Would a ‘Harry Potter’ TV series be magical?

I groaned when I first read the online headline speculating that Harry Potter may be getting a television reboot but was this reaction genuine concern or instant snobbery? The article, was in fact, referring to rumours that HBO (Max) may be making a prequel, spin-off, world-building or redo of the books, TV series. “Broad ideas” at the moment, as the sources who divulged to the Hollywood Reporter, put it. Many news outlets have reported on this possible development, which doesn’t mean it is going to happen, but it does make it feel like another adaptation of Harry Potter is inevitable. The film series in so many ways feels like it has just finished, concluded to great success both financial and cultural. Harry Potter was a phenomenon, but doesn’t that involve moving on? 

Harry Potter’s deep cultural legacy is still intact and beloved, despite its author, who I’ll get to soon. As reported, the past hyper-surreal year was a time for finding comfort, so not surprisingly, we re-watched the films and re-read the books during lockdown. Since 2011, when the last film of the series came out, the world’s cultural landscape has changed dramatically. Particularly British broadcasters who have struggled to remain dominant and relevant with the arrival of the new digital giants: Netflix, Amazon and every other American based company building entertainment empires. One decade on and the Britain proud of the whole film series too feels lost.

An HBO production. A deserving stamp of quality, glossy sounding, adult. HBO shows are solidly good, well made, high concept. HBO has certainly produced works of art, but it is still cable, unfit for the hypothetical Harry Potter series that should be available for everyone to tune in to around a cup of tea. HBO in the past was the big expense for many, a costly must-have, which was also available in Britain through private networks including it, like Sky Atlantic. Netflix, for all its criticism, is at least more affordable considering people’s budgets and that would be the first hesitation about creating any more Harry Potter universe content in general. Milk, milk the fans. 

HBO Max is even more egregious a choice. Launched only in 2020 it has a grand 17.2 million activated users as of the New Year. It is part of HBO’s comeback, the fight against the new kids, but what it offers hasn’t quite been established yet. Its parent company is also WarnerMedia, making it feel likelier that the Warner Bros. film series will receive a TV adaption, though that decision is still not up to them. Subscription models tease out commitment. For me, Disney+ and other exclusive, claim-back-the-money platforms, could be a worrying trend. Massive businesses creating new companies which make their titles, classics, more expensive in the general market is not something studios and the industry should be proud of. Consumers spending silly money, so HBO or some other private monolith, can have their latest venture be a success, is something that this series ideally should not support. Exclusivity: promoting greed, creating avarice at the top. 

It is well known to audiences, but misunderstood to the corporate world, that remakes require plenty of passed time, patience and organic relevance for the new work succeed. Genre is important and the prime example of a piece of culture that deserves to be rebooted, reimagined and redefine is Hanna Barbara’s Scooby-Doo. Every single teen TV show is inspired by Scooby Do, some heavily, and every series for all the family since Harry Potter is compared to Rowing’s creation, often fairly. Harry Potter is a different type of timeless, far more difficult to unwrap when the books were written in the ‘90s, long ago actually but not exactly unmodern.

The Hogwarts grounds are beautiful, the steam train departing from 9 and ¾ purposefully historic, an artefact linking to the books to the times of classic British literature. The films do a tremendous job of depicting the castle as a feature of the Scottish Highlands, making Hogwarts recognisable, an honouree, fictional castle. This is a visual image that captures the whole series and it is preserved rightly for all in the Warner Bros. studios in London. This is the one single image that fans have of the place, even if the castle was replicated inch by inch in a new reboot, would this very British legacy be marred by a future remake choosing to produce outside of the British Isles? The great and fantastic of British and Irish actors made the film series, fought for by Rowling, and simply there hasn’t been enough time for there to be years of new homegrown talent to call on in a recast. Americans got to be cast in their own film series, it is not a right for them to be cast in the original, superior one. However, with all this talk of nationality, there is the valid potential for a new future recast of creative diversity that is more explicit about British history.

Brexit. Since 2011, British identity has taken a knocking. Brexit and immigration, opening a can of worms – like the slugs Ron spews out in that grim scene. Pandora’s box has been opened, which is not even dramatic with the last several years of news coverage, and Britain has finally left the European Union. 

