Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Rowling 2009) film is about Harry when he enters the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At that time, the World is turmoil, and Voldermort’s army is gaining momentum and force. Voldermort is a dark wizard and wanted to destroy all wizards who did not support him by killing the Muggle. He was significantly supported by ‘Death Eaters’ to accomplish the mission. The purpose of Voldermort in the film is a product of nasty action since he is portrayed as a static character from the beginning to the end. He is also described as secretive since, from the beginning, he plans to satisfy himself by accomplishing his plan of becoming most powerful and immortal. There are occurrences of tragedies where the Muggle world is experiencing havoc, and significant loss, and a lot of fear arises. Muggle world referred to those who did not have the magical power that resurfaced from one generation to another. Muggle-borns were expected to be magically deficient, and in connection, the Hogwarts considered mostly the Muggle-borns to meet the Muggle parents. Following this, the Prime Minister of the Muggle world engages in conflict after meeting the Muggle’s former prime minister. It is clear that the war is at hand, and Hogwarts is still in danger. Harry becomes convinced that Draco Malfoy is working and plotting something big with Voldermort. Draco Malfoy was a student and a cunning user of magic who, in the film, is portrayed as a coward and manipulates people to get what he wants. The fact that Draco had unfinished business at Borgin and Burkes fueled Harry’s assumption that he had a secret interaction with Voldermort. Near the end of the film, Harry and Dumbledore go to a cave to retrieve the suspected Horcrux where they find the locket in a portion of a filled basin placed in the underground. Horcrux was an object in which a person concealed part of their soul so that even if a person was attacked or destroyed, it could not die since a small part of the soul lived outside the body. The condition to reach the locket was by taking a drink of the potion. Dumbledore, since he valued Harry more than anything else, drinks it for the sake of Harry, which weakens him. Harry and Dumbledore fight so hard in the lake where later they escape with the locket and return to Hogwarts only to find that Dark Mark placed over the school tower. However, the film has used different theories in different ways to express its work adequately. In this paper, we shall discuss the theories that focus on the artist, theories that focus on the audience, and the theories that focus on the digitization and globalization concerning the focus on the work of art, the Auteur theory, and the audience as structuralism and semiology. The film portrays Harry as a product of hard work since he is much dedicated to fighting for his destiny and destroying Voldermort. He sacrifices his peace and happiness for the benefit of the Muggle world and assumes a normal life as a Hogwarts student.
However, in the focus of art and realism, as referred in the text ‘Film Theory and Criticism,’ (Braudy and Marshal 2016) Utility theory which focuses on globalization and digitization can be used to describe the artwork of the artists regarding the film of Harry Potter and the Half-blood. It can be affirmed that Harry faced a difficult adult decision that allowed him to grow strongly. Utility theory acts as an intermediary between the processes of choice-making to monetary values. In real life, economic factors do not depend on every decision; this theory argues that people tend to pick the event that will benefit them in the future. In most instances, people will choose a less expensive game because the losses of the decision outpace the outcome’s gains. Harry and Dumbledore have been shown focused on reaching the Horcrux. However, it was not easy to reach it since there was a harsh condition as one was supposed to drink a portion of poisonous Chalice for the Horcrux to become visible. In this situation, Dumbledore has a great zeal to see the decoration, which forces him to drink the poison. He believes that Harry was superior to all and feels that he needed much protection and attention because he was the only determinant of their success. After having the drink, Dumbledore becomes so ill and loses the energy to move. On the other side, Harry restrains himself from the Horcrux and travels back to Hogwarts and Dumbledore. Unfortunately, Dumbledore is tragically murdered by Severus Snape, which was intended to save the World since Dumbledore had to choose between turning Harry over to Voldemort or death. However, Dumbledore could not afford to take Harry to Dumbledore since he feared Harry would succumb to Horcrux. The utility theory mind comes, where Dumbledore calculated that Harry’s safety was more important than his safety. The act was out of the expectations since Dumbledore was sick from the chalice poison. Therefore, in connection to this, it was worthy of being poisoned to create a way for Harry to hold the Horcrux. The utility theory makes Dumbledore’s reason for becoming a martyr for the greatness outweighed Harry getting to the Voldemort. However, the film also confirms that Harry trusts his best friends so much without reservation and loyal to Dumbledore since he followed every instruction given. He even goes further to tell the Minister of Magic that he is Dumbledore’s man always. They once fall into a disagreement when Dumbledore insisted that Snape can be trusted, which ironically was proven when Snape set a coup for Dumbledore. Dumbledore was secretive to Harry about why he trusted Snape and never told Harry about any member of the Order of the phoenix. To solve the matter wisely, Dumbledore repeatedly used to tell Harry not to worry about anything since he had his back.
