School Daze and Knowledge

Rating: 9/10 (5 December 2004)

Rowling's books, given their references to: English boarding schools; the problems of life in (apparently mundane and, at times, abusive) suburban and middle-class English life; the acquisition of knowledge regardless of cost; the shifting and unreliable input of adults per se; and, surely, the need for a child to believe in the sanctity of missing parent(s), were always going to be problematic when transferred to the "big/silver screen".
Well, three films later, Alfonso Cuaron (sorry about the lack of diacritical mark) has fulfilled the promise! There has ever been a darker side to the texts and, finally, it has come to the fore. Cuaron has not lost the thread of the first two episodes - rather he has added to what at the moment, promises to become a remarkable teratology. And, of course, there is more to come from Rowling's pen.
Steven Kloves has written a superb screenplay. The CGI and cinematography are, as usual, excellent: as is the casting.
On a different note, there is, perhaps, too little attention given to the subtexts contained within Rowling's work. And, as mentioned in the opening paragraph, they seem specifically English. Obviously, with regard to publication of the books, this is not the case: translations and the move "across the pond" are reaping enormous awards. Regardless of this success, how do the films cross cultural barriers and appeal to children across the globe? Within reason, they don't.
If there is a third-world audience of children (the US "M" classification and individual governance's may, in effect, ban them from seeing the film) they will, perhaps, understand only the references to magic.
(In New Guinea, in 1974, "Easy Rider" was screened, for us, as Australian soldiers, on a bedsheet outside a tent. The interested indigenous people [viewing it from the obverse] were mesmerised - but only by the music and cinematography. None of them understood English and therefore the text. Oh, dear. They probably think, to this day, that slurred and misunderstood dialogue is "the way to go".)
The appeal of the books AND the films can only be understood within the contexts of either an elite (yes, I know, diacritics) class who can attend boarding-schools, or those granted scholarships to attend same. Surely, this is the reason for the delineated antagonism between Draco, Potter et al. The notion that old money will buy a place in the "academy" (Draco), is offset by Potter (granted a scholarship), Hermione (innate esoteric intelligence), and Ron (perhaps second-banana to Harry) who also is there because his impoverished family has a "free ticket-to-ride". The only way that the reader/audience GAINS insights into these protagonists' characters is how they react to, and combine with, Harry.
In some ways, the books/films are a "rite-de-passage". As the central characters gain knowledge, they also (perhaps) become world-weary. At the same time, however, their inter reaction with an unusual and magical world never ceases to delight. Like us, really.
When is the bus due? There's something stirring in the bushes... Something wicked this way comes and it ain't a bad dream...