By : Samanga Amarasinghe

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Analyze group dynamics on a movie by portraying the individual’s behaviors, the reasons behind their behaviors the effects of their behaviors on others and the impact of their individual behaviors on the group, which they belong.

Observer collective behaviors of a group in the movie, by analyzing the reason behind the collective behaviors, the effects of their collective behaviors on the group as a whole and effects of their collective behavior on individuals inside and outside the group.

The movie observed is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

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• Uncle Vernon : Harry’s Uncle, a very insensitive, bully who criticize Harry at all times

• Professor Dumbledore: is the Headmaster of Hogwarts, a man of great wisdom who shows great transformational leadership skills where he focuses in empowerment of his faculty as well the students.

• Professor McGonagall: is the Housemistress to the Gryffindor House, she is a motherly figure who shows great love to her students equally.

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Hagrid: Is the Gamekeeper who has love and collect various magical creatures, which includes a giant spider, and a three headed dog. Hagrid being a giant by stature has a heart to match him he is loyal to Professor Dumbledore, and his new three friend Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

Professor Severus Snape: Is the housemasters to Slytherin house and teach potions class, shows great favoritism towards pupils of his house, and openly show his dislike to Harry. By appearance Prof. Snape is a dark character who does not smile, and keep his words short with the students and staff.

Professor Quirrell: Is the Faculty member who teaches Defense against Dark arts, professor Quirrell is a geeky lecturer who despite being the dark arts teacher shows great fear towards dark arts as well as is portrayed as a weak person. However, he has a secret, which is revealed at the end of the movie. 6

Lord Voldemort: Is a Character who balances the evil opposition of the movie, at first he is referred at the beginning as the “He whose name must not be mentioned”. Has penetrated great fear among the characters of the movie, the fear of Lord Voldemort derives from him being a great evil wizard who declared war against the good of the magical world in which the movie take place. Furthermore, Lord Voldemort was a former student of Hogwarts and share similarities with Harry’s personality and traits.

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• Harry Potter: Is the main character which the movie rotates around, he is the only person to have survived Lord Voldemort’s wrath with just a scar, Harry is also was known as the reason to Voldemort losing his power and was reduced to just a name. Hence in accordance with the prophecy Harry is observed as the chosen one.

• Hermione Granger: Is a Young studious witch who makes it her joy to remember everything in the textbooks and ace all the classes. Hermione Joins with Harry and his friend Ron in their quests, but conflicts with Ron a lot due to Ron’s mannerisms and low approval rate of her. In addition, Hermione at first is portrayed as a Ms. Perfect who knows it all or a goody too shoes, as she tends to boss the boys around a lot and show off her knowledge in magic.

• Ron Weasley: Is Harry’s best friend who gets excited fast, but like Hagrid has a big heart to share, shows great loyalty to Harry and balances Harry’s boldness by pointing out caution points. 8

The Story Begins with the scene where Harry Potter is left at his Uncle and Aunt the Dyrsley family’s house by Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Gamekeeper Hagrid who take him in.

During the early stages of the movie, it is observed that the Dursley’s do their best in keeping Harry’s past and his ability to do as Vernon Dyrsley calls “Funny Business” or his ability in Magic as talking with snakes concealed.

However, on his eleventh birthday Harry receives a mail addressed to him, but his uncle keep Harry form reading the letter, but eventually through Hagrid’s intervention Harry receive the letter to join Hogwarts.

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Harry follows Hagrid to his journey to study at Hogwarts, first by getting his schoolbooks at Digone Alley the good wizard-shopping district, where he finds that his parents left him with a large sum of money at the Gringotts Bank.

During this trip Hagrid addressing it as a Hogwarts business, go to a rather secure vault in the Gringotts Bank and obtain a small object which he hesitate to share about and takes it with him creating a puzzle in Harry.

Then on the train to Hogwarts Harry befriends Hermione and Ron forming the primary social group of focus.

