Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Rating: Null/10 (12 October 2010)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is an American made film with no American actors or actresses. All of the actors and actresses in the film from the UK are what most American kids, teenagers and adults can relate to, culture-wise. There were a lot of foreign characters introduced in this film, and it is interesting to see how they were portrayed. First of all, because there are no American actors or actresses, the British actors were played more like Americans. For example, in this movie they dressed differently from the book (hardly ever any robes, Gryffindor attire) rather they dressed in hip modern day clothing. Also, rather than the occasional "bloody hell" here and there, the dialog is very western; much slower than a traditional British film. It was interesting to see that the foreign characters such as Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour were dressed and behaved very stereotypically. These stereotypes are part of the book, but the movie really exaggerated the difference between countries. Krum dressed very ruggedly while Fleur represented kind of an ideal feminine woman. Although both of these characters had some sort of love interest from students at Hogwarts, they were still foreign and they were still the enemy. Does this say anything about the way we perceive foreigners in America? Can we draw conclusions such as this, that in America we push our traditions and values upon others and if they do not accept they are the enemy? Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is one of my favorite movies, a box office hit and a best-selling novel but there are still social and cultural issues to be addressed.