The Crucial Differences Between Snape in the Books and Films

Severus Snape is one of the most interesting and complex characters in the Harry Potter series his transition from a red herring villain to one of the most important heroes in the fight against Lord Voldemort makes him a fan-favorite character many characters go through changes from the novels to the film's Luna goes from wacky but ultimately likable conspiracy theories to just eccentric and super noise Barty Crouch goes from ridiculously strict boring an ordered man to a slightly paranoid but kind of friendly ministry man and Ludo bagman goes from charismatic popular but dodgy ex sportsman to not existing but the change in Snape character is one of the most interesting to look at not just because he's so complex but also because of how dramatic the change is although the majority of changes and tweaks to the character and his actions were done because of the nature of films compared to books and the limited amount of time they have to tell the same story these emissions are the movie Canon and must be treated as such separating the Snape's into two distinct characters let's jump straight in and compare their introductions in the Philosopher's Stone from the feast to the first potions lesson in both the book and the film Snape looks directly at Harry while the back of Quirrell faces him and Harry scar hurts this serves as a bit of a ruse to Snipes villainy but also foreshadows quill as the actual villain however the look that Snape gives Harry in the film is one of surprised realization and then concern as he notices Harry's pain and looks at quills turban in the book we get a bit more information from Harry's perspective as is so often the case and how he gets a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all the very next time that Harry sees Snape in his first potions lesson he remarks that he had been wrong Snape didn't dislike Harry he hated him unlike the movie when Snape starts targeting Harry after he accuses him of not listening in the book Snape salt insulting Harry even when calling out the register even in the film's extended edition Snape isn't that terrible during the potions lesson some of the looks he gives Harry are probably warranted given the piercing and hateful look Harry gives him but for me at least the most important difference in the Philosopher's Stone is at the end when Dumbledore reveals why Snape has been saving how his life throughout the last mention of this in the film is by Quirrell at the mirror of Erised set during his confrontation with Harry but in the books dumb explains snopes motivations which sets up the later installments of the two mediums to have completely different versions of severus snape when you watch the films especially once you've already seen them and you know Snape is trying to save Harry you get the impression that is truly one of the good guys he is the one to suspect squirrel and he goes out of his way to keep Harry safe apparently being the only person other than Ron Hermione and Hagrid to notice anything was wrong at Quidditch but by the end of the book Dumbledore tells Harry that Snape has been working so hard to protect him because he wanted to repay James Potter for saving his own life so he could go back to hating your father's memory in peace suddenly these acts of bravery throughout the first novel go from being pure acts of good to being part of an excuse to return to hatred that being said it doesn't at all nullify the good that Snape did and with the whole series in context we can imagine that Snape's motivation was perhaps more to do with his love for Lily Potter than his hatred for James Snape still did good but while we see movie Snape is Harry Savior by the end of Philosopher's Stone in the books we're more interested in Snape's relationship with James and what more secrets will be revealed about their rivalry over the course of the series Snape certainly isn't bad by the end of the book but he's not the hero that we see at the end of the movie when reflecting on the character of Snape we so often limit ourselves to thinking about his relationship with Harry as the books and films are unsurprisingly told through the eyes of the Boy Who Lived but it is important to consider how Snape treats the other characters in his life specifically those who don't carry the Potter surname and how he behaves as a teacher a servant and Ally and a friend thanks to the nature of film the audience spends much less time with movie Snape than with his literary counterpart and I think that probably does the man a favor while the novels give us an in-depth look at the everyday life of a Hogwarts student the meals the common room the lessons and the professor's the film's can really only afford to show the moments that are vital to our characters and to the overall plot in the films Snape is so rarely shown interacting with any pupils other than Harry Ron Hermione and once there become Death Eater buddies Draco the students attitude towards Professor Snape is rarely discussed in the films even Neville's fear of him is mostly just used for humor as we've never seen the two of them interact when properly considered the idea of a thirteen year old boy's greatest most terrifying thing you can imagine being his teacher is slightly disturbing but we simply haven't seen enough of his bullying to understand that in the book version of Professor Snape's prisoner of azkaban defends against the dark arts lesson he seems to bully every single pupil he interacts with and characters like Parvati and Dean even stand up to him here his horrible line to Hermione has met with shock and disgust and the reaction to it is used to portray how the class feel about him it was a mark of how much the class knows Snape that they were all glaring at him because every one of them had called Hermione and know-it-all at least once and Ron gets himself a detention just by defending her in the film adaptation his