Valerie Estelle Frankel has won a Dream Realm Award, an Indie Excellence Award, and a USA Book News National Best Book Award for her Henry Potty parodies. She’s the author of over 60 books on pop culture, including Doctor Who – The What, Where, and How; Sherlock: Every Canon Reference You May Have Missed in BBC’s Series 1-3; Harry Potter and Myth: The Legends behind Cursed Child, Fantastic Beasts, and all the Hero’s Journeys; and How Game of Thrones Will End. Many of her books focus on women’s roles in fiction, from her heroine’s journey guides From Girl to Goddess and Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey to books like Superheroines and the Epic Journey and The Many Faces of Katniss Everdeen. Once a lecturer at San Jose State University, she now teaches at Mission College and San Jose City College and speaks often at conferences. You can explore her research at www.vefrankel.com.

Symbolism in Crimes of Grindelwald — Valerie Estelle Frankel

Wow, what a film. While the plot certainly had its weak moments, from very few actual “crimes” of Grindelwald to a rather small-scale plot, the film seemed clearer than the last about what it was trying to be. Certainly, there was much fascinating backstory for fans, with a return to the twist endings that got us all so hooked. Beginning with the shocking revelation at the story’s end reveals much about where the characters are heading.

Finally, the chick that Credence has been painstakingly nurturing, believing it to be a baby raven and the Lestrange family crest, is revealed as a phoenix. Symbolically, a phoenix represents regeneration. “A universal symbol of resurrection and immortality, of death and rebirth by fire” (Cooper 129). It’s a Christ symbol, like many that surround Harry in book seven. Credence’s caring for the bird suggests on one level seeing himself as a baby raven, feeding this vulnerable side of the self, hoping to evolve himself into a full-grown raven, and finally discovering he’s the heir to a more magnificent heritage yet. He longs to become bright, brilliant, and immeasurably powerful. Mixed in with the tale of switched babies, there’s more than a visual touch of the ugly duckling. The parallel figure Leta Lestrange meanwhile sees herself as evil and sorrowfully tells Newt, “You’re too good, Newt. You never met a monster you couldn’t love.” Of course, Newt, who has spent his life caring for baby birds, is also caught in this imagery, devoting himself to saving both Credence and Leta. He bonds with the latter by sharing a baby bird with her and tries to keep all his symbolic charges alive, whatever the cost.

Crows and ravens are symbolically identical (and indeed are related biologically), prompting the lost Lestrange boy’s given name of Corvus, their shared biological family. The name is also the crow constellation, linking to the old families’ love of Latin star names like Scorpius and Sirius. To Babylonians, the Raven Constellation, sitting on a serpent’s tail, marked the gateway to the underworld, as Credence and Nagini may finally do – ushering Grindelwald to defeat with their choices.  Odin, god king of Norse myth, was known for the two ravens, Hugin and Mugin (Thought and Memory), which advised him, setting them in a dark counterpart to wise leader Dumbledore and his future beloved phoenix, Fawkes. While Leta is lost and Credence disproven as a Lestrange, the image of Grindelwald surrounded by dark birds would not be shocking. [Read more…]

I have seen Crimes of Grindelwald twice now and started reading and charting the “original screenplay.” This work is being delayed because of a flood of revelations about Rowling’s real story, the shooting script.

The biggest secret of the story, one kept much better than before the first film in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, is which scenes from the shooting script were cut for the final version of the movie, the so-called “deleted scenes.” That secret is busting open now with reports of more than fifteen deleted scenes, ones we had been shown in the various trailers and others which actors are discussing now in their endless junket interviews. If we are to see Rowling’s artistry rather than Yates’ blockbuster formula edit, we have to have these scenes in their sequence to chart the ring or whatever “structure” The Presence told us was her singular accomplishment in telling this ensemble story.

So, that’s a work in progress! While I sort through that with help from various friends, I hope to share some guest posts this week and some stray thoughts for your consideration and comment. Today’s three thoughts are about Travers, the Weekend Box Office, and a Lethal White plot point as a potential clue for solving Crimes of Grindelwald’s ‘Aurelius Dumbledore’ mystery. Join me for those after the jump! [Read more…]