Oldies But Goodies
{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Book Review: Fantastic
Beasts Original
Screenplays by J.K. Rowling
by Karen S. Wiesner
Quite a few years ago, a trend started going around writing circles that was in direct opposition of everything I'd ever taught about going deep with characters. In this trend, writers were advised not to include more than basic information about main characters, allowing readers to fill in the blanks and make the characters whatever they want them to be. Can character development can be fluid enough to allow something like that without compromising everything vital in a story? In a word, no. Individual character choices directly influence outcomes. If a character isn't well defined, motives and purposes are constantly in question as well as in flux. Readers are more likely to say "Sucks for you" to characters they can't invest in, let alone care about enough to root for. Ultimately, characters that have little or no impact on readers make for a quickly forgotten story.
Personally, I want a good balance of character and plot development in any story I invest myself in. With most of the new stuff coming out, I'm not getting that. So I've been re-reading the books that have made it onto my keeper shelves in the past. To that end, here's another "oldies but goodies" review.
I'm taking a risk here, reviewing a wonderful book series that was literally destroyed by politics, misunderstandings on both sides, and shockingly vicious social media squabbles. My excuse for going ahead with it is: 1) I don't believe anyone or anything should be censored, particularly books, and 2) if I resigned myself to only enjoying art (in whatever form it comes in) created by artists I actually agree with the political opinions and private lives and actions of, I might as well give up art although. While I unfortunately absorbed some of the controversy surrounding this series because it was impossible to avoid it altogether in using the internet and to live in a world where the people around you have very strong opinions, for the most part I've managed to separate myself from it. I love the world of Harry Potter so much, there was no way I was going to let differing opinions on a topic that had nothing to do with the stories keep me from reading, watching, and playing the games designed around this magical world. Just in case anyone wonders: The screenplay format wasn't a deterrent either. While it's not as rich as a novel, it worked.
Fantastic Beasts actually takes place well in advance of the Harry Potter series. Here, the famous or infamous, depending on your point-of-view, Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is a middle-age man. We knew about Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, the title of the first Fantastic Beasts screenplay and the movie that was made from it, because it was a textbook Harry and his classmates were using to study magical creatures. The author of the textbook was Magizoologist Newt Scamander, and that's the main character in the screenplays and films of the Fantastic Beasts series.
The first screenplay and movie took a little bit of time to grow on me because it was so drastically different. Set in the USA, New York, where the American division of wizards Magical Congress of the United States (MACUSA) is headquartered, the series includes a host of unlikely but compelling characters. Stories hinted at within Harry Potter come to life here--ones that I've always wanted to know more about--more than any, Dumbledore's history. Here, we get much more detail about his family life, his romantic liaison with infamous dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (very tastefully done), the life changes that resulted from those experiences, and his role at Hogwarts.
Dumbledore, Credence, Newt, and his unlikely and initially reluctant sidekick, baker Jacob are strong, loveable characters with easy to emphasize with motivations and goals. Also of note is Queenie, a compelling secondary character with unique talents and a sweet, simple faith in love. Her sister Tina would have been another intriguing character, but her place in the story was upset after the first screenplay/movie--again, based on real-life politics that drastically and indelibly altered the series.
In the second installment, The Crimes of Grindelwald, we start to learn who Dumbledore's former boyfriend is, what he believes, and what motivates him to violently change the wizarding--and the No-Maj (non-magical) or Muggle world--forever. In the movie, Johnny Depp played the role of Grindelwald brilliantly. The third installment, The Secrets of Dumbledore, was written by Rowling with Steve Kloves, who wrote screenplays for seven of the Harry Potter films. The role of Grindelwald was later filled by another favorite actor of mine Mads Mikkelsen. {Damn you, social medium politics and controversy!}. In Secrets, Grindelwald's madness comes to a head. We learned a lot in the suspenseful, shocking story, some closure was provided, but not everything was tied up neatly in this screenplay/movie.
Originally, the Fantastic
Beasts screenplays/films were supposed to be a trilogy, but even before the
release of the third film, that grew. The final two installments were to "consist
of a sequence of events that occurred between the years of 1926 and 1945",
according to Rowling. Political strife and media controversy on multiple fronts
had a deep impact on the future of the screenplays and films. By late 2022, the
movie company had reported it "was not actively planning to continue the
film series or to develop any films related to the Wizarding World
franchise". A year later, the director David Yates offered a half-hearted "...at
some point, we'll be back." Rowling and the producer hadn't weighed in at
that point. I imagine the author was terrified to open her mouth about anything at that point. Not long later,
Yates confirmed the franchise had been parked, development discontinued. So
fans will just have to be satisfied with the endings provided in the third
screenplay/movie.
It makes me very sad that hate, prejudice, and intolerance can cause such devastation even in an imaginary world, tainting beyond redemption something that started out so good.
You'll see more of my reviews for Oldie But Goodies that you might also find worth another read in the future.
Karen Wiesner is an award-winning,
multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.
Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/
and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog
Find out more about her books and see her art
here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor
Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/
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