rude attitude toward the class is reserved for Hermione alone and the same line that was initially framed as a horrible undeserved insult is instead played for laughs as Ron agrees with his assessment that is the second time you've spoken out of turn Miss Granger are you incapable of restraining yourself or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all the contrast between these events and the lions presentation is reflective of one of the strongest divides between the two Snape's the strict teacher trying to shut up a rude interrupting Hermione and the bully trying to undermine lupins whole class there are two main reasons behind these moments being so much harder to take seriously in the films the first is what we mentioned before the division of movie and books names motivations curls reveal paint Snape far nobler in the films than Dumbledore's explanation does in the book and the subsequent films act as a continuation turning movie Snape into just a strict teacher whose scenes are often played more for laughs and leaving book Snape as a serious bully who actively makes the lives of our main characters worse the other reason for the reduction of his cruelty is that the chamber of secrets Prisoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire and order of the Phoenix take place during a sort of gray area for the character after his being a red herring villain and philosopher's stone but before the introduction of his red herring villainous Ness for the rest of the series his only real role in two and three is to act as a disciplinary figure when the boys majorly mess up dueled the bumbling idiot and attempt to stop an escaped murderer from murdering again he may be slightly misguided on the last one but his intentions are in the right place we may learn later on that Snape had other reasons for wanting to be the one to find black but he still didn't do anything out of the ordinary for a person confronted with someone they believed to be a mass murderer importance in the series increases his presence in the film remains relatively limited even in the film that's named after him the subplot about his potions textbook is rather sidelined the investigation into who the half-blood Prince is gets swept aside and the reveal takes place 35 minutes after the book was last seen or even mentioned leaving it feeling unimpacted and unearned [Music] a very important part of how a character was forged on film and TV is of course the performance of the actor playing them and Alan Rickman's performance is no exception his take on the character is one of the aspects that defines movie Snape the most and separates it from books mate in an interview in 2011 before the release of the final movie Rickman remarks that you're told that he never really raises his voice above it he doesn't really shout while this perfectly suits movie Snape it's not quite true for books mate in fact apart from Harry Snape is probably the person who shouts the most most memorably at the end of the Prisoner of Azkaban when he finds that Sirius has escaped and is convinced that Harry has something to do with it you don't know Potter shrieks Snape he did it I know Alan Rickman plays Snape karma more controlled and focused the knees in the books and while book Snape is often well composed he still loses that composure from time to time Rickman also often talks about how focused Snape is and when asked whether he saw snipers bad he crucially replied but it's very clear that he has a huge amount of respect for Snape but of course one of the most important aspects of Snape to look at when deciphering his character is just how he treats how a famous protagonist not just because Harry is so important to the story but because we almost exclusively follow the story through Harry's eyes meaning our perception of the Snape's is so often tied directly to Harry's we've already talked about the differences in the way book and movie Snape treat how in the first installment of the series but it's when we look at how he treats Harry as a whole that we start understanding the most about both snakes throughout the novel's Snape treats Harry with disdain and hatred seeing him as a reincarnation of James Potter and using every opportunity to put Harry down whether it's trying to humiliate him during the dueling Club or have him punished for putting his name in the Goblet of Fire Dumbledore himself observes that you'll see what you expect to see his server us after Snape starts whining about how arrogant Harry is during his first year Snape constantly compares Harry to James and during Harry's third year even extends his hatred unfairly to Lupin culminating in Snape absolutely losing it at Harry at the end of the novel we learn in the order of the Phoenix novel that James Potter was equally as horrible to Snape as snipers to Harry perhaps even worse this puts Harry in a very bad place as his impeccable reputation of his father is besmirched and his ability to blindly idolize his parents is lost while this revelation does certainly not excuse snakes behavior it makes it far more understandable for snake to have endured so much bullying as a child on top of all the pain he suffers after school some unpleasantness is surely to be expected Snape's memory scene shows us that he suffers so much growing up and the only person with whom he ever experiences any kind of friendship or happiness is Lily so of course he's going to fall for her it's equally easy to imagine that once he's been placed in Suren surrounded by mini Death Eaters that the young and impressionable service would have been taken in accepted for the first time in his life by people like McNair and mal Sabah but despite being pulled along to the Death Eater Club he proves he's willing to do the right thing by leaving Lord Voldemort to work for the order of the Phoenix we're also shown the moment when Snape informs Dumbledore that Karkaroff plans to flee during the events of the Triwizard