“You put peace out in the world, you get peace back.” Take a look at this. Sony has quietly released a little viral marketing ad for an action movie arriving his summer called Bullet Train. Yes, it’s set on a bullet train, which almost makes me feel like we’re in the 90s waiting for the next kick ass train action movie. The ad is for a fictional train line in Japan called “Nippon Speed Line” or NSL, with some stunning footage of the train in Japan. It ends with a shot of a beat up Brad Pitt taking a rest in what looks like a slight break in the action. The plot involves five assassins aboard this train who discover their missions all have something in common. “Join us for a truly unforgettable experience with a new way to travel: tranquil, comfortable, and fast.” The ad also hints that the full trailer for Bullet Train is debuting on March 2nd, an the NSL website has a huge countdown time on it, too. I’m a big fan of these kind of surprise, early hype marketing moments. Can’t wait to see more – as this usually means the studio is confident and excited about it as well.
Here’s the first viral teaser ad for David Leitch’s Bullet Train, found on NSL’s YouTube (via Collder):
The big ensemble cast features Sandra Bullock (“Maria Beetle”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Tangerine”), Brad Pitt (“Ladybug”), Joey King (“Prince”), Zazie Beetz, Logan Lerman, Michael Shannon, Brian Tyree Henry (“Lemon”), Hiroyuki Sanada, Andrew Koji (“Kimura”), Masi Oka and Andrea Muñoz.
Five assassins find themselves on a Japanese bullet train, realizing that their individual assignments are all interconnected.Bullet Train is directed by American stuntman / filmmaker David Leitch, director of the films John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, and Fast Furious Presents: Hobbs Shaw previously; he also works as a stunt coordinator stuntman. The screenplay is written by Zak Olkewicz, adapted from Kôtarô Isaka’s novel. Produced by Antoine Fuqua, David Leitch, and Kelly McCormick. Sony Pictures will release Leitch’s Bullet Train movie in theaters starting July 15th, 2022 this summer. Ready to see more?
A lot of things have changed since the Tony Award-winning play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” settled into San Francisco’s Curran Theater for an open-ended run in late 2019.
First the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the show (and theaters in general) in March 2020. And when “Cursed Child” eventually started up again this January, with its official reopening night pushed back to Feb. 24, what had been a five-hour play in two parts has been trimmed down into a single 3½-hour play for its return to San Francisco, Broadway and elsewhere.
Meanwhile a bigger change was going on behind the scenes. During the time that the show was closed, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, has become the public face of the “gender critical” movement in her native United Kingdom, which advocates against legal and societal recognition and accommodation of transgender people.
Far from fading away, the controversy has only intensified as Rowling has continued to issue Twitter posts and essays since the summer of 2020 portraying trans recognition as harmful to women and that “erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives,” though she asserts that she herself is not anti-trans and has trans friends.
“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling has faced backlash over her views on transgender people. (Evan Agostini/Associated Press archives)
Many “Harry Potter” performers such as Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were quick to speak out against Rowling’s comments and affirm their support for the rights of trans people. Added Radcliffe, “I realize that certain press outlets will probably want to paint this as in-fighting between J.K. Rowling and myself, but that is really not what this is about, nor is it what’s important right now.”
Meanwhile, the Potter franchise forges onward, with another “Fantastic Beasts” movie coming out this spring, a reunion special of the movies’ cast that debuted on HBO Max in January (Watson, Grint and Radcliffe all appear in the special, which limits Rowling’s involvement to a previously taped interview), and the return of the revamped “Cursed Child” on stage.
The play wasn’t written by Rowling but by Jack Thorne, based on a story by Rowling, Thorne and director John Tiffany. Still, particularly in a trans- and LGBTQ-friendly market such as San Francisco, the play’s return necessitates some difficult conversations about how much a popular franchise can be separated from the actions of its originator.
“I think everybody has to decide how they’re going to approach the question of separating the author from the work,” says Charlie Jane Anders, an award-winning author, trans woman, cofounder of the blog io9.com and host of the San Francisco reading series Writers with Drinks. “But in the case of a living author, who is currently using her power to attack vulnerable, marginalized people, I would not feel comfortable giving her any financial support right now.”
“If money is going to her from the show, that is hurting trans people, period,” says Chris Steele, a trans nonbinary performance artist, writer and activist who cofounded the San Francisco queer theater collective Poltergeist Theatre Project. “It just feels like we’re continuing to live in the fantasy rather than the real world of the thing, in which the stuff she is saying is contributing to an environment where trans femme people have life expectancies that are decades shorter than anyone else.”
To Bay Area writer, performer, activist and biologist Julia Serano, who is a trans woman, Rowling is a very different case from other celebrities who occasionally make transphobic jokes or comments. “There’s not a political agenda behind it. They have certain attitudes and make comments sometimes. But J.K. Rowling has most demonstrably aligned herself with political positions and movements that are actively trying to mandate trans people out of existence.”
There are no reports of organized protests against “Cursed Child” productions in New York or San Francisco, and it would be difficult to gauge any impact on attendance at a time when the COVID continues to affect theater productions in general.
