The Crucial Differences Between Snape in the Books and Films

Snape is one of the most loved and most interesting characters in the Harry Potter series, but after reading the books all the way through and then the movies, I realised the brilliant differences between the two Snapes, and what a fantastic video that would make...
Thanks to Joe for joining me for this video - see his own links below!

Sources:
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Bloomsbury, 1997)
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Bloomsbury, 1998)
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Bloomsbury, 1999)
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Bloomsbury, 2000)
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Bloomsbury, 2003)
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Bloomsbury, 2005)
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Bloomsbury, 2007)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Film - 2001)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Film - 2002)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Film - 2004)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Film - 2005)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Film - 2007)
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Film - 2009)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Film - 2010)

[dougajames]

For any of you that have an interest in videos like this, Joe has just started properly uploading on his own channel - so go check that out!
Also if you're here from Reddit, hi. Please credit the damn video.

[Grivian]

Book Snape: "Expelliarmus"
Movie Snape:

[ayalenglander]

Book Ron- Gets detention defending Hermione

Movie Ron- HeS gOT a pOiNT U kNoW

[Val-xbrw]

"Yes"
"Yes, _sir_ "
"Theres no need to call me sir, professor"

[fomorians]

A CRUCIAL difference you missed: in the books, Snape has greasy long hair that other characters make fun of, but in the films he has the best hair to the point where fans put him into L'oreal memes.

[midnightgear]

The moment I heard, "so he could go back to hating his memory in peace" I snorted. It just seems so perfectly Snape to be *that* petty.

[emerymorgan]

Never forget how they robbed Ginny of her personality in the movies

[gwenythice]

The fact Ron went from defending Hermione in the book to saying”he’s got a point, you know” in the film is really telling of how dirty Ron was done in the films :(((

[arbitterm]

I never got the impression movie Snape truly HATED Harry the way he does in the book. He just seems annoyed by him, possibly due to the fact that JKR told Rickman all about the Lily connection years before the book ever came out, in order to help him understand Snape's motivations. His interpretation of the character was always more detached and distant whereas book Snape is a vindictive monster who's actually much harder to sympathize with.

[rubyk]

dont forget when snape saw when Hermione was cursed and her teeth were 3+ feet long and he said "i see no difference" that one hurt me

[jenniferchough]

95% of my sympathy for Snape comes purely from Rickman's portrayal.

[prospero]

I never understand why people can't get, that a person can be brave and heroic and be not a nice person.

[merkules]

Can you imagine how differently Snape would've treated Harry if he had been born a girl and looked like Lily instead? Kind of unsettling, actually.

[aliciaballesteros-mitchell]

There's also two Ginny's!

Book: Beautiful in mind, quick witted, smart, kind, sarcastic, genuine, amazing, wonderful, athletic....

Movie: 🍞

[darthvitocorleone]

Book: Snape is pure dark character (sometime the darkest)
Movie: Snape is grey shaded character and more likeable than Ginny

[DraculaCronqvist]

Movie Snape was essentially just a slightly abrasive teacher. Believe me, there are infinitely worse teachers in real life who have done a lot worse. So people naturally like movie Snape because he has very little in the way of negative qualities. But Book Snape was a cruel abuser with just one redeeming feature. Far more complex, but also far more loathsome.

[mezzem]

I can never forgive Snape for how he treated Neville, so much that the poor boy's greatest fear was his teacher and not the woman who tortured his parents to insanity, and Hermione, especially when he made fun of Hermione's teeth in front of the whole class causing Hermione to make her teeth smaller than what they were originally.

[gabrieledid]

Let's just take a minute of silence for Peeves and Bagman who apparently are non-existing

[MacJaxonManOfAction]

"Do not use that word!"
Snape was absolutely haunted by the word 'mudblood', for obvious reasons.

[fandomtrash]

I forget who said this, but I think it's a very good description of Snape's character: Rowling was trying to write a morally gray character and he turned so dark gray that it was almost black