It's day two of Armchair BEA, and I'm feeling even more excited after how great yesterday was. There were some wifi problems that made it difficult for me to participate to the extent that I wanted to (fingers crossed those don't continue today), but even so, I had a great time. Now I'm excited to share today's post.
Aesthetics: Books
I used to say that I never judged a book by its cover, and I do think that was true at one point in my life. At least, I never noticed covers influencing my decisions to read particular books. However, at some point over the years, they started to sway me more than they had previously. I still don't think it's that huge of a factor if the book has a great synopsis or great reviews. Because I tend to hear about books online through discussion first, I don't even think covers are my first impression of a book all that often.
Still, I've noticed that there are certain aspects of covers that serve to turn me off. Really, it has to be an extremely ugly cover for me to not want to read the book, but I have found that it happens more now than in the past.
Plus, I hate when people are on covers. The best explanation for this aversion that I can come up with is that I hate having the ability to imagine the characters on my own taken away from me. Sure, I can still imagine them however I want as I read, but having that picture on the cover plants a picture in your mind that winds up influencing you (or me at least). So I'm not a huge fan of people on covers, but there are people on so many covers that I don't think it winds up influencing me to not pick up a book.
I don't want it to influence my decision because so many great books have people on the covers. Even Harry Potter, my favorite series, has people on the covers (of many editions). I know that my aversion to the cover itself doesn't mean I won't like the book inside, so I try not to let it influence me. Maybe it does more than I realize.
When it comes to the covers of series matching, I would like them to, but it doesn't bother me enough for me to go to great lengths to get matching covers. (Largely because of the money that might be involved.) I bought two books from the same series from a used bookstore recently, and I bought one in paperback and one in hardback. That was because one of them was only in hardback. The other book was in both, but the paperback was cheaper (and I also prefer reading paperbacks). Would it have been nice to have them both look the same? Yes, but not enough to stop me from buying one hardback and one paperback.
Aesthetics: Blogs
Branding is something that I struggle with to be honest. The design of my blog isn't what I'm most proud of, and it's something I've wanted to work on for quite a while (basically since I started the blog). One thing I can say is that the basic design of the blog hasn't changed much since 2009, which could be considered a good or bad thing. Most would probably consider it a bad thing.
Mostly, I like the colors of my blog because they're my favorite colors and I think they look good together. If I do manage to redesign the blog, I'd like to keep the same color scheme or at least something similar to it. I do use purple in my Twitter profile as well and just about anywhere that I can choose colors. Perhaps that helps with branding although my real motivation is, admittedly, that it's just my favorite color.
So, yeah, branding is something that I should pay more attention to, and the various aspects of branding are all things that I tell myself I'm going to work on, but then they get pushed to the back burner every time while I work on other things instead. Maybe talking about this on the blog will mean I take some steps to improve on it in the future.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Armchair BEA 2016: Introduction and Diversity in Books
Hi, everyone! This is my first year participating in Armchair BEA (but I'll talk about that more below). I'm excited to get to talk with a lot of awesome people about books this week.
For anyone who happens upon this post and doesn't know what is going on, I'll direct you to the Armchair BEA blog to learn more.
Introduction
What is the name you prefer to use?
Feel free to call me Haley.
How long have you been a book blogger?
I started this blog back in September 2009 (on my sister's birthday actually) when I was a sophomore in high school. So, seven years come this September. At first it was more of a personal blog where I just happened to talk about books I was reading though. Talk about books took it over gradually, although I do still post about other personal stuff and TV reviews and such.
Have you participated in ABEA before?
Nope. This is my first year. I've seen other bloggers participate before, and I was always interested. The problem was that I would never remember until ABEA was already happening. Luckily, that didn't happen this year!
Do you have a favorite book? If you cannot choose a favorite book of all time, pick your favorite book today - just this second. Remember that favorites are allowed to change if something affects you deeply enough.
Diversity in Books
Whose voices do we see?