When asked for comment, the producers of “Cursed Child” issued this statement via email: “San Francisco was chosen as the exclusive West Coast location for ’Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ because of its rich cultural diversity and commitment to the arts. At the heart of our story are lessons of tolerance, acceptance, and understanding — core values that are reflected and embraced in every aspect of the production. Theater is part of the lifeblood of this community, and we are humbled the city has welcomed the show with open arms.”
But while many of Rowling’s critics still cherish aspects of her most famous creation, they still feel the author has crossed a line.
Charlie Jane Anders, an author and trans woman, is ‘grateful’ for all the young readers “Harry Potter” encouraged, but adds “I think there are many ways to love Harry Potter without giving Rowling a penny.” (Sarah Deragon/courtesy of Charlie Jane Anders)
“I think there are many ways to love Harry Potter without giving Rowling a penny,” says Anders. “I’m very grateful to the Potter books for helping to create a whole new generation of readers, and for helping to save bookstores at a crucial time. But there is so much wonderful fantasy being published now, by marginalized authors, with worlds that are both more vibrant and more inclusive than Rowling’s.”
Steele, who says they “devoured the books as a kid,” agrees: “I took things from the books that matter to me, but there are other ways to get those same lessons.”
Says Serano, “I’ve seen people say things like, ‘Well, for me, Harry Potter was this queer or trans metaphor of what it’s like to be a kid living in a world where nobody understands why you’re special and they treat you bad, but then you go to a magical place where people understand that you’re special and appreciate you for that.’ And yeah, I guess you could read that as a queer or a trans metaphor. I’ve also seen people who said, ‘I was looking forward to sharing the Harry Potter books with my kids when they grew up, but there’s no way I’m doing that now.’”
To Serano, what’s most important is not to shy away from really examining the problematic side of beloved cultural artifacts and the people behind them. “Maybe this can become a teachable moment,” Serano says. “If it can generate conversations, then maybe there is some good that comes out of it.”
Contact Sam Hurwitt at shurwitt@gmail.com, and follow him at Twitter.com/shurwitt.
By Jack Thorne, based on an original story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Thorne, presented by The Curran
When: Now in previews; main run is Feb. 24-Sept. 4
Where: The Curran, 445 Geary St., San Francisco
Health safety: Attendees 12 and over must have proof of vaccination and booster, those under 12 must have proof of negative COVID test, ticketholders are asked to wear masks inside the theater
“We are doing true good here, Shannon, don’t lose sight of that.” Magnolia Pictures has revealed the first trailer for an indie sci-fi thriller titled Ultrasound, made by producer Rob Schroeder making his feature directorial debut. This premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and it also played at the Fantasia Film Festival last fall. The synopsis is incredibly vague: After his car breaks down, Glen spends one hell of an odd night with a married couple, setting into motion a chain of events that alter their lives… “Brilliantly constructed and meticulously detailed, [the film] gradually destabilizes the viewer’s processing of the reality it presents, with a control that is as uncommon as it is remarkable… Textured with all kinds of clever subtleties, the film plays with its audience in revealing its mysteries, always keeping several steps ahead.” Starring Vincent Kartheiser, Chelsea Lopez, Breeda WoolTunde Adebimpe, Chris Gartin, plus Rainey Qualley. From this trailer it seems like this is some Eternal Sunshine kind of mental experimental gone crazy. Whoa.
Here’s the official trailer (+ two posters) for Rob Schroeder’s Ultrasound, direct from YouTube:
After his car breaks down, Glen spends one hell of an odd night with a married couple, setting into motion a chain of events that alter their lives plus those of several random strangers.Ultrasound is directed by producer / filmmaker Rob Schroeder, making his feature directorial debut after a number of short films and music videos previously; he’s also a producer on Uncle Kent 2, Sun Choke, Holidays. The screenplay is written by Conor Stechschulte, adapted from his acclaimed graphic novel “Generous Bosom”. This initially premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, and it also played at the Fantasia Film Festival. Magnolia Pictures will debut Schroeder’s Ultrasound film in select US theaters + on VOD starting March 11th, 2022 coming soon. For more info on the this project, visit the film’s official site. Who’s curious? Want to watch?
FORT WAYNE, Ind., Dec. 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Vera Bradley, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRA; “Vera Bradley” or the “Company”), a leading American bag and luggage company and iconic lifestyle brand, today debuted the Harry Potter™ + Vera Bradley Luna’s Medallion collection, a new limited-edition capsule collection in collaboration with Warner Bros. Consumer Products.
Fan favorite Luna Lovegood™, her distinct flair for fashion, and the dreamy, kaleidoscopic view seen through her signature Spectrespecs inspired the magical Luna’s Medallion collection. Look for surprises hidden within the pattern, such as Luna’s radish earrings and rabbit Patronus!
“We’re celebrating the joy and excitement of the holiday season by once again collaborating with Warner Bros. Consumer Products to create another very special Harry Potter™ + Vera Bradley collection,” noted Daren Hull, Vera Bradley Brand President. “Fans of the Wizarding World™ and Vera Bradley alike are sure to delight in the limited-edition Luna’s Medallion collection, inspired by the one-of-a-kind, lovable Luna Lovegood™.”
