Ever since I started preparing for this Festa of posts on the Harry Potter universe to celebrate its anniversary, this was what I’ve been most excited to write about! The From Paper to the Reel post where we put the book against the movie and see which one is better?
I know, I know. Harry Potter may probably be the toughest one and one where there’s already a gazillion discussions – but these are my thoughts, I probably might not include the really tiny weeny details but maybe the more major portions since we are putting the book against the movie.
Oh and if it’s still not obvious – THIS POST CONTAINS EVERY SPOILER YOU CAN IMAGINE.
I’ve prepared lots of exciting posts other than these as well such as throwbacks to the movie and the books which you can check out on the main post on The Harry Potter Universe!
The Basic Plot
Harry Potter is an orphaned child living with his abusive aunt, uncle and cousin – The Dursleys. His life is mostly uneventful until he gets a visit from Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry on his eleventh birthday with the letter containing information on his admission and subsequent education at Hogwarts.
And that’s not all – Harry was also one of the most famous wizards in history as he survived an attack from deadliest wizard of all time – Voldemort when he was just 15 months old. He was left with just a lightning shaped scar on his forehead and Voldemort was believed to have perished or dead – leading to the wizarding world free from an era of darkness and evil.
The story then details Harry’s first year at Hogwarts, his introduction to the world of Wizards, witches and Hogwarts, more about his history with Voldemort.
The Differences
Out of all the adaptations it’s well known that this adaptation has the least amount of differences from the original. But nevertheless, lets dig into it!
Harry Arrives at Privet Drive
The book actually starts with some of the things noticed by the Dursleys as they notice unnatural behaviour in the owls, a cascade of shooting stars (which were the magical folk celebrating the end of a dark era) and the rather smart looking Tabby cat outside their home (Professor McGonagall in her animagus form). The movie starts with Harry being dropped off at the front door by Dumbledore. Because of this, the conversation between Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore where she says Voldemort’s name and the fact that Hagrid got his bike from Sirius etc. is not mentioned.
The Snake Enclosure
In the books the glass of the snake enclosure vanishes and the snake escapes much to everyone’s shock. Harry is subsequently locked in his attic room with no meals whereas in the movie Harry tells Vernon Dursley how it was almost like “magic” and how he mentions that “THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS MAGIC” – which probably a trigger point for the Dursleys as they knew the truth behind Harry. In the movie however the glass comes back trapping Dudley (which doesn’t happen in the books) but was a nice addition ! Also side note – this is probably the first instance were we get to see Harry can speak Parseltongue – a very very important point!
Hagrid
Coming to the scene where Harry and Hagrid meet, there are many minor differences as to how they reached the hut, the point of time Dudley got his pigs tail etc but the most important factor was that Hagrid does not tell Harry anything about his expulsion from Hogwarts – another important point that we come to in the Chamber of Secrets as Hagrid is made the scapegoat for Tom Riddle’s crimes.
Quirrell’s appearance
In the books Quirrell attempts to steal the stone on the day Harry visits Diagon Alley which is why he doesn’t have the turban that day. However in the film, he has the turban (and hence Voldemort) from the beginning. However there is some confusion on whether Quirrell actually knew what would happen to him if Harry touched him because as he dies in the film, he exclaims “what is this magic?!”.
Draco Malfoy
Harry’s first meet up of Draco Malfoy, Quidditch etc were all in Diagon Alley but they were moved to other parts in the movie. The character “Peeves” was also removed from the entire movie franchise – I know he has nothing to do with the main plot but he was really entertaining in the books!
The Stone
Coming to the specifics of the Philosopher’s Stone – in the book the name Nicolas Flamel was read by Harry for the first time in the back of a card on Dumbledore in a pack of Chocolate Frogs. In the film the first time the name comes up is from Hermione and the book she took for “light reading”. Interestingly enough, a deleted scene from the film shows Harry reading it on the card and running to the library. Harry also meets Malfoy for the first time but decides to be with Ron while they travel to Hogwarts by which a fight later ensues. In the film only their meet-up is involved (these things with Malfoy are important as he becomes crucial later on).
Detention and other details
In the book, after the Remembrall incident Malfoy calls them for a duel which later ends up in them almost being caught by Filch. The part about the duel is not there in movie but it was after this that they meet Fluffy, although in the books Neville was with them.
At one point in the story Harry is caught with his book “Quidditch through the ages” and docked house points by Snape. He sees Snape’s injured leg and therefore suspicion about him increases when he goes to ask the book back. The part where he notices his injured leg in the film is different. Also during the Quidditch match, Hermione whose running to break the charm that Snape was apparently doing, ends up into her running into Quirrell and breaking the spell in the book. In the film, Quirrell’s eye contact for the charm was cut after Snape’s robes caught on fire thanks to Hermione who also suspects Snape.
In the novel Harry recieves a wooden flute from Hagrid which was later used against Fluffy. This does not happen in the film.
In the book, Harry follows Snape after a Quidditch match on his broom to see him arguing or “threatening” Quirrell. This was altered to at a corridor in the school after which Harry finds the Mirror of Erised in the film. In the book Harry sees his grandparents as well in the mirror whereas it’s just his parents in the book.
The part about Norbert the dragon being given to Charlie, or in fact the presence of the character Charlie Weasly is omitted throughout the film series. In the book they get detention as Filch catches them at the bottom of Astronomy tower as they send Norbert off. In the film it’s because Malfoy catches them in Hagrid’s Hut after hours.
In the books Ronan, Bane and Firenze are the centaurs that Harry meets but in the film it’s only Firenze. Firenze giving Harry a ride after the dead unicorn incident is also changed to them being found by Hagrid and Fang and the others.
Beyond the trapdoor
Coming to the battles the trio have to get to the stone, there were a number of differences. Since Harry never got the flute in the film, they just go past Fluffy while Quirrell’s harp continues to play. The Devil’s Snare escape was also different as to how each of them escaped. Only Harry rode the broom during the charmed keys room and the chess board was way more vicious in the movies. Snape’s potion round wasn’t shown at all in the films (probably to make us think it’s still Snape) – but there is also a scene in the film where Hagrid tells them Snape is protecting the stone. Quirrell’s troll which was found dead by the trio is also missing in the film. Speaking of teachers it’s a shame they never showed their History of Magic teacher. It was always funny to me that he was a ghost who just continued teaching! I believe the character was omitted throughout the series!
The battle between Harry and Quirrell
Although Quirrell talks about Snape and about how he and James Potter were enemies in the book that doesn’t happen in the films. Harry sees his parents again in the Mirror of Erised in the films but instead in the book it was about Voldemort talking about how his mother died in vain – this isn’t a direct mention but we know Voldemort had asked Lily to stand aside a lot for Snape. In the book Quirrell turned to stone and crumbled while in the movie he got burnt and blistered aside from other details of their battle.
Which one was better?
Aahhh this might be the one of the more difficult of them all, as the initial set of movies did stay true to the book as much as possible. In fact aside from a few points it was not that bad an adaptation , in fa t it was adapted really well! You would have noticed that the details that are different are ver precise things – there are many more tiny and inconsequential things like this as well but that doesn’t hamper the main plot at all. I’m going to however give this one up for the movie and that’s by a microscopic margin – for giving us a visualisation of things that may have been not so direct otherwise – and I’m saying this from the perspective of a young kid who watched the movie 20 years ago – a young kid who may not have got it all understood. But the margin is soo small that it’s right to say theres no true winner here either. What did you think? Let me know in the comments! Please do check out the main post linked at the top for more. Thank you for reading!
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