Harry Potter (film)/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

• Films-only, and possibly accidental. In the last film, Voldemort, Bellatrix, and Nagini all die and shatter into small pieces. With Bellatrix that's because of the weird... liquid nitrogen spell that Molly Weasley used. With Nagini and Voldemort, it could call back to the very first movie. Remember Quirrell when he touched Harry. Instead of burning, like in the books, Quirrell actually crumbled into ash, piece by piece. Scary, yes, but if that's a deliberate callback, that's pretty cool.
• Alan Rickman does a great job of capturing Snape's complex character. So much so that watching the film version of Order Of The Phoenix and watching his scenes involving the Occlumency lessons makes you realize: Snape shows almost genuine worry for Harry, describing what Voldy could do if he got into Harry's head. He also seems to disparage traits associated with James or Sirius (such as being sentimental, foolhardy, or arrogant), whilst also praising traits such as self-control, mastery of the mind, and other such traits... that could easily be associated with Lily's strengths!
  • Rickman was the only person besides JKR who knew that Snape had been in love with Lily before Deathly Hallows came out, so not only was JKR dropping hints in all of the books, Rickman has been dropping some very subtle hints in his performance. I noticed that the only character movie!Snape ever looks in the eyes is Harry.
    • Oh my God, you Bastard!
• The final scene of Half-Blood Prince was derided for taking out the big battle that was in the book. Then it struck me. The Death Eaters didn't plan an ATTACK. They planned an ASSASSINATION. Now the battle in the book seems kinda pointless.
  • Not exactly. In the book, the Death Eaters infiltrating the school are said to have met Harry's guard and members of the Order as they went for the topmost (Astronomy) tower. When you're somewhere you're not supposed to be and your antagonists see you, there's BOUND to be some kind of confrontation. That one of the Death Eaters actually managed to escape the blows being traded to cast the Dark Mark up there was just a chance; a lucky chance, admittedly, but a chance all the same, given the constant fighting that was going on at the base of the stairs. The movie and the book just present the circumstances differently, which is why the movie makes the book's confrontation seem a bit pointless.
  • The book was also from Harry's POV—IIRC, he didn't see much of the battle and was told about it later. When I read the book, I noticed that most of the battle at Hogwarts wasn't described as it happened; I thought this was so Half-Blood Prince wouldn't be too much like Order of the Phoenix.
• I was always wondering why Luna was shot from either knee or waist height, or from a distance so that her feet were out of focus in the film adaptation of Order of the Phoenix. Upon rewatching the film, it hit me that the only time that the camera showed her feet clearly was when she and Harry were in the Forbidden Forest, surrounded by the Thestrals, and Harry asked why she was barefoot.
  • No doubt to spare Evanna Lynch the need to go barefoot in every scene.

