JK Rowling’s image may be in the doldrums for her transphobic views, but she will remain one of the world’s richest writers thanks to her ‘Harry Potter’ saga, a much-loved collection of books that has always come under scrutiny for its similarities to other works. literary, but it had never been considered that the author had borrowed ideas from other media. But an 80s movie has always been in the pipeline and from time to time suspicions reappear and comparisons.
Steven Spielberg, who was in the front row to direct the young wizard’s first film, produced ‘The Secret of the Pyramid’ (1985), directed by Barry Levinson and written by Chris Columbus, which was nothing more than the first adventure of Sherlock Holmes, a film fantastic for its time that has more than a few resemblances to the young magician, a theory that has been suggested over the years with varying levels of accusatory tone. She has now woken up on twitter with a couple of viral threads. A much more detailed thread by user Shaun Elay has been attacked by fans and made his account private.
I have spent many years saying that HARRY POTTER was inspired by THE SECRET OF THE PYRAMID. But he spoke from memory. Yesterday I saw the Barry Levinson movie again after twenty years and there is no such inspiration. It’s looting. pic.twitter.com/kCn3ebyywC
— Pedro Vallin (@pvallin) August 2, 2021
Essentially, the Harry Potter story is pretty much the same as the young Sherlock Holmes but set in a magical world. Not only is the premise similar, but the first film in particular, ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’, is especially similar in characters, setting, set design, even the musical score. Much has been explained by a surprising connection between the two films: Christopher Columbus.
A relationship of convenience
The mystery of his casting for Harry Potter may never be solved, but Chris Columbus himself, who directed the first two Harry Potter film adaptations, has cited the 1985 film, which he wrote himself, as a clear directing influence for those films. However, he has never mentioned the obvious resemblance between his script and Rowling’s text.
“It was kind of a predecessor to this movie, in a way. It was about two boys and a girl at a British boarding school who had to fight a supernatural force.”
On 3 January 2010, Irish journalist Declan Lynch (writing in The Sunday Independent) presented more than a hint of similar suspicions of young Sherlock evident in the literary Harry. The set design and atmosphere can be seen in the film.But details like the Egyptian cult known as Rametep who uses poison darts to inflict vivid nightmarish hallucinations on innocent people that usually result in their suicide lend an almost supernatural element to the whole.
Even the Sherlock Holmes character (who looks like Ron Weasley) uses a trick learned in his chemistry class to turn his school rival’s skin white, as if using magic to cast a spell on Dudley, whose resemblance to Draco Malfoy (arrogant, aristocratic and envious of the hero’s status. Flanked by minions), the clearest indication and that has led to the assumption that JK Rowling was directly influenced by the film when writing her novels, considering Rowling was a college student in 1985 when the movie was released.
Mystery for three in the rancid English school
The three Sherlock Holmes characters are similar to the three Harry Potter characters, especially details like the round glasses, the scarf, Watson’s haircut that makes him look like twins. Rowling describes Ron in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone this way: “tall, thin, and gangly, with freckles, large hands and feet, and a long nose.. It would be hard to imagine a more direct description of Nicholas Rowe’s playing Holmes, and he also shares an important trait with Ron, he is never the center of the story. It is Watson, who tells the events of the film. His female leads are very similar, although Herminone represents less of the damsel in distress stereotypes.
But what makes it similar is that they are always trying to solve a mystery within the school with a gothic atmosphere, at least in those first two chapters. It’s hard to think of other stories, in movies or books, where two British boys and a girl go on such adventures. The villains belong to a death cult reminiscent of Voldemort’s Death Eaters, whose adherents hide their identities behind masks and hoods, as do many Holmes cultists. The symbol of the Egyptian cult is two golden snakes, rather than Slytherin’s single silver snake.
The interior of Hogwarts resembles the interior of the private school that Watson and Holmes attend. There are almost exact replicas of scenes and even the candlelight has a resemblance, the children eat with their schoolmates in a large Oxbridge-style hall, with the teachers watching from the high table. Watson arrives at Brompton with textbooks in hand, like his magic manuals. He shares a dormitory in former school buildings, where historical paintings decorate the walls. His teachers could have been cousins of Rowling’s Professor Binns, there’s a white dog like Harry’s owl that looks like a wizard’s familiar. Elizabeth’s uncle Waxflatter resembles Professor Flitwick, a retired schoolteacher versed in philosophy as well as mathematics and physics who is considered a lunatic, like Dumbledore.
Elementary, dear Snape
Classrooms, teachers and principals go hand in hand. Instead of Quidditch there is fencing, which is also reminiscent of the Chamber of Secrets dueling club chapter, when Snape knocks Lockhart down before turning his attention to Harry. Rathe knocks down a student named Penthurst and then calls for Holmes, giving him one of the “occlumency” lessons featured in ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’. Before his expulsion Holmes tries to convince an investigation, like Harry warning of the return of Voldemort after being kicked out.
Rathe has a bit of Snape to it. During a duel, she wounds Holmes in the face. (accidentally). Holmes will keep this scar throughout the story, even if it is a simple scratch, but it never really heals. He bleeds again in the prelude to the final act, leading Holmes to the revelation that Rathe is the villain. Harry’s scar status often proves equally prescient.
The strangeness of the relationship with Holmes raises questions about the nature of his working relationship with Columbus, who was hired after Spielberg failed to appear. Was it a way to “pay” to avoid potential fuss with the adaptation? If the author himself is the one who makes the transition from the same story to a magical world, there will be no controversy. But the shadow over Potter does not end there as the character from Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Books of Magic’, from 1992. Timothy Hunter is a working-class English boy with glasses who happens to be the most powerful wizard in the world. Curiously, he receives an owl and is sent to study with magical teachers. Chance? that’s another history.
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