An American Hogwarts? J.K. Rowling Teases Fantastic Beasts Details

[Fanghawk]

An American Hogwarts? J.K. Rowling Teases Fantastic Beasts Details

Warner Bros' Harry Potter spin-off - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - will introduce an American equivalent of Hogwarts founded with indigenous magics.

Anyone who loved the <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/harry%20potter?os=harry+potter>Harry Potter films should be keenly aware of <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134490-Harry-Potter-Spinoff-Film-Fantastic-Beasts-and-Where-to-Find-Them-Gets-Release-Date>Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, an upcoming spinoff trilogy set 70 years before the original. But we still have very few details on what to expect, especially in regards to its connection with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But now author J.K. Rowling has revealed an especially promising detail on her Twitter feed: An American counterpart of Britain's well-renowned magic academy.

Fantastic Beasts' protagonist and magizoologist Newt Scamander won't visit the school, but will meet some of its former students in the film. While specifics about the school are locked down - including its name - Rowling did offer a few key points. The school has strong ties to Native American culture, and was founded using indigenous magics. Rowling stopped short of revealing specific tribes however, noting that would reveal that school's location. That said, the school's name has an immigrant origin, suggesting it follows a combination of indigenous and European magical practices.

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Originally introduced as a Hogwarts textbook, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was later published as a 54-page standalone volume. Warner Bros. will expand this concept into a full-blown prequel trilogy, presumably with Newt traveling the world to locate magical creatures. Rowling has written Fantastic Beasts screenplay, and the finished film will arrive in theaters on Nov. 16, 2016.

Where do you think the American Hogwarts will be located? Feel free to post your theories in the comments!

Source: USA Today

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[erbkaiser]

Salem, Massachusetts. Calling it.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Oh!

I mean, as we all know, they wanted to do it properly and set the original Harry Potter films in the US, but Rowling wouldn't let them for some reason, so this is the next best thing.

Though, they will probably reboot it in a few years and have it in the US so it's understandable by people outside the UK. It's common sense, the UK is a tiny market, the series shouldn't be focused there.

[sub]Waits for angry fans...[/sub]

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Will two disgruntled students shoot up their school using Avada Kedabra, and will their parents rally: "Wands don't kill people!"?

 

[noobiemcfoob]

A school using indigenous magics? Queue a script with massive misunderstandings of Native American culture in three...two...

 

[CrazyBlaze]

Please have actual native actors, playing native characters and please don't screw up our cultures too much. I mean the fact that the Twilight franchise has one of the biggest representation of Natives in films is really really sad.

 

[JonB]

Please have actual native actors, playing native characters and please don't screw up our cultures too much. I mean the fact that the Twilight franchise has one of the biggest representation of Natives in films is really really sad.

Basically what I showed up to say soooooo.....

My work was done here.

 

[Albino Boo]

Hmm how about on a former Cherokee owned slave plantation.

 

[Queen Michael]

A school using indigenous magics? Queue a script with massive misunderstandings of Native American culture in three...two...

Or just as good: Cue a script that respects and understands the culture just fine, but is still accused of "cultural appropriation" by people who never bothered to learn what that means.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

AAaaaaaaaaaand I still don't care but if he's meeting up with American Wizards this kind of rekindles my hopes that this movie will surprise everybody by being in a documentary style like what Walking with Dinosaurs (the Discovery Channel series, not the horrible movie) essentially was. That's all I want out of this movie, that's all I'm hoping for and my hopes are low but still; I'm just going to sit here and imagine scenes of Newt writing in his journal, the focus shifting to an American creature and he and his companions attempting to study it while he narrates.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Wes Studi and Adam Beach will be teachers, I guess. Though Beach is Canadian...

 

[vallorn]

Arkham, Massachusetts. Calling it.

Fixed that for you.

A school using indigenous magics? Queue a script with massive misunderstandings of Native American culture in three...two...

Rowling is a pretty good writer and made great use of European mythology in Harry Potter so I can't see her completely screwing up when it comes to Native American culture and mythologies. Besides if the school has tribal and western magic mixing then I expect that it can either be used to show cultural tensions in a more allegorical fashion or be used to show how similarities can overcome said cultural differences.

Either way I'm going to wait and see before judging her books too harshly on these merits.

AAaaaaaaaaaand I still don't care but if he's meeting up with American Wizards this kind of rekindles my hopes that this movie will surprise everybody by being in a documentary style like what Walking with Dinosaurs (the Discovery Channel series, not the horrible movie) essentially was. That's all I want out of this movie, that's all I'm hoping for and my hopes are low but still; I'm just going to sit here and imagine scenes of Newt writing in his journal, the focus shifting to an American creature and he and his companions attempting to study it while he narrates.

I would demand that he perform the entire movie in a David Attenborough voice and style if that were the case...

 

[Sillarra]

It's a 54-page book and Warner plans to make this a trilogy. That sounds way worse than when they made The Hobbit into a trilogy...since that book actually had supporting materials from other related works.

 

[Teoes]

Initially misread that as Fantastic Breasts and am now leaving disappointed.

Guess I'm on the wrong website!

 

[Coruptin]

Or just as good: Cue a script that respects and understands the culture just fine, but is still accused of "cultural appropriation" by people who never bothered to learn what that means.

Rowling is a pretty good writer and made great use of European mythology in Harry Potter so I can't see her completely screwing up when it comes to Native American culture and mythologies. Besides if the school has tribal and western magic mixing then I expect that it can either be used to show cultural tensions in a more allegorical fashion or be used to show how similarities can overcome said cultural differences.

AHEM,

"As a white European author Rowling needs to know her place and stop trying to steal the spotlight away from actual native authors using the cultures that her people oppressed. She should instead use her position to promote native authors and stop getting her grubby white hands in places they don't belong. :^)"

It's a 54-page book and Warner plans to make this a trilogy. That sounds way worse than when they made The Hobbit into a trilogy...since that book actually had supporting materials from other related works.

Disney somehow made four movies out of a park ride, and a couple were pretty good to boot!

 

[noobiemcfoob]

A school using indigenous magics? Queue a script with massive misunderstandings of Native American culture in three...two...

Rowling is a pretty good writer and made great use of European mythology in Harry Potter so I can't see her completely screwing up when it comes to Native American culture and mythologies. Besides if the school has tribal and western magic mixing then I expect that it can either be used to show cultural tensions in a more allegorical fashion or be used to show how similarities can overcome said cultural differences.

Good writer is debatable depending on preferences, but there is a massive difference between utilizing the very popular and common European mythology (read the mythology of the dominant cultures for the past 200+ years) and properly using the mythology of an oppressed people in a way that is knowledgeable, respectful, and interesting. It doesn't help that 80% of documentation on Native American religions will have large flaws and omissions as a result of the inherent biases of the anthropologists who first recorded them. Even if she does her research well, she's still British with only minimal exposure to Native American cultures. I'm not hopeful short of her going and living with a tribe for some years, and even then I'd be skeptical.