Whenever Harry Potter comes up, I can’t shake that he got into an elitist school solely because of who his parents were. If Hogwarts were a comp in Redditch, would the world care? Did Rowling intentionally hide this subversive parody? Like congenital syphilis, blood sports, and the cast of Megan Markle’s polo series, the power struggles of Harry's world only seem important set against the privileged lives of the Eton set. Why fans celebrate this parodic class nonsense is beyond me.
With wizarding-scepticism tempered only by honeymoon diplomacy, I flew to Changi airport and took a cable car to Harry Potter: Visions of Magic on Sentosa Island. I'm reading imagineer Margaret Kerrison’s Immersive Storytelling for Real and Imagined Worlds, so I considered the trip fieldwork.
My patience almost didn't survive staff asking who needed the bathroom. Nothing exercises the cynical muscle like walking the retrograde way through the tat-filled gift shop, knowing the designers didn't factor incontinence into their plans. I half-expected to be handed a mop and bucket. However, once bladders were safely voided, we were given a wand glowing like E.T.’s finger. Wiggling it at patches of swirling light rewarded us with some animation and a dopamine hit.
Inside is a tour through familiar locations from the movies. The wizardry begins as you board the Knight Bus. Hyper-lapse images flash past, indicating rapid motion. The audience loved it, ignorant of the drunks and late-night ranters needed to make the experience real-world accurate.
The Ministry of Magic is impressive. Its mystical globes emit a pale blue light, illuminating a dark room, while an ethereal ghostly soundscape fills the space. As the Chamber of Secrets opens, the snakes on the door really move. The movie used unconvincing CGI. Here it’s all mechanical. The battle at Hogwarts – the final room—has some impressive animation of duelling wizards and some excellent sunrise graphics.
Those expecting a ride or a haunted house experience will be disappointed. Visions of Magic is more a 3D interactive art exhibit. This celebration of the movies is aimed squarely at Instagram. You don't have to be a fan to admire the worlds created in the animation and layered sound design.
Potter fans now have the controversial HBO remakes to look forward to. You don’t have to dig too deeply to find online accusations of stunt casting and gender controversy. These changes are unlikely to win over many of the fans in Singapore who like their Harry Potter twee, cute, and Anglo-Saxon. Such reimagining destroys franchises and divides fanbases. If you love Harry's world as it is, book your trip before the revisionist Death Eaters suck all the magic out of it.