Harry Potter & Alphaville

A break from the Zizek wars. Last night we watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, with the volume down and Wizard People, Dear Reader turned up. Very funny, especially the distracted reveries that accompany some of the action sequences. But the hype had me expecting something more on the order of a poetic masterpiece. Tonight we watched Godard's Alphaville. Dear reader, it hasn't aged well. I understand it isn't supposed to make sense; that it's pastiche of portentous dangers-of-technology philosophy and noir and gangster cliches. Plus French style that is supposed to make the 'what is love?' guy-saves-girl stuff bearable. It ends up feeling clumsy and ham-handed rather than affectionate in its borrowings; the themes are trite; and brittle, beautiful Anna Karina can't fix that just by looking translucent for the camera. Light-year is a unit of distance, not time (please do not have scientist characters mix this up.) The executions in the swimming pool are dull and uninterestingly filmed.

Do you agree?

Speaking of the Sorcerer's Stone. We all know Rowling was forced to change the title because philosophy is boring. Do you think sales of philosophy texts would perk up if presses started selling spruced up titles like Bertrand Russell's The Problems of Sorcery?

Comments

[Matt Weiner]

Agreed, except I think for the swimming pool part. Everything except the script is cool, but the script, oy.

I hear the seventh volume is to be called Harry Potter and the Mirror of Nature.

[ogged]

Changed the title, but only for the U.S., not U.K. edition--correct?

[Nick Fagerlund]

Nor the Japanese edition! Us Yanks got short-ended.

But since (as a voracious reader of YA fantasy - seriously, the stuff was my crack) I would have recognized the "Philosopher's Stone" reference even when I was at the nominal target age, my judgement may not completely obtain. You konw, since HP was marketed as the YA fantasy for non-YA fantasy addicts.

But still, they could at least have subbed in "Alchemist's Stone" or something like it.

(... OMG! I bet Nicholas Whatsizname was actually Daniel Waterhouse! Crossover fanfic off the starboard bow, Cap'n!)

[Christopher M]

How about Harry Potter and the Kripkean Zombies?

Harry Potter and the Plurality of Worlds?

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkeban's Dilemma?

[ben wolfson]

Ogged, you are correct.

[jholbo]

Good ones, Christopher.

[Jeff]

At least in the first book, they Americanized the text. The one I recall is "grades" in place of "marks." I'd prefer they leave the text alone and have endnotes like Oxford does for 19th century English literature. In Scholastic's defense, I do like the illustrator they chose over the UK edition.