There are reasons
why the movie needs to be faithful to the book. First,
the readers of the novel have the benefits of watching
the story within the mind of the narrator, Harry Potter;
however, the viewers of the film were usually outside
watching from a neutral position. Since the movie is mostly
address to fans , not necessarily general audiences, the
changes do create conflicts, potentially causing readers
and viewers to have two different versions of the same
story.
In the film, Professor Quirrell
(the defense against dark arts teacher) does not shake
hands with Harry when they first meet, while he supposes
to do so in the novel. The confusion occurs because Quirrell
is not wearing his turban at that time meaning that Voldemort
is not yet possessing Quirrell's body. However, in the
film, he is and some readers cannot figure out why, in
the book, Quirrell is able to touch Harry without experiencing
pain. For a list of film contamination, visit The
Harry Potter Lexicon for details.
From the author's point of
views, there are several reasons why she insists on having
the film done her way. The reason why she accepted Warner
Brother's involvement to turn her novels into films is
that they were willing to stay true to the books. She
felt protective towards the characters she created and
insisted the film should not change her story (Quick
Quotes).
Before Warner Brothers approached
her, there were other film companies that wanted to take
that position but she wanted the books to be well-established
before anyone made a film version. Due to the fact that
the books are well-known before the films, it becomes
difficult for filmmakers to change the stories. Warner
Brothers gave her power to interfere with the process
of making the movies because they understand that a great
amount of fans want to see the film done the original
way (January
Magazine).
Finally, it is always exciting
for fans or the author to see their imagination on the
big screen. The director does receive credits on an outstanding
job of visual effects such as the Quidditch match, Diagon
Alley, the gigantic enchanted chess board, and so on.
In the contrary, the reasons
why the changes need to be done are: better plots connection
and exaggerate visual effects. To see the full arguments,
click here.
Story Analysis
Reference