• In the film version of Goblet of Fire, Fake!Moody does a pitch-perfect imitation of Hagrid saying "Marvelous Creatures, Dragons." While kind of cool, it seemed to serve no real purpose. Then I realized something: While in the book series the Polyjuice Potion changes people both externally and internally, it's established in the film versions of Chamber and Hallows that Film!Polyjuice DOES NOT CHANGE YOUR VOICE. Thus, Barty Crouch Jr. was set up as being adept at Vocal Mimicry, another reason he was able to successfully pass as Moody. As much as I hate the film representation of the Junior Crouch, this was a neat little final clue before the potion wore off.
  • This troper thinks that not much weight should be given to the movies in terms of canon. I'm almost entirely certain that this was merely cinematographic effect in order for the viewer to tell who was actually who. Also, had this been the case I think it would have been likely to have been at least hinted at in the books. In fact the books even show that this isn't true in DH when the trio sneak into the ministry under polyjuice. "“Looks like it,” Harry whispered back; his voice came out deep and gravelly. " Harry, who never met Runcorn (as Ron and Hermione got the hairs for him), would have no idea what his voice sounded like.
    • I think you misread. The troper you're replying to acknowledged that in the books the voice changes. But we know that isn't true for the movies, so it makes sense for the movies.
    • You all seem to have misunderstandings, namely as to which section this Fridge Brilliance moment needs to belong.
• A bit of casting brilliance here - after Bill Weasley gets savaged by Greyback in Half Blood Prince, he's described as bearing "a distinct resemblance to Mad-Eye Moody." Who plays Bill in the Deathly Hallows films? Domhnall Gleeson, the son of Brendan Gleeson, who plays Mad-Eye!
• The third Harry Potter film has a chock full of these to make up for its Adaptation Decay and Narm. Several moments in the film foreshadow things that will happen later in the series:
  • Harry's number in the Quidditch game - his shirt says "POTTER 7". Harry eventually turns out to be Voldemort's seventh horcrux.
  • Harry sees Sirius's face in a crystal ball calling his name. Sirius is the reason Harry finally hears the prophecy.
  • When Harry is coming to after his Quidditch accident you can hear one of the twins say "Let's throw you off the Astronomy tower and see how you look", a rather dry joke about another character who later gets thrown off the Astronomy Tower.
    • This is actually more of a Funny Aneurysm than Fridge Brilliance as the PoA movie came out a year before HBP was released.
      • Unless Rowling let something slip. Months before Deathly Hallows was even finished, she accidentally let the fact that Dumbledore would play a significant role in that book slip to the cast on the set.
        • Rowling herself mentions the 'accidental' foreshadowing in one of the interviews on the DVD. Cue crazed fans scrutinizing the movie.
  • When Lupin and Harry discuss Harry's parents Lupin mentions that Lily had a gift for seeing the good in everyone, "even when that person could not see it in themselves". Initially we assume he's talking about himself but he had three best friends and amazing adventures with them, he felt great. He was really talking about Snape whose only real friend was Lily.
    • Interesting theory, but there's no evidence to suggest that Lupin ever realized that Lily did see good in Snape. If he had, he would have trusted him more.
    • Lupin was describing his own friendship with Lily, but his description also describes her friendship with Snape as well.
  • Snape shields Harry, Ron and Hermione from the werewolf Lupin when he attacks, foreshadowing his true allegiance.
  • Ron and Hermione's future relationship is foreshadowed such as when she grabs his hand during the Care of Magical Creatures class and when she turns to him for comfort after she thinks Buckbeak has been killed.
  • In the third film, despite the choir singing an ominous Shakespeare verse, among other dark aesthetics, the film ends on a rather happy note. Many found this strange, until they realized that the events of the film set the stage for the return of Voldemort in the next one. -dmeagher101
  • One small moment in this movie seems to hint at Snape's true allegiance, something which Rowling did not reveal until the seventh and final book. The moment comes after the characters have emerged from the Whomping Willow. Snape regains consciousness without realizing that Lupin has turned into a werewolf. As soon as he sees the werewolf, a look of terror shoots across his face, and he immediately spreads out his arms to shield the children from the werewolf. It's hard to believe he'd do that—not only a very brave act, but one that looks instinctive—if he was loyal to Voldemort.
• The Death Eater attack of the Burrow put in the film seems pointless but earlier Ron told Harry his mother had not wanted Ron and Ginny to return to Hogwarts because it wasn't safe anymore and to stay home. The attack on the Burrow during Christmas made it clear that nowhere was safe from Voldemort and his followers, not Hogwarts and not even people's homes.-Tapol
• Rewatching the eighth movie, I just thought of something. When Dumbledore was trying to convince Draco to give up, not kill him, and go into hiding, might he have been trying to course-correct. He might have known Draco disarming him would screw up his plans to break the power of the Elder Wand and hope to win it back by defeating Draco, by convincing him to surrender so the original plan, having Snape kill him without ownership of the Wand passing from him. Brilliant.