The Harry Potter™ + Vera Bradley Luna’s Medallion collection, offered in the brand’s newest Recycled Cotton fabrication, is available exclusively on www.verabradley.com and at Harry Potter New York, the official Harry Potter™ flagship store in New York City. The collection offers 16 styles, ranging in price from $19.99 to $135, including best-selling silhouettes like the Plush Throw Blanket, Large Travel Duffel and RFID All in One Crossbody. To learn more, visit www.verabradley.com/harrypotter and follow @verabradley and @harrypotter.
About Vera Bradley, Inc. Vera Bradley, Inc. operates two unique lifestyle brands – Vera Bradley and Pura Vida. Vera Bradley and Pura Vida are complementary businesses, both with devoted, emotionally-connected, and multi-generational female customer bases; alignment as casual, comfortable, affordable, and fun brands; positioning as “gifting” and socially-connected brands; strong, entrepreneurial cultures; a keen focus on community, charity, and social consciousness; multi-channel distribution strategies; and talented leadership teams aligned and committed to the long-term success of their brands.
Vera Bradley, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a leading designer of women’s handbags, luggage and other travel items, fashion and home accessories, and unique gifts. Founded in 1982 by friends Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and Patricia R. Miller, the brand is known for its innovative designs, iconic patterns, and brilliant colors that inspire and connect women unlike any other brand in the global marketplace.
In July 2019, Vera Bradley, Inc. acquired a 75% interest in Creative Genius, Inc., which also operates under the name Pura Vida Bracelets (“Pura Vida”). Pura Vida, based in La Jolla, California, is a rapidly growing, digitally native, and highly engaging lifestyle brand founded in 2010 by friends Paul Goodman and Griffin Thall. Pura Vida has a differentiated and expanding offering of bracelets, jewelry, and other lifestyle accessories.
About Warner Bros. Consumer Products Warner Bros. Consumer Products, part of Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences, extends the Studio’s powerful portfolio of entertainment brands and franchises into the lives of fans around the world. WBCP partners with best-in-class licensees globally on an award-winning range of toys, fashion, home décor, and publishing inspired by franchises and properties such as DC, Wizarding World, Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, HBO, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. The division’s successful global themed entertainment business includes groundbreaking experiences such as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi. With innovative global licensing and merchandising programs, retail initiatives, promotional partnerships and themed experiences, WBCP is one of the leading licensing and retail merchandising organizations in the world.
About Wizarding World In the years since Harry Potter was whisked from King’s Cross Station onto Platform nine and three quarters, his incredible adventures have left a unique and lasting mark on popular culture. Eight BlockbusterHarry Potter films based on the original stories by J.K. Rowling have brought the magical stories to life and today, the Wizarding World is recognised as one of the world’s best-loved brands.
Representing a vast interconnected universe, it also includes two epic Fantastic Beasts films, (the third releasing in 2022), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – the multi-award-winning stage-play, state-of-the-art video and mobile games from Portkey Games, innovative consumer products, thrilling live entertainment (including four theme park lands) and insightful exhibitions.
This expanding portfolio of Warner Bros. owned Wizarding World experiences also includes Harry Potter New York – a brand new flagship store, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo, and the Platform 9 3⁄4 retail shops.
The Wizarding World continues to evolve to provide Harry Potter fans with fresh and exciting ways to engage. For the worldwide fan community, and for generations to come, it welcomes everyone in to explore and discover the magic for themselves.
There are 808 Kashmiri Pandit families who did not leave the Valley. They are living peacefully with other communities in Kashmir.
Chuni Lal said that communal harmony in Kashmir is unmatchable anywhere across the world. “We all (Muslims, Hindus or Sikhs) have the same culture. We participate in each other’s festivals. I have more Muslim friends than Hindus,” this retired government employee said. He is not amused at some people trying to give a communal colour to what happened in 1990. “Vivek Agnihotri has made a movie on the sufferings of Kashmiri Pandits. He should have also included what non-migrant Pandits went through and have been ignored by successive governments over the years,” he says.
Agnihotri’s movie ‘The Kashmir Files’ is focusing on the exodus of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits back in 1989 when the insurgency erupted in the Valley. The movie has been largely criticized in Kashmir and across the country by people who believe that it has shown only half-truths and is creating an atmosphere of hate against Muslims.
Countering a narrative created by some people that Muslims in Kashmir have illegally occupied houses of Pandits, Chuni Lal said, “We originally hail from Sumbal Sonawari in North Kashmir. We have a house and also some land. But nobody has occupied that property.”
Sunny Kaul is another Pandit who did not leave Kashmir. He has two children working outside the state but he and his wife have no urge to move. “In 2020 when one of our relatives passed away, it were local Muslims who performed his last rites. Last year when I had Covid, it was my Muslim friend’s son who took me to the hospital in his car,” he said.
Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS) led by Sanjay Tickoo recently tweeted, “Every Kashmiri Muslim is not terrorist, every Kashmiri Pandit is not communal. We both respect, love and share our pain which every Kashmiri has gone through last 32 years. TKF makes resident Kashmiri Pandits unsafe.”
Tom Felton, best known for portraying Draco Malfoy in the “Harry Potter” film series, is “on the mend” after he collapsed Thursday at a celebrity golf tournament.
Ryder Cup celebrity showcase competitors including the actor, who was representing Europe, had just finished posing for photos on the 18th green at the conclusion of their match when the actor, who turned 34 on a day earlier, seized and fell to the ground. Panicked calls for medical assistance ensued.
