After watching the new teaser for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I personally had no comment. Having stopped reading the series somewhere in the center of the previous book, I didn’t feel I had any authority on the matter. The only thing I thought while watching the clip was that it seemed more like one of those annoying prequels that comes after a series to humanize that series’ villain with an origin story (y’know, like the Star Wars prequels and Young Hott Hannibal (wait, that’s not what it was titled?). And until I read an interesting trailer analysis on MTV Movies Blog this morning, I thought that couldn’t actually be the case.
Actually, MTV’s look at the teaser began last night with a frame by frame analysis, in which Shawn Adler reveals his expert knowledge of J.K. Rowling’s text by pointing out the myriad ways that David Yates’ film is different from the book, from a previously reported added-in scene to little changes within adapted sequences. My favorite observation:
0:43: Our first glimpse at young Tom Riddle, the boy wizard who would grow up to be Voldemort. Surprisingly, I’m more interested here in Dumbledore, who is costumed differently than in the novel, where he was described as wearing “flamboyantly plum velvet.”
OK, now for Adler’s continued thoughts, from the blog. He notes that both the book and this film are indeed about the background of Tom Riddle/Voldemort/He Who Shall Not Be Blogged About. Surely there’s more, though. Obviously there’s the stuff set in the present. So, perhaps it’s more The Godfather Part II than Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones? As if the Potter fans care about such comparisons. Well, neither do I, really. My primary interest in Adler’s analysis is on the film’s marketing rather than the film itself:
This first trailer, in fact, isn’t really a trailer at all — not in the sense that we’ve grown accustomed to, anyway. Most trailers tell you about story. This trailer, conversely, tells you about character, the character of the young orphaned wizard who grows up to be the most powerfully dark sorcerer or all-time.
A trailer that isn’t a trailer in the traditional sense? Sign me up for more. Half-Blood Prince teasers, I mean. Or more character-centered trailers. As for the actual movie, well, I can take it or leave it.
Originally posted on:
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