However, Auteur’s theory (Lackey 2009), concerning Harry Potter’s film, also developed theories that focus on the audience, which were termed fan theories. One of the fan theories was the bizarre theory that Ron is Dumbledore. In this theory, it has it that Ron Weasley traveled in time and argues that he was a young Dumbledore. The theory is based on different things, where first the uncanny resemblances in the descriptions of the two. Each of the two is depicted as tall and thin, with long noses, red hair, and long fingers. Also, it is funny when Dumbledore claims to have eaten a vomit-flavored Bertie Bott’s Bean while still in his youth, but frankly, it is attested the idea of Dumbledore been youth sounds scam since Bertie Bott was born when Dumbledore was about 90 years old. In addition to this, Dumbledore had an idea of what Ron had seen in the ‘Mirror of Erised’, which brought us to the running of both characters wearing socks. Also, several coincidences have been mentioned to support Ron Is Dumbledore’s theory. It is also clear that Draco Malfoy’s in his song ‘Weasley Is Our King’ related directly with the color maroon and set of purple robes. It foreshadows the theme of socks since they have been used as a symbol of freedom, love, and redemption. However, Ron seems to be ungrateful of the socks that his mother gave, and in most instances, he proves it. There is a time he tosses the socks aside to gush the firebolt of Harry. Also, as seen in golf, he gives his Christmas socks to Dobby. Also, Molly is seen attached to socks since she is severally shown fussing, folding, and looking for the socks. Also, Tonks tells Harry her mother that he has a special knack for magically folding socks. For the first time, Harry is shown in the cupboard looking for a pair of socks and does it without her mother’s help. Also, Dobby is set free with a pair of socks as well as Dumbledore who had all power, respect, fame and wisdom still sees himself holding a pair of wooly socks in the ‘Mirror of Erised (Lefvebre 2009)’
Another fan theory portrayed in the film is Draco Is A Werewolf. The theory is believable because, as shown in the Harry Potter film, Draco is described as ill, which evades him from Quidditch match against Gryffindor. Also, when his assignment late for two days, he gives an excuse for having “dark shadows beneath his eyes.” The theory suggests that Draco has shown all signs of a werewolf, just like Professor Lupin’s description in the Prisoner of Azkaban. Also, Fenrir Greyback is described by Draco as a family friend, but ironically Greyback was known as a savagery werewolf but had a taste for children. Also, Voldemort promised Greyback prey for exchange of his services and became too angry at Lucius Malfoy when he failed to get the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries. The truth is affirmed when Draco was bitten by Greyback between the ends of Order of the Phoenix at the start of The Half-Blood Prince since Lucius Malfoy fails to capture the prophecy in Order of the Phoenix. Besides, the punishments that were demonstrated to Lucius did not seem severe as expected because his mistakes were supposed to accrue from Voldermort in the film. At the same point, we note that Lucius mishandled Riddle’s Diary, which was the main cause of Voldermort’s soul’s destruction. These attest that Lucius punishments were dangerous and terrible. However, Voldermort once said, “Maybe you can babysit the cubs” to Draco in a specific time when Death Eater noticed that Tonks and Remus had a baby. The statement is enough to confirm that Draco was a werewolf, where he ironically means that the baby would soon fade out of their sight.
However, in the focus of structuralism and semiology, we develop a theory that focuses on the meaning of the audience related to the Harry Potter film to analyze the film’s deep structure. One of the theories argued that Ginny Weasley slipped Harry some love portion. In this theory, we learn that Harry falls in love with Ginny Weasley in the film, which resulted from their strong feelings for Cho Chang. It looked like magic since the portion stands as one of the main themes in the film. Weasley grew more pretty and an eye for many guys, but ironically Harry seemed to have yet noticed the transition, and even Slughorn talks about them in his lessons where he makes out everything clear. Their love relationship as put enables the audience to determine the idea of Rowling in the eyeing of Weasley since, as depicted from the film, Rowling’s wishes were to win Weasley. Still, the reality comes where love wins no matter how one tries. There has been a fantasy in the description of the relationship as noticed the friendship is full of exaggeration when first Weasly interacts with Harry. The humor in their talk can bring us to the conclusion that they fall in love. Through the process of the relationship shown in the fil, the audience gets to acquire the type of words used. The words that the film chooses to use are so descriptive and enhance the imagery as a literal device to strengthen the audience’s connection. For instance, Weasley’s mental image is created from her character as portrayed in the description. We give her respect for hard work and sharp minds as she stands to be a product of a change in women’s power over men’s power. On the other side, Harry has been shown as resilient and dedicated to having Weasley in love. It is attested from their interaction and their whole process of falling in love. To the audience, it creates a connection with the flow of the film due to the zeal to know where their love story lands them.
