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.
In the past few months, we here at HPSupporters have shared rumors with you about the expansion of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida and here is more news. New permits surfaced last week providing us with more information suggesting that Universal Orlando is building a working Hogwarts Express. If you’ve missed any info about the expansion, you can find it in previous posts from December 2011, January 2012 and lastly, March 2012.
The new permits, which were filed on June 1 by Universal Orlando, call for three new elements to the park including a North Station, South Station, and Connector. I’m assuming that the station would start in Universal and travel through the parks into Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Sources at Hypable.com think that the North Station would house the Hogwarts Express in Universal and South would host it in Islands of Adventure. I couldn’t agree more.
The first on set photos from Tom Felton’s upcoming drama Therese have been released online. The film is based off Emile Zola’s Therese Raquin of Budapest, Hungary and has Felton starring as ailing Camille Raquin. He is joined by Elizabeth Olsen and Jessica Lange, who are portraying his wife and mother respectively. There is no set release date currently available. Thanks to Snitchseeker for the amazing photos.
At its E3 conference yesterday, Sony announced a new game made in collaboration with JK Rowling, called Wonderbook: Book of Spells. The game will include brand new written content by JK Rowling about the spells in the Harry Potter universe. Here is a trailer:
Now, this game looks cool and I’d love to play it and read the new writing by JK Rowling. The problem is, I won’t be able to. You need to own a Playstation 3, a Playstation Wonderbook, a Playstation Eye, a Playstation Move controller, and of course you’ll need to buy the game itself. There is no chance I could or would pay all that money for this. And this I’m sure will be a huge issue for most fans around the world.
With the new Wizard’s Collection DVD set, the re-release box-set of the three companion books, and now this, I really feel like the fans’ enthusiasm is starting to be abused. We are not made of money.
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