Мой любимый жанр в искусстве англоязычных стран «HARRY POTTER MOVIES»

«Discover British and American Culture: Arts»

Мой любимый жанр в искусстве англоязычных стран

«HARRY POTTER MOVIES»

Автор:

Черепнина Дарья

(г. Коломна, Мбоу Сош №15)

Учитель:

Лиманова Елена Вячеславовна

г. Коломна 2019 г.

 Introduction:

I want to give a talk about my favourite genre in the culture of English speaking countries, so my favourite genre is movies, especially movies about Harry Potter. Nowadays there are quite a lot of people who like watching films and draw conclusions. A few of them won`t stop until they will find all the information about those films. What`s more, are there films that are based on books. It starts to become even more interesting. One of such movies is the film series that is based on the fantasy novels about Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. A lot of people around the world are fans of Potteriana and of course they have been analyzing these films and books for a long time. Let us see why it is so popular and attractive.

Influence:

The Harry Potter series is incredibly popular with both children and adults worldwide. All the books were best sellers, available in more than 200 countries and some 60 languages. The phenomenon introduced new terms—such as a new definition for the word muggle, a person who possesses no magical powers—into the common lexicon. The books were transformed into a blockbuster series of eight films (the final book, some 750 pages long, was adapted into two films) released over 10 years, which grossed more than $7 billion worldwide. Together, the book and movie series spawned a huge amount of related merchandise, and in 2010 a theme park inspired by the franchise opened in the United States.

Social problems in Potteriana:

1. The problem of racism:

 The example of racism discrimination is House elf Dobby. Dobby was a house slave until he was given freedom.

 Nowadays the situation is a little more different from when it was 10 years ago (people are getting more tolerant) but the problem still exists and Rowling tries to pay attention to this important issue. Since our society has been getting civilized, it`s vital to realize that all people are equal no matter what ethnic minorities they belong to.

2. The problem of orphans (children that are left without parents because of wars):

  Harry Potter is an orphan. His parents, Lily and James Potter, were killed when he was one year old. Their killer was the dark wizard Lord Voldemort. Neville Longbottom is a child who lost his parents in the Great Wizard War.

A lot of innocent children suffer from wars and it`s not fair as people should live in peace and harmony.

3. The problem of friendship

Friendship is not only communication, but support, understanding and sympathy. If your friends are real, they never betray you, they never leave you in trouble, they always listen to your problems and try to help when it is needed. Harry, Hermione and Ron are friends for life. They always have each other`s backs. Rowling wants to show us the importance of having true friends throughout the whole life.

4. Good vs evil

Whole wizarding world against dark wizard Lord Voldemort and his followers. A lot of people were killed during this conflict and no one knew who was going to win. However, Good always triumphs over evil, even despite many difficulties that are put in the way of characters.

5. The problem of Love

When Snape (who was in love with Lily Potter) approaches boy Harry Potter for the first time, the first thing he asks him is “What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” It’s a pretty innocuous line— something that would be easy to dismiss as just a throw-away piece of magical word-salad. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth! One fan translated the etymology and symbolism of the words, particularly using the language of flowers. Asphodel is a type of lily meaning “my regrets follow you to the grave” in Victorian flower language, while wormwood symbolizes bitterness and sorrow. It is interpreted as, «On Lily’s grave, I promise to protect you».

Interesting facts about Potteriana:

1. Early on, Rowling wrote a sketch of the final chapter of the final book. 

Rowling calls the idea that she had the first chapter of Deathly Hallows written and locked away in the safe “rubbish.” But there was a small element of truth to it: “I had, very early on—but not the first day or anything, probably within the first year of writing—I wrote a sketch for what I thought the final chapter would be,” she told Harry Potter's big screen portrayer, Daniel Radcliffe, in an “I always knew—and this was from really early on—that I was working toward the point where Hagrid carried Harry, alive but supposedly dead, out of the forest, always

 2.The Dementors are based on Rowling’s struggle with depression after her mother’s death. 

3. There’s a very good reason Harry’s eyes aren’t green in the movies.

4. Harry’s lightning scar was painted onto his face for the first two movies, and glued on for the rest. Radcliffe put up with the application of his scar approximately 2,000 times.

Accents:  

Since the storyline takes place in Britain, and Hogwarts is in Scotland, she mainly wanted only British Actors so that the viewers get the right feeling of British culture. As you can see, Harry potter has too many child Actors, so this was also the reason, because despite finding a child actor who can change his accent accordingly, why not find a British one and cast him. But also the plot required actors of other countries (they were put in films since the 3rd part). That`s why there are a lot of accents in Harry Potter movies.

For example:

1. Harry Potter has a received pronunciation (In RP there is a lot of emphasis put on pronouncing every sound as clear as possible).
2. Ron Weasley (Ron`s accent has features of received pronunciation an d cockney. It`s common in the south-east of England).
3. Hagrid (he has a West Country accent which is very strong and distinctive).
4. Professor McGonagall (She has Scottish accent).

Conclusion:

Potteriana is a very interesting film series that everyone must watch. These films are special for me as they are well-thought and give me the position that all films are like these - about the boy who lived.