dragonfire88's Full Review: Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter: The Ma...
I quickly became hooked on the Harry Potter books after I received the first one, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I loved the book and quickly picked up the others that were out at that time. I have since read all seven of the books and seen the five movies that have been released so far. Not to long ago, a friend told me about Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter, a documentary connected to the world of Harry Potter. I thought it sounded very interesting and was recently able to track down a copy to watch.
Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter was a British documentary made in 2001. The documentary, narrated by the actor Hugh Laurie, was made to air on American Public Television. I got the copy I watched from my local library, who only had it on VHS. I believe there is also a DVD version available. According to the information with the tape, the documentary is about 48 minutes long. It wasn’t authorized by J.K. Rowling and she had no participation in the making of it.
For people who somehow don’t know anything about Harry Potter, I am going to explain just a little bit about the series in general. The Harry Potter books were about a young boy, Harry, who learned that he was a wizard when he was eleven. He had been raised by his non-magical aunt and uncle because his parents had been murdered by Lord Voldemort, a very powerful dark wizard. Harry went off to Hogwarts, a school where young witches and wizards learned different magical things for seven years. J.K. Rowling wrote seven Harry Potter books, each one taking place during a different school year for Harry and his friends. So far, movie versions have been made about the first five books.
Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter shared legends and myths that seemed to have inspired J.K. Rowling in some way while she was writing the books. When the documentary was released in 2001, four of the books had been published and the first movie had been released. New magical things were introduced in each of the first four books. The documentary really just focused in on things connected to the first book, though a few of the things discussed did come up in later books as well. It would have been nice if myths or legends connected to things from the second, third, and fourth books had been included as well.
Throughout the documentary, Hugh Laurie was heard talking about or explaining different things connected to the world of Harry Potter. At different times, a few different people were shown talking about some of the things. Those people did share some interesting information. J.K. Rowling was only briefly shown at the very beginning, explain how she had first gotten the idea for the Harry Potter books. I think that bit had been pulled from one of the official interviews she had done. I would have liked it if Rowling had been involved in the making of this documentary and either confirmed or denied that the myths and legends mentioned had somehow inspired her.
One of the first things that was talked about was King’s Cross Station and a legend connected to it about a woman warrior being buried in the tunnels under it. It was really interesting for me to see the real place. Someone that worked there talked a bit about the station, including how people are always looking for the platform Harry has to use to get to Hogwarts. It was also discussed how Diagon Alley seemed to be based on one of the oldest streets in London and how the Gringotts Bank shared a lot in common with the London Silver Vault.
It was shared how in stories and legends throughout the years, witches have been depicted wearing black, including the pointy hats. A male witch talked about some folklore and even explained how real witches would hold their brooms in the opposite direction of how it has always been shown in movies. It was brought up how owls had been with witches in some folklore and legends and would serve as lookouts. A legend about a ghost was shared that seemed to have been the inspiration for one of the ghosts around Hogwarts.
There was speculation on where Hogwarts was supposed to be located. Scotland was suggested as the most likely location because it has deep lakes and mountains like were described surrounding the school. A real boarding school in Scotland that was supposed to have been built by a wizard was discussed. The wizard was supposed to have sold his soul to the devil. The boarding school is still in operation now. The actual school was shown and the headmaster talked a bit about the school and how he was the one who made the decision on which house the new students were placed in. He also talked about there being some secret passages around the school. I thought that part of the documentary was very interesting.
Time was taken to talk about quidditch, the sport Rowling created for the books. Even though the sport was played on broomsticks, there are similarities to some real sports like basketball and polo. It also shared some things with an ancient, brutal sport that had been played as war games by the highlanders. According to the documentary, the sport is still played in some areas of England, though it is a much safer version of the game.
It was pointed out that Harry and his friends studied some real mythology stories. I did remember noticing those things when I read the books. Harry was compared to Odysseus in a way that I hadn’t picked up on before. I do remember when I read the first book thinking that there had been a dog like Fluffy in Greek mythology though I couldn’t remember which story it had been in. The documentary proved that I was right about that. I hadn’t know that there was a Greek mythology connection for Draco Malfoy and Hagrid. When reading the books I had also noticed that certain characters connected to the legend of King Arthur, like Merlin, were at least briefly mentioned. There were similarities between Harry and King Arthur that I hadn’t caught before.
The part of the documentary that I thought was the most interesting deal with Nicolas Flamel and the philosopher’s stone. I had no idea before watching this that Flamel had been a real man who had actually been able to create a philosopher’s stone. Alchemists in the middle ages believed that the stone held the secret to never dying like the stone did in the book. The stone was called the sorcerer’s stone for the U.S. release of the book. In addition to his work in alchemy, Flamel had built several homes for the poor around Paris, one of which still stands today as the oldest home in Paris. A modern alchemist that has spent years studying the work of Flamel also briefly talked about the stone.
Throughout the documentary, when real places were mentioned in connection with Harry Potter, the real locations were at least briefly shown. I really liked seeing those places, especially King’s Cross Station. Some of the people who talked about certain things, like the male white witch or two authors of books about Harry Potter, were shown more than once throughout the documentary. Other people, like the man working at King’s Cross Station and the headmaster of the boarding school, were only shown when those places were brought up.
I really enjoyed watching Discovering the World of Harry Potter. There was a lot of interesting information shared throughout the documentary. It was very interesting for me to learn about what legends, myths or bits of folklore more than likely inspired or influenced Rowling when she wrote the Harry Potter books. I had picked up on certain things myself from reading the books, but I also learned several new things. I would have really liked it if the documentary shared that sort of information for things connected to the other books out at the time it was made as well. Fans of the books will probably enjoy watching this at least once.
Explore the myths and legends that inhabit the real world of Harry Potter. Follow award-winning documentary filmmakers as they offer insights to witch...More at Buy.com
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