• In the Deathly Hallows film (part one), I was shocked at the scene with Ron and the Horcrux. It was so incredibly freaky and I-can't-even-imagine for Ron. I was wondering why Harry had it so (comparatively) easy in the second book. Then I realized. Harry was a Horcrux. Even Riddle, as a memory, somehow knew that Harry was bad news, and tried to kill him, but he still recognized him as a fellow Horcrux, so he didn't try too terribly hard. Ron? Fair game. -mermaidgirl45
  • Take into consideration when in Voldemort's life both of those Horcruxes were made. The diary was his first horcrux, back when he was - while still evil, not as irrevocably villainous as he was when he made the locket. Thus, while Memory-Tom tried to kill Harry, he wasn't as moral-less as he was when he made the locket a horcrux. Ron's experience was so much worse because Voldemort had become so much worse and was more willing to pull out all the stops, so to speak.
    • Also, Ron had been wearing the locket on and off for months. This was the equivalent of what Ginny did in CoS. So the locket could have tried to possess him, like the diary did to Ginny. Diary Riddle didn't try to Mind Rape Harry, because it hadn't actually had the chance to get a proper look into his mind/soul. It only knew enough about him to know that he'd try to save Ginny... and he was probably relatively sure about that from what Ginny would have said already.
• I thought that the second film was awesome, but didn't quite get why Voldemort's talk/showdown with Neville had so much emphasis put on it. Then I remembered- Neville could have been the chosen one, so he's facing the man who almost marked him as his equal!
• During Voldemort's death scene in Deathly Hallows Part 2, the music playing is called Lily's Theme. Why is this important? Because the greatest Dark wizard of all time, in the end, was destroyed because a twenty-two-year-old mother refused to step aside and let her child die. Lily Potter vanquished Voldemort just as much as Harry did.
• At the end of "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" what's the very last thing we, the audience hears? An unnamed and unseen child yelling, "Goodbye!" This very well could be a farewell from the filmmakers to those in the audience who started watching the series as little kids, and saw it all the way through to the very end...a piece of their childhood saying farewell at the end of a journey from one stage of life to another.
• In the Half-Blood Prince movie, when Dumbledore is trying to convince Draco that he doesn't have to kill him he says "Years ago, I knew a boy who made all the wrong choices, please don't become him." He seems to be referring to Tom Riddle, especially since this echoes his words at the welcoming feast in the beginning of the movie. However, I realized that it makes more sense if he's referring to Regulus Black. There are very few parallels between Draco and Tom Riddle, while Word of God has said that Draco and Regulus are very similar. They both got in a little too deep, but they weren't prepared for the consequences. Dumbledore doesn't seem to see Draco as someone who could possibly become the next dark lord. He seems to see that he's trapped and wants to help him. As far as Dumbledore knows, Regulus is a boy who made the 'wrong choice' to join the Death Eaters, got too far in, backed out, and got killed for it. Dumbledore doesn't want Draco to suffer the same fate, and perhaps wishes to offer Draco the protection he couldn't give to Regulus. - That Crazy Girl With Glasses
  • Re-reading that line, I thought Dumbledore was referring to himself. Everyone knows his early ambitions were less-than-awesome and it cost him his sister, his brother, and his friend. But the Regulus bit really is brilliant. - mermaidgirl45
    • Further interpretation: It refers to so many of the characters. Snape, Regulus, Tom, himself, possibly Grindelwald. Dumbldore is including Draco in a whole litany of characters who either should have been better than they were, or should have been recognised for defying their natures. Since Draco is at the turning point, where he will either become the bad (Grindelwald/Voldemort) or the good who should be better recognised (Snape/Regulus) it becomes prophetic of which one he will become when he doesn't kill Dumbledore.
    • I really don't think it would refer to Regulus... Because Dumbledore knowing Regulus' past would imply that he knew about Regulus' involvement with the locket... In which case, he would know that the locket from HBP was a fake and would not have pursued/died for it.
      • iirc, it was known that Regulus backed out and was killed by Voldemort for it, so Dumbly could be referring to Reggy there.
• In the movie of Chamber of Secrets, Acromantulas such as Aragog and his children look like colossal wolf spiders, not true tarantulas. It turns out that the word "tarantula" is originally Italian and was once used to describe what are now called wolf spiders.
• In the Order of the Phoenix movie, Harry sarcastically comments to Dudley, "Five against one, very brave," in reference to Dudley and his friends beating up a ten-year-old. Later, not counting Harry and the Order members who arrive, it's five against one, and yes, it truly is very brave. Instead of five or six large teenagers picking on a small kid, it's one large man doing far worse than trying to beat up five teenagers, and the teenagers try to fight back, not just out of self-preservation but to help the one singled out.
• In the Deathly Hollows movie, when Ron is listening to the radio, the announcer lists a number of disappearances that day, and says "Thankfully, the list is short today." Said "short list" is Thirty One Names Long. How many are on the long lists?!
  • Are you sure that wasn't a sequence of several days and thus several lists? That was the impression this Troper got, but I could be wrong.

Fridge Horror

• Applies only to the film version of Deathly Hallows Part 2, but where is Parvati Patil?! Her sister Padma is seen, so where's Parvati? Considering what happens to the other twins in this film, my paranoia is justified.

Fridge Logic