Felton was tended to while on the ground for some time before a golf cart arrived. He was helped to his feet, placed on a stretcher and driven away. Ryder Cup organizers said only that Felton experienced “a medical incident” at Whistling Straits and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Original report:‘Harry Potter’ actor Tom Felton carted off after collapse at celebrity golf event
The actor provided an upbeat update to fans Saturday on Instagram, where he shared – with a guitar in hand – that he was “on the road to recovery” and “feeling better by the day” while expressing gratitude for all the well-wishes he received.
“Yeah, a bit of a scary episode, really,” he said with a laugh. “But people have been taking really good care of me. … I am on the mend, officially.”
He concluded with a short musical summary: “Don’t you worry, girl, Tom will be doing fine,” he sang.
Felton, born in Surrey, England, is best known for portraying Harry Potter’s school nemesis. His other screen credits include TV’s “The Flash” and the 2011 film “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”
Earlier this month, Felton joined the Wizarding World, the official digital hub for “Harry Potter” fans, to kick off celebrations for the upcoming 20th film anniversary of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” which premiered in November 2021.
“The set of The Great Hall was fantastic,” Felton recalled of his most memorable moment on the set. “All of the cast’s reactions were genuine in that moment. We hadn’t seen it before, so it was a complete surprise.”
Contributing: JR Radcliffe and Jim Owczarski, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and The Associated Press
The first Harry Potter film came out almost 20 years ago: And Tom Felton kicked off celebrations
Previously:‘Harry Potter’ co-star Tom Felton praises pal Emma Watson, says he too is ‘self-partnered’
In the first book (and film) of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – Sorcerer’s Stone in the US – Harry eats his first chocolate frog on the train to Hogwarts and discovers a ‘Famous Witch and Wizard’ card, which describes a man called Nicolas Flamel. In the books, Flamel is a friend to Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, and the man responsible for creating the titular Philosopher’s Stone.
Flamel is not Rowling’s invention, however – he really existed. Born in Pontoise, France, in around 1330, he was a successful scribe and bookseller. After his death in 1418, rumours began circulating that he had learned alchemical secrets on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, in north-western Spain.
Alchemy was considered to be one of the highest arts in the medieval and Renaissance periods, and many people did study it. It is a kind of medieval chemistry, concerned with the transformation of matter (for example, turning base metals into gold).
Alchemists believed that nature had secrets to reveal, which could be discovered through careful experimentation. The practice taps into humanity’s desire to seek more knowledge, and is now considered to be part of the history of science.
But despite the rumours, there is no real evidence that the real Nicolas Flamel had anything to do with alchemy.
The Philosopher’s Stone
Not only was it believed that the real Nicolas Flamel was an alchemist, it was also believed that he had discovered the legendary Philosopher’s Stone. It is ruby red stone, so the first Harry Potter story has it, that can turn metal into gold and can also produce the elixir of life, and it is something that scientists really did quest to discover in the Middle Ages and beyond.
In the 13th century, a vast number of Arabic works reached England and were translated into Latin, including treatises on alchemy, which told of an unrecognisable substance they called the Philosopher’s Stone. The search continued well into the 17th century – we now know that Isaac Newton secretly dabbled in alchemy – and although the Philosopher’s Stone was never discovered, the science did lead to other significant discoveries. Distillation, laudanum, oil paints and inks were all discovered thanks to alchemy.
Broomsticks
Harry Potter, we discover in The Philosopher’s Stone, is a natural when it comes to flying on a broom – and that broom-flying is an essential skill in the game of Quidditch, the wizarding world’s preeminent team sport.
The image of a witch flying on a humble broomstick has become an archetypal one, dating back to the 15th century, when it was believed that witches summoned demons that could enchant their broomsticks into flight. The records of French magistrate Claude Tholasan, who was involved in a series of witch trials spanning some 20 years in the early 1400s, are particularly illuminating. They reveal that the witches on trial claimed (under torture) that they went out at night in the company of devils and strangled children. They would then smear their broomsticks with the fat of their victims and fly to a banquet with the devil.
In the Harry Potter canon, the fact that witches and wizards fly on broomsticks is their worst kept secret, popular as magical transport because they are portable, cheap and require no explanation to muggles – non-magic folk – as to why they were in possession of a broom.
Familiars
Early on in The Philosopher’s Stone, Harry is taken to Diagon Alley – the wizarding equivalent of Oxford Street – where among other things he acquires his own owl, Hedwig. Elsewhere we see students with cats, rats and, in the case of another character called Neville Longbottom, a toad.
But these are not akin to familiars as our medieval forbears would have understood them. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a familiar as “a spirit, often taking the form of an animal, which obeys and assists a witch”. Alongside their broomsticks and pointed hats, witches and wizards have been associated with familiars from at least the 16th century; the earliest recorded usage comes from one of French reformer John Calvin’s sermons in 1583.
It was believed that these animals were actually demons who sucked blood from the witches in return for service, and it was common practice to search accused witches for teats as a sign of their guilt. In the Salem witch trials, one accuser claimed to have seen a woman sitting on the beams of the church, suckling a yellow bird, and the accused girl Dorothy/Dorcas Good confessed to having and suckling a little snake.
