Podcasts

Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti and writers for the website talk with the women and men making news in New York, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the world. Thanks to Ian Herman for his wonderful piano introduction.

J.K. Rowling

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Before Harry Potter, There Was Newt Scamander

11/21/2016

I don’t think I’m dreaming…I ain’t got the brains to make this up.

J.K. Rowling’s took the world by storm with her fantastical vision of Hogwarts and a magical world that we all desperately longed to live in.  In fact, the Harry Potter series was so good and so iconic that I was more than a little skeptical about doing a prequel series, that might tarnish the beloved series as The Hobbit prequels only seemed to diminish the grander of Lord of the Rings. Or how The Phantom Menace utterly desecrated Star Wars.

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

Eddie Redmayne and Katherine Waterston

Thankfully my fears proved groundless. Fantastic Beasts directed by David Yates, who did a number of the Harry Potter films, and set in New York City 70 years before Harry receives that letter from Hogwarts, manages to fit perfectly within the magical world we’ve seen before while paving utterly new ground. Newt Scamander (a rumpled and floppy haired Eddie Redmayne) has come to America on steamer ship to continue his study and collection of magical creatures, who all live in a suitcase.

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

Samantha Morton

Unfortunately, a mishap with Muggle/NoMaj Kowalkski (Dan Fogler in a nuanced and affecting performance) means the suitcase goes missing and some of the creatures are set loose, earning him the ire of recently demoted aurora, a dark wizard catcher, Tina (Katherine Waterston of Steve Jobs and Inherent Vice).  Moreover there’s an anti-witch campaign being sponsored by Mary Lou Barebone (a terrifying turn by Samantha Morton).

Needless to say, the visuals are spectacular. The 20’s setting only adds to the feeling of enchantment as Kowalski and the audience see a whole new universe unfold before our eyes. Without giving too much away, what you see inside Mr. Scamander’s suitcase actually manages to hold its own against Hogwarts castle in the sense of the wonder and delight it elicits. But the film doesn’t just create some truly fabulous new CGI creatures but a wonderful tapestry of new characters and new motifs.

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

Colin Farrell and Erza Miller

Eddie Redmayne isn’t just adorably rumpled as Newt, he also showcases an incredible capacity for physical comedy in such moments where he tries to imitate the mating behavior of an Erumpent. (Trust me-you have to be there.) Colin Farrell is looking fitter and trimmer than we’ve seen him in years as the sinister official Graves. Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) is compelling as Mary Lou Barebone’s troubled adopted son, Credence.

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

Alison Sudol

The biggest surprise though, is singer-songwriter Alison Sudol making her film debut.  As Tina’s flirty, mind-reading sister, Queenie, Sudol steals every scene she’s in and her romance with Fogler’s Kowalski is surprisingly poignant and sweet.

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

Eddie Redmayne

There are other elements too, that not only make Fantastic Beasts a delightful film in its own right but help set up another great franchise. In the Harry Potter films, muggles never played much of a role except for the odious Dursley’s who only appeared at the beginning anyway. Here, the whole storyline revolves around how wizards and non-wizards exist side by side with one another and the inevitable tensions and difficulties that may ensue.  But there’s also a chance for new connections as well.  Fantastic Beasts is a fable not only about natural conservation but also a story of bigotry, repression, and the need for tolerance. And in these times, that lesson seems more vital than ever.

Top photo: Katherine Waterston, Eddie Redmayne, Alison Sudol, and Dan Fogler
Photos courtesy of Warner Brothers Pictures 

Five Banned Books That Are Must Reads

09/26/2016

September 25 through October 1st is Banned Books Week according to the American Library Association. One of the things I’ve often found most ridiculous about those people who try to ban or challenge books is that they never realize that this only makes the material in question more enticing. After all, who doesn’t wanna taste the forbidden fruit? Furthermore, would-be censors have a knack for attacking the books that are often those most worth reading.

Consider the following.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) By Mark Twain
Why It’s Been Banned: Coarse language, racial stereotypes and frequent use of the n-word.
Why It’s A Must Read:  It’s universally considered one of the Great American Novels and one of the first works in American literature to use “colloquial style.” Aka written in vernacular English, with regional color thrown in. It is lso a scathing satire of certain entrenched attitudes, particularly racism. Is essentially the first, original, American “buddy-buddy” road trip story.

Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) By Zora Neale Hurston
Why It’s Been Banned: For coarse language and explicit sexuality.
Why It’s a Must Read: This gorgeously written novel is now widely recognized as being a seminal moment for African American literature AND Women’s Literature.  Zora began what Toni Morrison would continue.

The Grapes of Wrath (1939) By John Steinbeck
Why It’s Been Banned: Contains profanity and sexual references.  Moreover, people were shocked by its depiction of the poor.  Steinbeck later admitted his descriptions were sanitized versions of what really went on within such communities.
Why It’s a Must Read: Besides winning the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and being a key reason Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize, its widely considered one of the best English Language novels of all time.  It has incredible historical context and one of the most discussed books in college classrooms and critical essays ever.

The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) By Margaret Atwood
Why It’s Been Banned: It has occasional profanity, a lot of sexuality, and for purportedly being offensive to Christians.
Why It’s a Must Read: Atwood’s vision of a United States being taken over by a totalitarian, theocracy remains as terrifying and vital as ever.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone  (1997) by J.K. Rowling
Why It’s Been Banned: For promoting witchcraft
Why It’s a Must Read: The entire Harry Potter series has become a worldwide cultural phenomenon and anyone who can read this book and not fall in love with Hogwarts is a hopeless Muggle.

Top photo from Bigstock