However, we can have another theory that focuses on the structuralism and semiology part related to the try Potter film that argued that Voldemort was a cannibal. In this theory, Voldemort is associated with bad things, where one of the biggest secrets was creating Horcrux. The decoration’s creation was kept hidden from the fans where we get to know some of the harsh conditions that one had to meet to reach the Horcrux. It all circulated between murder and very dark magic. However, it is interesting to know that Rowling revealed that her editor was the only person who knew the entire process. It is unfortunate when she was getting to see the process. Her editor succumbed to a physical challenge, which tossed everything.
The effect resulting from knowing the traps and realities of Horcrux spread its impact to Professor Slughorn and Hermione since both fell sick and suggested the issue to be spiritual and repulsive. However, we cannot determine whether the final stage of creating a Horcrux was the flesh and the victim of blood. The cannibalism was associated with gaining strength and power from the dead spirits and ‘Dead Eaters’ as Voldemort’s followers called it. The story of the Horcrux gives the audience a greater understanding of the statute. We get connected to the cultural and traditional practices that existed in society. In most cultures, traditions stand as vital tools in making a better future of the community. Some consequences face society over the negligence of the rituals to be performed. However, as shown in the Film Theory and Criticism, we see how ancestors valued the natural spirits since they acted as signs of danger in culture.
In most cases, some of the traditions cause trouble and death to the living due to supernatural powers, which alters the lives of inhabitants. In connection with this with the Harry Potter story, Horcrux was associated with traditions that must be met. In instances where the matter is taken for granted, repulsive powers have shown their ability to affect the living were some are falling and others dying. It is malicious to both innocent and evil. The audience affirms that some of the traditions help the positive drive of the society while other traditions aim to destroy and are a threat to the living. The Horcrux was associated with dark magic, which has brought influences of some turning werewolf. The effect later haunts the life of the unborn and the newborn to the spiritual World. The theory criticizes the fame given to the Horcrux since the powers associated with it are a threat rather than a benefit to people. The choice of the words used in explaining the Horcrux has used a different language since the audience is stuck between following the conditions or not. However, no one is sure why the decoration was full of secrets, and only specific people knew. The Horcrux has been portrayed as the main sensitive issue in the Harry Potters film. It brings us to an argument that if all the secrets were made aware of everybody, Horcrux could not be a threat.
Concerning the previous theory, we develop another related argument that the Horcrux in Harry made the Dursleys hate him. The theory explains the reason as to why Dursleys mistreated Harry was because of the Horcrux inside Harry, which corrupted him to a lot of miserable (. However, the theory portrays Harry as half-ware being and Horcrux, but the truth comes where Harry had only a soul fragment of Voldemort inside him. It was believed that Horcrux had to be made deliberate, which differs from Harry’s story of Voldemort. It is also shown that Harry did not become an evil object as expected from Voldemort’s influence in one’s soul. Potter also argues that Petunia Hated Harry out of her Jealousy and her magic and reveals that Vernon’s hatred resulted from loathing since Dursleys were nasty people. The overstatement words have been used in the description of the character resulting from the Dursleys. The audience notices that from the association with Horcrux, one was greatly hated and avoided by others. It depicts the Criticism that accrues from society to the Horcrux. It is a product of loss, danger, and a threat to the living. Harry engages in a domestic flight due to the allegations of his association with Horcrux. There is fantasy in choice of the words that have been used in the explanation of the Horcrux in Harry’s life. The device is used to create an image that relates to the matter involved in the film. For instance, Dursleys sees future challenges that Horcrux brings to life. It helps the audience judge the matter based on its advantage and disadvantage.
