Come and talk me through my Half-Blood Prince film canon WTF moment

[birdsofshore]

OK, this is going to take some explaining, but bear with me.

I was looking up something about the Vanishing Cabinets, and, being lazy and feckless, I looked on the Harry Potter wiki. YES I KNOW. We have had a lot of trouble with it before, I know, stating film canon as fact even when it contradicts book canon, using lego games as canon, I KNOW.

This is a bit different. It's about something that isn't mentioned in the books, but only in film canon.

When Draco is trying to fix the cabinet in the film, he tests it with various things: first an apple, which comes back with a bite out of it, and then a white bird, which comes back dead. Now, I took these as signs that the cabinet was now WORKING - that the apple and the bird had been successfully transported, and that Death Eaters had done these things to them to show that they had indeed traveled to Borgin and Burkes and back.

However, Harry Potter wiki (and on googling, loads of other sources on the internet) states that these things proved the cabinet was NOT working - that the apple came back 'missing a moderate chunk' because Draco HADN'T fixed it properly, and that the bird came back dead for the same reason. WHAT? I mean-- WHAT? REALLY?

OK, I am annoyed about this for lots of reasons. One, because it's WRONG. Two, because it's WRONG-- no, two, because there's clearly a BITE taken out of the apple. Three, because the interpretation that the Vanishing Cabinet isn't working when these things happen ruins all the implications of these scenes that I really like.

A bite from an apple has all sorts of symbolism: the poisoned apple that kills Snow White, the innocence lost in the Garden of Eden. There's chilling music when we see the bitten apple, not because "oh dear, Draco hasn't fixed it yet", but "oh shit, some Death Eater bit the lovely perfect apple with his big old teeth and ruined it", and both we and Draco know the implications for the school when Death Eaters come into Hogwarts via the cabinet.

The same with the bird. When it comes back dead, Draco looks stricken - and lots of sources are saying this is "because he knows he hasn't fixed it properly". NOOOO! It's because he knows he HAS. We have the symbolism again of the white bird (peace, love) being destroyed by the Death Eaters who are waiting at Borgin and Burkes.

This feels important to me, for the development of film!Draco's character. He isn't celebrating that he's repaired the cabinets - he's appalled, fearful, sickened and anxious at the knowledge of what it means that he has. The apple and the bird symbolise, to me, the innocence of the lives that will be lost at Hogwarts, but also Draco's lost innocence. I think Tom Felton did a bang up job of portraying this, and it makes me annoyed to read these scenes so misinterpreted.

I know it's all a bit cheesy, but I really like these scenes :( If you want to review them yourself, they are here:

Apple scene: from about 25 secs here

Bird scene: from about 3 mins 15 on the same video (which is a random collection of Draco scenes from the first 6 films).

What do you think? Am I completely wrong? Is Harry Potter wiki completely wrong? Am I mad for caring? Shall I go and do deep breathing? Will I have to sob in annoyance now every time I watch the Half-Blood Prince?

Comments

[birdsofshore]

I like your thoughts about POV and this being a stand-in for Draco crying to Myrtle. You're also right to bring up the boy who got lost for a while - was it Montague? Montescue? Hmm, I want to read fic about what happened to Montague while he was in there, now :D

It's interesting you say you could consider my version of events while watching the film and there was some plausibility to it. I've found everyone's arguments feasible, it does seem to be a choice of which version you prefer, and the implications for Draco are bad either way. I just prefer us witnessing his fear and horror at the fact that he has been successful, as it deepens his character in my opinion, but we feel pity for him either way.

[birdsofshore]

It's a sick, twisted Death Eater way to say the cabinet works!

If the bird comes back exactly as it was, then there's no proof it's been anywhere at all. That's my understanding of it.

But obviously there is room for different interpretations even if that is what they decided to do as a 'sign' it was working... as this whole post and all of the comments are showing!

[birdsofshore]

It was glorious. But everything you do is always pretty damn glorious :D

[birdsofshore]

Oh! and mab

[tamlane.livejournal.com]

Felton acted the hell out of those scenes. It's unbelievable how much emotion he was able to convey with his eyes alone. Nnngh.

I read the books before I saw the movies, so maybe that colors my interpretation. Because I don't see this...

He isn't celebrating that he's repaired the cabinets - he's appalled, fearful, sickened and anxious at the knowledge of what it means that he has.

...in book!Draco at all. And by extension, I can't buy it in film!Draco, either. I think Draco's sole concern was for his safety and the safety of his family.

