Potter - when will it get the recognition it deserves? FFS

[Cedarpoint1111]

Interesting point about Potter and why it's not that great:

Dei ex machina

One of the dangers of setting a story in a magical world is that even the most suspect plot contrivances can be explained away by “Magic!” For as much as Rowling talks about how planned-out her tale was, she does exhibit a habit of bending her own rules, introducing oh-so-convenient new spells/devices or altering the abilities of previous ones to fit the situation. Hermione’s Time-Turner, the ever-reappearing Sword Of Gryffindor, Dumbledore’s Deluminator, the various unexplained magical protections Harry has against death: Chalk all these developments up to the fickle, fluctuating, mysterious nature of magic, and don’t try to resolve them with what you already know about the wizarding world. The deus ex machina isn’t an inherently bad device, nor is it productive to question the verisimilitude of fairy tales, but Rowling’s continued reliance on them undermines the otherwise-convincing world she builds throughout the books.

Harry’s interminable whininess

Yes, his parents are dead and his adoptive parents are terrible. Yes, he had the burden of fighting the most powerful and evil wizard in the world dumped on him in infancy. Yes, he starts the series as a child, so realistically speaking, he has to drag through being a self-important, angsty, angry teenager before he can emerge on the other side as an adult. But does he have to be so tiresome and repetitive about it? No one likes a perfect protagonist, but the books in particular often err on the side of verisimilitude by dragging Harry through seemingly endless bouts of “I’m so alone and my burdens are so heavy,” even as his friends and mentors stand by repeating “We’re here to help, Harry. Hello? Hell-O?” over and over. And while it was deeply touching the first time Harry got an indication of his parents’ undying love and pride in him, both the books and the movies went back to that well over and over and over again, until it felt like the wizarding world was made up entirely of devices to let people hang out with deceased relatives and nag them for just one more tiny bit of validation.

There is so much wrong with this, idk where to start. @ the first paragraph, the series is 7 books long. Of course Harry is going to find new ways to use magic as the books progress, its just silly to even use that as an excuse. Second, it is explained in book 7 why Harry does not die. Obviously you wouldn't know that if you haven't read the books.

Now I know the books sometimes lack in explanation but that is no fault of the film makers. The books are just simply too long to fit on film. They split Deathly Hallows into 2 movies and still didn't explain everything.

[Gopher]

Solution? Give it a special award. DH2 isn't Potter at its best. Nothing in the film particularly deserves any non-technical nomination, but they've been doing this for ten years. No franchise has approached the scope of Potter. That demands recognition.

[baumer]

*yawn*Try harder next time, baumer.

That's the thing about Potter, Noctis. I don't have to try hard. There are so many bad things about the stories and the films that it's easy to point them out. It's child's play really.

[cookie]

IMO the Potter stories are well-made...in the books. How they're represented in the films becomes a mixed bag. OOTP was particularly bad at it with it's terrible editing and Sirius Black's lousy death scene.

Edited December 18, 2011 by C00k13

[Noctis]

Never is the answer - at least not by the Oscars.

[baumer]

The Oscars will never recognize Potter as anything more than a fun fantasy film for kids.

[RichWS]

The reward is the billions and billions made. In the interest of discretion, I'll admit that while I love the books, the film series lost me with Half-Blood Prince. It dawned on me I was watching these films and I didn't care about one character in them. Any attachment was entirely from the books, and not because of the actors on screen. The films are fine for what they are: a greatest-hits version of the book. God knows they're incredibly well-made and I don't begrudge those who really enjoy them. Personally, I sat stone-faced during Deathly Hallows 2. I really did. Not one tear came close to forming. Again, it's beautifully made and deserves recognition for the below the line work, but I was bored to death watching all that sound and fury unfold. Instead of experiencing a flood of sadness and overwhelming melancholy, I felt oh so sweet relief that I didn't have to come back next year for another one.

[Dementeleus]

The movies are moving-picture companion pieces to the books, like a visual excyclopedia you buy as supplemental material. They don't work as stand-alone items.

[ladyevenstar22]

gee baumer not even i could honestly say that transformers films are better than potters , that's stretching it real thin....that said transformers 1 was really well done no doubt about it, i loved it so much i bought the dvd asav!and well this discussion will be over real soon and left to posterity useless debates of what-ifs , it might get something its not impossible what who knows , it probably won't be what fans were hoping for but something will be better than nothing

[Noctis]

I started feeling for the characters in Half-Blood Prince, actually. To me, DH1 is the film where you genuinely felt so much for the characters.

[Dementeleus]

But Noctis, surely you realize you're a special case.

[Noctis]

But Noctis, surely you realize you're a special case.

You're rather annoying.*ignore list*

[Travod]

The last few movies are a little dark to just be "fun fantasy films for kids."

[John Marston]

WB has given on this movie lol

[Ozymandias]

Its honestly pretty simple if you look at it objectively. Just compare J.K. Rowling to J.R.R Tolkien and Harry Potter to Lord of the Rings. Case closed.

[glassfairy]

I think this is my favorite thread on BOT . And even though it made me laugh I get where everyone is coming from. I'm somewhat surprised it's not even getting nominated. I don't think any of the movies have been award winning quality and the series on a whole hasn't been consistent enough to get rewarded as one work. However, the quality of the series as a whole is at least good enough to get the recognition of a nomination. And the last movie was well received. Plus I don't think the movie field is so strong this year than Harry Potter can't weasel at least a Golden Globe nomination for best drama.

Edited January 23, 2012 by glassfairy

[ddddeeee]

I'm honestly at a loss as to why this is such a big issue. As a whole what the series has accomplished is quite amazing, but individually? Not one of the films has deserved consideration in the major categories.If people are getting annoyed about the lack of tech noms that's understandable.

[Shawn Robbins]

I think the general view seems to be that the series went into auto-pilot mode for far too long to ever be given the consideration fans feel that it deserves.

[baumer]

Here's the just rewards Potter has gotten:Highest grossing franchise in the history of film.Almost 8 billion in world wide salesJK rolwing is close to being a billionaireAstronomical HV salesMade millions for the three young actors.Potter has been a wonderkind unlike any other franchise with the exception of SW. To me, that is it's just rewards. SW never got the Oscar love either, and it's really not that big a deal.

[Shawn Robbins]

Here's the just rewards Potter has gotten:Highest grossing franchise in the history of film.Almost 8 billion in world wide salesJK rolwing is close to being a billionaireAstronomical HV salesMade millions for the three young actors.Potter has been a wonderkind unlike any other franchise with the exception of SW. To me, that is it's just rewards. SW never got the Oscar love either, and it's really not that big a deal.

Exactly.