Whilst familiars of this kind don’t appear in the world of Harry Potter, there are plenty of animals, from Crookshanks to Mrs Norris, who share an affinity with their owners and seem to have their own innate powers and abilities.
Basilisk versus phoenix – a medieval legend made flesh
By the 12th century, bestiaries – a type of medieval encyclopaedia – were the ‘bestsellers’ of the medieval world. In these works, cats, pigs and rabbits rub shoulders with fantastical, mythological creatures such as the phoenix, the unicorn and the basilisk.
The manuscripts are a mix of fact and fiction that blend religious writings and folklore with hyperbolic accounts from returned travellers – at a time when far less was known about the world. As well as describing these animals, authors would use them as a form of moral instruction – warning against the hypocritical tears of a crocodile, for example, or encouraging readers to imitate the industrious bee.
Read more about the (tall?) tales of medieval traveller Sir John Mandeville
A number of animals found in medieval bestiaries can also be found in the Potterverse – including centaurs, giants, werewolves and the three-headed guard dog, Cerberus. In the second instalment in the series, The Chamber of Secrets, two of these fantastical creatures go head-to-head: the basilisk sealed inside Hogwarts by Salazar Slytherin and Dumbledore’s pet phoenix, Fawkes.
According to medieval legend, the basilisk – also known as king of the serpents – is a cockerel with a snake’s tail. It can kill birds with the fire from its mouth, and any human who locks eyes with the creature will drop dead. The phoenix, in bestiaries, is a purplish-red bird that is sometimes described as being the size of an eagle. The bird is immortal – every 500 years, it will build a pyre for itself and set itself on fire using the sun. Nine days later, it will rise again from the dead.
Although both animals will be familiar to Harry Potter fans, Rowling’s creations are slightly different to their medieval counterparts. Her basilisk can also kill with a glance, but it is more like a giant snake than a snake-cockerel hybrid. According to medieval bestiaries, only a weasel can defeat a basilisk, but inHarry Potter andthe Chamber of Secrets, Fawkes helps Harry to destroy the creature by pecking out its eyes.
Bezoar stones really were regarded cure-all, but not just for poison
Bezoar stones act as an antidote for a wide range of poisons in the wizarding world. Professor Snape writes “just shove a bezoar down their throats” across a list of antidotes in his copy of Advanced Potion Making, and Harry finds this advice to hold true when he saves Ron’s life with a bezoar stone in the sixth instalment,Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Rowling takes her inspiration for this antidote directly from history. Bezoar stones were one of the most desirable objects for European collectors in the 16th and 17th centuries, due to their reputation as an effective medicine, believed to help treat range of illnesses from melancholia to the plague.
According to the 16th-century natural historian Nicholas Monardes, the stones were formed from the tears of goats, shed after eating poisonous snakes. Although by the 18th century they were largely disregarded, in 2007 the auction house Christie’s sold a bezoar stone for a whopping €33,600, suggesting that they still hold some power over our imaginations.
Runes
The study of ancient runes at Hogwarts introduces students to a subject that has long been associated with magic.
Evidence of runes inscribed on ordinary objects as charms to protect the wearer has been discovered all over Europe, and the ancient Goths used the word haliurunnae (Hell-runer) to refer to a sorceress.
The Germanic word rune translates as ‘mystery’ or ‘secret’, and the origins of this ancient written communication are similarly mysterious. Whilst many believe they were inspired by ancient Greek and Roman alphabets, Norse mythology tells a more compelling story, in which the god Odin sacrifices himself in return for the knowledge of the runes: he injures himself with a spear and then hangs on a ‘windy tree’ for nine days and nights without food in return for their secrets.
Whilst divination teacher Sybill Trelawney claims that divination is “the most difficult of all magical arts”, her students are less impressed by the subject. Hermione calls the art of foreseeing the future “woolly”, whilst Harry and Ron make up outlandish prophecies, tinged with tragedy, to pass their exam. The fact that their fictional prophecies turn out to accurately predict the trials Harry will face in the Triwizard Tournament during the fourth instalment The Goblet of Fire may well be Rowling’s comment on how dismissive we can be of a practice that is thousands of years old.
In the 2017 Harry Potter exhibition at the British Library, the oldest items on display were Chinese oracle bones, also known as dragon bones, more than 3,000 years old. Questions about topics as various as the weather to the outcome of major battles were engraved on the bones and then heat was applied with metal sticks. The bones cracked under the heat and ‘diviners’ could then interpret the patterns for answers and predict the future.
Seers and sibyls
The aforementioned Trelawney, descended from the famous (in the wizarding world) seer Cassandra Trelawney, is the professor of divination at Hogwarts. Despite this, she only makes two true predictions that readers ever know of.
Yet her name is a historical nod to that latent talent, as is that of her grandmother. Cassandra was a Trojan priestess of Apollo, the Greek god of truth and prophecy, who would grant the gift of prophecy to women as a sign of his favour, but then punish them if they refused his sexual advances. For Cassandra, that punishment was that she was cursed never to be believed, even when she predicted the destruction of Troy during the Trojan War.
Sibyll is another allusion. In Greek legend and literature, sibyls were prophets, strong female seers who had great influence over their communities and rulers. They too were usually associated with Apollo.