I thought the apple indicated that the cabinet was working, and Draco seemed pleased. But when he tried to transport a living being, the bird, the cabinet didn't work. And I thought Draco's angst was the result of knowing he was in trouble if he couldn't figure out how to make it work.

[josephinestone.livejournal.com]

I can't help but feel that if there's some deep, meaningful symbolism anywhere in the films, it got in there by mistake

LOL

[josephinestone.livejournal.com]

I really loved the idea of being symbolism as well. I remember people complaining about all the time wasted in the film on the birds and I'm like 'its the art of it! It's beautiful.'

[birdsofshore]

I see the fear and the sickened reaction in book!Draco a lot. He is genuinely horrified when they bring Fenrir into Hogwarts, he can't even look at Ron and Hermione when they are brought to Malfoy Manor, and he seems pretty appalled and frightened when he finally faces an unarmed Dumbledore at his mercy. He is shaking all over and in tears, when he could quite easily kill him in a moment.

I think movie!Draco was made a bit more overtly sympathetic than book!Draco, though (partly because Tom Felton MAKES us see his vulnerability and his humanity) and I see the vanishing cabinet scenes as a continuation of that. If we think about the deleted scene where they had Draco throwing Harry his wand in the final battle, I think it's clear that they wanted a redemption for film!Draco that we didn't get for book!Draco. I think his ambivalence at fixing the cabinets reflects that story arc towards a partial redemption.

I didn't see Draco looking pleased when the apple came back, either! The music is chilling and I felt his reaction was more fearful than jubilant.

I COMPLETELY agree about his eyes <3333 I've seen a clip of DanRad complimenting Tom on his acting in that film. I wonder where it was.

[birdsofshore]

I know what you mean. I think JKR was unprepared for how many of us could empathise or really root for Draco in many ways. She gives us so many characters who we can relate to - many that break the mould of the usual 'hero' type characters - but she maybe didn't realise the attraction of the anti-hero, of the villain, of the flawed and damaged characters.

[birdsofshore]

There's a wonderful fic based on film canon of this. I'll hunt it out.

[unbroken-halo.livejournal.com]

Yes, Montague. I think that was it, and oddly enough, I want to read more fic with the cabinets in it now, too. It's a fantastic concept to be exploited. *ponders*

I like your version, too, because honestly, it works. My daughter saw it this way. And I hadn't even read her your post. She got that from watching the clips and not because she likes Tom Felton. She hardly paid attention to the films or books, even though we are now working our way through them since she's old enough to read/understand them on her own. Though she's more of a Phelps/ G-n-F fan, truth be told, but I'll fix that later. *g*

Completely agree about Draco's character development in this film, though, and how it was brought about. I really didn't like Draco as a character either until after I read the scene on the Astronomy Tower in HBP. Not saw it, but read it several times over even. Despite all that happens, HBP is my favorite book in the series. Although TF is just too cute to be ignored even by this old lady, but yeah...

It wasn't until that moment in book canon that I saw Draco (not TF although he does the part justice) anything other than a spoiled brat, replacement DE, and Harry's nemesis. The movies and TF, though, really nailed this empathy potential he had and in more ways than just the Vanishing Cabinet scenes.

I've really come to adore the book Draco, now, and the changes he's gone though. In all actuality, I think all of the characters evolved BUT Harry. Then again, it wasn't Harry that drew me to the series but the magic.

[birdsofshore]

Hmm. Maybe. But it was a BLACK DEATH EATER BIRD, COME ON. :DD

I do think it could be a 'look, it's working' moment, which is a nice piece of dramatic whatdyoucallit, when Harry and Ginny are obliviously smooching, but, I already thought it was working, so I would interpret that as a REMINDER it was working, not a revelation.

Surely if you were making this film, you'd want a REACTION from someone to the revelation that the cabinets are fixed? You'd want to SEE how Draco feels when he DOES get it right? Not have Harry and Ginny reveal it to the viewer by accident, without realising the import of it, while Draco is in the lav or something?

[0idontknow0]

The bird disappearing like the apple did proves it went somewhere just not if it went all the way to the shop or if it was in some sort of limbo like when someone had been trapped in there the previous year.

The moment I thought it worked was when there was a bird chirping in RoR some time later in the movie.

But yes it did get the point across regardless. And I had no idea people had so many different views on it.

