing, I didn't remember how much Ron had this "6th child syndrome", he's already a much more interesting character in his first chapter than in all the movies combined, where they just made him some sort of comic relief and way stupider that he really is.

[thecerealbox]

Sunset in Albi, France

[thecerealbox]

[Book vs. Movie] Harry Potter (1.5)

Book : The Philosopher's Stone Chapter 5 : Diagon Alley

I was about to write about the fact that Harry and Hagrid take the subway to go to the part of London where Diagon Alley is, and that it's a shame it's not in the movie (even though I understand that for it to feel more magical they got rid of the "muggle world" parts) but for some reason I felt like I had seen it somewhere and well ...

... IT EXISTS ! And it made me realise that I didn't think of checking deleted scenes for parts of the book that I wish they had filmed.

One fact that blew my mind and that I completely forgot, is that Harry COMES BACK TO THE DURSLEYS after shopping at Diagon Alley, and spends a month with them being scared of him. In the movie, it feels like Hagrid picks him up at the lighthouse, then an hour later they're at Diagon Alley, and then he drops him at King's Cross (more like abandons him for no reason but more on that later) right after, and that the whole affair took like 3 hours. BUT NO. It's Vernon who accompanies Harry at the station. I mean. What ?

Also, one of the best exchange of the book (so far) is in this chapter, when they are in Gringotts.

Harry : I never knew the difference between a stalacmite and a stalactite." Hagrid : Stalagmites got an M in it.

Simple yet absurd. Love it.

[thecerealbox]

[Book vs. Movie] Harry Potter (1.4)

Book : The Philosopher's Stone Chapter 4 : The Keeper of the Keys

OF COURSE HAGRID RECOGNISES HARRY THE SECOND HE SEES HIM ! I mean what is that scene in the movie where he sees Dudley and says like "Oh Harry you're fat now !" (I'm paraphrasing) ? For 7 books and 8 movies, the first thing people say to Harry when they meet him is "Holy shit dude you look just like your father except the eyes" (again, paraphrasing) and we're expected to believe that Hagrid, who was in the Order of the Phoenix with James and Lily, AND WHO PROBABLY SAW THEIR CORPSES WHEN HE PICKED UP HARRY - which, I'm sure you'll agree, has to leave one hell of a mental image - MIXES HIM WITH DUDLEY ?!

In the book, Hagrid tells Harry about Voldemort and everything when they are still in the lighthouse, in front of the Dursleys, who are at the top of their game in terms of dickishness. They have THE AUDACITY to say to Harry, right after he learns how his parents really died, that if he still has magic inside of him it's because they didn't beat him hard enough and that his parents were weirdos and the world is better off without them. I mean, Movie-Dursleys get pretty mean at times but Book-Dursleys are pure evil.

[thecerealbox]

[Book vs. Movie] Harry Potter (1.3)

Book : The Philosopher's Stone Chapter 3 : The Letters From No One

Not many differences with the movies in this one with only two worthy exceptions :

Harry already gets Dudley's spare bedroom but not because he's getting too big for the closet and "out of the goodness of their hearts" as they say in the 2nd movie, but because the address on the letters from Hogwarts mentions the "cupboard under the stairs".

Before they reach the lighthouse, there's a whole road trip where Vernon completely loses it and drive to random places to escape the owls- they even sleep in a hotel - and it kind of feels like when the Addams Family has to leave their home and live in a motel and find jobs.

[thecerealbox]

[Book vs. Movie] Harry Potter (1.2)

Book : The Philosopher's Stone Chapter 2 : The Vanishing Glass

MRS FIGGS IS THERE! So you're telling me that she doesn't randomly pop during the 5th book like she does in the movies HOW WEIRD !

There's a whole description of what Harry's life was like during the 10 year gap between his parents' death and Hagrid coming to pick him up that BEGS to become a fast-paced-Edgar-Wright-montage with people recognising and saluting Harry in the streets, Petunia trying to cut Harry's hair but they grow back instantly or Harry accidentally teleporting himself on the roof of his school after being chased by Dudley.

Speaking of Dudley, the Dursleys are even bigger pricks in the books than in the movies. When they are leaving for the zoo and Mrs Figgs can't babysit him, they talk about him in front of him like he isn't there, they treat him literally like an animal, saying that they can't leave him with Marge because she hates him or that he can't stay in the car because it's new.

[thecerealbox]

Books vs. Movies - Harry Potter

Book : The Philosopher's Stone Chapter 1 : The Boy Who Lived

Already there are so many things that I didn't remember and wish they had put in the movies. We have a lot more information about the Dursleys in the first chapter of the book than in the eight movies combined.

I mean. Vernon is a drill salesman. You'd think they would have at least put a small Easter Egg in Chamber of Secrets when he locks Harry in his bedroom and puts bars on the windows. But no. I went back and checked and it's just a random black drill.

Also, there's a scene where Vernon walks down the streets and wizards are out celebrating. I know they had to cut stuff from the movies otherwise they would have been too long, but I wish they had filmed this, even as a deleted scene, because it paints the Wizarding World through the eyes of a muggle which IMO is something that lacks a bit in the movies - but I guess it had to be done this way to look and feel more magical.

[thecerealbox]

[Book vs. Movie] - Harry Potter (Intro)

I realized not long ago that I consider myself a huge Harry Potter fan but I actually only read the books once or twice years ago and most of what I know comes from the movies - those I've watched A LOT - and people on YouTube making theories of varying quality, going from "Does Harry really become the Master of Death or is he just really good at not dying" to "Are McGonagall and Umbridge actually the same person ? (they both like cats)".

So I decided to read them again, probably more than 10 years since the last time, to see what I had forgotten and what was left out from the movies - I'm guessing quite a lot - and I felt like making a series of posts about it.

Should be fun ! (Ravenclaw fun, but fun nonetheless)

[thecerealbox]

"But Gramps, where are those friends you always talk about ?"

"Oh, they're not here any more. After a while, I discovered that friends were even more valuable that I anticipated. Especially when you sell them on the black market for parts."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"By the way, completely unrelated question, do you have both your kidneys ?"

“But the real treasure was the friends we made along the way”, your retired adventurer grandfather always finished his tall tales by that sentence; but the thing is; you never met any of his so-called companions.

[thecerealbox]

Is that Quentin Tarantino's bed ?

hmmm

[thecerealbox]

"What do you mean you left LAST WEEK ?! We've been travelling on this ship for 5 generations !"

The first astronauts sent to be interstellar settlers could arrive at an already existing colony made by astronauts sent latter in much faster ships.

[thecerealbox]

What I enjoy the most with Ukraine's victory is that it's basically Europe betting on the fact that organizing the show in Ukraine one year from now will be possible.

Anything past that, like the French commentator yesterday saying stuff like "Take that, Russians" is ridiculous. Putin most likely didn't lose any sleep over the Eurovision results.

But the message of hope is really cool.

Oh, and Belgium, you should be way higher on the board.

RESULTS!!

[thecerealbox]

1) Wherever, most of the time at my desk but I aspire to be one of those people who spend all day writing in coffee shops and parks.

2) Right after the daily sacrifice I make to the God of Writing (used to be a cow or a goat but I'm a vegetarian now so usually a block of tofu or a zucchini).

hey, writeblr. reblog this with

1) where you write

and

2) what time of day you usually write

[thecerealbox]

Jean-Jacques Sempé.

[thecerealbox]

Ok, my turn.

There are people living in the streets in winter while some people have vacation homes that are empty from October to April.

There are people who work in life threatening conditions for 12+ hours a day to support their family while other people are spending millions of dollars on pictures of monkeys.