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Had J. K. Rowling seen This Is Spinal Tap before writing Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone?


This may sound like a bizarre question, but when I was rewatching the classic 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, I noticed something about this scene.







Nigel Tufnel: He just was like, a flash of green light, and that was it.



This struck me as sounding similar to the earliest descriptions of Avada Kedavra in the Harry Potter novels.


Harry first dreams of Avada Kedavra in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.



... then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold — there was a burst of green light and Harry woke, sweating and shaking.






Over and over again he dreamed about his parents disappearing in a flash of green light, while a high voice cackled with laughter.



The spell is actually first shown cast in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.



There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air....



The question of where the green-colored flash for the killing curse came from has been asked before, without a really compelling origin coming to light. (No pun intended.) However, it occurs to me that Rowling might have been (unconsciously, probably) influenced by This Is Spinal Tap, if she had seen it.


So, it is known whether Rowling had seen the movie when she started writing the Harry Potter series?



Answer




She's certainly seen it, and it had influence on at least one aspect of her book writing, the curse against the DADA teachers.



QI Twitter: According to J.K. Rowling, the curse of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers was inspired by the Spinal Tap drummers regularly dying in bizarre circumstances.


JKR: Sad but true.


Per twitter



and



And Defence Against the Dark Arts was also fun because every year you had a new teacher. For the older members of the audience they will remember the Spinal Tap drummer ... and ... some of you do, clearly. (laughs) Well, when I planned the books I thought that every year we'll have a different Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, because the job was cursed, as you know.


J.K. Rowling answers questions at the White House Easter Egg Roll, 5 April 2010




With that in mind, it's not at all unlikely that the 'green flash' was also inspired by the same film.



You might also want to note a slightly later line in the same film;



Ian: The specific reason why he was knighted was for the founding of Hoggwood, which is a summer-camp for pale, young boys.



Hoggwood isn't a million miles from Hogwarts (linguistically speaking) and Draco Malfoy is persistently referred to as a "pale boy".


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