We Are Wizards
Mar. 11th, 2009 09:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfinblazeI have about three movies I want to write about and haven't got round to yet, gah! But my parcel arrived yesterday! ^_^
I bought We Are Wizards. Official website: http://www.wearewizards-themovie.com/
And those of you considering buying it from outside America, don't worry, it reached me just fine, and the DVD is region-free so it should play on any DVD player. Normally I hack my computer's DVD player to get it to play any region DVD, so I wasn't too worried about that aspect, but if you are, don't be.
It's an independant film, a documentary, and it highlights several aspects of participatory culture in the Harry Potter fandom. Yes, I see this as an anthropological study. The film-maker, Josh Koury, talks to people who have responded strongly to the books including all stripes of creative people and activists.
It's really well made, and it has a good selection of subjects. It features the Wizard Rock bands Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys, The Hungarian Horntails, and a little slice of The Whomping Willows. It also features Brad Neely (cartoonist and occasional actor), Melissa Anelli (writer of Harry, A History, and webmistress of The Leaky Cauldron), Heather Lawver (who, at the age of 16, orchestrated a world wide boycott against Warner Brothers), the media theorist, Henry Jenkins, which made me squee out loud (is it terribly geeky to fangirl an academic?), and Caryl Matrisciana (the woman behind the anti-Potter film Harry Potter... Witchcraft Repackaged: Making Evil Look Innocent).
I'm very impressed by this documentary. I don't remember if there's even any narration, mainly it's just the film-maker switching on his camera and letting his subjects tell the story of people compelled to action through Harry Potter. He's engaged the help of a few other staff: a composer and some artists for instance to add their own touches to the film, and of course Josh Koury himself is also a fan, so really it's the recording of the passions of various people all loosely linked by their engagement with a single text.
I'm beginning to sound like a text book so maybe it's time I went to bed. Going to re-watch it again on the weekend though and think about it some more.
I bought We Are Wizards. Official website: http://www.wearewizards-themovie.com/
And those of you considering buying it from outside America, don't worry, it reached me just fine, and the DVD is region-free so it should play on any DVD player. Normally I hack my computer's DVD player to get it to play any region DVD, so I wasn't too worried about that aspect, but if you are, don't be.
It's an independant film, a documentary, and it highlights several aspects of participatory culture in the Harry Potter fandom. Yes, I see this as an anthropological study. The film-maker, Josh Koury, talks to people who have responded strongly to the books including all stripes of creative people and activists.
It's really well made, and it has a good selection of subjects. It features the Wizard Rock bands Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys, The Hungarian Horntails, and a little slice of The Whomping Willows. It also features Brad Neely (cartoonist and occasional actor), Melissa Anelli (writer of Harry, A History, and webmistress of The Leaky Cauldron), Heather Lawver (who, at the age of 16, orchestrated a world wide boycott against Warner Brothers), the media theorist, Henry Jenkins, which made me squee out loud (is it terribly geeky to fangirl an academic?), and Caryl Matrisciana (the woman behind the anti-Potter film Harry Potter... Witchcraft Repackaged: Making Evil Look Innocent).
I'm very impressed by this documentary. I don't remember if there's even any narration, mainly it's just the film-maker switching on his camera and letting his subjects tell the story of people compelled to action through Harry Potter. He's engaged the help of a few other staff: a composer and some artists for instance to add their own touches to the film, and of course Josh Koury himself is also a fan, so really it's the recording of the passions of various people all loosely linked by their engagement with a single text.
I'm beginning to sound like a text book so maybe it's time I went to bed. Going to re-watch it again on the weekend though and think about it some more.
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Date: 2009-03-11 11:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-11 06:07 pm (UTC)