Momiji1987 In reply to Eternities22 [2014-12-19 08:17:23 +0000 UTC]

The American book publisher, Scholastic, was the one who dubbed it the Sorcerer's Stone in America. This choice to change the title is not unlike the British publisher's decision to use only Rowling's initials instead of her full name on the cover--a choice made so as not to discourage boys--who might be sexist towards female authors--from reading. I find that in itself offensive--considering boys and young men the world over seem to have no bias against Rowling despite now knowing she is a woman. I don't know how important Nicholas Flamel and Philosopher's Stones are historically in Britain, or if it's something you learn about at some point in school, but it's highly likely that it's much more well known there than it is here due to your country's long established history and cultural differences. America is only two hundred years old and the only history we have regarding witches is the Salem witch trials, which is before we even had an independent country. Fans of the series here all know the first book/film as Sorcerer's Stone, rather than the Philosopher's Stone because the publisher wanted kids who enjoy magic to understand this was a book about magic; had we more history with philosopher's stones, the change would have been unnecessary because then we would know what a philosopher's stone was. There were various other changes of British-isms in our books as well--such as changing Jumper to Sweater (so that American children would not think Ron was wearing a girl's dress), and mum to mom (because well, mums are plants); although in recent printings, mum seems to have been restored; I have no idea if Jumper was changed back or not, but I'm sure the movies are what caused the change back to mum because now everyone knows Harry is British. I confess, I did not know he was until I saw the trailer for the film, but that's because my book was soooo Americanized, and for whatever reason, the locations of London etc. didn't stand out to me; I was having too much fun laughing at the Dursleys to notice where abouts Harry was. In our version of the movie, the British actors were all kind and gracious enough to do two versions of the scenes that mention the stone, despite what a pain it must have been--one for the British, and one for their American fans as well, so no, there isn't a hokey British accent coming from an American dub. I don't understand why some British Harry Potter fans get into such a tizzy over a simple title change that has no effect on the series in their region whatsoever and, in my opinion, should be an interesting fact about Harry Potter, rather than something to get insulted by. I have been a fan for over thirteen years now and I'm still hearing that complaint. I also get very tired of the assumption that everyone in America is fat, stupid, and needs everything dumbed down so they can comprehend things. That is only true for low class, low income people who have little or no access to education, healthy food, and knowledge about excercise. Honey Boo Boo is a good example of this stereotype and she was on television here because even in America her family was odd...they are not the every day American that other countries seem to believe represents all of us. I have talked to some British people who had never heard of the American Civil War. Does that make those Brits stupid for not knowing something that is a widely discussed and a well known part of American History? Should I assume all Brits are stupid, ignorant morons who don't know anything about History and a well-established war that nobody in my country, even the Honey Boo Boos, is unaware of? The media may portray us as slobs, but that is not true of all of us. We simply have our own culture and history that, for a lot of us now, doesn't even go back to Britain. That is not the case for me, however; my ancestry can be traced back to Samual Fuller who was on the Mayflower and my great-great grandfather fifteen times removed is the poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, something I'm immensely proud of. I have nothing against the British and I love everything about Harry Potter; I especially loved learning more about British culture, slang, and the real philosopher's stone, and I understand there are a lot of cultural differences, including the spelling of some words, but that interests me, it doesn't offend me. It just hurts every time I see a nasty comment made about Sorcerer's Stone that always goes back to the adage that Americans are stupid. I'm an American, and if that makes me stupid, then so be it, but it would be nice if my ancestors' home country of England were not the ones saying it.

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Fuzzybuni In reply to Momiji1987 [2014-12-21 22:39:36 +0000 UTC]

Great comment! I appreciate the point of view you put into this discussion as well!

I never even knew that they resaid "sorcerer's" in the film because we get the British version in Canada; I can't believe how awesome that is! But it makes sense to change stuff language-wise too; it would definitely relate better to linguistics in North America over things said in Britain.

I always hate how because of one thing changed for production (for Harry Potter, specifically, I mean) you guys are considered "stupid"... The most ridiculous thing ever. And for other reasons of media portraying everyone in the States as "slobs," "stupid," and "fat" as well. It's never nice to assume everyone is the same in one place either.

I hope you have a nice day.

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ApeSpacer In reply to Eternities22 [2014-12-14 21:51:21 +0000 UTC]

What do they do in the movie whenever the philosopher's stone is mentioned? Do they just dub over Dumbledore or the kids with some American saying 'sorcerers' in a terrible British accent? It's not even like philosopher's stones were a thing invented for the books, they're an established thing. What were the American film distributors thinking? 'Philosopher' is too intellectual sounding for their audience, gotta dumb it down with some sort of palatable-for-the-masses catchy alliteration? Screw established magical objects, go for snappy advertising? 

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Fuzzybuni In reply to Eternities22 [2014-12-14 03:36:30 +0000 UTC]

I don't believe the author explicitly states it's only one or the other... it's just what she's referring to as it's the more familiar title for her country. I think besides the two differing titles, we can all still enjoy the same story!

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AdiosArky In reply to Fuzzybuni [2014-12-16 09:51:44 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, no. Philosopher is someone who's studies meanings and theory's. Sorcerer's are people that use magic. Has nothing to do with region, the original was called The Philosopher's Stone and that's is how it should have been kept. It's disrespectful to the wishes of J.K.Rowling and is very inconsiderate.

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Fuzzybuni In reply to AdiosArky [2014-12-18 22:53:04 +0000 UTC]

I do already know the difference between a sorcerer and a philosopher, but I appreciate you explaining them anyway! But doesn't it actually have to do with region though? Don't they call it the "Sorcerer's Stone" only in the United States of America? I think it was probably changed for advertisement purposes... I guess "sorcerer" overall does sound more exciting than "philosopher" for a Hollywood-esque audience. I honestly don't think J.K. Rowling was too upset about the decision, though, if she allowed it to happen in the first place.

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AdiosArky In reply to Fuzzybuni [2014-12-21 22:01:02 +0000 UTC]

She kind of has to if she want's it to sell.

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ChiaraBloodLied In reply to IAmMegan-HearMeRoar [2014-12-12 19:58:50 +0000 UTC]

Yes

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aunjuli In reply to IAmMegan-HearMeRoar [2014-12-12 19:47:09 +0000 UTC]

I have! Multiple times

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AdiosArky In reply to Dim432 [2014-12-16 09:42:33 +0000 UTC]

It is the Philosopher's Stone, it was dumbed down because the people who marketed it were worried that certain audiences would struggle intellectually with the title.

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Dim432 In reply to AdiosArky [2014-12-16 11:45:10 +0000 UTC]

Philosopher means someone who predicts

And yes in the behind the sceans their where 2 takes in the library where herminonie finds about Nicolas flemel

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