Harry Potter is a character in the series of fantasy fiction novels written by J.K. Rowling. It is one of the most famous stories in the world and almost all people seem to know about it. There are seven series of the novels, which are Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. The novels sold millions of copies worldwide and the film adaptations were produced by Warner Bros and became one of the highest-grossing film series. The researcher conducts this study to discover how different media could convey different meanings of the story. Research shows that there is a difference in the use of the English language depending on the media that is used to deliver it.
To begin with, researcher finds out that the novel Harry Potter uses British English and even the character in the film speaks in British English. Besides that, Harry Potterhas the widest range of vocabularies. The novel is written by a British author and the series is inspired by 1990s British culture. Harry Potter is the main figure, the protagonist, in which he dominates and leads the action of the story. In the series, Harry Potter uses ‘trolley’ which means a shopping cart in British English. Based on the series, Harry Potter uses words like ‘squib’ to explain non-magical person born to wizards, ‘muggle’ to explain a person who doesn’t have any magical abilities, and ‘dementor’ to explain a dark creature that feeds on the human soul.
In addition, researcher discovers that each of the character speaks in a certain manner which describes their characteristics. There are several characters that stood out the most, which are Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Severus Snape, and Voldemort. Harry Potter plays a big role in the series, with his two sidekicks, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. As for Severus Snape, he is portrayed as a mysterious person, while Voldemort is Harry Potter’s enemy.Harry Potter is a friendly and curious child. As for Ron Weasley, he is a brave and loyal person, he always does his best to protect his friends, but he often lacks self-confidence. The other friend of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, is described as a girl with a bossy personality and the ‘know-it-all’. Severus Snape, the Potions Master and the Head of Slytherin at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is the most complex character in the series since his words are often at odds with his behaviour. He has a cold manner and controlled exterior, also he is sarcastic and hard on his students. Meanwhile, Voldemort, the antagonist of the series, is undoubtingly a villain. It is shown by his actions and words, he has no other motive than to keep himself alive, no matter the cost to his soul. In the series, Harry Potteris always finding a way to discover his curiosity and ask a lot of questions.WhenHarry Potter is brought to Hogwarts, he kept on asking Hagrid (Hogwarts’ Keeper of Keys and Grounds) along the way about anything, such as “What exactly are these things?” when he sees a passing tiny creature in the way or asking something like “What happened to You-Know-Who?” when people are too afraid to ask a question about Voldemort, Harry is still as curious as ever. Harry’s closest friend, Ron Weasley being the youngest among six brothers always feels like that his accomplishments do not mean much because his siblings have done so much, it is all expressed when he is saying “I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left -- Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a perfect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first.” While, Hermione Granger, is described a ‘nightmare’ by Ron,she has the desire to stand out and earn good grades, it is showed when she said “Look at you playing with your cards. Pathetic! We've got final exams coming up soon.” The most ambiguous character in the series, Severus Snape, always likes to test Harry by saying something like “As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death -- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.” Snape is trying to see if Harry was more like his father or his mother. The antagonist, Voldemort, does not actually speak much but when he speaks, he would make sure to be threatening, it is shown by his statement, which is “I’m going to kill you, Harry Potter. I’m going to destroy you. After tonight, no one will ever again question my power. After tonight if they speak of you, they’ll only speak of how you begged for death. And how I being a merciful Lord… obliged.”
Moreover, researcher suggests that in the film the author is using a lot of positive words to present a likeable image of the character in the novel while the film is quite the opposite. The film has gone through the process of adaptation, so it operates differently. This idea is shown through the image that is created by the audience towards Harry Potter from the novel and the film. In the novel, Harry is described as something very special by the way the author explains how special he is because of the cut he has on his forehead and how special it is. The author also described Harry Potter’s face feature which creates a positive image for the audience. Meanwhile, in the film, the author does not explain Harry Potter’s importance but simply shows that his existence affects the world.