I’m On My Umpteenth Harry Potter Rewatch – Has Anything Changed?

When the season changes and it starts to get colder out I despise it. It makes me sad and grumpy. However, a few things help me cope include buying new candles in bulk, fully embracing my academia aesthetic, and rewatching the Harry Potter Series. I watch the Harry Potter movies all year round when they’re on television, but I like to really dedicate a weekend in the fall/winter and binge. That’s what I’ve been doing this past week. Another main reason for watching them was to see if my ranking of the films has changed over the years. It has altered slightly, but not nearly enough to write home about. 

For some reason, in the past few years, I didn’t get a chance to do my yearly binge. The last time I did it was in high school I believe. So I was also curious to see if any of my favorite characters had changed, or even if I noticed anything new that I missed the first hundred times. Without further ado, let’s begin!

We’ll start with something fundamental; have my favorite characters changed? The short answer, not really, no. As a kid, I always had a soft spot for Ron and Fred and George. I also have a thing for misunderstood “villains” so Draco was also in my top five from day one. Another classic favorite is Hermione. Fun fact for all of you, I spent a lot of my childhood speaking with an English accent because of Emma Watson. Somewhere in my scrapbook archives, there’s a photo of me dressed as her for Halloween one year. Present-day Francesca is still in love with all of the aforementioned characters. Narcissa Malfoy has been added to the list on account of her absolutely iconic hair, but that’s it. I’m a simple gal; people still make fun of me for my crush on Ron and I still hold a severe grudge for the death of Fred. 

Moving on to not-so-obvious characters I don’t like. The first one is Snape. In my youth, I was sort of indifferent to him. As I grew up and realized his true self I began to strongly dislike him. I get it; he was on the good side and only had to kill Dumbledore because of his unbreakable vow to protect Draco, but he was also unnecessarily mean to Harry. I’m sorry that you were irrevocably in love with Lily and despised James, but that’s not Harry’s fault. The second one being Percy Weasley. No offense he was always my least favorite out of the Weasley family. I do not despise him; he just doesn’t vibe well with me. I always felt that he chose the ministry over his own family. He was also a little arrogant, but I won’t hold that against him because he did come together with his family when Fred died. Finally, Gilderoy Lockhart for obvious reasons. 

A rather clever thing I noticed was in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone when Neville’s Remembrall turns red and he can’t remember what he had forgotten. He’s the only one in the great hall who isn’t wearing his robe. 

I also wish that Charlie Weasley had screen time. It’s not like I can wish for him to have more screen time, he had zero! The only time we see him is in the Weasley’s family photo from Egypt. 

One of the biggest things I realized during my rewatch, is the obvious recast and whitewashing of Lavender Brown. She was played by Kathleen Cauley, a Black actress, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, she was played by Jennifer Smith, another Black actress. Now, up until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she was a less prominent role. When the second and third films were made, no one had a clue how big Lavender’s role was going to be. That’s still not an excuse for whitewashing her. When it came time to film The Half-Blood Prince, they wanted to cast someone more of a household name, that’s where Jessie Cave comes in. That’s all fine and dandy to want that, but they still didn’t have to whitewash her to find a household name. 

In a nutshell, I discover new things any time I watch a movie. Because of this, I like to focus on different characters each time and watch their reactions to certain things. For example, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I always focus on whatever is clear in the frame that I always missed Fred twirl Angelina around at the Yule Ball. From what I read, I don’t think they knew they were on camera.

How often do you rewatch movies? Do you discover things years after they’re released as I do? Follow along with The Cinema Spot for more on Twitter and Instagram.