A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War

October 28, 2019 by 1 Comment

The trailer above is to a five part documentary film series that the movie makers hope to sell to Netflix or Amazon. It is the adaptation for the small screen of Joseph Laconte’s history, A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-1918. Judging from the participants in this trailer, most notably Malcolm Guite and Michael Ward, and from the quality of the recreations shown, it looks to be a series well worth watching.

I have learned, though, that the film-makers need money to finish off Part One and to make the sale to the streaming movie platform owners. If you wish to contribute or just to learn more about the project, check out the on-line pitch here.

If you’d prefer to hear the author speak on the topic of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and how their experiences as soldiers in WWI shaped their lives and their friendship, not to mention the Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, you can just watch the talk below. Enjoy!

Filed Under: C. S. Lewis, Movie Thoughts

Four Dropped Threads in Beasts Films

October 27, 2019 by Leave a Comment

I’m a shameless Laurie Beckoff fan-boy. She’s a UChicagwarts alumna, a Jeopardy champion, and a first tier Potter Pundit. If you have any doubts about that, go back and listen to the ‘Reading, Writing, Rowling’ podcast in which she was the guest expert on King Arthur and the Medieval aspects of the Hogwarts Saga, the subject of her Master’s thesis. Smart, funny, well-read — did I mention “smart like Hermione”? You can watch her tell her Harry Potter story (with great pictures of her pre-teen Luna Lovegood Halloween costume) here.

Anyway, I stumbled on an article Beckoff wrote for MuggleNet last year — she is a regular contributor to the “#1 Wizarding World Resource since 1999,” not to mention MNet podcast producer and their Campaign Co-ordinator — about The Crimes of Grindelwald. The piece is just what its title says it is, namely, Four “Fantastic Beasts” Threads Lost in “Crimes of Grindelwald.”

We’ve spilled a lot of virtual ink here about the failings of Crimes of Grindelwald (check out the fifty pieces listed on the film’s Pillar Post) but I think this Beckoff post on ‘Lost Threads’ brings up the more obvious and at least as important point not discussed here. The sequel failed to deliver on expectations primarily because it didn’t work as a sequel, i.e., the things we learned in Beasts 1 didn’t mesh with the developments we were given in Beasts 2. Jacob’s obliviated-by-rain memory and his shop? Credence’s death? Newt’s expulsion from Hogwarts? Leta’s relationship with Newt? “All gone!”

Yes, there’s a lot more that’s wrong with Crimes than that. We had the director once again butcher Rowling’s shooting script ring composition, for example. The Leta Lestrange sub-plot was incomprehensible because almost every cut scene was one that included Leta or was about her. Check out the Pillar Post for the full agonizing survey. Having noted all that, though, it pays to remember the first great disappointment with Crimes for fans was that it didn’t work as a Fantastic Beasts follow-up. Beckoff’s list of “lost threads” brings that shock back into sharp focus. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Filed Under: Fantastic Beasts, Guest Posts

Shared Text: Generation Hex Marketing

October 26, 2019 by Leave a Comment

My alma mater, sometimes called ‘Chicagwarts’ because of the Indiana limestone castle-esque buildings on the main quadrangle, is pulling out all the stops to convince Generation Hex students (well, that generation’s younger brothers and sisters) who are applying to college to look their way. This promotional video, ‘Fantastic Feats,’ is a straight take from the Marauder’s Map first shown in the Warner Brother’s adaptation of Prisoner of Azkaban:

The ‘Fantastic Feats’ title and image, of course, are lifted from the Fantastic Beasts films as conceived by Warner Brothers.

File this, then, under ‘Shared Text,’ Mina Lima file. There simply is no other set of books and film adaptations that marketers can use with equal confidence that everyone seeing them will get the allusion (and enjoy it). Please share in the comment boxes below any ‘Shared Text’ references you have seen in the college admissions field or elsewhere!

Filed Under: Movie Thoughts, Shared Text

Rowling Lives! One Young World Forum

October 25, 2019 by Leave a Comment

J. K. Rowling appeared at the One Young World Forum in London on 24 October to speak as a representative of Lumos, her primary charitable focus, which works to place institutionalized children into families and in homes rather than orphanages. The focus of her remarks to the panel on which she sat as one guest among four was the danger and harm done by well-intentioned but naive “volun-tourists.”

Lumos released a video against “orphanage tourism and volunteering,” activities they describe as ‘Helping Not Helping.’

Read more about the event and Rowling’s remarks at SnitchSeeker.com, from which the videos above were taken, and at JKRowling.com in her announcement. The full text of her comments can be read at TIME.com (hat tip, Rowling Library!).Her next scheduled public appearance will be in New York on 12 December when she will be one of four political leftists “dedicated to advancing social change” who will be given a Robert Kennedy ‘Ripple of Hope’ Award.

More after the jump. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes

Fantastic Beasts Theme Park On Its Way

October 24, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Universal has announced that is building a new theme park in Orlando, Florida, on a seven and a half acre property several miles from their current site featuring The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The new park will include several new features, the most interesting to Potter-philes being a Fantastic Beasts section. The ground has been graded and prepared already so the owners hope to break ground later this year and open the new park in 2023. Read all about the plans, schedule, and property at OrlandoParkStop.com.

I admit to being surprised at this move but this only speaks to my naivete. If I had given it any thought (and of course I haven’t), I would have realized the success or failure of a film franchise is not the only factor in consideration for their adaptation as a theme park, perhaps it is not even a major or critical factor. For evidence of that, review the movies and television programs featured at various Universal Studios. Fantastic Beasts may not be a blockbuster franchise a la Harry Potter but it is doing well enough to be recognizable as a title and the precedent of Wizarding World success makes it a natural.

I doubt, though, that it will ever achieve the kind of pilgrimage status that Wizarding World’s Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley have. The Beast movies lack the imaginative experience in depth that the Potter books inspired. As excited as any fan may be about Newt Scamander’s adventures and the revelations of Credence’s history against the back-drop of the Dumbledore-Grindelwald blood pact, it just isn’t in the same league of engagement and wonder as Harry’s battles with the Dark Lord.

Your thoughts? 

Thanks to Kelly for sharing the news about this new park.

Filed Under: Fantastic Beasts, Hog Pro Notes