Years of discourse about immigration asks whether Britain is actually a post-racial society, that has rightly been invalidated by the Windrush Scandal breaking and the subsequent Black Lives Matter movement of the past summer. Some people think of Hogwarts as a grammar school, I think of it more internationally; a haven inclusive of the native British Wizarding nobility to children from the ‘Commonwealth’ for want of a better word. That is a fan theory, but what is real, is that the British education system has always been revised, negatively and positively, by immigration from Ireland to modern refugees. The politics of the day are infused in the later Harry Potter books, the opening of book six particularly. Today, we might not like our politics, but it must be reflected in national stories like Harry Potter, maybe not literally. The European Triwizard cup slashing its rules alongside our European partnership. Or the Hogwarts Train changing colours in a plume of smoke as it passes the Scottish border, possibly. Colour-blind casting can be done effectively with Dickens, Harry Potter isn’t that much of a stretch. Black Hermione in a remake, in the right hands, could be done very well and meaningfully. A new series would always have something important to say about whichever years it is made in. 

Sometimes when you read a book so closely, you feel like you know the author too. Having spoken to many people about JK Rowling’s comments about transgender people, there has been mostly disappointment. It doesn’t make you a bleeding-heart liberal to be frustrated about Rowling’s repeated statements and cancel culture is only so useful a label. Literary icons don’t always have to write edifying, magnanimous prose like they’re running for President of the World but when their opinions cause additional controversy to sensitive issues it’s clear to me that it was a wrong thing to say. Celebrities on Twitter, politicians and vocal authors can say a lot loudly, but we should allow the discussed people to speak themselves, not for them, and listen to them first. There are consequences when a ‘culture war’ is entangled with the creator of a literary classic, one of them is audiences being split and hesitant about further endowing Rowling by paying to watch any type of Harry Potter TV series. 

An egalitarian Harry Potter TV series would emphasise affordability over profits, maybe a joint collaboration with British broadcasters and streaming services, and would be global, diverse, incorporating contemporary British politics to deliver a new, universal story of love which it is. Wait longer for a new adaption, wait for the right director, right team and integral to television, the right showrunner, whoever that person may be. Change it up a bit, maybe Draco and Harry get together – I half jest. Keep and enhance the film series’ excellence. Potter will return one day.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Movies losing momentum – is the end near in sight?

Writer and Arts and Culture print editor Owen Frost investigates the recent decision from Cineworld to temporarily close their cinemas, after the postponement of No Time To Die’s date of release. The decision to close has affected over 37,000 globally.

Culture in the Time of Covid

Hyde Park Book Club 

Book Club is a great spot for either a chilled pint with friends or a great opportunity to pick up a book from their selection of great non-fiction and fiction. Over lockdown they threw book launches on Zoom to celebrate new and exciting fiction, so keep an eye on their Instagram for more details of upcoming similar events. Alongside their reads, they also offer up a tasty selection of delicious cakes (some vegan) and coffee. The downstairs venue is great for live music, comedy, poetry, spoken word and Book Club also offers up free jazz nights – gigs can be heard from upstairs in the evenings. 

Hyde Park Picture House

Now this is a cinematic gem and a must-go in your first year if you get the chance to – socially distanced. Built in 1914 originally showing pictures to boost the war effort, Hyde Park Picture House is still standing on Brudenell Road in Leeds’s bustling student epicentre Hyde Park. Run by Picturehouse who have cinemas and comedy clubs across the country, this cinema boasts comfy seats situated in a single cinema room. You enter through a lovely old-fashioned foyer and can choose from the latest amazing arthouse, towering blockbusters and cult classics. Currently closed due to renovations, Picture House is ‘exploring the viability of resuming these later this year’: make sure you check it out when it reopens its doors! Picture House has previously linked up with LUU, showcasing a roster of exceptional indie films on campus prior to the end of last academic year, demonstrating how in touch it is with the student body. 

City Varieties

Nestled in a central town alleyway, Swan Street, City Varieties Music Hall is Leeds’s oldest theatre stretching back to its construction in 1865. It is one of the oldest known surviving British music halls, the kind of venues in which Charlie Chaplin and co. used to perform. City Varieties is definitely a hidden gem and well worth the visit not only for its mix of comedy, pre-recorded theatre shows and music, but also due to its golden old-world décor. A fancier night out, there’s something special for everyone at City Varieties. 