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Upon entering Hogwarts Harry and his new friends are placed in an another group referred as the “House” in which they are part of within the organization of Hogwarts, these houses or dorms which are named with the founding wizards of Hogwarts by its motto give the members what qualities they need to possess.

Gryffindor House having the lion as the mascot stands for Courage, Daring, Chivalry, and Nerve the Slytherin House by its motto being the serpent resembles Ambition, Charm, Cunning, and Resourcefulness.

The choosing a house for the students is done by a Magic hat which is known to give the house that match the person’s traits hence Harry, Ron and Hermione get placed in Gryffindor House while their counterparts being Malfoy and his friends get placed in Slytherin House.

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During the course of their stay, the three friends Ron, Harry and Hermione while facing conflicts with each other begin to bond and at the same time begin to make new friends as Neville Longbottom who joins the trio.

Then the story change from happy to a more thrilling tone when the trio finds out that day after Harry was in Gringotts Bank it was robed and the secret vault which was accessed by Hagrid was broken into.

As any kid of eleven, the trio embarks on a quest to find out what was in the Vault and who stole it. During which they find the stolen objects was the Sorcerer's Stone. The Stone is a powerful magic that produces the Elixir of Life, which has the capacity to make the drinker immortal. Then in seeking answers to who stole it come across Snape who becomes the prime suspect, as the plot thickens they further encounter other magical creatures as the three headed Dog, the evil shadow that drinks blood of unicorns, a Magic mirror which shows what one want to see so bad. 12

With more time seeking more answers and breaking common rules of their organization Harry, Hermione, and Ron in seeking for the Sorcerer's Stone passing through many challenges on the way come to the last chamber where Harry enters alone.

There he encounters professor Quirrell in front of the magical mirror and professor Quirrell who reviles the whole plot to Harry attempts to attack Harry as the stone ends up in Harry’s pocket. During this scene, we see a glimpse of Lord Voldemort who resides in professor Quirrell’s body and his power. But the body which is professor Quirrell‘s get burned upon touching Harry making Lord Voldemort leave the scene abandoning his dead follower professor Quirrell saving Hogwarts to continue another year the Trio becomes victors .

The movie ends with Professor Dumbledore finding Harry staring at the magic mirror the explanation to the questions uncovered by Prof Quirrell as why Lord Voldemort was burned when he touched Harry. According to Professor Dumbledore the reason why Harry was saved despite all mighty power of the Dark Lord, was due to his mother’s love when she gave her life to protect baby Harry being engulfed with in him.

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Hogwarts is a great school where the students learn about Magic first hand, and getting a well rounded education of theory as well as practicality in applying the skills needed.

The Faculty and Staff mainly the key people, being the head master and the housemasters and mistresses are highly experienced and well rounded in their specialties. Hence, qualified staffs that are highly experience have been chosen by the head master.

Leadership skills specially in making all students reach level 5 leadership is exercised by the full time faculty and staff with the exception of Professor Quirrell whose position is always available throughout.

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Despite the school being a great educational organization there are certain dangers surrounding the school at all times.

The dark woods, which the students are not, allowed to go but during detention Hagrid takes Harry, Draco, Hermione and Ron to the forest.

The moody wimping willow that attacks anyone who get near it, create a danger to any student accidently going near the tree.

The moving stairs and different mythical creates as Fluffy (The three headed dog) being inside the building where young curious students are roaming daily.

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The whole segregation of the blood at Hogwarts

The favored class of this segregation is considered the full-blooded wizards where both parents are born to wizards. The second class is the half blood where one parent is non-wizard born, and the last or the lowest is the “Mug blood” where both parents are none wizard born and none wizards as in the case of Hermione.

The keepers of this philosophy is the Malfoyd family specially Draco and his father who believe that none wizard kids or children as the Wesley’s should not enter a school as Hogwarts because of their economical and social standing being none aristocratic.

