Countdown to small gifts 5/7: Back to canon

[smallgiftsmods]

Hi, folks! If you're just joining us, we're on DAY FIVE of seven days of discussion before Small Gifts begins posting. Start off by introducing yourself (and meeting fellow participants and watchers) over here!

Day 4: Back to canon

What's your favorite book and/or movie, and why?

Comments

[necessarian]

as an r/s shipper, this may be obvious, but, PoA for both! i love the book because of how perfectly encapsulated it is, how tight the plot is, and how much remus lupin there is. he really is the star of the show!

the movie is not (IMO) a great adaptation of the book, but i think it's a fantastic film in its own right. the directing is very strong and i do love the acting. (unpopular opinion?)

[ruinsplume]

I thought Cuaron was far and away the best director in terms of really letting the actors act and keeping the special effects from overshadowing the performers (dumb not!werewolf beast thing notwithstanding). I wish he had done more of the films. Apparently he was offered Book 4 but he was too overextended and exhausted.

[necessarian]

oh, i hadn't heard that! what a pity. and i agree; putting aside the uhhh "werewolf" the film really felt more like a film than any of the others and less like it was a series of related events that just happened to be on screen :P

(i'm... not a huge fan of the movies, haha)

[magnetic_pole]

i love the book because of how perfectly encapsulated it is, how tight the plot is, and how much remus lupin there is.

That's an excellent summary of the strengths of PoA right there. :) The first time I read the book, I remember reaching the final chapters and realizing (for the first time, right then) that every book we would get a new DADA professor, and so Lupin had to go. I was soooo disappointed.

And not an unpopular opinion at all, it seems! M.

[necessarian]

yeah oh my gosh i distinctly remember that feeling too. lupin truly was the finest.

and it's great to find so many people agreeing with me on this point! when i talk to people IRL about it they're so quick to judge... guess they just haven't latched onto the wolfstar lifestyle yet...

[mindabbles]

And another one — I remember feeling, “oh no, wait, there has to be a way he stays in this story!” I agree with the tightness of the story and, of course, the scene in the shack. I loved that scene before I was a shipper as well because I loved the characters and finding out the whole story. There’s also such a sense at the end of POA that this is it — this is when things get much more serious. Not that they weren’t before, but the shift to much more sinister content happens there, IMO.

[necessarian]

oh yes definitely, PoA is the point where you start to worry. GoF puts the nails in the coffin, but i love the creeping unease of PoA. the public vs private sirius is great foreshadowing for how unreliable the wizarding media becomes later in the series.