Harry versus Hollywood
Jennifer Cooper
COM155
October 2, 2011
Kembirley Pastorino

Harry versus Hollywood

In 1998, author J.K. Rowling introduced the world to Harry Potter with her first book titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Harry Potter was an 11-year-old child who had no idea that he was a wizard until the first meeting with the half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, a game keeper at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hagrid, as he is commonly called, revealed to Harry his true identity. Thus the magical journey began. On the train to Hogwarts, Harry meets, who would become his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Now the end of the era is upon the readers who have followed this series; however, Hollywood’s flair for the dramatics will never go out of style. This is evident in all of the movies for the series, but especially evident in the final two movies of the series. Respect for the series was evident when Hollywood, the director of the movie David Yates, and the screenplay writer Steve Kloves decided to create two movies from the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Major changes were made to the movies because of time constraints, which could confuse someone who had not read the books. Particularly the scenes of Bill and Fleur’s wedding reception, the visit to Godric’s Hollow, and the final fight between Harry and Lord Voldemort; the movies ignore certain aspects that should not have been changed to give it a more dramatic flair.
What is grander than a wedding and the reception that would follow after? Nothing, if the timing were perfect. This was not a perfect time, but to give everyone a touch of distraction from what was to lie ahead the wedding went on as planned. Bill, who is Ron’s brother and Bill’s fiancée, Fleur, went ahead with their wedding to one another. During the wedding reception the Ministry of Magic was taken over by Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. However, there was one major factor in the scene that was overlooked in the movie. Harry’s lack of disguise at the reception. J.K. Rowling realized that Harry could not appear out in the open since he was the one that Lord Voldemort intended on killing. Even though Harry was among friends and essentially family, they all realized that Harry attending the wedding would be dangerous for himself and everyone around him. In the book Harry was disguised as Barny Weasley, a cousin of the Weasley family. He blended right in with the Weasley’s and fooled everyone there, including Ron’s Aunt Muriel who made a snide comment about Harry not attending the wedding. Harry did reveal himself to a few very trusted people in his life including Elphias Doge who was a longtime friend of Harry’s mentor and headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore who was now deceased. Elphias Doge was answering Harry’s questions about certain facts of Professor Dumbledore’s life and Aunt Muriel chimed in with her opinions, never recognizing Harry for whom he really was.
In the movie, Harry was himself having this conversation with Elphias Doge and Aunt Muriel. At the very end of the conversation with the pair, the patronus of a trusted member of the Order of the Phoenix, Kingsley Shacklebolt, interrupted the wedding reception with the words, “The ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming.” (Rowling, 2009). Within moments of those words, the Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort’s army members, invaded the wedding reception and shot off spells at the attendees. The trio of Harry, Hermione, and Ron quickly disapparated, or magically disappeared, to a street where they had hoped not to be detected by the Death Eaters. Had Harry not been in disguise, as was the case in the movie, he might have been detected faster. Although in the movie, the trio quickly disapparated from the reception, Harry was spotted by the Death Eaters and they found the trio at a Café where they hoped to hide. Once the trio escaped