Leeds Playhouse: 

Waiting for Leeds Playhouse to reignite its electric line-up of plays was agonising. However, the theatre will now reopen its doors from Friday 2nd October. A registered charity, the Playhouse is also one of the UK’s most critically acclaimed theatres and exhibits some of the nation’s most celebrated plays during their runs. Playhouse presents a variety of productions from Hamlet to Jackie and the Beanstalk. Donations and various support opportunities via their website are also currently accepted to keep the theatre going during these strange times. 

Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute 

Two lovely galleries with their collections partially now reopen including the Lower Galleries at Leeds Art Gallery and limited numbers at Henry Moore. Located on Leeds’s iconic Headrow, Leeds Art Gallery has been unveiling art to the masses since 1888. It contains plenty of twentieth century art as well as more modern installations and is both linked to Leeds Central Library and the Henry Moore Institute. Entrance to the permanent exhibitions is free! In December they are running free Youth Collective Sessions at the gallery where you can meet like-minded people while exploring your creative side, all while probing their usual collections! Henry Moore is also open after a closure of nearly five months and their sculptures, linked to the City Gallery by an archway, despite being a bit more highbrow, are well done. However, if you are quarantining, fear not: you can still conduct a virtual visit of exhibitions including Paloma Varga Veisz’s Bumped Body to fulfil your arty needs. 

Image Credits: (clockwise left to right): Henry Moore Foundation, Leeds Art Gallery, Visit Leeds, Leeds Playhouse, hydeparkbookclub.co.uk, The Gryphon 

Da 5 Bloods Review: Spike Lee does not quite strike gold

The latest Spike Lee “Joint” arrived on Netflix on June 12th, off the back of Lee’s 2018 critical success with BlacKkKlansmanDa 5 Bloods is Lee’s return to satirical form with focus on African American GI experience in the reprehensible Vietnam War. Da 5 Bloods unflinchingly portrays the African American experience, challenging the traditional representation of the Black ‘buddy’ characters in war films – showcasing a diverse range of antagonistic African American characters. It stars Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Norm Lewis as the four African American veterans on a pilgrimage to search for fellow GI Stormin’ Norman’s (Chadwick Boseman) remains along with their ulterior motive: searching for the gold he helped them bury. Most of the action sequences take place in the traditionally inhospitably depicted jungle and despite a promising start, Da 5 Bloods contains some questionable Vietnamese portrayals.

History is a powerful tool to provoke modern day action. This has never been truer than recently, with Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol and many other contentious commemorations being symbolically torn down across the globe. Significantly, Lee repeats his auteur technique of peppering Da 5 Bloods with historic documentary footage and does not falter in educating audiences on famous historic Black Americans including Milton L. Olive III – the first African American to receive the Medal of Honour for his sacrifice in Vietnam. As the aspect ratio alterations cleverly shift from the twentieth century to the modern era, the beginning of Da 5 Bloods morphs from the volatile sixties to the equally troublesome contemporary climate. 

The Hanoi Hannah (Ngo Thanh Van) character also advances Lee’s cultural critique of American history’s disregard of the African American GI experience. Her northern Vietnamese propaganda targets the Black American GIs, speaking to their exploitation during the war. Lee also digs at Hollywood’s whitewashing of the Vietnam experience in films such as propagandic The Green Berets, while also dedicating homage to select Vietnam war films such as Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and Oliver Stone’s Platoon. The Marvin Gaye soundtrack along with the ironically heroic orchestral score makes audiences question the role whitewashed war movies have on the movie-going public.

Da 5 Bloods bubbles up violently in places with the four antiheroes either being shot at, blown up or chased in equal measure. It also features Lee’s iconic trope of the impassioned fourth wall breaking monologue, rampant with racially charged rhetoric about injustice symbolically relevant in the modern context. Paul’s speech parallels Mookie’s monologue in Lee’s seminal Do The Right Thing

Chadwick Boseman in Da 5 Bloods, (Image Credit: Insider)

The flashbacks to the war through Newton Thomas Sigel’s 16mm lens are enticing, despite Lee’s inability to de-age his main stars next to the youthful Chadwick Boseman. This was a feat that Scorsese’s enormous Netflix debut The Irishman, with its whopping $160 million budget, capitalised on. 

