Pre-modernism and visuals from Harry Potter - Research Paper Example

Harry Potter Postmodern Culture gave the world a variety of marvelous artworks that enable some insights regarding the views on the nature of things. The video I have chosen for the analysis is “Epic Harry Potter Tribute,” which is available on Youtube (the link will be provided in the end of the paper). Thorough analysis of the whole Harry Potter’s story evidently shows its being a postmodern artwork. This paper aims to reveal the essential aspects of Post Modernism, which are traced through the epic Harry Potter’s story – depicted shortly through the video tribute. The tribute to Harry Potter covers the most magnificent and exciting moments of all the movies. The video is created by Barney Barnicle. It starts with the depiction of the Diagon Alley with all its magic – plenty of wizards, owls and all the atmosphere. Then all fades out to show the Great Hall just after. There are many candles in the air that shed light on the multitude of magicians sitting; it is the first time Harry and his friends are in Hogwarts. Then other locations, the corridor and the Gringotts bank inside – its hidden hall, located deeply under the ground with its great poster and famous statues. Transformed heroes meet bad people, including Dolores Ambridge. The next shot show the joint photo of the members of Order of Phoenix; it provides closer view to show Harry’s parents and his godfather Sirius Blake, Remus Lupin and the betrayer Peter Pettigrew. Further the viewer may see the gathering of the Dumbledore’s Army – which is a kind of direct consequence from the Order of Phoenix. First we see the leaders, Harry is in the middle, of course. Then there are other people shown; Cho Chang is in the focus of attention – she was the first love of Harry Potter. Then we see Tom Riddle’s appearance – and his Voldemort attraction. The diary, bright artifact of the second film about the Chamber of Secrets is shown with the first message from Tom Riddle to Harry Potter. After that we see horcruxes and the voice speaks about their importance as a source of Voldemort’ power and their role to defeat him. Then we see Nagini on the table among the evil forces. The next shot is contrasting, as there is little baby Harry Potter in his bed, Following parts show the famous scar and the sad childhood of Harry. The next is the first touch of Harry to magic – when he feels his magic wand at the store of Ollivander. Then the author of the video, Barnicle masterly combined the successive Harry Potter’s portrayals that addressed his consistent growth and maturation – the final steps put the viewer into an atmosphere of stress. The same series of depictions of portrayals of different ages is shown for Ron and Hermione. The final ones are also connected with tension; the final one shows them kissing in the Chamber of Secrets. The next part is devoted to Severus Snape – his childish appearance, his various roles and his desperate unanswered love to Lilly Potter that forced him to care after her son. Then several shots show Harry’s parents – Lilly and James. First we see the photo, then the memories and the part of Harry’s battle with Voldemort, which revealed their spirits; then we see their common grave. The next series shows Albus Dumbledore – the greatest headmaster of Hogwarts of all times; we see his brightest scenes – and his falling. Then we see dementors and plenty of signs of Deathly Hollows. We see little Harry, wearing cloak of invisibility for the first time, then Dumbledore’s Army and the Order of Phoenix. Then we see Hagrid, entering Harry’s room for the first time. Following shots are Harry’s happy moments with his close friends and relatives – Sirius and Remus; Remus defeats the first dementor entering the train compartment. The next shot is a part of the contest for the Goblet of Fire. Following part shows Voldemort in various films and views. Next few shots show the scenes from “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” and Harry defeats the giant snake. Then there are dementors and battles with them – after that Harry wakes up in fear. Following scenes depict lanscapes of ruinations and bright scenes of battles and destruction. They are supported with really epic music. The next couople of shoots show dreadful scenes, when, first, Sirius Blake dies, and then Dobby the elf as well. Closer to the end Voldemort is shown as being more and more powerful, the music is also can be characterized as having higher and higher tension, speed and loudness. There is extremely bright and marvelous battle for Hogwarts – supported by awesome special effects. The rows of the brightest fights are shown – and evidently the final is between Harry and Voldemort. When Harry defeats him and he dies, the music shapes that event just perfectly. The whole video is performed with the perfect soundtrack and proper supporting text, which make the tribute to Harry Potter really epic. To start with, Harry Potter is a series of films, based on the stories by J.K . Rowling. There are seven books and eight movies the last book was so bright that the creators of the films decided to separate it into two parts to avoid omitting important aspects of the plot. The films are Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) and the final is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). Through the tribute the author covered the brightest moments from all the films. All of them are distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. There were four directors: Alfonso Cuaron, Chris Columbus, David Yates and Mike Newell. The first two parts were directed by Chris Columbus, the third was made by Alfonso Cuaron, the fourth movie is directed by Mike Newel, and the major part, films from the fifth till the final, eighth part were directed by David Yates. Post Modernism is a term, which refers to the way society elaborates its meaning during the times after the "Modern" Art. It is something that happens in our time and reality – even if being depicted through alternative reality, it reconciles with the crucial characteristics of current event and tendencies. Christian view diminishes Post Modernism value: “Post modern life is Fragmented, Frivolous, Consumer driven, Fun, Throw-away and Now (instant gratification). ("Living in the Post Christian Era - Post Modernism, New Age, Harry Potter"). The whole media is immersed into it. The followers of such perspective presume the generation is engaged simply in ‘gloss entertainment’ as a substitute for the real life. Post Modern life is seen as narrow minded and selfish, allowing no place for commitment, duty and long-term goals; it aims to costly but short-living ‘happiness.’ Jesus said (Matthew 6; 19-21): "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." ("Living in the Post Christian Era - Post Modernism, New Age, Harry Potter"). Mainly, observing articles that appeal to Christian perspective, they tend to claim widely Harry Potter as heresy, not only a Postmodernist but also a postmodern apocalyptic fiction (Tobias). There are articles that say that as far as teaching of religions, even Christianity is forbidden in public schools, including Harry Potter in the school program is improper as it contains a lot of elements of Wicca, empowering Paganism and occultism ("Living in the Post Christian Era - Post Modernism, New Age, Harry Potter"). There are also accuses that concern high degree of relativity regarding what is right and what is wrong, good and evil. Like, Harry might lie and then by gratified for the victorious outcome. This may enhance lies among children’s vulnerable minds. But, appealing to the Jesus’ words, I cannot agree that Harry Potter contains such an ignorant aspects; even more, I suggest that the movie and the story, of course, contain a lot of Christian values as commitment, support and sacrificing. The books and the movies definitely contain a row of questionable aspects, yet observing all of them is not placed in the focus of this assignment. Thus, apart from Christian denial of the value of Harry Potter, we will emphasize on its post-modernist features without lowering its value. To begin with, we must characterize what precisely Post Modernism is and how it identifies with Harry Potter. To comprehend Post Modernism we need to comprehend the liberal humanist custom, which is opposed to it, being prior historically. Liberal humanist belief was especially prevailing through the nineteenth century. One of its convictions was about ˜essential self. With the rise of psychology individuals were beginning to figure out how the psyche functions and concluded that you could find a focal self to any individual. This was consolidated into numerous abstract works of the time. In the event that a man was viewed as malicious in a story or other artwork, they were basically insidious and couldnt change. On the off chance that a hero was good they were basically great, and couldnt have shortcomings or failures. In this way were made numerous unlikely anecdotal characters, both saints and scalawags. Post Modernism thought subsequent to the mid twentieth century has been suspicious of the thoughts of liberal humanism. Post Modernism incorporates numerous thoughts, the most one is that it is difficult to comprehend the focal self. People constantly adjust and change point of view for the duration of their lives. This prompts creating a character who is eligible to change and obtains capacity to act and experience diverse emotional sides and levels. It is evident that Harry Potter provides exactly such kind of perspective on the universe of characters that may change and have different emotional aspects. Among the main examples I would like to provide Severus Snape. Through the many books (and evidently, the films), who was shown as a villain mainly. But in the later parts he turned to by a very significant and kind-hearted person with the hidden tragedy of his sad youth and unanswered love to Harry’s mother, Lilly, who felt in love with another man, James Potter, and consequently married to him. Peter Pettigrew, instead, appeared to be nor only a coward, but also a traitor and evil hero afterwards. Good character Dumbledore had his secrets. As it was already stated above, lies might led sometimes to fruitful outcomes – but, what is more important, it helped to serve the more important goals that saved many lives. Thus, the life is shown as multifaceted phenomenon through the magic reality of Hogwarts. To sum up, Harry Potter is definitely a Postmodernist artwork. It contains aspects of the reality – depicted through the half-magical reality (do not forget about the existence of muggles’ world). It shows fantasy – yet problems heroes face are just like those simple people do. Even though people do not have to struggle for survival, fighting with dementors, bogarts and other magic creatures, for which Harry Potter obtained a variety of negative feedbacks and accuses for being an occultist film, people still have to face the same issues. They fight with their fears (embodied through bogarts), have to fight with one of the seven Christian sins – despondency – with courage and strong positive feelings, full of love and excitement (embodied through dementors). Magical realism depicts the material reality observed widely. Magicians in the story are to be identified with and deal with their adventures – yet there are many things that concern not only fantasy but things like life choices, close people and relationships. The films teach people to develop, to be brave and fight for what is worth it – which are the core values of the faculty Gryffindor. Works cited Barnicle, Barney. "Epic Harry Potter Tribute." YouTube, 24 Oct. 2011. Web. 30 July 2015. . Tobias, Ariana. "Harry Potter as Postmodern Apocalyptic Fiction." Ending Dualism at Hogwarts. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Hunter, 2011. Web. 30 July 2015. . Grabowski, John. "Harry Potter: Muddled Mythology for a Postmodern World." The Christian Broadcasting Network. 2000. Web. 30 July 2015. . "Living in the Post Christian Era - Post Modernism, New Age, Harry Potter." Wildolive. Web. 30 July 2015. . Read More