Review: The Seekers Guide to Harry Potter



 Reality Films has produced a new DVD entitled The Seekers Guide to Harry Potter, and UK distributor Wienerworld kindly sent us some free copies to review and give away to you visitors as competition prizes.

Here is the official synopsis of the film:

The Seekers Guide to Harry Potter takes you on a journey and exploration into the underlying themes of J.K Rowling’s fantastically successful Harry Potter series. Drawing from her unique background and personal experiences, the author provides original insights into the mysticism, magic and symbolism within the world of Harry Potter. Dr. Geo Trevarthen is an academic who has painstakingly researched the Harry Potter craze. She goes far beyond the normal criteria and steps into a world of real magic and its shamanic past. In doing so she reveals the origins of many of the elements found within the novels and films.


HPSupporters Review

A Seeker's Guide to Harry Potter is an interesting exploration of the underlying symbolism, themes and messages in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

A small scale, intimate production, it is shot in the appropriate location of Edinburgh (where JK penned much of the series) and is presented to us by Dr Geo Trevarthen who comes from a background of Shamanism. The film, therefore, may not sit comfortably with everybody. Its author's ideas and beliefs as well as the style, imagery and music used throughout strongly convey this spritual Celtic discipline.

Nevertheless, there were some fascinating elements examined in depth by this avid reader of our favourite story. She probes some real world magical and alchemic history and how they inspired JK's writing. For example I learnt about the ancient origins of characters' names, the symbolic nature and history of the golden snitch, the influences behind the four school houses, and the layers of meaning beneath these.

Dr Trevarthen also makes intriguing parallels between different parts of the novels and gives her thoughts on how some of Rowling's messages can connect with our own real world lives. One of the interesting issues she raised is that of love, a key feature in Harry's life, and something that she says is hugely important in the early stages of real-life childhood, bringing her in line with today's psychological and socialogical theories. Further themes she explores include the moral neutrality of magic, following true will over whim, and Death and the triangle of the three Hallows.

With future re-reads of the HP books I'm sure I shall now view many components of the canon in much more depth than I previously have. The film reinforces for me what a triumph of storytelling J.K. Rowling has created and the incredible expanse of meaning behind her stories.

For those Harry Potter fans with spiritual inclinations like those of this film's author and want to look at the novels from that perspective, or for those merely with an interest in getting beneath the surface of the books, this is a film you'll very much appreciate. For me, the DVD shall fit nicely in my collection of all things Harry Potter.


If you like the sound of this DVD then tomorrow evening on Twitter we will be giving away a copy to a lucky follower. Unfortunately, for postal reasons, the competition will only be open to people from the UK.


Posted on 04 May 2011 by Tom
0 Comments

What do you think? Write your comments here...

Name:
Smilies: smile wink wassat tongue laughing sad angry crying 

| Forget Me


See some of the latest Harry Potter news below...
Content Management Powered by CuteNews
Feb 28 NO comments
HP cast projects, Into the White, Rupert Grint

New clip released of Rupert Grint’s ‘Into The White’

Zentropa Norway, the studio behind Rupert Grint’s upcoming film Into the White has released this new minute long clip, featuring the man himself. The movie is set for release in Norway in March, with international releases as yet unconfirmed. Read more about the plot over on IMDb.

Feb 27 NO comments
Pottermore

Harry Potter eBooks Finally Getting Started

This just in from MuggleNet.com, the Harry Potter eBooks are getting rolling. According to a radio update on MarketWatch, Pottermore has announced today that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide eBook and digital audiobook distribution agreement with OverDrive, which is a leading global distributor of eBooks and digital audiobooks for over 18,000 public and school libraries worldwide. The eBook series will be available in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish to start and will expand to different languages in the near future.

 

Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne had this to say:

We are keen to support public and school libraries, and OverDrive, as one of the leading suppliers in this market, provides us with a global network that helps us achieve this, as well as encouraging the discovery of these amazing books across the world..

When released, readers will have immediate access to the eBooks on such devices as PCs, MACs, eReaders, Kindle (US Only), Nook, iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, Blackberry, and Windows Phone. Digital audiobooks will be available for borrowing in the MP3 file format on computers, smartphones, and iPods.

As more details and information, especially the release dates, become available we will inform you. Hearing this news has made me extremely happy, what about you? Are you super excited? Do you have an eReader or a smartphone to read the Harry Potter eBooks? If not, then be glad that you can go to a public library to read your favorite stories time and time again.

Feb 27 NO comments
Deathly Hallows Part 2, Film Awards

Oscars 2012: Harry Potter is snubbed with Deathly Hallows Part 2 winning no awards

The annual Academy Awards took place in Hollywood last night and, as was largely expected, it was a disappointing evening for Harry Potter. Despite ten years of cinematic brilliance and an acclaimed final film, it was only nominated in three technical categories and failed to win in any of them.

Hugo, a film by Martin Scorsese (who is a favourite of the Academy), was the night’s biggest winner along with The Artist, and it beat out Harry Potter to take home the Art Direction and Visual Effects awards. And The Iron Lady won ahead of Deathly Hallows Part 2 in the Makeup category for their work in making Meryl Streep look like Margaret Thatcher. (View a complete list of winners here)

That means that after eight films, the Harry Potter series has and now never will win a single Oscar. According to Eonline, that makes it the most snubbed series of all time.

But did they honour the series with a special tribute or contribution award like the Baftas did last year? Nope, they did not. In fact the series only very briefly got a mention in a joke about taxes.

We think it is a great shame that for whatever strange reason, Harry Potter has been completely ignored by The Academy, the most prestigious of awards shows and the one which the whole world listens to. But we can be pretty sure that this won’t affect Harry’s place in cinematic history. Star Wars, for example, only ever received a handful of Oscar statues, and yet to this day is a huge phenomenon looked backed on as one the greatest movie series ever produced. Harry Potter will certainly leave a similar, perhaps even greater legacy, while the big winners here will be mostly forgotten.