The denouement of The Philosopher’s Stone – in which Voldemort is revealed to be living on the back of Professor Quirinus Quirrell’s head – is perhaps predictable if you have a strong grasp of Roman deities.
His very name references the Roman god of doorways, transitions, and new beginnings: Janus Quirinus. Janus is famously depicted as having two faces, one looking into the past and one looking into the future, much like Quirrell when he reveals Voldemort’s face from under his turban. We also have Janus to thank for the month of January, the entryway into the new year.
Cedric Diggory, best friend of Achilles
Quirrell is not the only character with a direct analogue in mythology – the same could be said of Cedric Diggory, who is killed towards the end of The Goblet of Fire.
Rowling has revealed that the moment in which Harry retrieves Cedric’s body is inspired by a series of events in Homer’s famous epic The Iliad. In this account of the Trojan war, Patroclus – the best friend and, many believe, lover of Achilles – is killed by Hector.
Achilles retrieves Patroclus’s body from the Trojans and takes it back to his tent, where he delays the funeral for as long as possible because he is too grief stricken to let go of his friend’s body – something nodded to in the film when we see Harry clinging to Cedric’s body until he is forcibly removed.
Mandrake was considered a cure, but not for ‘petrification’
Herbology is one of the many classes taught at Hogwarts, in which students learn about the properties of both mundane and magical plants, and how to care for them and use them properly.
One of these plants, which appears in almost every book, is the mandrake. The plant has a root that looks like a human and, when it matures, its cry can be fatal to anyone that hears it.
Mandrakes pop up first in classical literature and are then documented in medieval herbals, in illustrations which depict a man-shaped root. Medieval herbals are a certain type of manuscript, which collect together the medicinal, culinary, aromatic and magical properties of different plants and, like bestiaries, they are a mix of fact, fiction, and folklore.
In one herbal from the 12th century, now housed in the British Library, readers are instructed on how to collect real mandrakes, which are allegedly very useful in medicine, without damaging their hearing or losing their lives.
In the wizarding world, mandrakes are used as a restorative draught for those who have been ‘petrified’ (stunned into a comatose state by a creature such as a basilisk). In medieval herbals, however, they are recommended for pre-operative patients, to make them soporific and minimise their pain.
Magic was used as medicine (in a fashion)
A number of healing practices used in the medieval period sound suspiciously like ‘magic’ to us, and were even described as such at the time.
For example, sympathetic magic, a type of ‘natural magic’, was used in the medieval period to cure various ailments. For eye problems, a doctor might prescribe the eye of a vulture, wrapped in the skin of a wolf, to be worn around the patient’s neck. Plant-based poultices, meanwhile, would be coupled with a charm, or spell, to increase the chances of success. Although some of these practices were labelled as ‘superstitious’ in the later Middle Ages, they weren’t associated with demonic magic until the dawning of the witch hunts in the 15th century.
Similarly, many of the plants that Hogwarts students learn about in their Herbology lessons are used for medicine as well as in potions and spells. Rowling’s exploration of plant-based healing, and the blurring of magic and medicine, therefore has a direct relation to medieval ‘natural magic’, which was considered at the time to be a branch of science.
Horcruxes may not be real, but people believed in magical objects
Much of the adventure and intrigue in the Potterverse revolves around magical objects. Examples include the Goblet of Fire, an innocuous looking cup which acts as an impartial judge; the Mirror of Erised, which offers the gazer a glimpse of their heart’s deepest desire; and, of course, the horcruxes in which Voldemort conceals parts of his soul.
In medieval legend, objects are equally central and often have magical or miraculous properties. One of the most famous Arthurian legends is the quest for the Holy Grail, a cup that Christ drank from at the Last Supper, and which could give its owner eternal life.
In medieval Christianity, too, objects are often imbued with special powers. Relics of saints in particular were often believed to have the power to heal illness or help fertility. Many people – including the fictional pilgrims of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales – went on pilgrimage to the shrine of St Thomas Becket, who before his death had been Archbishop of Canterbury, where they would buy a vial of his watered-down ‘healing blood’ as a souvenir. The milk of the Virgin Mary and the tears and blood of Christ were also advertised and available for sale at various sites of pilgrimage.
Abracadabra, the killing curse, and a cure for malaria
Avada Kedavra, the killing curse, is supposed to inflict instant, unavoidable death – which is what makes Harry Potter so famous. ‘The Boy Who Lived’ is the only person known to have survived it.
Speaking at the Edinburgh Book Festival in 2004, Rowling revealed that the curse is inspired “by an ancient spell in Aramaic […] which means ‘let the thing be destroyed’”. However, the Aramaic spell she refers to is one of healing and protection rather than one of destruction.
It is also one of the possible sources for the magical phrase abracadabra – although the phrase could also be derived from the Hebrew ab, ben, and ruach hakodesh (father, son, and holy spirit) or even from the magical word abraxas whose letters, in Greek numerology, add up to 365, the number of days in a year.
The first recorded use of abracadabra can be found in a 13th-century manuscript copy of Quintus Serenus’s Liber medicinalis (Book of Medicine), where it is written out five times as a charm to cure malaria. It is still used in the present day to invoke a sense of magic.
