Monday, July 30, 2007

Real Life Dolores Umbridge

Last night I finally watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This movie was by far my favorite of the series and Dolores Umbridge has to be my favorite character yet. The translation of her character from the book to the movie could not have been done any better. When reading the books, Umbridge was almost troll like in my mind’s eye. I almost thought of her as a outright beast or monster. But David Yate’s translation of Umbridge was far different from the way I had imagined her. Rather than being scary in the traditional monster under the bed sort of way, the film version of Umbridge was very real, nefarious and eerily familiar. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first. Her short and squat, but somewhat pleasant physical appearance reminded me of someone. But far more than the physical similarities, the rotten conservatism bordering on outright fascism that characterized her approach to education unmistakably parallels the work of a current political figure. Think about it. Rewriting the truth in favor of propaganda and fostering ignorance and selective truths that disempower children fostering unquestionable obedience to governmental authority. Have we seen this same thing in our own country? I of course and speaking of Lynne Cheney and her campaign against the National History Standards (More Information). These similarities made Dolores Umbridge SOOO much scarier in the movie. My only question now is where can I find some centaurs to run Cheney and her comrades out of town?

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hmmm....

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 07/30 at 10:05 AM
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