In the 2001 movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, based off the novel by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter learns about the magic world while starting his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In doing so, he forms strong friendships with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, two fellow first-years, who together fight for their lives while trying to reach and protect the immortality gem, the Sorcerer’s Stone. Toward the end of the movie, the trio battles through various tests before arriving at a life-size Wizard’s Chess board, indicating they need to play the game of chess, and win, to cross the room and further their rescue mission. By applying Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” to this scene, the intentions
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In “Monster Culture (Seven Theses),” Jeffrey Jerome Cohen depicts cultures by the monsters “they engender” (Cohen 3). In doing so, Cohen implies a double-headed arrow when speaking of culture and monsters; meaning, monsters lead to issues in culture, and culture itself produces monsters. In his essay, Cohen proposes multiple scenarios that lead to the formation of monsters in society. He argues, “Race has been almost as powerful a catalyst to the creation of monsters as culture, gender, and sexuality.” (Cohen 10). Cohen frequently refers to culture, gender, sexuality, and race throughout his essay to emphasize the importance of those four classifications in society. Furthermore, Cohen states, “The monster often arises to enforce … the decrees against interracial sexual mingling.” (Cohen 15). Here, Cohen argues that sexual mingling between races is prohibited to shield from the formation of monsters. Cohen strongly believes that people of different kinds should not interact because it is the “unusual,” “unique,” “strange,” and “unordinary” people that become the …show more content…
After Harry decides he must continue alone, Hermione gushes about the importance of their friendship and all the traits she admires in Harry. The music during her confession is soft with slight fluctuations in pitch which provides a heartfelt moment for the viewer. This aspect of the scene along with the passionate music also causes some confusion, though. The use of sound in the beginning of this scene focused on the fear dwelling in each character while highlighting the severity of the situation. However, toward the end of the scene, the sentimental moment shared between Harry and Hermione can be viewed as almost loving with expressed platonic love. The music that plays between their moment is the exact same music that reappears a few times throughout the movie, usually when Harry reminisces his love for his parents. Therefore, the use of music at this point in the scene aims to hint that Hermione was subtly trying to express her love for Harry. When viewing this scene through the lens provided by Cohen, this hypothesis of Hermione’s secret love for Harry is supported but also varied. Although Hermione expresses platonic love, love without sexual lusts, Cohen’s beliefs still apply because the potential for impurity is constant, and the lusts can always develop over time of platonic mingling.
In “Monster Culture (Seven Theses),” Jeffrey Jerome Cohen depicts cultures by the monsters “they engender” (Cohen 3). In doing so, Cohen implies a double-headed arrow when speaking of culture and monsters; meaning, monsters lead to issues in culture, and culture itself produces monsters. In his essay, Cohen proposes multiple scenarios that lead to the formation of monsters in society. He argues, “Race has been almost as powerful a catalyst to the creation of monsters as culture, gender, and sexuality.” (Cohen 10). Cohen frequently refers to culture, gender, sexuality, and race throughout his essay to emphasize the importance of those four classifications in society. Furthermore, Cohen states, “The monster often arises to enforce … the decrees against interracial sexual mingling.” (Cohen 15). Here, Cohen argues that sexual mingling between races is prohibited to shield from the formation of monsters. Cohen strongly believes that people of different kinds should not interact because it is the “unusual,” “unique,” “strange,” and “unordinary” people that become the …show more content…
After Harry decides he must continue alone, Hermione gushes about the importance of their friendship and all the traits she admires in Harry. The music during her confession is soft with slight fluctuations in pitch which provides a heartfelt moment for the viewer. This aspect of the scene along with the passionate music also causes some confusion, though. The use of sound in the beginning of this scene focused on the fear dwelling in each character while highlighting the severity of the situation. However, toward the end of the scene, the sentimental moment shared between Harry and Hermione can be viewed as almost loving with expressed platonic love. The music that plays between their moment is the exact same music that reappears a few times throughout the movie, usually when Harry reminisces his love for his parents. Therefore, the use of music at this point in the scene aims to hint that Hermione was subtly trying to express her love for Harry. When viewing this scene through the lens provided by Cohen, this hypothesis of Hermione’s secret love for Harry is supported but also varied. Although Hermione expresses platonic love, love without sexual lusts, Cohen’s beliefs still apply because the potential for impurity is constant, and the lusts can always develop over time of platonic mingling.