LISTEN: Archaeologist and author Chris Gosden explores delves into the history of magical beliefs and practices from ancient times until the present day on the HistoryExtra podcast. Listen here:
Everything Everywhere All at Once is a movie you have to meet exactly where it is. It is not a subtle film, and it demands that when you watch it, you suspend all your disbelief at the door. As directing duo the Daniels(Swiss Army Man) propel us through a furious multitude of universes, the audience is left gasping for air as we’re snapped back, again and again, to the family drama at the emotional heart of the film.
Michelle Yeoh is an unquestionable star in this film, and we meet her character, Chinese immigrant Evelyn Wang, as she attempts to navigate the American tax system in order to keep her business running and prevent her family from falling apart. In a moment of crisis, Evelyn becomes aware of the existence of the multiverse—and specifically the Alpha-verse, which is collectively attempting to stop the rise of Jobu Tupaki, a powerfully chaotic master of the many-many-verses whose motives are, naturally, unexplainable.
As the Alpha-verse version of her husband, Waymond Wang (played by an incredibly empathetic and wonderful Ke Huy Quan), attempts to explain the multiversal order to Evelyn, she bats his hands away and tells him that she has no time for any of this. When it’s revealed that Jobu Tupaki is the Alpha-version of Evelyn’s daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu, in an absolutely stunning performance), Evelyn realizes that she can’t ignore the Alpha-universe. She may not understand it, but she knows that Joy is her daughter, and that’s enough to accept everything else without explanation.
Even if Yeoh is the big name attached to this film, Quan and Hsu are not overshadowed in any scene. The movie marks an outstanding return to Hollywood for Quan, who is well known for his roles as a child in classic ‘80s films such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Short Round) and The Goonies (Data), and if he’s not cast in a dozen action films in the next five years I will riot. Also present is the legendary James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China) as Gong Gong, the patriarch of the Wang family.
After Evelyn realizes that the Alpha-version of her daughter is an interdimensional evil, she imagines that it’s Jobu Tupaki controlling her universe’s Joy Wang. When she convinces herself that Joy is more or less possessed by this other version of her daughter, the movie turns inward (and outward, and everywhere else) as a slow archaeology of Evelyn and Joy’s relationship. Evelyn, as an immigrant to the United States who has had a daughter in America, wants her daughter’s life to be more than she made her own out to be. As she pins her own hopes and dreams on Joy’s future, she imagines a life that is entirely fictitious, entirely of Evelyn’s own making. When Joy comes home with a tattoo and a girlfriend, and is an emotional wreck, Evelyn simply cannot understand why it all went wrong. Clearly, this means that an interdimensional, multiversal being of exceptional power and unknown motivations has possessed her daughter. For Evelyn, this is an easier explanation than accepting that her daughter is her own person, who doesn’t owe Evelyn an explanation for the person she is now. As Evelyn accesses all the skills of all her branching lives across the multiverse, her sense of self threatens to shatter. She dives further into the deferred possibilities of her lives, lamenting the decisions she could have made, and finds her current self wanting. Eventually, she decides that she doesn’t care about her sense of self. Her daughter is more important.
Quantum Matrix Technology Experience this brilliantly intense picture powered by a vast array of tiny light cells using exclusive Mini LED designed technology for hyper-focused brightness and dimming in all the right areas.
When you watch Everything Everywhere All at Once, you feel the frenetic energy of inspiration. The cuts are quick, the references are blink-and-you’ll-miss-them fast, the costumes are striking. And the action scenes? Perfection. They combine the eye-popping Hong Kong kung-fu comedy of the ‘70s with sex toys, and it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It doesn’t hurt that the martial arts, across the board, absolutely whip, keeping you on the edge of your seat every time someone tries to start shit with Evelyn. ( I want to kindly direct your attention to this fight scene from The Magnificent Butcher, which will give you a good idea of how absurdly wonderful these fight sequences are.)
And underneath this pulse-pounding feeding frenzy of science fiction concepts and winks to Chinese cinema is the story of a family fighting to stay together, an emotional arc that you feel beating out of your chest. As Evelyn both escapes and pursues her daughter through the multiverse, Joy shows Evelyn again and again who she is and who she isn’t. It’s a tour de force of nuance surrounding the immigrant experience, the struggles of first-generation American children, and the struggles of queer children who come out to their parents and desperately want them to understand who they are. Love is really what ties this entire film together. Through the furious shifts in aspect ratios, costume changes, and fight scenes, love is always what matters most.
Everything Everywhere All at Once takes place over many different universes, some of them shown on screen for only a few minutes at a time. The main three universes, though, are the timeline in which Evelyn is first introduced, where she and her husband own a struggling American laundromat under threat of repossession by Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis), an IRS inspector. In another, Evelyn is a Chinese movie star, supported by her doting husband, with no daughter in sight. The third universe is one where Jobu Tupaki rules as a cult leader of some kind, the entire set an all-white temple dedicated to the everything bagel—an everything bagel with literally everything on it. Earth. The idea of fear itself. Every dream ever dreamed. Sesame seeds. Salt. Everything.
