Harry Potter And The Renamed Novel

As a writer, one thing I hate, is when it is apparent that the person who has written a book has intentionally dumbed down the subject matter in order to be easily understood by a wider range of people.  I hate it even more when this is done to such an extent that the plot becomes obvious very quickly and the content becomes predictable.  This is usually the point where I give up reading and instead choose to move on to something else more intellectually stimulating.

Nowhere else is this more apparent to me, than when an English version, or to be more precise, the British version is adapted for audiences of other nations.  With translations to other languages, I accept that there will inevitably be things that are lost in translation.  These can somewhat be forgiven, although if the work had been translated by interpretation as opposed to simply telling the story as written then perhaps things would be different - I am somewhat hesitant to commit to that idea because my next point somewhat negates it.

When it comes to presenting the British version of anything to other countries that also speak English there is often a tendency to rework the content in an effort to localize it.  Often the most jarring versions of this are those aimed at American audiences.  The original Harry Potter book, the first that went on to become a series was titled 'Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone' originally, but this was changed for American audiences to Sorcerer's Stone.  This isn't just specific to books, it applies to games, for example Spyro 2 was titled "'Gateway to Glimmer' in Europe, and 'Ripto's Rage' for North America - this is an example of renaming in reverse, as the American name was decided first, and the European name was decided second, there are a slew of theories why this is the case, few of them hold water, and as far as I am aware, Insomniac never officially stated why.  J.K. Rowling however has confirmed the change in name for the original Harry Potter book was because publishers didn't think Americans would know what a Philosopher was, although to be frank given the plenitude of myth and legend intertwined into the series sprinkled with so many neologisms a plenty, I find it hard to believe that one word is what they took issue with but there we go.

The Americanized versions of most British things whilst adapting the content for local tastes, often completely eliminate the premise of the content they are changing.  TV shows like Queer As Folk which originally aired in the UK take this to the extreme, almost rewriting the entire script and in its case it went on to produce further seasons and diverged entirely from the UK original.  It is painfully apparent therefore when an American company gets involved in a production targeted at British consumers, for example the Absolutely Fabulous movie which didn't fit with the series whatsoever.  It was a nostalgic indulgence for many but you will find it difficult to find many who are fans of the original series who actually think it is on par or even surpasses it.

In all of these examples there are a myriad of reasons why the changes big and small occurred when reworking the material.  Some of these are more tolerable than others.  Whenever it is done for the sake of dumbing down the content, I find it most offensive.  In the case of Harry Potter, one can argue since it was aimed at children the change can be understood but I don't accept that argument.  You will inevitably learn what a Philosopher is at some point in your life, placing it in a children's book seems one of the more appropriate places to introduce it - not least of all for the fact that the word itself is only used a handful of times in the book and no emphasis is placed on what the word actually means - you don't even have to know what it means to be able to follow the story.

I wrote a post quite a while ago about The Big Bang Theory, the TV show and how I hated the fact it progressively simplified the language used and shifted the focus away from the nerdiness and geekiness of the characters.  This is an extension of that idea.  There seems to be an obsession with reaching as many people as possible in almost everything we do now as a society.  I don't like this attitude because it leads to a world where everything is grey and goopy there is no colour or diversity, no individuality or self expression, instead it creates conformity and uniformity.  I want something different, something that is what it is and doesn't apologize for it, is that too much to ask?

Fuck your beige dreams, I want the whole rainbow.