I think the answer to that question is obvious. Unfortunately. I know the majority of the books I read have white, straight, cis female protagonists. I know that the female part comes from the fact that I read more YA than anything else. It seems to be dominated by female main characters (and authors for that matter) in a way that not all genres are.
I do think that things are getting better. There are more characters who aren't white. There are more characters that aren't straight. I still think I'm reading about them in books with main characters who are straight and white more than in stories of their own. The norm is still the norm, but I hope we're (readers, bloggers, writers, publishers) making progress.
Whose voices do we need more of?
All of them that aren't currently being heard as much as they should be. It's so hard to describe it all because there is such a diverse range of stories that I will never be able to list all that we need to hear here. The most obvious places to start is that we need stories about characters of all races and all sexualities. Characters who are autistic. Characters of all types of gender expressions. And so many more.
We especially need voices that fall into a wide range of these different categories. Voices who are Black and autistic. Voices who are Japanese and asexual or bisexual. We need all of the voices that haven't been listened to.
Where do we find representation lacking and what can we as bloggers do to address that?
Again, I think we find representation lacking in a lot of ways. I think the biggest way to address this as bloggers is to talk about stories that do represent people who we don't hear from all the time. I'm never going to claim that I'm perfect at doing this, but it's been something I've been thinking about a lot as I want to get better about it.
I think this not only involves reading a diverse range of books but talking about them when you do. Help promote the stories you enjoy, and I also don't think the importance of discussing the topic like we are here should be forgotten. I know that discussions alone mean little if no one actually goes on to read diverse books, but at least it's a start.
What about negative or stereotypical representation?
This is another problem that I think would be less of a problem if only there were more books about a wide variety of people. Stereotypes themselves are bad, but they become so much worse when the stories of a particular group are limited, making the stereotypes stand out even more than they would otherwise.
It's a difficult topic because you obviously want representation for different groups, but you don't want that representation to come in the form of stereotypes. I think the best thing we can do as bloggers is talk about these stereotypes and be willing to bring them up when we find them in a book. Even if we enjoyed the story, I think we should talk about any stereotypes present in the novel and ways the author could have handled characters or topics better than they did.
For anyone who happens upon this post and doesn't know what is going on, I'll direct you to the Armchair BEA blog to learn more.
Introduction
What is the name you prefer to use?
Feel free to call me Haley.
How long have you been a book blogger?
I started this blog back in September 2009 (on my sister's birthday actually) when I was a sophomore in high school. So, seven years come this September. At first it was more of a personal blog where I just happened to talk about books I was reading though. Talk about books took it over gradually, although I do still post about other personal stuff and TV reviews and such.
Have you participated in ABEA before?
Nope. This is my first year. I've seen other bloggers participate before, and I was always interested. The problem was that I would never remember until ABEA was already happening. Luckily, that didn't happen this year!
Do you have a favorite book? If you cannot choose a favorite book of all time, pick your favorite book today - just this second. Remember that favorites are allowed to change if something affects you deeply enough.
Harry Potter is always my answer to this question, but I can't pick one favorite from the series. I like them each for different reasons, and it really depends on my mood. One thing I can say is that the fourth book is my least favorite. I feel so terrible having a least favorite and not a most favorite. If I was really being pressured, I'd probably choose Deathly Hallows. Fun fact about me: I have a fondness for the endings to stories.
What is your favorite genre and why?
While I love a wide variety of genres, my favorite has always been fantasy. I'm not sure how much of an influence Harry Potter had on that, but I have a good feeling that fantasy would be my favorite with or without Harry Potter. I love being able to explore new worlds. While I love characters and plot and the other sorts of things that you can find in any book (or even the world building in other genres) there's something about exploring new worlds in fantasy books that can only be rivaled by some scifi books (which I also love). I think that's what makes it my favorite.
Oh, and magic. Magic is always cool.
Oh, and magic. Magic is always cool.
