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birdsofshoreOK, 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?
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?
no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 09:48 pm (UTC)So if you have a pet way of interpreting it, I see no reason why you can't continue thinking that way - your way of looking at it is just as plausible as mine, tbh.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 09:51 pm (UTC)"that second bird was sent from the shop, a new bird that Draco never put in their but the guy from the shop did. And Draco never got to release that bird, since Harry did."
YES. THIS. Because black bird = Death Eater bird from Borgin and Burkes, OBVIOUSLY :DD
no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 09:55 pm (UTC)*eyes your icon*
*cowers*
no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 10:00 pm (UTC)The second bird, though (I want to bicker gently about this all night) - if Draco put it in there, why did he walk off before it came back? He wasn't very likely to just forget or not be fussed about seeing whether it worked or not, was he?
I think someone from Borgin and Burkes put it in, and Draco hadn't yet had a chance to sneak up and check the cabinet that day.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 10:07 pm (UTC)I think Draco put it in, but no one sent it back for some time so he had to leave it and go back to class. He couldn't spend his whole time checking the cabinet, could he?
no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 10:33 pm (UTC)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?
no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 09:53 pm (UTC)Ah, but you don't like the films much, whereas I mostly adore them, so my way of looking at it is MORE plausible than yours. You'd enjoy them ever so much more if you just agreed with me about everything ;-)
no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 09:55 pm (UTC)*dazzles you with Nic*
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Date: 2013-10-12 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 10:05 pm (UTC)HEAD DESK.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 10:09 pm (UTC)Oh look! Omi's posted!
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Date: 2013-10-12 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 10:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 10:18 pm (UTC)LOL