I NetFlix'd a couple of dvds with Harry Potter related material. The Seeker's Guide To Harry Potter is a 2010 documentary by Dr. Geo Athena Trevarthen. She's a shaman, writer, artist who practices and teaches Celtic Shamanism. She even wrote the story for an episode of Star Trek: Voyager but not the script. She wrote a book called The Seeker's Guide To Harry Potter which isn't among the 40 books I have that look at HP, his world or the phenomenon. I've read most of them. I assume her book covers the same material as in the dvd. It's probably just highlights since the dvd is about 90 minutes long and a lot of the air time is devoted visuals with no narration. Some of the footage is used two or three times. It's all done fairly amaturishly and it looks kind of goofy at times. She talks about the connections in Harry Potter to paganism and shamanism. There are a bunch, since JK took stuff from all over the ancient magical world, but I don't believe it means much of anything. They are just trappings for JK's story, like the name game she loves so much. It was half way interesting but it sure wouldn't be one I'd buy, especially at 15 bucks on Amazon.
Biography: Harry Potter Kids is just an episode of Biography from 2009 that I missed when it was broadcast. I rarely catch stuff like that, mostly I stumble on things, look at them, then move along. The episode starts with a bit about JK and the popularity of the books. It covers the casting of the trio and works it's way through the 5th movie. There are interviews with writers and other movie people mixed in with video of the kids from a whole lot of sources. The 50 minute program is heavy on Daniel Radcliffe who plays Harry. Rupert Grint and Emma Watson still get some good bit of air time. None of their stories are really new but then I've read so much online and in books over the years that it's not surprising. There's nothing too special here. Not a dvd to buy, at least for me. Maybe if it turns up on the Biography and I notice. Unlikely.
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