By Alexander Lee Cometti Copy Edited by Kimberly Glassman
Magicand andMisfits: Misfits: Magic FantasticBeasts Beasts and and Fantastic WheretotoFind FindThem Them Where “It is an enthralling example of a cinema of misfits who are brought to life, whose script arguably gives a voice to social outcasts.”
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world. Credence feels claustrophobic in his home because he is actually a secluded wizard living in a literal Salem witchhunt nightmare. His powers have been painfully repressed as a result of Mary Lou’s vehement persecution, causing him to create a dark magical force within him known as an Obscurus. Much like a fantastical beast, the Obscurus devastates its surroundings when threatened and violently eliminates those intending to harm. Credence cannot live for very long with this dreadful force consuming him, and the audience easily sympathizes with him upon witnessing the domestic abuse that spawned the Obscurus. His situation at home is starkly reminiscent of recurring horror stories of a parent rejecting and abandoning a child who differs from their ideals. Actor Ezra Miller’s portrayal of Credence suggests that the repression of his true self has damaged him to the point where he appears sickly and utterly isolated from society. Magic aside, the quesSocially awkward and often quite taciturn, Newt Scaman- tion remains –what happens to the abandoned child when the der prefers the company of his beasts, all magically stowed adults have failed them? away in his suitcase. Perhaps what makes him so compelling Rowling has a certain moral agenda that goes far beyond as the central character is that he lacks the standard tropes of the fantasy hero on an epic journey. Newt is not a reimagined what one would expect from such an action-packed blockHarry Potter. He is introverted and bookish, yet his studious buster. While shedding light on social outcasts and children nature makes him an excellent caregiver to the endangered suffering from emotional trauma and mental illness due to opcreatures of the wizarding world. Soon after his arrival in New pression, evidently Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them York in 1926, a strange twist of fate threatens to reveal the is less concerned with a conflict of good versus evil and more hidden magical community in the metropolis as several of interested in uplifting the everyday misfit by realizing their heNewt’s mischievous creatures escape from their magical hab- roic potential. It is a much needed reminder of those who are itat. The subsequent scavenger hunt for his beasts across the forgotten and rather absent from the cinema screen. At the city seems fairly straightforward, except it quickly becomes a heart of this film is a story that simultaneously celebrates the mere subplot. The real endangered species in need of saving outcast and mourns the forsaken. is the forgotten child—repressed by the cruelty of the adult world. .K Rowling’s screenwriting debut has all the magic of her esteemed Harry Potter series, with all the charm of New York City’s roaring twenties. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) is the first installment in a new five-part saga in Rowling’s wizarding world. Unlike other current film franchises, the film prioritizes a character-driven as opposed to a plot-driven narrative. Cinematic action stands secondary to the strong cast of underdog characters who are highlighted throughout the film. All of the main characters are imperfect heroes, and their individual charm never ceases to shine in spite of their flaws. It is an enthralling example of a cinema of misfits who are brought to life, whose script arguably gives a voice to social outcasts. An audience can easily identify with these characters, which perhaps reminds us why the world fell in love with Harry Potter’s story in the first place.
Away from the main beast chasing, Credence Barebone is presented as a minor character that is physically abused by his adoptive mother Mary Lou Barebone who is an authoritarian leader of an anti-magic organization, the New Salem Philanthropic Society. Credence is the so-called forgotten child of this story, now a teenager struggling in an oppressive adult