Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

This topic contains:

• details about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ classification and consumer advice lines
• extract from the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) decision about classification
• a review of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 30 November 2002.

See also the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets review by Charlotte Baker (aged 12 years)

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

Extract from the OFLC decision about classification

In making classification decisions the Classification Board applies the National Classification Code (the Code) and the Classification Guidelines. The Classification Board follows the procedure set out in the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995.

In the Board’s view the film is appropriately classified PG for frightening fantasy scones and violence. It contains material that may be confusing or upsetting to children without adult guidance. It does not contain any material that will be harmful or disturbing to them.

Classifiable elements are as follows:

Frightening scenes

The following scenes may be confusing or upsetting to some children and require parental guidance.

At 103 minutes Harry Potter and his friend Ron Weasley follow, a group of spiders in their search to find a secret chamber. The spiders lead them to a secret cave in the forest. Once inside the cavern they find a giant spider who appears to be the leader of the multitude of spiders who now fill the cavern and surround the pair.

Ron is terrified and trembles in fear. The giant spider at first appears quite benign and engages in conversation with Harry Potter. However the spider then indicates that he must sacrifice the boys saying that be “can’t deny his sons and daughters fresh meat”. The boys run to the car pursued by the giant spiders. They clamber into the front seats of the car but Ron is grabbed around the neck by a giant spider, the spider leg seen encircling his neck. However they quickly take off and are once again safe, The spider scene is approximately 5 minutes long ending at 108 minutes.

Similarly the scene described below.

Violence

The violence in the film is located within a fantasy world and is highly stylised.

Hogwarts, the boarding school for wizards is being plagued by a series of mysterious attacks by a malevolent force. These attacks are not seen but messages are left on the walls (supposedly in blood) and post action visuals of the stricken victims are shown. The school cat, Mrs Norris, and one of the students are found ‘petrified’ (45, 62 minutes) and must be nursed back to health with the aid of the mandrake plant. Another student, Ginny, disappears and is found in a coma by Harry towards the end of the film. None of these attacks are fatal however and all the victims recover.

At 130 minutes, Harry is chased by the giant snake, Basilisk, through underground tunnels. The Phoenix bird comes to his rescue and attacks the snake blinding his eyes. However Harry soon becomes trapped in a closed tunnel with the blinded and enraged Basilisk. His battle concludes at 134 minutes when he plunges a sword through the roof of Basilisk’s mouth. The blade re-emerges out of the top of his head. The snake dies. Harry pulls a snake tooth from his arm. A small amount of blood detail is visible. Harry staggers, apparently poisoned. He stabs Tom Riddle’s diary with the tooth and dark fluid, possibly blood pours from the puncture marks. The effects of the stab wounds appear to be transferred to the evil Voldemort who begins to perish. The Phoenix bird flies to Harry and drops tears onto his arm, magically healing the wound.

Issues considered by the board

Some members of the Board noted that the above elements are sufficiently strong as to be considered in the upper limits of the PG classification.

However the Board took account of the context of die film, ie a children’s adventure story. The events take place within a fantasy world where the inhabitants possess magical powers. The children can fly from place to place in an old car, cast spells, make objects disappear, change form or float through the air. Further, they are the main characters in the film, empowered with a strong sense of agency and ultimately overcoming the forces of evil which threaten them. This magical world is far from everyday reality.

The impact of elements is further lowered by the presence of comedy in the film through the antics of characters such as the house elf, Dobby and the ‘mistakes’ of the students, for example, Hermione accidentally turns herself into a large cat (85 minutes).

Decision

In the Board’s view the film warrants a PG classification as it contains material which could be confusing or upsetting to children without parental guidance.

YMA review

This review of the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• sexual references, nudity, substance use and coarse language
• the movie’s message
• overall comments

A synopsis of the story

Harry returns for his second year of schooling at Hogwarts, the school for wizards. Shortly after the term begins Harry starts hearing a mysterious voice saying “kill….kill” which only he can hear. He then finds the caretaker’s cat Mrs Norris hanging upside down apparently dead. Fortunately she is not dead just ‘petrified’. There is a cure but it will not be available until the Herbology class finishes growing Mandrakes which have restorative properties. Later, two of the students are also found petrified. On each occasion Harry hears the voice again.

It is apparent that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened by the heir of Slytherin. Slytherin was one of the four founders of the school but left because he wanted to make Hogwarts only available to ‘pure’ wizards and witches not ‘mudbloods’. Before he left he created this Chamber in which lives some terrible evil. The teachers are fearful that they will have to close Hogwarts and send the students home.

Hermione is the next victim and Harry and Ron are left to solve the problem themselves. Harry overhears the teachers talking about a girl student who has been taken into the chamber and who happens to be Ron’s younger sister Ginny. Harry and Ron have to go and rescue her. They work out how to get into the Chamber and Harry finally comes face to face with the evil Basilisk, a monstrously large snake. Harry battles it out with the Basilisk and with the aid of Fawkes, Dumbledore’s pet phoenix and the Sorting Hat, Harry eventually wins. Ginny is saved and all turns out well.