What book are you most excited for on your TBR? What are you most intimidated by?
My favorite TV show of all time is Avatar: The Last Airbender (with Legend of Korra being another top favorite). I got the art books from both shows for Christmas, and they're still waiting to be read. I've been wanting the Avatar one in particular for ages, and the animation in both shows is so beautiful. I'm really looking forward to reading both of those.
As for most intimidating, I'll go with my literary criticism textbook that's from a class I took a couple of years ago. Technically, I've already read parts of it, but the book is massive and we couldn't study the whole thing. Now I've gotten it into my head that I'm going to start reading through it on my own, which may or may not be a good idea. We'll find out when I get started.
If you could choose three characters to have lunch with, who would they be and why?
This is definitely one of those questions where I'll never have a definitive answer. Who I choose would be different if you asked me five minutes later, but here's my attempt at choosing three:
1. Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I've loved her since I was a kid, and it would be great to discuss books with her. Plus, she's read all these awesome magical books. I would love to get her to tell me more about those, even Hogwarts, A History, and I'm sure she would love that as well.
2. Alec Lightwood from the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. My all-time favorite fictional character. I relate to Alec a lot on a personal level. For one thing, I feel like Alec and I share a similar role among our friends. I'd like to think that we'd get along well with each other, and he might find all of Hermione's magical knowledge interesting to learn about as well.
3. Tamaki Suoh from the Ouran High School Host Club manga series by Bisco Hatori. I think my primary motivation for choosing Tamaki is that he would be great at providing ice breakers if they're needed. And just all around humor. He's another one of my favorite characters, and it's largely because he is so bright and caring. He always wants to make people happy, and I feel like it would be difficult to have lunch with him and not be in an excellent mood afterward.
Diversity in Books
Whose voices do we see?
I think the answer to that question is obvious. Unfortunately. I know the majority of the books I read have white, straight, cis female protagonists. I know that the female part comes from the fact that I read more YA than anything else. It seems to be dominated by female main characters (and authors for that matter) in a way that not all genres are.
I do think that things are getting better. There are more characters who aren't white. There are more characters that aren't straight. I still think I'm reading about them in books with main characters who are straight and white more than in stories of their own. The norm is still the norm, but I hope we're (readers, bloggers, writers, publishers) making progress.
Whose voices do we need more of?
All of them that aren't currently being heard as much as they should be. It's so hard to describe it all because there is such a diverse range of stories that I will never be able to list all that we need to hear here. The most obvious places to start is that we need stories about characters of all races and all sexualities. Characters who are autistic. Characters of all types of gender expressions. And so many more.
We especially need voices that fall into a wide range of these different categories. Voices who are Black and autistic. Voices who are Japanese and asexual or bisexual. We need all of the voices that haven't been listened to.
Where do we find representation lacking and what can we as bloggers do to address that?
Again, I think we find representation lacking in a lot of ways. I think the biggest way to address this as bloggers is to talk about stories that do represent people who we don't hear from all the time. I'm never going to claim that I'm perfect at doing this, but it's been something I've been thinking about a lot as I want to get better about it.
I think this not only involves reading a diverse range of books but talking about them when you do. Help promote the stories you enjoy, and I also don't think the importance of discussing the topic like we are here should be forgotten. I know that discussions alone mean little if no one actually goes on to read diverse books, but at least it's a start.
What about negative or stereotypical representation?
This is another problem that I think would be less of a problem if only there were more books about a wide variety of people. Stereotypes themselves are bad, but they become so much worse when the stories of a particular group are limited, making the stereotypes stand out even more than they would otherwise.
