The concluding line of the story tells us the fountain was not magical after all. To me, this ending is almost the antithesis of the message of the Wizard of Oz, a muggle story. The Fountain is about actively seeking and making your own choices to change and improve your life, while Oz tells you you were better off at home.
I think that's true, but there's a difference. I think The Fountain is more about the unity of the three women and the knight, and how in fact, that was the magic. Whereas in Oz, all Dorothy needs to get home is the will to get home. (As far as I can recall, anyway.) Though it is true that she was united with three companions...
That said, both stories do suppose that magic, while wonderful, is not always the final solution.
What do you think wizards use to quench their thirst for stories?Probably the same things we do. We know there's at least one canonical publishing company, and plays appear to exist. We just have the wrong characters in the books as far as learning that sort of thing goes - Ron and Harry
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1. In all the Muggle tales I can think of, people either are a team to begin with or join up together in steps along the way after being useful to or saved by an original hero. Here we have a very different sense of reaching out to collaborate. This makes sense because that is the sort of idea both Beedle and Jo would want to put forward, while I don't think it was so much on traditional fairy-tale writers' minds
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What do you think wizards use to quench their thirst for stories?
If there's an entire Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts, as Dumbledore mentions in his notes, that would seem to suggest that theater is pretty significant in Wizarding society.
As for the WWN, it's possible that in addition to music and news they also have radio plays or literature readings. Is there any indication of more than one WWN channel (like the BBC's Radio 1, Radio 2, etc.)? Or whether or not European wizarding wireless broadcasts can be picked up in the British Isles?
Another idea regarding Wizarding entertainment: could the Potterwatch broadcasts have grown out of a pirate radio-type culture? Or could such a culture have developed after the war? Food for fanfic....
Is there any indication of more than one WWN channel (like the BBC's Radio 1, Radio 2, etc.)? Or whether or not European wizarding wireless broadcasts can be picked up in the British Isles?
Given that Muggles in the late 50s and early 60s could pick up Radio Luxembourg, which was broadcast from central Europe, it's certainly possible that wizards could! :)
3. Actually the characters in Oz spend a lot of time making choices, struggling, fighting and overcoming inorder to discover that the things they seek: courage, intelligence and heart are already in their possession. The little girl discovers that much of what she wants is already available to her the same way, already available to her in her home. The wizard is a fake, Oz itself fearful and ready to bow to the witches. She herself saved herself with the help of her friends and her own courage and ingenuity
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I sounded way to extreme when I wrote about wizards and culture, my only excuse is that I've had a lot of cold medicine and it seems to have turned off my inner editor and made me rather severe in my opinions. Sorry. I obviously don't think Neville is an idiot just that he is a poor student in most classes at that stage of his life. The lack of evidence of a desire to teach children literature has always bugged me especially in a novel. I've always appreciated the way JKR made being studious and intelligent attractive and useful. I wish she had done the same for being interested in literature. I also appear to have forgotten to spell check. Sorry to one and all.
6. "Dumbledore mentions the controversy of the Muggle knight marrying a witch, and the requests for banning the story. Why do you think the anti-Muggle parents didn't choose to change the story (like they did with the Hopping Pot) rather than request it be banned
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I think that's true, but there's a difference. I think The Fountain is more about the unity of the three women and the knight, and how in fact, that was the magic. Whereas in Oz, all Dorothy needs to get home is the will to get home. (As far as I can recall, anyway.) Though it is true that she was united with three companions...
That said, both stories do suppose that magic, while wonderful, is not always the final solution.
What do you think wizards use to quench their thirst for stories?Probably the same things we do. We know there's at least one canonical publishing company, and plays appear to exist. We just have the wrong characters in the books as far as learning that sort of thing goes - Ron and Harry ( ... )
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If there's an entire Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts, as Dumbledore mentions in his notes, that would seem to suggest that theater is pretty significant in Wizarding society.
As for the WWN, it's possible that in addition to music and news they also have radio plays or literature readings. Is there any indication of more than one WWN channel (like the BBC's Radio 1, Radio 2, etc.)? Or whether or not European wizarding wireless broadcasts can be picked up in the British Isles?
Another idea regarding Wizarding entertainment: could the Potterwatch broadcasts have grown out of a pirate radio-type culture? Or could such a culture have developed after the war? Food for fanfic....
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Given that Muggles in the late 50s and early 60s could pick up Radio Luxembourg, which was broadcast from central Europe, it's certainly possible that wizards could! :)
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