Tournament and he reaffirms that I am NOT such a coward Dumbledore replied with a very interesting notion you are a braver man by far than I Gor Karkaroff you know I sometimes think we sought to soon Harry is treated terribly by Snoke who can't help that same as the man who made his own school life or nightmare and attempt to do the same but Snape whose positive motivations surrounding Harry are defined by his love for Lily still seeks to protect Harry but outside of Harry it is clear that Snape fights for good his bravery is commended by Dumbledore he tells finished my jealous off for calling Hermione a mudblood and he does it best to save as many lives as he can even lupins during the Deathly Hallows this contrast within Snape however between what he does wrong to Harry and others and Harry still seeks to protect them is not seen as starkly in the films Snape is not nearly as cruel to Harry and with this in mind good comparison to be made between the two is Harry's occupancy lessons wall book Snape clearly wants Harry to learn ah clemency he is exceptionally nasty during their lessons and uses him to insult Harry and Sirius in the film however Snape still insults iris and Harry and even goes on a small rant about James but it's clear that he's trying to do this to motivate Harry to learn not just to annoy him probit control your emotions discipline your mind Snape's occupancy lessons in the books are full of arguments and retorts both Harry and Snape constantly having a go at each other but in the film how he only were taught to enslave is talking about Harry's father when Snape uses that to motivate him of course Snape is still furious when Harry sees the memory but it's not quite the fury of book Snape movie Snape simply isn't as nasty as book Snape in the Prisoner of Azkaban he doesn't bully Harry at all and of course there's that famous moment where he throws himself in front of the golden trio despite being very obviously terrified of the werewolf crucially leapin never says it's Snape who lets slip that he's a werewolf despite the fact that it was him in the books so this must have been a deliberate decision by the filmmakers not to make it Snape who revealed lupins condition because it doesn't suit movie Snape he hasn't built up the nasty reputation that book Snape hats and therefore it will be out of character for the man we know there are two key changes in lines of dialogue when Snape and Dumbledore are discussing Lily Potter safety in the book Snape approaches him asking for the protection of Lily alone admitting that he asked the Dark Lord to spare her and kill only her husband and son it is only after Dumbledore expresses his disgust at Severus his disregard for their lives that he suggests hiding them all this interaction makes him come across far more selfish than movie Snape who simply says hide hide them all but that isn't the only minor tweak to a line that creates a big partition between the Snape's there is also a key moment when he produces the dough Patronus both moments start with Dumbledore asking if after all this time he had grown to care for the boy movie Snape does not respond verbally answering Albus his question by producing Lily's Patronus a viewer can interpret this as him saying he does care for Harry because he is the son of the woman he loved books nape on the other hand says two small words before he cast the spell shouted Snape expecto patronum with this he denies feeling any care towards Harry himself reducing his reasons for protecting him to the preservation of Lily's memory and the sacrifice she made the changes and omissions all add up to one major divide between the two Snape's their Redemption there is a significant disparity between how easy it is for an audience to forgive him it's possible to believe that both the heroes but movie Snape has been shown to do such a small number of dastardly deeds that there is so much less we need to forgive him for whereas readers of the novel's need to overcome a number of moral hurdles for Snape that the film adaptations never touch upon the discrimination he shows by calling Lily a mudblood the possessiveness he shows to water in saying that he won't let her spend time with James and the creepy obsession he displays when he takes the photo of Harry lily and James and cuts Lily out for himself in the end both characters do the right thing overcoming a bombardment of circumstances that would turn most men completely evil and Harry was right to call him the bravest man he'd ever known but there are far more legitimate things for a reader to hold against him than a film viewer both movie and book Snape make serious mistakes but when it comes down to it they both seek to right the wrongs they committed in their past whether or not they truly do redeem themselves at the end is up to the reader and the viewer but I think it is perhaps surprisingly serious black most accurately describes the journey of severus snape recite the world isn't split into good people in death victims we've all got both flight and dark inside us what matters is the part we choose to act on that's who we really are [Music] Oh you thank you very much for watching this week's video please leave a like below if you enjoyed it and comment if you want to share your own thoughts on Snape and his character as you hopefully noticed it was not just me this week as I was joined by a spiring writer and good friend Joe hello thank you to Dougie for letting me help out this week as he said I'm trying to be a writer there'll be a link to my blog in the description below so do check that out if you have the time I'm also hoping to start up my own YouTube channel so watch this space thanks again for watching and have a nice week have a nice week [Music]

Channel: Doug A James

Views: 1,895,380

Rating: 4.9367585 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: qdnRUNygO0c

Length: 16min 36sec (996 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 28 2020