Episode #88: Delayed!?! And, The Eyes Have It
So, it’s been a week or so since the last episode of HPProgs; while you were waiting for the next show, and even larger wait was sprung upon you: Half Blood Prince, The Movie, was delayed from 2008 to 2000-and-freakin-9. Penny’s been covering developments on the HPProgs blog, and even managed to unearth one of the most ferverent reactions to the delay.
In this episode, we discuss the delay, assorted other goings-on, along with a tangential discussion on the recurring occurrences of eyes in Deathly Hallows (first spotted by John Granger – sorry I can’t find the exact link), and what this might (or mightn’t) mean.
Stay tuned for details on our Beedle the Bard contest, we will be putting out rules in the coming days.
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Tags: delayed, eyes, Half Blood Prince, Harry Potter, Movies
August 26th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Penny that was so great when you said that Alan Horn response was like he was talking to three year olds. I was more mad about that than not being able to see the movie this year! Although I guess he was just trying to make it better but it did not work. Thanks for the pod-cast guys!
August 27th, 2008 at 12:14 am
Was the book you mentioned in the beginning of the episode “How to Read Literature like a Professor” by Thomas C. Foster? As soon as you brought it up I immediately thought that you were talking about that book, which I read as a summer reading book for AP English Lit & Lang in eleventh grade. I thought it was really funny and interesting.
Sorry this post had nothing to do with Harry Potter… I’m writing it before I’ve even finished listening to the episode!
PS- I’ve read Picoult’s “The Pact” and “My Sister’s Keeper”, both of which I enjoyed a lot, though I wouldn’t consider them the best examples of literature I’ve read. They’re at least above Twilight in quality, but possibly bellow in entertainment value!
August 27th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Hey guys! Fun episode. I couldn’t believe it when I heard you talking about “eyes” being a recurring thing in DH. I don’t regularly read John Granger so I hadn’t heard this before, except from DAVE (my husband) who came up with this idea of the whole book being an exposition of a passage in Matthew (in the Bible.) I didn’t really buy his idea completely, but if you add his to yours it seems more plausible. The verses he claimed were the crux of understanding the book are this: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Obviously this is the epitaph on the Dumbledore’s grave, which is what took Dave to this passage. Anyway… continuing on, here comes the eye part…) “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness…” 6:19-23.
He wrote a whole review based on this that got published in an magazine. I’m still not 100% convinced JKR had Matt. 6 in mind when writing.
Oh, by the way. One more “eye” reference you guys didn’t discuss – when Harry’s walking in the forest again with Lily, James, etc. “She pushed her long hair back as she drew close to him, an her green eyes, so like his, searched his face hungrily, as though she would never be able to look at him enough. ‘You’ve been so brave.’ He could not speak. His eyes feasted on her, and he thought that how he would like to stand and look at her forever, and that would be enough.” Pretty poignant eye passage!
Thanks guys. This is my longest comment ever, anywhere.
August 27th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Thanks for the episode, Guys! It was great – fun, actually. I wish I had something *brilliant* to say, but, I don’t. Hoping to seeing you at the NYC WRock Festival.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:02 am
John’s book, The Deathly Hallows Lectures, will be out fairly soon, and the eye imagery of the seventh book has become a huge point of analysis. I’m not going to give his argument away, of course, because it’s the crux of his book, but I will suggest that it’s some of the most important analysis on the Potter stories available.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:48 am
I got a copy of DH Lectures two & a half weeks ago from Amazon. Did I get an early release? It’s a great book, though.
August 28th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
revgeorge: Crazy! As far as I knew it was not yet published…but Amazon does indeed list it as in stock!
Here’s the link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0972322175?tag=hpprogs-20
August 28th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
hey guys
i just got your podcast and it was awesome. When Greg was talking about Voldemort and the room of requirement, there is a mention of the diadem in Half Blood Prince. Right after Harry cuts up Malfoy in the bathroom and Snape comes. Snape tells Harry to go get his book but instead Harry hides it in the ROR and he places a bust with a silly little tiara on top on the cabinet so he can come back and find it. Little did us readers know at the time that he had already touched part of Voldemort’s soul. I just thought that was SUPER ironic and i thought that i would share it with you.
The whole eyes thing was awesome. I had never really paid that close of attention to the details that she gives about the eyes but since you brought it up i realize that it is now super extensive. Eyes are very significant in many other pieces of literature that i have read. Personally, I think eyes are creepy and gross!!!
Awesome job guys!!!
P.S.- I am trying to get Harry Potter part of my school system for the British Literature course you have to take. Being a senior in high school, I am currently taking the class and Beowulf is getting kinda boring so i was like…Harry Potter is British!!! Keep your fingers crossed!!!
August 31st, 2008 at 2:16 am
Hmmm with the delay theme in mind a good song from 1988 would be The Kinks, ” Back Where We Started”
August 31st, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Hey guys-great episode as usual! aside from the delay, i just wanted to comment about the “eyes” aspect of DH. one of the mentions of eyes that you didn’t mention that i thought was important was when ron and harry are destroying the locket and right before ron stabs it, the narration says something about how “harry could see i hint of red in ron’s eyes.” i just thought it was an interesting line and it really shows how much voldemort/the horcrux affected ron.
you also asked if there is another quote similar to “eyes are the window into
the soul,” well here’s one by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “An eye can threaten like a
loaded and levelled gun, or it can insult like hissing or kicking; or, in its
altered mood, by beams of kindness, it can make the heart dance for joy. … One of the most wonderful things in nature is a glance of the eye; it transcends
speech; it is the bodily symbol of identity.”
well that’s all for now! thanks!
p.s.-was this episode part of the patterns in potter series? if not, please start that up again soon-i really enjoy it!
p.p.s.-on a somewhat unrelated note, when i listened to this episode, i found it particularly hilarious when greg did his cockney voldemort accent, making fun of the room of requirement conundrum. as a big fan of faking accents myself, i really enjoyed it!! : )