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The group is a part of a larger organization named Hogwarts where students go to obtain knowledge in witchcraft and wizardry. The group under observation consists of 3 students who being a part of Hogwarts Gryffindor house embark on an quest to find a missing magical stone which gives eternal life to anyone who drink it. The length of time together can be observed as a academic year in which they take breaks for vacations.

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Of the three Harry Potter is accepted by the others to be the leader of the group due to him being the chosen one as well as his open personality, ability to understand others with compassion.

Also in considering the Organization, the key leader is head Master Dumbledore, and he shows great leadership skills as well as wisdom, he also shows great character is empowering others to reach their best as in the case of the group in question and his staff. Harry, Ron and Hermione breaks foundation rules of the organization in accomplishing the goal at hand but Dumbledore and their housemistress McGonagall despite punishments for the actions awarding them points for accomplishments of teamwork, bravery and so forth.

The other two members Hermione and Ron can be seen as far as their house is concerned to be formal leaders as they unit the house and coordinate other house members to go along with the groups goals. Despite them both conflicting with each other due to love hate, they unit despite differences in opinions in times of danger to the group.

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The groups influence is in advance stage, the reason observed is each member fills for the other’s weakness, Hermione a brilliant student in class comes to rescue when in need of a magic spell to unlock a puzzle but due to her obedience to the laws and regulations, she alone would not break one to achieve a goal.

Harry despite in the beginning not being good with magic spell casting is a determined personality who asks questions and seeks answers as all that happens the puzzles they comes across gives Harry answers about his past, his parents and questions he had for eleven years. Hence he encourage the group to move forward, Harry is also seen as a very soft humble person in the beginning, also he is very compassionate and loyal. Harry’s hunger to reach the next goal or fill the puzzle get Hermione to utilize her knowledge which she loves a lot making her reach the next stage.

Ron has loyalty above all qualities, despite him openly making comments on Hermione’s behaviors; he is seen secretly admiring Hermione’s abilities from the first time they met on the train. In addition, Ron is a person of caution, which balances both the other members in not going too far ahead fast without thinking and being doomed.

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The group members are always communicating their finding plans with each other whenever they get a chance, also when in doubt they go find external resources as the library or the gamekeeper Hagrid who slips on secrets if one persuade enough.

Their performance is great as being kids and novice wizards they managed victory against extremely dark and powerful wizards and beasts, which include the troll, fluffy the three headed dog, and Lord Voldemort, and saving the stone from being in the wrong hands.

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In finding the chambers they had to face several challenges first being fluffy, the second was finding the key among many flying keys, then the game of wizard’s chess in which they all communicated and coordinated with each other in coming to common decisions in obtaining victory over the puzzles.

The Trio also showed their power by finding the answers to the questions of what is the magical stone, the implications of it being missing, and then took action when the school failed to take action as a collective. They first went to their house mistress about the plot to steal the stone, and wanted Head masters to be informed but she comfort the trio by stating that the stone is save but the head masters is out on ministry matters. Nevertheless, failed to check the story of the trio with other faculty or staff members hence the trio took it upon themselves to solve and find the riddle.

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The Groups decision making capabilities is observed mainly in finding the clues leading to finding the stone and the last chamber.

In addition, the group united was willing to face mortal danger in accomplishing their goal, the chess game to win the game Ron had to make a decision on behalf of every one, but the decision had to be a decision agreed by all. Such was the theme for the trio since the beginning every decision they made they communicated and came to a common conclusion which label as a group with good decision-making capabilities.

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Healthy conflicts which occur in the movie with In the group of the trio is Ron’s fear which creates check points in dealing with the dangers ahead, also Ron’s decision to sacrifice himself in wizard chess in letting Harry and Hermione go forward with the mission. In doing this enables Harry to face what was ahead much easier than Ron and Hermione being there which would have complicated the outcome as the dark lord would have had Harry’s Friends at bay to bargain.

