Ah, September. You have got to love it. It?s that time of year when the weather gets crisp, the stores start to stock boots, and school supplies decorate the shelves of Target. Every year, I get that same nagging feeling to purchase neon marble notebooks, glue sticks, and a new backpack (Not JanSport. I was an Eastpak kind of girl). Unlike my very good friend and fellow Advocate, Other Mike, I loved school. Sure, I was fond of having summers off and I didn?t really like getting up early in the morning, but all-in-all I enjoyed school. Well, maybe I enjoyed the back to school shopping. Shopping in any form is really something I can relish in. Hey, I?m a girl. Thinking about it though, I really did love school, particularly junior high. I met my best friends there, had some amazing mentors, and cried like a baby when I graduated. Most people hate junior high. You?re at that age where everything?s changing and you don?t really know how to deal with all of it. I guess I had an abnormal experience, thank goodness.
This week?s school film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer?s Stone (also known as Harry Potter and the Philosopher?s Stone), starts off with our main character at that very awkward age of 11. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe)?is an orphan who lives with his horrible aunt, uncle and cousin. He?s treated as a Cinderella-type. He lives in the room below the stairs, cooks breakfast for the family, and wears his much bigger cousin Dudley?s (Harry Melling) old clothes. Harry?s parents were killed when he was a baby by who he later finds out is an evil wizard. Harry soon starts receiving letters with his acceptance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Up to this point, Harry doesn?t officially know that he has these powers, but he is more than happy to leave his current life behind.
Harry soon befriends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and, later, Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and attends classes such as Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Potions. Harry is extremely popular at the school because of his reputation as ?The Boy Who Lived? (if you don?t know, the evil wizard Voldemort tried to kill Harry when he killed his parents, but his mother?s love protected him, hence the title). Most of the film sets up the background story of Harry, Hogwarts and the rest of the characters. Aside from our hero (Harry), the best friend (Ron), and the smart kid (Hermione), you have other typical school stereotypes. There?s Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) as the bully and Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) as the awkward-but-nice kid. Then, you have the teachers; Snape (Alan Rickman) as the professor that petrifies you, Quirrell (Ian Hart) as the weird-yet-seemingly harmless professor, and Dumbledore (Richard Harris) as the mentor everyone looks up to and admires. While the world of Harry Potter seems anything but normal, once you pick out the parts, it?s just the same as any school you?ve attended.
Before long, our three brave heroes find themselves in a debacle. They figure out that someone is after the Sorcerer?s Stone, which is explained to Harry by Dumbledore as a powerful artifact that can make one immortal. Knowing that it?s fully protected somewhere in the school, the students have to find a way to get to the stone before it falls into the wrong hands. It?s here where we experience our first real Harry Potter adventure, and it reminds me very much of a junior Indiana Jones-type scenario. There are several puzzles they have to figure out, each of which becomes more and more difficult (each student is particularly good at one puzzle, so they figure it out in almost no time, but not without some setbacks, of course). Once Harry gets past all three, he finds that it is the awkward, stuttering Professor Quirrell who is after the stone. Well, it?s a little more complicated than that. The professor is really just a vessel for Lord Voldemort, who exists as a parasite. A fight ensues and let?s just say, the good guy wins, but the bad guy isn?t gone for good.
The main lesson of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer?s Stone isn?t really just that good prevails over evil. In fact, Voldemort tells Harry that, ?there is no good and evil, there is only power?. This more or less turns out to be true. While, obviously, Harry is good and Voldemort is evil, it?s Harry?s bravery, wits, and love for his friends that ultimately make him come out the winner. Those are Harry?s powers. And while we know that Voldemort is not gone for good, at least we know that Harry will be on his guard, ready and waiting.
As if you didn?t already know, the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer?s Stone and the seven films that follow are based on the novels by J.K. Rowling, some of which are now actually taught in schools. My sister teaches junior high English and a lot of her kids have written essays and book reports on these novels. The Harry Potter series made reading cool again and this film reflects the story it?s based on extremely well. I personally saw this film, before I started reading the series (gasp), but it made me want to read it, so I guess that means it?s pretty darn good. Aside from the terrible special effects (which are majorly improved in the next film in the series), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer?s Stone is an excellent film. It?s the most childish of the franchise, but so?is its subsequent novel. The only downside of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer?s Stone is that it makes you wish you had attended Hogwarts. Nothing this cool ever happened at my school.
| A Brooklynite since birth, Shannon (or Shazzer, if you prefer) is a self-proclaimed professional dork with the mind of a 12 year-old boy and the mouth of a sailor. In her free time, she enjoys singing, dancing, chocolate making, ghost hunting and, of course, watching movies. You can follow her at www.twitter.com/Shazzer23. |
Source: http://www.movieadvocates.com/2012/09/13/genre-spotlight-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/
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