[tamlane.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, all those things you mention about Draco's fear are spot-on. But they all happen after he succeeds. I don't think Draco understood at all what he was really in for.

Take, for example, the scene in which he finally repairs the cabinet:

"Somebody in — ? Who?" demanded Harry. "Who was in there?"

"I have no idea," said Professor Trelawney, looking slightly taken aback at the urgency in Harry's voice. "I walked into the room and I heard a voice, which has never happened before in all my years of hiding — of using the room, I mean."

"A voice? Saying what?"

"I don't know that it was saying anything," said Professor Trelawney. "It was... whooping."

"Whooping?"

"Gleefully," she said, nodding.

Harry stared at her.

"Was it male or female?"

"I would hazard a guess at male," said Professor Trelawney.

"And it sounded happy?"

"Very happy," said Professor Trelawney sniffily.

"As though it was celebrating?"

"Most definitely."

In fact, I would call Draco's moment of 'triumph' his turning point in the books. The moment the DEs stepped into the castle, Draco realized he'd wanted the wrong things all along, and that he was in much more trouble than he'd ever thought imaginable.

[birdsofshore]

here you go:

http://two-if-by-sea.livejournal.com/220586.html

it's a bit angsty, mind :(
but evokes those same emotions for me

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Sitting here with another fandom friend and we both saw this as a sign that the cabinet wasn't yet working. I love your interpretation, and can totally see it working. But until reading your post, I never guessed there was another way to look at it.

[josephinestone.livejournal.com]

the anti-hero, of the villain, of the flawed and damaged characters.

My favourite characters, always.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

I can't tell you if you're wrong or right (although film canon means nothing to me as far as characerisation goes), but this is how I interpreted those scenes: The apple came back with a bite out of it, meaning that Draco had fixed the cabinet enough to transport an object.

The bird came back dead, meaning it still wasn't fixed enough to transport a living object without killing it.

Then, after that, he worked more on the cabinet and a live bird flew out, meaning he's finally worked out all the bugs and it was ready to go.

[birdsofshore]

Oh, you're absolutely right about this going so differently in the book. That 'whooping' description is quite chilling, isn't it?

I don't feel the way it's told in the film is OOC for book Draco, but I agree his moment of total realisation comes later in the books and that it's very effective that way. However I don't think Draco's heart was ever completely in it - qv his inept plots to kill Dumbledore before he meets him on the tower - in fact I would almost say that the whooping was more OOC for the overall way he's portrayed in HBP! I think it conveys his emotional fragmentation and confusion quite well. We see him in such a tumult of reactions to everything - I don't think jubilation is recurring theme for him to what's happening, at all.

[birdsofshore]

You are in good company with that *nods*

I still like my interpretation, but my flist has managed to convince me that the others are valid too...

I enjoy film canon very much and regard it as an entity in itself, if that makes sense. It is connected to book canon for me, in that I like to reflect on how they compare and whether one can throw light on the other, but film canon has no direct influence on book canon and doesn't supercede it (unlike Harry wiki seems to think)

[birdsofshore]

How funny it is! We're all seeing different things! Some of us see toothmarks and others can't see them at all... I found it annoying when it was strangers on the internet contradicting me, but now it's my flist, it just makes for a great discussion :DD

[birdsofshore]

Me neither! I was really taken aback to find that people had different ideas on it at all - and then once that had sunk in, I couldn't wait to come on here and ask all you lot about it :DD

[tamlane.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely not a recurring theme! Draco is a basket case in HBP. And I don't think he's whooping because he's glad the DEs are on their way. I think he's whooping because he knows he gets to live. Though I think he doesn't realize yet the true cost of that. Poor Draco. I think JKR did a fantastic job of humanizing him.

[birdsofshore]

HBP is absolutely my favourite book, too. I love the moments of Draco's development, and Snape, too, and the whole set piece on the Tower is such an incredible climax. I connected with it on first reading so intensely and almost more than I did with other climactic moments such as Harry's death, Voldemort's defeat. I think it's one of JKR's absolute triumphs of plotting and writing. I am blown away by it every time I read it!

I'm glad your daughter agrees with me. Smart girl :DD I like the Phelps twins Fred and George a lot, myself (I don't feel like they are very popular in the fandom?)

[birdsofshore]

The image of him alone in the RoR, whooping with glee, is full of pathos and irony, isn't it?

I am finding it quite upsetting just thinking of it. Probably time to get some sleep :/

I love the way you see it all. Could talk about this all night <3