Reactions of Non-readers to the HBP movie

[LoonyForMoony]

Originally Posted by Lorena

People who watch the movies would say that. Hermione is becoming a very important character in the movies. We were just talking about this in another thread. So, maybe it's natural for non-reader to assume that.

I feel like the movie Ron is becoming more and more stupid; he's not my favorite character in the books, but he definitely holds his place as a third of the trio. In the films they take all his clever/intelligent lines and give them to Hermione, while Ron is just given these pointless, cheesy one-liners (in between stuffing food in his mouth). I can definitely see why Ron/Hermione would make absolutely NO sense to non-readers.

[Noldus]

Two seconds after Snape killed Dumbledore my mother asked if Dumbledore really was dead She still thought Snape was good and wondered if they only pretended he was dead. When I told her that Dumbledore was dead she had no clue as to which side Snape was on and seemed very curious.

[MinervasCat]

I just recently posted on another thread, my son has seen all of the movies and really likes them, but, he is so confused about certain points that he keeps asking me how this or that came about because the movies just don't provide enough information to explain some of the things that are happening.

[Nandi]

Originally Posted by Noldus

Two seconds after Snape killed Dumbledore my mother asked if Dumbledore really was dead She still thought Snape was good and wondered if they only pretended he was dead. When I told her that Dumbledore was dead she had no clue as to which side Snape was on and seemed very curious.

I cannot blame her it only gets clear in the last book and even then i keep my doubts partially

Originally Posted by LumosSempra

I sincerely hope we don't have any non-book readers in this forum, because that would just be shameful! My cousin swears he's read the books, but I don't think he has, because right after he saw the movie he texted me "So Snape is bad?!?!" Haha, so yeah, he has definitely never read Deathly Hallows at least. I saw it a second time with my sister. She's never read the books (but she swears that she will soon!) but she likes the movies. I think she got the gist of what was going on, but she missed a lot of the details so I had to whisper things in her ear all throughout the movie. My aunt (who doesn't speak English but can understand things here and there) went to see it with us and the only thing she said at the end was "I didn't like it because they killed the old man" with a pout on her face. That cracked me up.

Well with some when you suggest to them to read the books the movies are loosely based on they get a very tired look on their face.

[HarryXGinny4evr]

I took my best guy friend to see it with me, and normally, he hates the whole series. Everything about it! He won't read the books and he won't see the movies. But he went with me to see Harry Potter. And coming out, he told me he enjoyed it! After that, he began to read the books and watch the movies. And before I knew it, he was back to himself. That one moment though, I was happy. He loved the movie, and I was happy.

[JoJoLestrange]

Well, my brother and I (having read the books) understood it, but my father said that there was too much dialogue, not enough action, and too confusing. XD

[HarryXGinny4evr]

Originally Posted by JoJoLestrange

Well, my brother and I (having read the books) understood it, but my father said that there was too much dialogue, not enough action, and too confusing. XD

Lol that's what my parents said when they watched it two days ago. They weren't all that happy with it.

[firebolt57]

Originally Posted by LindaZhu

some of my friends are under the impression that all Harry Potter movies just involve Harry flying around a lot, getting chased by dragons, and occasionally stopping to battle a "weird bald guy with no nose". i very politely slapped them.

Shaaaaame! I've encountered people like that and it drives me nuts! People who are obviously not cultured and missing out BIG TIME!

Originally Posted by Tonks_Animagus

I don't like it when people think that Harry would fall in love with Hermione. They're just friends, and only a non-hp fan would say that.

I agree. But then again, for only movie goers, I can see how they would confuse this. In the movies, Hermione is the best friend, where Ron is shunted of to the side The chemistry between Harry and Hermione is great and I love seeing it, but I can see how someone would think it would lead to something more, because their relationship/frienship is so emphasized. The chemistry between Harry and Ron is mostly forgotten or ignored. :grumble

[caitsQuill]

A friend of mine watched the Half-Blood Prince a few weeks ago and sent me a text that said "R.A.B. That's Sirius' brother, right?" Good catch for a non-reader.
If he was confused by anything in the film, he didn't ask. He also didn't review it but that's because I think that secretly, he's a big HP fan and doesn't want to admit it

[Snuffy]

Originally Posted by AccioHP

So I was wondering of those of you who went with people who didn't read the books...what did they think of the movie? Were they surprised at certain parts?