In each of these universes we see a different kind of love that surrounds Evelyn like a cyclone, threatening to tear her apart. There’s a moment in the universe where Evelyn is a movie star (where she and Waymond never immigrated to America, and never have Joy), where Quan employs some of the most devastating line delivery of the entire film. For most of Everything Everywhere All at Once, Waymond is shown as a mild-mannered pushover, someone who has a hard time communicating with his much more passionate wife. But there’s one scene where Waymond explains that he is strong because he is kind, because he is gentle compared to Evelyn’s ambitions and hardened edges. He would have been happy, he says, standing in an expensive suit, looking extremely handsome and dignified, doing laundry in America, as long as it was with Evelyn.
The romance of this scene has been building up the entire film. It’s subtle, but the culmination here is magnificent. Here are two lovers struggling to connect in an alley behind a movie theater after a grand success, with rain coming down, a lit cigarette held casually in Quan’s hand, the mood here is frankly, unmatched. This universe is specifically reminiscent of both Wong Kar-wai’s films (which Quan worked on during his step back from acting) and soapy C-dramas. As this idealized Waymond confesses his love, admiration, and even his regrets to Evelyn, who has been physically fighting against both the Alpha-verse and Jobu Tupaki for most of the film, she finally understands that Waymond isn’t weak, he’s kind, and the difference between the two is so often presumed to be razor thin that Evelyn herself has tipped over the edge into imagining her husband to be less than he is. After this stunning scene, Evelyn is finally able to accept that it’s not her ability to tap into the skills of her other, branching lives that make her powerful, but her capacity to love, even when that love is beyond her understanding.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is a metaphor about the ways in which we fracture ourselves to be lovable. The ways in which we only show parts of ourselves to our families, our friends, our partners. When Evelyn accepts that Joy is every part of herself, all the time, she finally realizes that so is she. Evelyn not only accepts Joy, but allows her to be her own person, without explanations, without understanding, but with kindness and love. This film is also a gale-force science fiction film, and that family drama stands fast in the eye of the storm. As the multiverses cyclone around Evelyn, Joy, Waymond, and even Gong Gong, the film delivers emotional dialogue like fly-by debris, catching you unaware with both the absurdity and simplicity found in moments of reflection. As everything collides in on itself, the standout performances across the board keep you holding onto the Wang family, hoping that somehow Evelyn can bring them all back together.
In the end, Everything Everywhere All at Once doesn’t ask you to understand it. Not really. There are so many questions left unanswered, so many specifics that are ignored for the sake of the broad-strokes momentum of the plot. All you really have to know is that Evelyn loves her family, and will do anything, at any time, to hold onto that love.
What’s new for home viewing on Video on Demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max and other streaming services.
Top streams for the week
Oscar winner Olivia Colman brings a compelling complexity to “The Lost Daughter” (2021, R) as a literature scholar on a vacation in Greece whose fascination with a young mother (Dakota Johnson) stirs up troubling memories. It’s the directorial debut of Maggie Gyllenhaal, who also adapts the novel by Elena Ferrante, and she draws superb performances from her entire cast, including Jessie Buckley as the younger incarnation of Colman’s character, Ed Harris and Peter Sarsgaard. (Netflix)
Another character from the “Star Wars” universe gets its own series in “The Book of Boba Fett” (TV-14), starring Temuera Morrison as infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett and Ming-Na Wen as his loyal partner Fennec Shand. The highly anticipated spinoff from “The Mandalorian” opens with the pair returning to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate. Jon Favreau writes and produces with Dave Filoni, and Robert Rodriguez directs the debut episode. New episodes on Wednesdays. (Disney+)
The documentary “Finding Kendrick Johnson” (2021, TV-14) digs into the unanswered questions around the death of a high school student and the lies in the official investigation and reveals the institutional racism behind the negligence and injustice. (Starz)
If you’ve cut the cable cord, you can still stream New Year’s Eve countdowns live on Peacock and paramount+.
And on New Year’s Day, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson celebrate “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts” (2021, TV-14) in a reunion special with other members of the cast and creative team. Then you can test your knowledge in the quiz series “Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses” (TV-PG) hosted by Helen Mirren. (HBO Max)
Pay-Per-View / Video on Demand
A childless couple raise a strange newborn found on their farm as their child in “Lamb” (Iceland, 2021, R, with subtitles), a surreal thriller starring Noomi Rapace.
The crime thriller “Stay Close” (TV-MA), starring James Nesbitt, Cush Jumbo and Richard Armitage is the latest Netflix limited-series adapted from a Harlan Coben novel.
The limited-series documentary “Stories of a Generation With Pope Francis” (TV-14) features men and women from around the world over the age of 70 sharing their life stories.
The fourth season of “Cobra Kai” (TV-14) follows the troubled partnership of the former rivals (William Zabka and Ralph Macchio).
True crime: The limited series “Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer” (TV-MA) looks at how one man was able to commit brutal crimes in the late 1970s and early 1980s in New York City. Joe Berlinger directs.
International TV: A failed bank robbery spirals into a crazy hostage situation in the limited series “Anxious People” (Sweden, TV-MA, with subtitles), a mix of crime drama and black comedy.
Kid stuff: In the animated adventure comedy “Seal Team” (2021, TV-Y7), a crew of misfit sea creatures team up to take on sharks.
Hulu
The 10th season of the clever, quick-witted Canadian comedy “Letterkenny” (TV-MA) streams in its entirety.
Sean Axmaker is a Seattle film critic and writer. His reviews of streaming movies and television can be found atstreamondemandathome.com.