It's a difficult topic because you obviously want representation for different groups, but you don't want that representation to come in the form of stereotypes. I think the best thing we can do as bloggers is talk about these stereotypes and be willing to bring them up when we find them in a book. Even if we enjoyed the story, I think we should talk about any stereotypes present in the novel and ways the author could have handled characters or topics better than they did.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Reign Review: 3x13 "Strange Bedfellows"
Reign keeps flying through different story points much faster than I expect them to. First we didn't get to see Mary at the Vatican. Now Dudley both comes to France and leaves France, no longer betrothed to Mary no less) in the same episode. They're really not drawing much out in the recent episodes, and I'm not sure if I'm okay with it or if I think it's rushed. I'm leaning towards thinking it's rushed.
That being said, there were quite a few aspects of this episode that I loved.
For one thing, we got to see Greer, Leith, and Claude in this episode, and I was painfully reminded how much I still ship Greer/Leith but also how much Claude/Leith has grown on me. After Greer and her sister getting in a fight and her sister seemingly not adopting the baby anymore, I can't help but daydream about Greer and Leith raising the baby together and being a happy family. Almost definitely not what's going to happen, but I can't stop myself from living in that dream world until something else happens on the show.
At the same time, I do quite enjoy Claude and Leith together, which makes the idea of Greer and Leith together almost bittersweet for me. I think that at this point I would be satisfied with either. I just can't deny that Greer/Leith would make me a bit giddier over it. If they do get back together, I hope Claude finds happiness too.
Catherine's quote about spineless men using women to do their dirty work was also brilliant. That moment was one of those where I was instantly reminded of what I love about this show so much. Actually, the current storyline is dealing a lot with women in power and how the men around them are uncomfortable having a woman in charge. I love it. That's always been one of my favorite parts of Reign, and I'm really loving how it has been coming to the forefront, particularly since Francis' death. I don't imagine they'll shift their focus away from that anytime soon, but still, it's worth saying that I hope they don't.
When it comes to the Red Knights, I don't feel like I have any strong feelings yet. I am interested in who they are and why exactly they want to destroy the Valois family. But I don't feel like we've seen enough of that storyline for me to say anything more. It still seems to much of a mystery for me to declare that I find it interesting or uninteresting. It's still one of those "wait and see what they do with it" things.
This feels like a shorter review than normal, but I also feel like I have less thoughts about this episode than I often do. For whatever reason, the episode felt a little less eventful for me this episode than the other recent episodes. Then again, maybe I just got too distracted by Greer and Leith having screen time together that I forgot everything else there is to say. I know I didn't really talk about Gideon, and I suppose I should. He seems to be leaving, and to be honest, I don't feel all that much over it. I like Gideon well enough, but I don't like him enough to feel that upset. Since quite a bit of the episode revolved around that, maybe that's why I feel like so little happened. Who knows.
That being said, there were quite a few aspects of this episode that I loved.
For one thing, we got to see Greer, Leith, and Claude in this episode, and I was painfully reminded how much I still ship Greer/Leith but also how much Claude/Leith has grown on me. After Greer and her sister getting in a fight and her sister seemingly not adopting the baby anymore, I can't help but daydream about Greer and Leith raising the baby together and being a happy family. Almost definitely not what's going to happen, but I can't stop myself from living in that dream world until something else happens on the show.
At the same time, I do quite enjoy Claude and Leith together, which makes the idea of Greer and Leith together almost bittersweet for me. I think that at this point I would be satisfied with either. I just can't deny that Greer/Leith would make me a bit giddier over it. If they do get back together, I hope Claude finds happiness too.
Catherine's quote about spineless men using women to do their dirty work was also brilliant. That moment was one of those where I was instantly reminded of what I love about this show so much. Actually, the current storyline is dealing a lot with women in power and how the men around them are uncomfortable having a woman in charge. I love it. That's always been one of my favorite parts of Reign, and I'm really loving how it has been coming to the forefront, particularly since Francis' death. I don't imagine they'll shift their focus away from that anytime soon, but still, it's worth saying that I hope they don't.
When it comes to the Red Knights, I don't feel like I have any strong feelings yet. I am interested in who they are and why exactly they want to destroy the Valois family. But I don't feel like we've seen enough of that storyline for me to say anything more. It still seems to much of a mystery for me to declare that I find it interesting or uninteresting. It's still one of those "wait and see what they do with it" things.
