It’s Harry Potter, back for a third helping of myth, magic, teen angst, and lots and lots of chocolate! I walk thru the structure of the story, character motivations, and time travel theories. I wonder who needs a permission slip to go shopping but not to fly around in a thunderstorm. I ask the musical question “Why does any of this happen?” And I worry about illegal boggart abuse.
I try to figure out the story-behind-the-story to understand what Lupin and Black are thinking and come up confused and bewildered. I wonder if there is a little homosexual subtext to go with the homosexual text. And I worry that Hermione, like Buckbeak, is going to be sentenced to death for striking a Malfoy.
NOTE: I’ve since read the book and now fully understand that Remus wasn’t helping Sirius and didn’t know about Pettigrew until he says the name on the Marauder’s Map. He only stayed mum about his history with James and Sirius out of “cowardice”, he says.
NOTE: I eventually make a very clumsy joke about predominantly black high schools possibly having a jail cell. What I meant was that the white administration might feel the need for one because of their bigotry and not that there actually would be the need for one.
I’m watching the standard-edition Blu-ray. Start the film right as the Warner Brothers logo zooms by, on the countdown.
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The answer to your Lupin problem is that Remus thinks that Sirius Black is guilty–like everybody else. It’s only after he’s spotted Peter Pettigrew on the Marauder’s Map that he realizes what really happened (he doesn’t believe Harry when he claims he’s seen him on it). This doesn’t happen until Peter (as Scabbers) is forced to leave his hideout at Hagrid’s. Lupin didn’t help Black get into the castle. Snape accuses him of that because he knows Lupin is a werewolf and he doesn’t like him. Snape doesn’t really like anybody besides Harry’s mother, but Lupin was part of the group that bullied him back at his days at Hogwarts (We see a flashback of this in movie 5). Black managed to get into Hogwarts–past the Dementors–using his ability to turn himself into a dog. That’s also how he escaped Azkaban. There’s a very long monologue in the book where Lupin explains it all, which–for understandable reasons–didn’t make it into the movie. That’s basically a problem with all the Harry Potter films. There’s always a big infodump scene at the end of each book, which isn’t compatible with a movie’s narrative structure, so they drastically shorten it.
Thanks! Since watching it again, I kind of came to those same conclusions. Lupin must think Sirius is guilty until some unspecified point where he realizes Pettigrew is still alive. So when he finally sees Sirius, he’s happy. But in the movie, the way they greet each other makes it seem like they’ve been conspiring all along.