I received some great comments from "Anonymous" on the issues of Draco's Redemption and the portrayal of Voldemort in the final film. As you might recall from some of my earlier posts on these subjects, I was more mystified than anything about the way Draco behaves in the seventh and eighth films and I was very unhappy with the way Stephen Kloves wrote Voldemort for the final movie, turning him, in my opinion, into a bit of a putz.
I think Anonymous makes a great point when she/he says that Draco's behaviour is actually laudable, that Draco's decision to join his mother and father just before the last battle and to leave Hogwarts while the battle still rages fits well with J.K.'s theme that real courage is shown in standing up against your friends. Draco and his family clearly make a decision that, even if Voldemort wins his fight with Harry, they no longer want any part of the Dark Lord and his monstrous ways.
On the issue of the portrayal of Voldemort in the final film, however, Anonymous and I will have to agree to disagree. Anonymous argues that Voldemort is more real, more human in the eighth film than in the final book and Anonymous likes that. I respect that position but I would argue that Rowling intended to make Voldemort less and less real, less and less human, more and more flat and one-dimensional in the later books precisely because of what he had done to his soul.
By splitting his soul into eight pieces, Voldemort filleted himself and his humanity. By the time only two bits of his soul survived (the one in him and the one in Nagini), Voldemort's humanity is paper thin. He is flat and soulless.
I think the movie version betrays what J.K. was trying to do. In the novel, Harry tells Voldemort that he can repair the damage to his soul by showing sincere regret for his evil deeds. By that time, however, Voldemort no longer has enough soul left even to consider being anyone other than his evil self. There is no regret coming because there is no regret possible for such a decimated person.
You can find Anonymous' very interesting and well-thought-out comments attached to the posts of July 28 (Draco's Redemption: How Can he just walk away?) and and July 20 (The film's Voldemort becomes a sad and silly caricature). I'm interested to read what other people think!
I get your point on Voldemort now. Rowling is trying to show the destruction of Voldemort's soul that results from his quest for power and immortality. So the thing he has become should not be relatable, except perhaps for those of us who have embarked on similar quests at one time or another and experienced our own loss of soul.
ReplyDeleteMy only counter-thoughts are: 1. In the book, Voldemort seems to be soulless from the beginning. He never seems to have any interest in friends or love. Perhaps Rowling could have slipped in some semblance of humanity in his early years, like we first saw with Draco in Book 6, but then have him make the wrong choice - rather than just "He was an abused orphan so it was his nature."
2. It would have been a monstrous feat to portray a soulless man on the big screen - and it probably would have come across as flat and boring. So they gave him an animated personality and conveyed his loss of soul through his inability to relate to anyone - killing Pius for no reason, having no idea how to hug Draco. And his rage and pain as he died bit by bit made him relatable and enjoyable, to me anyway.