This feels like a shorter review than normal, but I also feel like I have less thoughts about this episode than I often do. For whatever reason, the episode felt a little less eventful for me this episode than the other recent episodes. Then again, maybe I just got too distracted by Greer and Leith having screen time together that I forgot everything else there is to say. I know I didn't really talk about Gideon, and I suppose I should. He seems to be leaving, and to be honest, I don't feel all that much over it. I like Gideon well enough, but I don't like him enough to feel that upset. Since quite a bit of the episode revolved around that, maybe that's why I feel like so little happened. Who knows.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Slytherclaw? I May Have Just Given Myself a Hogwarts House Identity Crisis.
Here's something that (shockingly) I don't think I've ever discussed here on the blog: my Hogwarts house. I've considered myself a Ravenclaw for more than four years now. Ever since I took the Pottermore house quiz and got Ravenclaw.
Before that, I considered myself a Hufflepuff. In fact, I own a Hufflepuff tie and have a Hufflepuff house crest sticker on my bedroom mirror because of this. In the past, I identified with Hufflepuff largely because I saw (and still see) them as the underdog house I think. The way some people joked (fondly) about Hufflepuff being the "leftover" house led to me feeling an affinity for the house.
There was also the fact that, while I saw that I had some Ravenclaw-like traits, I didn't think I was smart enough to consider myself a Ravenclaw. Back then, I knew I could relate to Ravenclaw very well as well, but I also thought that calling myself a Ravenclaw would be arrogant because I'd be saying I was smarter than I am.
Being sorted into Ravenclaw on Pottermore was actually what made me start to view this differently. I finally fully understood that Ravenclaw isn't the "smart" house. After all, Hermione Granger, the smartest witch of her age, was a Gryffindor, not a Ravenclaw. I did know this before, but I couldn't quite get past the Ravenclaws = geniuses view. Now I think of Ravenclaws as the house that loves to learn and expand their knowledge, but it has nothing to do with intelligence level, just that they value learning. Overall, I guess, my view of it is just more nuanced now than before, and that makes me feel much more comfortable labeling myself a Ravenclaw.
Hufflepuff still holds a special place in my heart, but I do think of myself as a Ravenclaw now. I think it fits me the best, but Hufflepuff would be a second. I don't view myself as being much of a Slytherin or Gryffindor at all.
Now, Pottermore has changed the house quiz. A lot of people are happy about this because they didn't get the house they wanted with the old quiz. Many of these people seem to be happier with their new result, and they also seem to think the questions in the new quiz make a lot more sense.
I haven't taken this new quiz yet. After my Ravenclaw result last time completely shook up how I viewed my Hogwarts house, I really didn't want that to happen again. Not when I'd managed to feel confident with being a Ravenclaw, which I know many other people didn't manage after getting a result they didn't expect.
As a huge Harry Potter fan though, I think I need to take the new quiz. Otherwise, what result I could possibly get is going to continue to hang over my head. I need to know. So...I'm going to take the quiz. Everything in this post above this was written before taking it, and now I'm opening Potter more to take the quiz. I'll follow up with my results...
(Oh, I must add that while I was going to take the quiz, I stumbled upon the new information of the Ilvermorny houses. As an American, this has also been shaking me up because it's actually one of those houses that I would be a part of if I'd been born a witch. But that whole thing deserves a post of its own. I'll be talking about Ilvermorny houses soon...)
Okay. There's no denying that I'm stalling. I'm actually scared about this, guys. But I swear that I'm actually doing it now.
Oh. My. God. I just got sorted into Slytherin. What just...? I truly do not know how to explain what just happened. This makes absolutely zero sense to me. As I was taking the quiz I was actually really sure that I was going to wind up in Ravenclaw again, and then...