Use of violence

• Dobby the house elf has to punish himself and repeatedly bangs his head on a cupboard and hits himself with a light.
• When George Dursley is trying to prevent Harry from escaping he falls from a second story window on to the ground but is not badly injured
• In a Quidditch game a ‘rogue bludger’ chases Harry all over the place, eventually hits him causing him to fall to the ground and break his arm
• Snape and Lockhart, then Harry and Draco have ‘wand duels’ causing injury to the victims
• Huge hairy spiders attack Harry and Ron

Material that may scare children

Under seven

There are many images and visual effects that children under seven may find scary:

• Dobby is a rather grotesque creature with very large ears, eyes and nose
• At the Weasleys’ home their pet owl Errol flies into the glass instead of through the window
• The Weasleys travel by Floo powder which requires standing in the fireplace and sprinkling it over you while speaking the word of the desired destination. Ron and Harry are both shown going up in flames
• Harry arrives at Knockturn Alley a scary place full of skulls. A skeletal hand is on a table and Harry is looking at it when it suddenly grabs his arm
• Knockturn Alley is full of scary looking characters who try to trap Harry
• Lucius Malfoy is a very threatening man
• Harry and Ron crash into the wall at Platform 11
• Harry and Ron take the flying car to get to Hogwarts which is chased by the train and turns upside down throwing Harry out but he manages to hang on
• The car fails when they arrive at Hogwarts and crash lands into the Whomping Willow tree
• The Whomping Willow tree aggressively attacks the car smashing it up while Ron and Harry are still inside. The car manages to escape and throws Harry and Ron out.
• Snape and Fitch are both very scary looking characters
• In the Herbology class they have to re-pot the Mandrakes which look like plants but when they pull them out they are gross looking screaming baby creatures
• There are two ghost characters, Nearly Headless Nick and Moaning Myrtle
• In Professor Lockhart’s Defence Against the Dark Arts class, he lets open a cage of Cornish Pixies which attack the children and cause havoc in the class
• Ron casts a spell on Draco Malfoy to ‘eat slugs’ but it backfires on himself. Ron vomits out several slugs and disgusting creatures
• Harry hears the voice saying ‘Kill….kill’ in  a very sinister tone
• Mysterious writing on the wall written in blood
• Mrs Norris hanging upside down apparently dead
• Lockhart casts a spell to mend the bone but instead removes all bones from Harry’s arm leaving it quite useless and able to move in all directions
• Moaning Myrtle is quite eerie; she screams and dives into the toilet
• Harry talking in ‘parsel tongue’ to the snake sounds really eerie and evil
• Dumbledore’s pet phoenix Fawkes bursts into flames (This is apparently what happens to them when it is time to die, then a new one is born from the ashes)
• Harry’s face is shown transforming into Goyle’s
• Hermione’s face is transformed into a cat
• Harry finds a diary which when he writes in it writes back to him in ghostly writing
• Harry is sucked into the diary
• Hermione is found petrified
• Harry and Ron have to follow a swarm of spiders into the dark forest which leads them to Aragog a monster spider. She is Hagrid’s ‘pet’ but she allows her family to feast on Harry and Ron who are then attacked by thousands of giant hairy spiders.
• The final scene with Harry and the Basilisk is particularly scary. This monstrous snake with huge fangs chases Harry and continually tries to attack him. Fawkes, the phoenix, comes to help Harry by pecking out the Basilisk’s eyes leaving red splodges. At one point the Basilisk erupts out of the water close to Harry. The Talking Hat gives Harry a sword with which he tries to defend himself, eventually piercing the Basilisk through its mouth killing it. The Basilisk dies a dramatic death but Harry is pierced by one of its huge teeth.
• Harry still has to deal with Tom Riddle who is really Voldemort. Harry, who is dying from the Basilisk venom, repeatedly stabs at the diary with the Basilisk tooth. This creates blood all over the diary and at the same time causes Tom great pain and he then explodes.

Early adolescence

This film is of course in the fantasy genre and most early adolescent people would realise this. However there are parts in the film as mentioned in the previous section that people in this age group could find disturbing. The casting of spells and wizardry could be perceived by some as occultist.

Sexual references, nudity, substance use and coarse language

The movie has very little of any of these elements.

The movie’s message

The take home message from the movie is that good triumphs over evil; in this instance although the evil power is very strong, the good still wins through cooperation and collaboration.

Values parents may wish to encourage include:

• loyalty
• courage
• endurance
• friendship
• cooperation and collaboration

Values parents may wish to discourage include:

• hating one’s enemies
• disobeying rules
• stereotyping fat people as bullies

Overall comments

This movie is very well made, the graphics and special effects are excellent as is most of the acting. The vain and fraudulent Professor Lockhart is very aptly portrayed. Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore and Ron Weasley are all excellent, making it a film that adults could enjoy. There is also much humour which lightens the atmosphere.