Monday 20 July 2009

Muggles' Cities

Diagon Alley

Noticed how London is depicted in the Harry Potter films? No cars! (except for the flying car that appeared in the second film) The latest film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is no exception.

The film starts with Harry in a cafe on a station platform, before being transported to a small village square, complete with paved roads and small square-shaped fountain in an irregularly-shaped village square (the kind that no engineer in his/her right mind would even consider allowing today). Also featuring is the pedestrian bridge across the Thames, the narrow winding alleys and stairs of Diagon Alley and of course the train that takes the students to Hogwarts.

It's good to see that the muggles of London are depicted living in pedestrian-friendly cities, and not one of Thom Yorke's suburbanites. Now we only need the Harry Potter generation to demand the kind of places depicted in the series.