I went with my sister and my uncle. My sister is a fan of the movies, my uncle has seen them but probably only once each. He was really there just to take us

My sister mentioned to me that she didn't think Snape was like that (meaning evil and that he'd kill Dumbledore). So from my experience it seems like a lot if not all of the non book readers are believing that Snape is on the Dark Side, Which will set up a shock in DH2.

So what did your friends/family members think of it? (if they were non readers)

I can kind of chime in as I was a "non-reader" up until last year when they announced the HP park opening date, then I started reading the books. I think the movies did a poor job of hiding the fact that Snape is not fully bad.

I think its because they underplayed how much Albus trusted Snape. In the books you were conflicted becuase it really looked like Albus was blindly trusting Snape and did not know what he was truley doing.

But even at the end of the HBP movie my wife, who isn't a HP fan at all, could sense Snape was conflicting and trying to hide something when he killed Albus and when Harry attacked him towards the end.

The movies made it way too obvious. Of course the big surprise will not be that Snape was really good, but WHY he did what he did, and HOW he secretly helped Albus and Harry throughout all the movies.

[codenameblue]

My mother has always been with me when watching the HP movies, but as she never read the books (even though we've got all seven of them) she never really understood it. When we watched HBP together, she said this was the saddest and most depressing movie ever because everybody just seemed to die. Well, it was just Dumbledore, but I think she felt the impact of his loss, and it was so cute how she started hating Snape

[gelowo93]

I went to watch HBP two of my friends, one has read all the books and one hasn't. I'm disappointed to say that I was sat at the end next to my friend who had read the books so that at the end of the film , when Snape says that he is the half-blood prince, I didn't get a proper look at the expression on my friend's face who hadn't read the books She was completely shocked and is now convinced that Snape is completely evil because he killed Dumbledore. Hopefully I will go to see the DH films with her so I can see her shock when she finds out Snape is actually good

[Mother_mercury]

I took my non-reader friend to HBP, I'm an avid reader and re-reader of the series, she did not know the outcome of HBP and cried when

Spoiler: show

Snape Killed Dumbledore.

She is a movie fan, I don't particularly approve and always stress she read them but I just can't persuade her.

[Colombe]

People who hasn't read the books often find it hard to keep up the pace in the movies, I think.

[Mother_mercury]

Originally Posted by Colombe

People who hasn't read the books often find it hard to keep up the pace in the movies, I think.

I agree 110% I have two friends that are movie watchers, and refuse to pick up the books, and several book readers. We (the book readers) have to explain concepts over and over to the two movie watchers.

[Pensieve_Seeker]

I took a friend of mine, who had only seen part of the first HP movie and hadn't read any of the books, to see the HBP last summer. When it was over, I asked her if she had any questions and she just had one about the Vanishing Cabinet. She also wanted to know when the next movie was coming out. When I told her in November 2010, she replied "That's too far away!"

[rainbowapplefiz]

My husband was really confused because he wasn't sure what the whole point of a "half-blood prince" was. He knew it was in the title, but the movie had very little to do with it at all. He finally read the book and was angry with how much was left out!

[Fawkesfan1]

Originally Posted by Colombe

People who hasn't read the books often find it hard to keep up the pace in the movies, I think.

Yep. I've noticed that as well. My mom has that issue at times in terms of the movies . We were just rewatching OOTP and she didn't remember that much of it. As for HBP, she kept up with it pretty well... had to tell her about somethings, but other than that it was all good .

[Pearl]

Hmm it's interesting, from what I've gathered, movie watchers don't appreciate the plot and characters nearly as much as those who've read the books (which is no surprise really). When I watched the movies with my mom, she didn't find plot twists quite as shocking or ingenious as I did. For example, Snape being the half-blood prince; for me, reading it I was like whereas my mom's reaction was kind of like "oh, ok." The movies simply aren't long enough to allow for all the details and character development which truly make the plot of the book.

My mom also found the movies quite dark and depressing much of the time, and even criticized my love for the series. That truly annoyed me because only those who've read the books actually understand the fascination with the Harry Potter world.

[ProtegoTotalum]

One of my best friends is a non-reader but she owns all of the films and really seems to enjoy them. However, she told me she saw OotP in theaters and was epically confused. The reader she went with had to explain nearly everything.

My dad also is a non-reader, though I've tried...got him to read part of PS/SS but he only got about to the troll and just sort of stopped...not that he disliked it, he said, but he doesn't really read that much in general, just isn't something he does. But he does like the films he's seen, and especially loves the chess scene in PS/SS.