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Wedemire 1 Garrett Wedemire English Composition II Media Analysis 20 March 2019 Harry Potter: Which is Better the Books or the Movies? “You’re a wizard Harry!” This is probably one of the best-known lines from one of the most sold book series throughout the world. All throughout history there have been a slew of books that have been turned and produced into movies. Some of the most critically acclaimed books that were made into films include the famous Gone with the Wind, more recent books such as The Fault in our Stars, or probably one of the biggest books and movie adaptations in American history; the Harry Potter series. The Harry Potter series is probably the most widely known book series that was turned into a movie throughout not only America, but the entire world. Even though the movies stayed very detail oriented, and tried to include to the events in the books in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, some of the facts in the books were involved with much more detail than the movies allowed for, which made the books a much better overall experience compared to the movies. Most of the time we as the audience say the books are better than the movies just because the books are able to include so much more details than the movies are able to cram into just under two hours. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was such a big book with so many details the film had to be split into two movies both two hours (plus) long. The Harry Potter movies do a very good job overall in portraying the facts presented in the books. Take for example some of the characters described in the book, most of the characters depicted in the movies are closely tied to their descriptions in the book. One of the best examples of character

Wedemire 2 depictions from the movies tied to the books is the character named Hagrid. Rowling says in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone regarding Hagrid, “He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild – long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins” (Rowling 11). The character Hagrid was played by two different actors; Robbie Coltrane, and Martin Bayfield. Both of these actors were the perfect actors to portray Hagrid in the Harry Potter films. These actors along with their wardrobe and added beard/hair allowed the Hagrid from the books to come alive in the films. That is always one of the best things about a movie, it gives fans of the books a chance to see their favorite characters portrayed in real life. Bustle writer Julia Seales stated that “though Hagrid is a bit smaller than described, in my opinion actor Robbie Coltrane looks pretty darn near perfect as Hagrid.” This is definitely the truth, it was almost as if the Hagrid in the movies jumped directly from the pages onto the big screen. Even though the producers were able to keep most of the details very point on compared to the books, there were a lot of things the producers also had to leave out due to time restraints during the movies. As discussed, early Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was split into two movies for a total run time of 4 hours and 36 minutes. The book had so much detail, and information that there was no way for it to be made into only one movie like the previous six books were. Franchise producer David Heyman even stated when producing the series that “the last book is so rich, the story so dense and there is so much that is resolved that after discussing it with Jo Rowling, we came to the conclusion that two parts were needed to do it justice” (Miller). One of the biggest scenes that was left out of the final movie was the duel between Professor McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Professor Snape. In the movie we only see a brief dual

Wedemire 3 between Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape, but in the book, there are over 3 and a half pages dedicated to the dual between these four professors. This is just one example of the details the movies had to leave out in order to cut down the time. Overall most of the movies that are made following the books do a very good job at depicting the characters and events of the books, but even so have to leave out some minor details and events from the books in order to make it a featured length film. Even though movies are enjoyable to watch due to them brining your favorite characters to life, books are much more exciting to read because they have so much more detail. In your opinion would you rather read the book or watch the movie if you could only choose to do one?

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Works Cited Miller, Ross. “Why Harry Potter’s ‘Deathly Hallows’ Is Two Movies.” Screenrant, Screen Rant, 21 Apr. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2019 Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Bloomsbury Books, 2001. SDFI, www2.sdfi.edu.cn/netclass/jiaoan/englit/download/Harry%20Potter%20and%20th e%20Sorcerer%27s%20Stone.pdf Rowling, J.K., Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bloomsbury Books, 2007. 305 Digital Library, 305digitallibrary.weebly.com/uploads/4/6/5/6/46566925/7_harry_potter_and_th e_de athly_hallows.pdf Seales, Julia. “How the Potter Characters Looked: Books Vs. Movies.” Bustle, Bustle, 17 Dec. 2018. Web. 20 Mar. 2019....