Caution: Wizard at Work (Harry Potter director compares W to Voldemort)

MSNBC.com ^ | 8-04-03 | Carla Power and Devin Gordon

[Paul Atreides]

Behind the Magic: The Harry Potter movie franchise has a new director and a new Dumbledore. Things are getting Sirius. An exclusive visit to 2004’s ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’

By Carla Power and Devin Gordon NEWSWEEK

Aug. 4 issue — Between takes at the shrieking shack—a ghoulish, precariously quaking house on the fringes of the wizard village Hogsmeade—actor Daniel Radcliffe fiddles with his magic wand. Today’s scene is a doozy: Harry Potter finally confronts the sinister (for now) Sirius Black.

OVER THE SCREECHING din of the shack, Radcliffe repeatedly shouts, “You betrayed my parents! You’re the reason they’re dead!” During a break in the action, though, he twirls his wand genially like a baton. Wait, sorry, it’s not a baton—that’d be so 12 years old. Radcliffe, who turned 14 last week, is bashing the air feverishly. He’s doing a drum solo.

____________________________________________________

Cuaron’s outspokenness is also new to the franchise. Does the evil wizard Voldemort still remind him of George W. Bush, as he said recently? “In combination with Saddam,” he says. “They both have selfish interests and are very much in love with power. Also, a disregard for the environment. A love for manipulating people. I read books four and five, and Fudge”—Rowling’s slippery Minister of Magic—”is similar to Tony Blair. He’s the ultimate politician. He’s in denial about many things. And everything is for the sake of his own persona, his own power. The way the Iraq thing was handled was not unlike the way Fudge handled affairs in book four.” Cuaron’s scrappiness is either refreshing or worrying, depending on your stock portfolio.

[Paul Atreides]

I wish those people would just shut up, make a movie, and leave it at that. No one cares that they are "artistes," making a statement, or whatever.

[OpusatFR]

" The way the Iraq thing was handled was not unlike the way Fudge handled affairs in book four.”

I'm speechless. I cannot wrap my brain around this absurdity, nor can I take someone's opinion seriously when a complex geopolitical situation is compared to a chidren's character named, ~Fudge~.

Now, a Bene Gesserit would have handled it quite differently. That is another matter...

[Paul Atreides]

It's obvious that the whole of Harry Potter, written long before W was elected, is an analogy of WWII and Hitler.

[KriegerGeist]

I would rather compare "W" to Aragorn and "Rummy" to Gandalf.

[OpusatFR]

I knew it. I always thought this Potter kid was a nascent dictator. All that business about pure blood. Just screams Aryan, doesn't it?

I wonder why this director took it upon himself to promote this type of Hitler youth?

~chuckle~

[LenS]

I'm always amazed when writers of movies or TV or books can totally grasp the nature of evil and the success or failure of good to confront said evil but can never apply that knowledge to the real world.

It's like they can spot evil in a second as long as it doesn't involve current events.

[Paul Atreides]

The statements by that idiot director are exactly like that idiotic Bezerkely study, saying that Hitler and Reagan are cut from the same cloth. They take a real or literary figure, who murders people, and immediately think that the person is a conservative.

The left has more blood on its hands that it can ever wash off.

[cryptical]

JK Rowling is the Neo-Nostrodamus?

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

What people need to realize is that one can be an artist--even a great artist, though having not seen the movie, I haven no idea if this person is one--and still be as dumb as an orangutan about everything else in the whole world except one's art.

[KriegerGeist]

"The left has more blood on its hands that it can ever wash off."

Body count:
Pro-abortion liberals = millions
Mr. & Mrs. Clinton personally = 40+
Teddy Kennedy = 1 (that we know of)
George W. Bush = 0

[Paul Atreides]

The reason that I say that Voldemort's character is about Hitler is that:

Voldemort is part Muggle (non-magic people)

He despises others who are part-Muggle and wants to rid the world of them

He has followers who feel the same way and do not hesitate to murder; he and his followers also kill Muggles with no hesitation

After his return to power, the Wizard (Prime) Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, denies that he is back in power and a threat

Headmaster Dumbledore, who Fudge fears wants his job, knows that Voldemort is back and must be dealt with.

[bd476]

"I wish those people would just shut up, make a movie, and leave it at that. No one cares that they are "artistes," making a statement, or whatever"

A better wish might be for MSNBC to someday find real news stories shortly after learning the skill of accurate unbiased reporting.

[BradyLS]

I wish those people would just shut up, make a movie, and leave it at that. No one cares that they are "artistes," making a statement, or whatever.

I agree. And the latest comparisons around here of W and his Administration to characters in Tolkien's creation were enough, I thought, to gag an elephant as well.

[I still care]

I read and enjoyed the Potter books. They have a very conservative point of view.

And as far as the 4th book goes, the way Fudge handles Voldermort - everyone is telling Fudge (the minister) how dangerous Voldemort is and he absolutely refuses to listen, to the point the Voldemort is given time to finish his evil plans. Fudge just can't bear to believe Voldemort has come back, and allows things to continue along the status quo until disaster strikes.

Actually, it sounds to me like Fudge is more like the liberals. I guess this guy read the book upside down or something.

[Paul Atreides]

This is all about indoctrinating kids. They know that kids will read anything about Harry Potter and if they can insert their little propaganda, they might have some believers on their hands.

[Paul Atreides]

His feeble brain was only able to grasp that there was an evil character in the book, so he added two and two and came up with eight.

[meow]

Now I feel like an airhead. I've read the series, and I didn't even think of that! Genius :D

[Old Sarge]

Bah. Another "artist" who is trying to get his quarter-hour of fame through someone else's work. I wasn't aware that Jo Rowling gave up total rights to the books.

[freekitty]

Oh, give me a break. I never heard such stupid nonsense in my life.

I wonder how long it took him to dream this up? A nanosecond?