However, in structuralism and semiology, we can discuss Harry and the Dark arts (Rippetoe 2018). The dark art analyses the deeper meaning of Harry’s magic in several instances. In the fil, Harry paralyzes under the invisible cloak and becomes powerless where suddenly his cloak flies off, and the Tonks appeared from nowhere, giving him help. It follows that they both walk toward the Hogwarts, where they stared at Harry as he entered the Great halls. It causes the occurrence of unplanned events where Dumbledore introduces Professor Slughorn as the new professor of the potions while Snape was authorized to teach defense against the Dark Arts. It was a shock to everyone, especially when it was clear that Snape was untrustworthy. There was an argument that the role was given to a wrong person, although there was the audacity of firing all people who secured a Defense against Dark Arts in every given year. However, Harry took it personally, as shown from his conversation with Ron about what happened as they moved into the dorm. Ron, too, confessed to being skeptical about Draco’s relationship to Voldemort. Both Ron and Harry delayed signing up for the classes since they endured a lot of care to the magical creatures following the Hagrid. The matter was defense been left to Snape was not welcomed to their lives. As still shown by professor McGonagall when he was issuing O.W.L grade for the continuing students, he questions Harry whether he was willing to continue with the potions and his desire to an Auror one day. Harry was worried about the continuation since his O.W.L grade was low, but fortunately, Professor McGonagall promises through pass since Slughorn had lower requirements than Snape. However, in Defense Against the Dark Arts, the students were guided by Snape to begin working with non-verbal spells. Harry is delighted to skip the dentition of Snape in private lessons that bounce, but he eventually opts to follow the set instructions written in the margins. However, we notice that Harry has severally used his power of the Invisible Cloak to follow and spy Draco every time Draco feels he is alone. The act of Dark magic reflects Harry as brave but also criticizes his ability to think ahead. In the film, Harry has overheard Draco engaging in incriminatory talk with some of his friends as they talk against the cabin. The invisibility cloak helps Harry to follow Draco around without the hardships and complications, which are mostly brought by a lack of foresight. It is unfortunate that when Harry arrives at Hogwart, Harry’s cover becomes compromised as Draco freezes him where Harry gets himself into an impossible situation and is unable to take himself out of the attack. The mentality of the potions to Harry was always confounding and useless. Hermione becomes annoyed by the act of Harry using Prince’s book, where she finds it unethical and unfair. She fears that the princess might take a harsh action toward Harry that might threaten his life. Given this, we see that the Dark Arts was a magic that helped Harry get in touch with different situations and for his protection. However, it is unfortunate that the culture of Dark Art was not encouraged among the students in Hogwarts. The act of illegality confirms that magic was a threat to the life of the students. However, the theory has given a vivid description of the nature of Dark Magic by exaggerating to strengthen its meaning in the audience. There is a supernatural spirit attributed to Dark Art since there was a slogan attached to it that “Either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives.” This means that eventually, between Harry or Voldemort, one would have to kill each other. It also depicts that any of them had high possibilities of dying in the hand of the other since there no conditions for safety in the spiritual agreements. This means that by killing Voldemort, Harry had to sacrifice his death and become unintentionally immortal. In case such a thing happens, then the whole life of Harry will never be reunited with the loved ones and parents. In conclusion, the film of Harry Potter and the half-blood has brought mixed reactions to the audience since everyone’s expectations have widely differed as the film continues. There has been the development of new themes in the story, which has enhanced the flow of the story. Harry’s work is inarguably a great work which has made broadened the importance of art in the literature. Harry had portrayed art as a driving force in the imagination world. The artwork also provokes creativity and helps the audience create better imagery in the work (Wallace and Purg 2017). Harry has set an exemplary life of brevity as he stands to fight for what he believes in. The film can have been developed in the theories written in Film Theory and Criticism. In all the theories, the effect in digitization has been shown wherein the changing World a case like the invisible cloak that Harry used has been replaced by the advancement of the technology since there has been the invention of detection devices that can track down all discriminatory activities. The theories have boosted digitization in the use of art as a source of income since people use art as an entertainment tool by creating different types of music. Therefore, the film has influenced the World by advancing the technique that Harry applied in his work. The acts also have created a great connection to the flow of events with the audience since the language used is elaborative and descriptive. The fantasy tool has helped us as the audience think deeper and acquires new ideas that guide the prediction of the expected. Therefore, we can conclude that the film Harry Potter and the Half-blood has reflected the real-life situation that society is living today.
References
Rowling, J. K. (2019). Harry Potter. The 100 Greatest Literary Characters, 183.
Kois, D. (2009). Critic Review for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The Washington Post. http://www. washingtonpost. com/go/movies/harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince, 1145253..
- Braudy and Marshall Cohen (2016). Film theory and criticism: introductory readings. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wallace, D. L., & Pugh, T. (2007). Playing with critical theory in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. English Journal, 96(3), 97.
Rippetoe, P. A. (2018). Defense Against the Real Dark Arts. The Psychology of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized Examination of the Boy Who Lived, 283-298.
Lackey, D. (2019). The Auteur Theory in the Age of the Mini-Series. In The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures (pp. 543-549). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
LeFebvre, N. (2009). The Sorcerer’s Stone, Mirror of Erised, and Horcruxes: Choice, Individuality, and Authenticity in Harry Potter. The Looking Glass: New Perspectives on Children’s Literature, 13(3).