Now I'm trying to think this through and figure out if there's any possible way that I'm a Slytherin, and I truly cannot rationalize it to myself. Unless there is something about myself that I'm completely clueless to, then I don't get it. Sure, I would say that I'm more like a Slytherin than a Gryffindor, but that's not saying much since I think of myself as being very unlike both houses.
I'm pretty sure that if I attended Hogwarts and in Slytherin that I would be shunned by the rest of the house. I don't even know how to put into words how much I don't understand this, and because of that, I'm going to try to pretend to myself that this never happened.
Yeah, I'm still going to consider myself a Ravenclaw. Last time, when I got Ravenclaw even though I had considered myself a Hufflepuff, I understood, and after giving it time, I was able to consider myself a Ravenclaw. I feel pretty confident that that won't be happening this time.
Now Pottermore is green for me though, so I'm never going to quite escape. It's really making me wish that I had just claimed Ravenclaw instead of going through the sorting. I also miss my old Pottermore account despite the fact that I could never remember the username.
...
This really is going to bother me. As it turns out, I was being smart not retaking the quiz. Still, I know it means nothing in the larger picture, and unless I can set the actual Sorting Hat on my head, I feel completely justified in choosing my own house. So Ravenclaw it is. Just pretend like this never happened.
Before that, I considered myself a Hufflepuff. In fact, I own a Hufflepuff tie and have a Hufflepuff house crest sticker on my bedroom mirror because of this. In the past, I identified with Hufflepuff largely because I saw (and still see) them as the underdog house I think. The way some people joked (fondly) about Hufflepuff being the "leftover" house led to me feeling an affinity for the house.
There was also the fact that, while I saw that I had some Ravenclaw-like traits, I didn't think I was smart enough to consider myself a Ravenclaw. Back then, I knew I could relate to Ravenclaw very well as well, but I also thought that calling myself a Ravenclaw would be arrogant because I'd be saying I was smarter than I am.
Being sorted into Ravenclaw on Pottermore was actually what made me start to view this differently. I finally fully understood that Ravenclaw isn't the "smart" house. After all, Hermione Granger, the smartest witch of her age, was a Gryffindor, not a Ravenclaw. I did know this before, but I couldn't quite get past the Ravenclaws = geniuses view. Now I think of Ravenclaws as the house that loves to learn and expand their knowledge, but it has nothing to do with intelligence level, just that they value learning. Overall, I guess, my view of it is just more nuanced now than before, and that makes me feel much more comfortable labeling myself a Ravenclaw.
Hufflepuff still holds a special place in my heart, but I do think of myself as a Ravenclaw now. I think it fits me the best, but Hufflepuff would be a second. I don't view myself as being much of a Slytherin or Gryffindor at all.
Now, Pottermore has changed the house quiz. A lot of people are happy about this because they didn't get the house they wanted with the old quiz. Many of these people seem to be happier with their new result, and they also seem to think the questions in the new quiz make a lot more sense.
I haven't taken this new quiz yet. After my Ravenclaw result last time completely shook up how I viewed my Hogwarts house, I really didn't want that to happen again. Not when I'd managed to feel confident with being a Ravenclaw, which I know many other people didn't manage after getting a result they didn't expect.
As a huge Harry Potter fan though, I think I need to take the new quiz. Otherwise, what result I could possibly get is going to continue to hang over my head. I need to know. So...I'm going to take the quiz. Everything in this post above this was written before taking it, and now I'm opening Potter more to take the quiz. I'll follow up with my results...
(Oh, I must add that while I was going to take the quiz, I stumbled upon the new information of the Ilvermorny houses. As an American, this has also been shaking me up because it's actually one of those houses that I would be a part of if I'd been born a witch. But that whole thing deserves a post of its own. I'll be talking about Ilvermorny houses soon...)
Okay. There's no denying that I'm stalling. I'm actually scared about this, guys. But I swear that I'm actually doing it now.
