Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix SPOILERS!!!

[Elf Witch]

I'm currently rereading the book and one of the things that always annoyed me about this book was Harry being trained by Snape. The last time Harry had trouble with a spell (the summoning charm in GoF) Hermione recommended the library and studying the theroy of the spell....I just don't get why Harry didn't do that this time...why he didn't pursue any other means of learning the subject....

The main reason I don't understand is because it was Snape... I would figure Harry would want to prevent Snape from gaining access to his mind.

And I totally understand the problem from Snape's point of view...I mean if the dark lord is gaining access to Harry the last thing you want to be seen doing is helping the boy block the dark lord.... Dumbledore should have realized that issue so I am unclear why he placed Snape in such a bad position.

Because preventing someone from reading your mind is not a simple spell there are many that you can use to stop it. So he could just go and learn a counter spell.

Sure he wanted to stop Snape but not enough to practice and stop the dreams because Harry was just to damn curious for his own good he wanted to know where the door ended in his dreams as much as Voldemort wanted to get to the prophecy.

Snape was picked because he was really good at occumelcy alsmot as good as Dumbledore but Dumbledore was afraid to be to close to Harry because he was afraid that it would encourage Voldemort to possess Harry so he could use Harry to hurt Dumbledore or force Dumbledore to kill Harry to prevent the possessed Harry from hurting him.

 

[kingpaul]

I'm currently rereading the book and one of the things that always annoyed me about this book was Harry being trained by Snape. The last time Harry had trouble with a spell (the summoning charm in GoF) Hermione recommended the library and studying the theroy of the spell....I just don't get why Harry didn't do that this time...why he didn't pursue any other means of learning the subject....

I'm pretty sure that it was mentioned in HBP that Occulemency (sp) is an obscure branch of study. Sure, there may be some books laying around, but probably not many.

The main reason I don't understand is because it was Snape... I would figure Harry would want to prevent Snape from gaining access to his mind.

Because Snape is trained in this form of magic

And I totally understand the problem from Snape's point of view...I mean if the dark lord is gaining access to Harry the last thing you want to be seen doing is helping the boy block the dark lord.... Dumbledore should have realized that issue so I am unclear why he placed Snape in such a bad position.

There's a reason that you probably haven't uncovered yet, if you're currently reading it and have gotten to the lessons.

 

[delericho]

I've just returned from the film, and thought it was excellent. Certainly a vast improvement over Goblet of Fire. Although, like GoF, it suffers because the book is just so long - the film probably needed another hour or so, which would have been quite painful for much of the target audience.

As for the torture issue - it wasn't so long ago that corporal punishment was quite common in the UK. (Aparently, the use of the cane was finally abolished here in 1987.) Since the Wizarding world seems to mirror a somewhat older British sensibility, it doesn't seem unreasonable that the practice would continue. Furthermore, the students wouldn't rebel en masse because that was just the way things were. So, those scenes weren't particularly unrealistic.

Which should not be read as a defense of the practice, of course. But then, if you want to present a character as being particularly nasty and evil (as Umbridge was), the best way to do that is generally to show them doing things that are nasty and evil, no?

 

[Brogarn]

Entertaining movie and probably my second favorite of the series with Prisoner of Azkaban being my hands down fav. Goblet of Fire was probably the one I least liked mostly because good chunks of it felt like an episode of any number of High School or Junior High "dramas". It was hard for me to take even knowing full well that I'm outside of the target demographic with these movies and was doing my best to overlook the parts I didn't like.

On a side note, I also haven't read any of the books. I'm waiting for the movies to complete, then I'll read the whole set.

 

[kingpaul]

On a side note, I also haven't read any of the books. I'm waiting for the movies to complete, then I'll read the whole set.

From what I've read, that won't happen until 2010.

 

[Brogarn]

From what I've read, that won't happen until 2010.

With the stack of books I have waiting to read along with the fact that I read in spurts, I should be alright.

 

[Tiberius]

Forcing a student to cut themselves for hours is quite different than a few whacks with a paddle/belt/yardstick.

While true, remember that most injuries are apparently simple matters to heal in the wizarding world. Whole limbs or extremities can be regrown, so long as they aren't removed by Dark magic. Combined with the aforementioned older sensibilities, I suspect parents are somewhat less touchy about corporal punishment than the modern attitude dictates.

 

[billd91]

The kids were depicted as being mastered by the Death Eaters as if the Death Eaters were only toying with them. The kids' spells were visually wussy and the kids were just taken by the Death Eaters with little more than a shrug.

The showy oooh scarey razmatazz happens only when the OOTP show up.

And thereby it depicts Dumbledore's Army - who were in the book pretty much holding their own - look like a bunch of babies. That's not the book. It's not Half-Blood Prince either - and my guess is that it will not be the scenes shown in Book 7 too.

You might want to read those chapters again. The kids were decidely not holding their own. They were split up, on the run, and battered around even if they did manage to get in a couple good stuns every now and then. Neville's wand and nose broken, Hermione unconscious, Ginny with a broken ankle, and what lasting effect did they have to show for it? A death eater with a baby's head, caused entirely by accident.

 

[GreyRat]

Snape was picked because he was really good at occumelcy ...

Also, as Dumbledore said, he believed that for this vitally important task, Snape would make an effort to suppress his personal dislike of Potter; D. may have even hoped for a 'buddy movie' opportunity for respect and bonding. As it turned out, neither of them was really making a good effort. In the end, D. was forced to admit he had made a mistake.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

The movie scene with McGonagall putting up with Umbridge giving out "lines" does not fit in with the books at all.

One of the main ideas from the books and movies is that the wizarding world is set apart from the normal world. Wizarding society is still very much 19th century in outlook. Umbridges "lines" punishment fits in with the kind of punishments doled out by some schools and homes in this timeframe. Elf Witch mentioned caning, but hitting with yardsticks, and rulers on the knuckles was also a common and brutal punishment. The more progressive wizards, like most Hogwarts teachers, would not put up with it, but many wizarding families and members of the ministry would allow it.

Yep. very true. I got the idea from reading the books that the Wizarding world is much harsher than normal, heck the Tri-Wizard tourney was known to be fatal and kids took part in it. It was a part of the world and that level of discipline was accepted.


P.S. I think I'm the only one who didn't really love the PoA movie, the cuts they made really affected the story for the negative IMO. The whole deletion of the mauraders map history was a large negative.