Episode #69: Patterns in Potter, Book 2 – Crisis of Identity
In this week’s episode we started to discuss the theme of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Identity. As usual, the theme is present from the beginning of the book at the Dursley’s and continues to make its appearance throughout the book. We talked about Harry’s struggle with identity and how it relates to other characters like Dobby, Gilderoy Lockhart, and Colin Creevey. We also talked about how Harry struggles to create his own identity while trying to deal with the famous name that was thrust upon him in his infancy.
We started the episode with two excellent audio comments from Travis and Nathalie. Both comments really set the stage for the discussion and we look forward to receiving more of these comments. Please send in your audio comments to harrypotterprogs at yahoo dot com and remember, please keep them as close to one minute as possible.
On the announcement front, I (Penny) made an exciting announcement about Portus 2008- so make sure to listen for that. Also, this episode was monumental because I did a great job (in my humble opinion) diverting the conversation as much if not more than Greg ever does (with the exception of the news of course when Greg was in his finest tangential form). We’ll blame it on the head cold which is also more than obvious throughout the episode.
In the news:
- Jim Dale won a Grammy Award for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Oh Hareeeeeee (Sorry, I couldn’t resist)!
- BAFTA Awards were last week. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix didn’t win anything. But we got some interesting sound bytes from Daniel Radcliffe and Jason Isaacs.
- Fleur Delacour won’t be making an appearance in the Half-Blood Prince movie. I am only sad about this because I liked the scene in the end of HBP when Fleur and Molly hug. Oh well.
- Harry Potter producers Davids Heyman and Barron remain non-comittal about splitting the 7th book into two movies.
- JK Rowling has picked up the James Joyce Award. She said some interesting new things.
- Actors have been cast in the roles of Fenrir Greyback and Amycus Carrow.
You can listen to the podcast with the player below, or download directly as an mp3.
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February 18th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Took the night off just in time to get to listen. Only got one notification so that seems to be fixed. Excellent comments from Travis and Nathalie. I found this episode unusual because I didn’t agree very much with the theme that we choose our identities. I don’t get that from the books at all. It is our choices that define us always to me was a reference to good or bad not so much as who we our because it is our identities that decide our choices and not the other way around.
A white man cannot choose to be black. A woman can’t choose to be born a man and I really don’t think a person chooses to be gay or straight. My point is there are factors in our identity which are thrust apon us that affect our choices and can even choose for us. The comments on prejudice and religion bothered me too. For the most part I think that part of our identity is influenced heavily by birth, family and tradition and few are able to make a choice when you have been taught how to believe since birth. I intentionally grouped religion and prejudice together because I believe it is the environmental factors and influences of family, friends and mentors that form both ideas in our heads and are by far the hardest to change. In both areanas the power held over us to accept what we are told as fact and not rock the both on penalty of being excommunicated from family and friends. In more extreme cases even homes and livelyhoods. In such a case is there a choice?
The message I get from the Harry Potter books is that our identity is thrust apon us and possibly even predestined. The fictional status quoa’s of the books are well done but pale to those set before us in this realm. Just as Harry had no real choice in his identity as a written character neither do we. We can however take the cards we are dealt and decide how to play them. Knowing how to play the game is comparable to Solomon’s wisdom.
February 18th, 2008 at 8:04 am
you guys forgot of course to mention Harrison Ford’s memorable performance in “The Frisco Kid”
February 21st, 2008 at 9:08 am
Congratulations for getting 2 roundtables Penny. Is there going to be a list of roundtables and times online? I have to agree that Dumbledore coming out does have an impact on his relationship with Grindlewald and changed my impression of the story. Having a romantic attraction to someone can blinker your own thoughts, you can be more persuasive towards things you know are wrong…this can be underage sex, drugs, crime and in Dumbledores case heading towards the racism.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:59 pm
where is the latest podcast
February 21st, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I just felt like I needed to add my imput to the Book 2 Discussion!
You mad comments about the resemblence of Harry and Tom Riddle, like Palseltongue, etc…
But if you notice, all of the similarities between them are because of Voldemort trying to kill Harry, and the piece of The Dark Lord’s soul that’s inside Harry.
And Even though he spouted other reasons to why he didn’t make Harry a prefect, maybe Dumbledore didn’t want Harry to be any more like Voldemort then he already was.
So there you go! Happy Day!!!
I LOVE THE SHOW!!!!!!!!
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:38 am
Great episode. I want to add the the compare/contrast with Riddle and Harry that, adding to the prejudice theme is the fact that Riddle was charming, good-looking, easily trusted even by Harry himself in the memory – but clearly not deserving of that trust. In a sense, he’s a more sinister version of Lockhart, not out just for popularity, but for power and domination. So, in other words, Rowling is teaching us the prejudice lesson both through surprising us about characters we think are a bit shady and by teaching us not to assume someone’s good just because they fit the stereotype of what an attractive, successful person might look like.
I think Aaron has hit on some important issues, which can be summed up like this: (1) what makes up identity is far more complex than just “choice,” and (2) there are some things Rowling does in the series that undermine her lesson about choice. Parsing that out would take a lot of space, so I won’t go there now, but I think Aaron has mentioned some things that need to be explored.