Oh. My. God. I just got sorted into Slytherin. What just...? I truly do not know how to explain what just happened. This makes absolutely zero sense to me. As I was taking the quiz I was actually really sure that I was going to wind up in Ravenclaw again, and then...
Now I'm trying to think this through and figure out if there's any possible way that I'm a Slytherin, and I truly cannot rationalize it to myself. Unless there is something about myself that I'm completely clueless to, then I don't get it. Sure, I would say that I'm more like a Slytherin than a Gryffindor, but that's not saying much since I think of myself as being very unlike both houses.
I'm pretty sure that if I attended Hogwarts and in Slytherin that I would be shunned by the rest of the house. I don't even know how to put into words how much I don't understand this, and because of that, I'm going to try to pretend to myself that this never happened.
Yeah, I'm still going to consider myself a Ravenclaw. Last time, when I got Ravenclaw even though I had considered myself a Hufflepuff, I understood, and after giving it time, I was able to consider myself a Ravenclaw. I feel pretty confident that that won't be happening this time.
Now Pottermore is green for me though, so I'm never going to quite escape. It's really making me wish that I had just claimed Ravenclaw instead of going through the sorting. I also miss my old Pottermore account despite the fact that I could never remember the username.
...
This really is going to bother me. As it turns out, I was being smart not retaking the quiz. Still, I know it means nothing in the larger picture, and unless I can set the actual Sorting Hat on my head, I feel completely justified in choosing my own house. So Ravenclaw it is. Just pretend like this never happened.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
I Love the Harry Potter Movies
I spent the last several days thinking about writing a post on which scenes from the Harry Potter books I was most disappointed didn't make it into the movies. Then I realized that I wrote a post five years ago about changes in the Harry Potter movies.
Looking back over that post, I think I would only repeat a lot of what I said there. All of the most important ones I would have pointed out are there. Like Teddy not being mentioned, which was something I was feeling grumpy about just the other day before I started thinking about writing this post. And Peeves is always a big one.
Sometimes I can't help but really, really wish that a certain scene or tidbit of information had made it into the movies. It's hard not to. At the same time, the Harry Potter movies have become an entity of their own that played a huge role in my childhood, and admittedly, that makes it difficult to even criticize them for not including certain things. Because even though they're different, they're something on their own apart from the books.
That doesn't mean I don't criticize them in certain ways. I did, after all, write that original post. But when I think about the movies potentially being different, I don't know if I really want it or not. I guess it doesn't really matter since they won't change. (Although I suppose we could always get remakes in the future that do something different. That will undoubtedly be interesting if it ever happens in my lifetime.)
If there was a choice between the books and the movies, I would choose the books. I always feel a little sad for people who are only fans of the movies and haven't read the books. Still, the movies have their own special place that have led to me appreciating them on their own and not just in comparison to the movies.
But I still wish they could have at least mentioned Teddy...
Looking back over that post, I think I would only repeat a lot of what I said there. All of the most important ones I would have pointed out are there. Like Teddy not being mentioned, which was something I was feeling grumpy about just the other day before I started thinking about writing this post. And Peeves is always a big one.
Sometimes I can't help but really, really wish that a certain scene or tidbit of information had made it into the movies. It's hard not to. At the same time, the Harry Potter movies have become an entity of their own that played a huge role in my childhood, and admittedly, that makes it difficult to even criticize them for not including certain things. Because even though they're different, they're something on their own apart from the books.
That doesn't mean I don't criticize them in certain ways. I did, after all, write that original post. But when I think about the movies potentially being different, I don't know if I really want it or not. I guess it doesn't really matter since they won't change. (Although I suppose we could always get remakes in the future that do something different. That will undoubtedly be interesting if it ever happens in my lifetime.)
If there was a choice between the books and the movies, I would choose the books. I always feel a little sad for people who are only fans of the movies and haven't read the books. Still, the movies have their own special place that have led to me appreciating them on their own and not just in comparison to the movies.
But I still wish they could have at least mentioned Teddy...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)