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The unhealthy conflict is Ron slandering Hermione’s love for learning, which made her withdraw to the girl’s bathroom where they faced the troll, in which they put themselves in danger. Also hurting Hermione’s feeling over something, which was an asset to the group, could have had negative implications as losing a group member had the troll’s incident occur giving a chance of redemption in winning Hermione back.

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Intergroup relations with the group in question and other members can be seen as good when it came to their house Gryffindor, even when Nevil was put to sleep to avoid him telling on the group it was done with respect.

However, intergroup relations with the opposition as the slithering is highly competitive mainly with it’s youth leader Draco Malfoyd who was keeping his eye out to obtain good points by creating trouble for the trio as in the case of spying on them visiting Hagrid at night. Also abandoning Harry during time of crisis when the Dark Lord come across Harry in the woods.

The intergroup relations with the faculty members can be observed as being in good standing with the exception of Snape who, showed favoritism towards his house and had a biasness toward Harry.

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The excepted changes can be seen as the new environment they uncounted, it was Harry, Ron and Hermione’s first time in Hogwarts, despite Hermione and Ron having heard about Hogwarts they were never prepared for what it was really like and they made the best out of the changes relying on each other for support. This can be seen when they saw the enchanted roof, the food and when they saw Draco and knew they were going to be in trouble for visiting Hagrid at night they all united and faced the punishment together which was detention.

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From the moment they embarked on the search for the contents of the vault which was stolen they were faced with unexpected change, first being the troll, second being the fluffy and third being the new of the head master being absent during a crisis time. All three events they coordinated fast with each other giving their best communicating with each other and accomplishing their immediate goals.

Example is the troll soon as they saw the troll they

worked out a method of distracting the troll from Hermione giving her a chance to escape, being incapacitated without Hermione to support in magic Harry resorted to sticking the Wand in the troll’s nose which made him hit himself with his weapon and pass out.

The Second Example is the puzzles they never anticipated the puzzles they had to face as finding the key, or the wizard chess game and in both they relied on each other’s skills and accomplished the immediate goal to accomplish the final goal.

Source : Essential Films Under Heading “So Evil”

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Overall effectiveness of the group can be observed to be of good standing as despite all obstacles, mortal dangers face with the lack of proper training the trio managed to accomplish their goal without any casualties to any team members or innocent bystanders.

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Forming : Is when the group Harry, Ron and Hermione first met and was exposed to Hogwarts they were quiet and despite noticing differences they handled it with grace.

Storming : Begins as they become more accounted with the environment and begin to deal with each other the storming is clear with Ron and Hermione where they were vocal on the each other’s differences in attitude towards education as well as behaviors.

Norming : As they embark on their quest they begin Norming where they find their place in the group and begin to work with each other and coordinate.

Performing : In reaching the stages where they accomplish the information gathering segment of their quest and execute the task of accomplishing their goal they begin to perform, the challenge of facing fluffy, the key challenge and Wizards Chess they begin to perform.

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Three students coming from different back grounds as Harry being an orphan who doesn’t know anything about his parents struggling to find himself and where he belong. Then Ron who is excited about the new journey in his life coming from a loving family who struggle with social standings as finances. Hermione who is a brilliant student who struggles internally with her birth of being a human or a Muggle, and being accepted despite her blood line.

Joins as a group at Hogwarts and embark on a quest to save the school and the magical environment from being taken to the dark side and due to their different abilities and gifts in using them as a collective they manage to outsmart the Hogwarts faculty who have managed by their standing to hide the stone well. Moreover, the group due to their group skills also manages to subdue the Dark Lord saving the school and accomplishing points for their house giving a great case study for observing group dynamics.

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Acosta, A. J. (2010, May 9th). The 100 Greatest Movie Villains Part 5. Retrieved March 6, 2011, from The Essential Films: http://theessentialfilms.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html

Carly, & malik09. (2011, February 26). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Poster. Retrieved March 6, 2011, from Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241527/synopsis

Columbus, C. (Director). (2001). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone [Motion Picture]. 33