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 ReviewA 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.
Jan
31
We’re going to be starting a new feature on the site called Time-Turner Tuesday, where we’ll share something significant to do with Harry Potter from years gone by.
The first one of these is a fascinating old interview with author JK Rowling in 1997 or 1998 in which she talks about the very early success of the Harry Potter books. Jo describes the sales figures then (30,000 – tiny in hindsight) as “phenomenal” and that they overshot her expectations. She also seems very excited that Harry Potter had now reached a mere 8 countries, and discussed the small prospects of it being made into a film. Little did she know what was yet to come!
Jan
29
Courtesy of hypable.com, this reporter was introduced to an amazing designer. The reddit.com user Bloop has created an astounding number of superhero posters featuring countless characters from film, books, and television. Among some of the posters are Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, Mario, King Koopa, Buzz Lightyear and countless more. View the entire gallery of hundreds of posters here. Below are the posters of Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. I can only hope that this artist sees this post and decides to do more HP characters because I think a “Golden Trio” poster should be done asap!
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Jan
29
Our beloved Pottermore site is good for all things Harry Potter, including fan art. The latest update for Pottermore Insider included fan art from Chapter 7 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher/Sorcerer’s Stone ”The Sorting Hat”.
The post stated that chapter 7 is a beta user favorite because it is where the beta users were first sorted into one of the four Hogwarts houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin (which is my house!). See the fan art pictures below.
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