Book, Then Movie

[cbertsch]

We watched the first Harry Potter movie last night over at Kim's parents' place. It's been a while since I watched an adaptation of a book I'd recently read. We all had a grand time. I can't imagine the picture making much sense to a person who didn't already know the story, but it was fine as a supplement to the words on the page. The best part was realizing how precisely Skylar remembered everything. There were several occasions when Kim and I had forgotten details, only to have the Bean fill in the blank. She wasn't bothered by the changes from the book either, which was nice. Only four more books and three more movies to go. Please, everyone, do not give us spoilers! We're still in a state of Harry Potter innocence around here.

Comments

[batdina.livejournal.com]

no spoilers, I promise.

but do know that as the kids in the books age, the content of the book gets progressively grimmer. I'm not sure I'd have Bean read past book two or three until she's quite a bit older.

hell, I have trouble rereading five myself and I'm 43.

[cbertsch.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Others have told me that too. But she's a strange kid. Lord of the Rings didn't bother her at all. Indeed, she's particularly fond of the troubling existential questions about power and the desire to do good that gets redirected towards evil. I can tell that the Harry Potter story is heading into that kind of territory. Since the identification with the characters is more intense than in the Peter Jackson films, however, we'll steer clear of the fourth and fifth books for a bit. Our goal is to get caught up with the movies.

Coming Out

[sittinginaroom.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. I remember the shame and guilt I would feel when looking over the edge of my copy of "Madame Boavary," only to see "The Order of The Phoenix" staring back at me. I always had to negotiate with myself: "Okay, just 20 more pages, then I can go read Harry Potter." A couple summers ago I was a bit depressed and couldn't really concentrate enough to read anything off of my reading list. I could, however, read Harry Potter. I think that incredibly simple experience of reading for pure plot (though there is certainly more there helped me get deal with things a bit more pragmatically than I had done before, and subsequently I was, of course, just fine.