However, despite these praiseworthy moments of Lee excitement, the Vietnamese characterisation is underwhelming in this venture. Otis’ Vietnamese ex-lover that fathered his daughter is underexplored and the Vietcong soldiers are often simplistically portrayed as cannon fodder to be peppered by bullets. 

I found myself longing for a film that belonged more tonally to the first half than the second half’s caper which felt more like a version of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. After the initially promising start which represented America’s entrenched geopolitical misconduct in Vietnam, this all felt disappointing.  

While Lee touches well upon the racist experience that the disproportionate number of African American GIs in Vietnam experienced, and his use of historical documentary and iconic tropes resonate with today’s “Black Lives Matter” debate, the film’s two separate parts felt disjointed. This paired with the questionable depiction of the Vietnamese population detracts from the film’s appeal. 

Da 5 Bloods is available to stream on Netflix now.

Rating: 3/5 

Image Credit: David Lee, Netflix

European Film Institutions call for the Freedom of Incarcerated Iranian Dissident Mohammad Rasoulof

Mohammad Rasoulof, director of the recent There Is No Evil, who was recently incarcerated in Iran, has gained international attention from many filmmakers and institutions since his Iranian jail sentence. Institutions such as European Film Academy (EFA), the Deutsche Filmakademie, Accademia del cinema Italiano-Premi David di Donatello, the Cannes Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and many others have all issued statements expressing their deepest concerns.

Rasoulof was recently imprisoned for one-year according to his lawyer, for allegedly “attacking the security of the state” following the “propaganda” content in There Is No Evil. The sentence also demanded he stop making films for two years. However, it is time for more filmmakers and directors to stand up against the Iranian government’s blatant censorship and punishment of dissident art. 

Rasoulof was unable to attend the February Berlin International Film Festival ceremony to collect his prize for There Is No Evil, a film connecting four stories about involvement in the death penalty in Iran. Executive producer Kaveh Farnam claims that the wave of political executions in 1988 was what ultimately inspired the film. Rasoulof’s own experience of lack of freedom of expression has also been noted in the film’s message of freedom and humanity under despotic regimes. 

Indeed, There Is No Evil is openly critical of the Iranian justice system and its use of the death penalty. Iran has been described by international human rights scholar Javaid Rehman in his 2018 UN General Assembly address as having “one of the highest death penalty rates in the world”. According to Amnesty International, it is still behind China as the world’s leading state executioner and leads the way in terms of the execution of minors. Homosexuality is still considered an offence punishable by death in Iran. 

The stakes were extremely high for Mohammad Rasoulof and crew, and all involved knew the risk that they were taking in defying the authoritarian regime. The film was made under complete secrecy and producer Farzad Pak thanked “the amazing cast and crew who put their lives in danger to be on this film”. The creative ways in which Rasoulof clandestinely defied the regime are astounding: with Rasoulof giving direction to scenes shot in an airport through an assistant, not having his name appear on any official documentation and shooting many scenes in remote regions of Iran. 

However, in a recent statement, Rasoulof wanted the outcry to not only affect successful directors such as himself and Panahi but also to extend to the younger independent filmmaking generation who have not got the same resources to circumvent Iran’s intrusive activities. Farnam claims that many independent filmmakers have even turned to work on the Iranian government’s own film projects due to the lack of funds at their disposal. The resourcing gap is evident: the Iranian government have the helicopters and unlimited logistical and financial systems to shut down a whole street, as opposed to independent filmmakers where this is purely “impossible”.  

This is not the first time that Iran has used its authoritarian powers to ban film directors from creating dissident films. In November 2019, action from over 200 Iranian film industry members came when Kianoush Ayari’s film The Paternal House was banned a week after its opening weekend in Iran. Well known Iranian director Jafar Panahi back in 2011 was also convicted of making “propaganda films” and sentenced to 20 years film-free.  

Rasoulof and other Iranian directors continue to make films under increasingly unfair sanctions. In his powerful Berlinale Skype speech broadcasted to the world from his daughter’s phone, he highlights that everyone “can actually say no, and that’s their strength.” It is imperative not to forget about Rasoulof’s and others’ crucial films which lobby unfair regimes across the world. We must join the outspoken film institutions in support of these oppressed directors who rightfully express their freedom of expression through art.

Image Credit: Screen Daily