I just watched the latest Harry Potter movie. It has been a couple of years since I read the last book and I probably should have reread it before viewing the movie. The movie was great! And a lot of ponderings and rambling thoughts were going through my mind afterward.
Why has Harry Potter been so extremely popular? I think it's because of two things. First of all, a lot of tv, movies, books today do not have strong characters. Rowling developed multi-faceted people who you actually care about. Now, when I say this, please don't throw digital tomatoes at me... but take, for example, the latest Star Wars movies. The characters of Anakin and Padme, (and most others) were so flat that you really didn't care what happened to them. Who cares if they die or throw a temper tantrum. The Harry Potter characters were easy to connect with, love and identify with, but at the same times were very deep and conflicted. While reading the Prisoner of Azkaban, I loved Remus Lupin. He was a lonely, tormented, dowdy professor, who was continually fighting his primal nature. I really don't fall in love with fictional characters often, but then again, these characters become so real to you.
But more than the "likeyness", they choose to do the tough heroic things, no matter the cost. Even Severus, is shown as a true hero at the end. We need heroes. We need stories about people who do heroic things. When that nobility is stripped from our fantasy, it is depressing! The world becomes so fatalistic..... what is the point of it all?
Longbottom says something along the lines "Everyone dies, but they are always apart of us, (points to his heart).... those who died tonight did not die in vain, but you (points to Voldemort) will, because what you are fighting for is WRONG!" Longbottom, is another unlikely hero, who saves the day.
There is another reason why this story in invaluable. It came to me after hearing this quote.
Dumbledore says "Do not pity the dead, Harry, pity the living. Especially those who live without love"...
It can be argued that death is a major theme of the book, and that is true. But I see Love being even more important though. Love is more powerful than Death, Love conquers death. Because of love, death is not necessarily viewed as the end, or even bad.
A couple instances that I thought were powerful examples of love...
Lilly's love protects baby Harry and thwarts Voldemort's magic.
Snape's love for Lilly .... he lives his life doing all he can to protect her, then her child, even though his love is never returned.
I do have to say that I think Voldemort is the baddest bad guy around. Recently I had a humorous conversation with some guys about who the best evil guy is. Some were really fighting for Darth Vader, I threw in Magneto...(he is pretty bad and powerful).. Sauron.... the list went on. But no, Voldemort is pure evil.
Why has Harry Potter been so extremely popular? I think it's because of two things. First of all, a lot of tv, movies, books today do not have strong characters. Rowling developed multi-faceted people who you actually care about. Now, when I say this, please don't throw digital tomatoes at me... but take, for example, the latest Star Wars movies. The characters of Anakin and Padme, (and most others) were so flat that you really didn't care what happened to them. Who cares if they die or throw a temper tantrum. The Harry Potter characters were easy to connect with, love and identify with, but at the same times were very deep and conflicted. While reading the Prisoner of Azkaban, I loved Remus Lupin. He was a lonely, tormented, dowdy professor, who was continually fighting his primal nature. I really don't fall in love with fictional characters often, but then again, these characters become so real to you.
But more than the "likeyness", they choose to do the tough heroic things, no matter the cost. Even Severus, is shown as a true hero at the end. We need heroes. We need stories about people who do heroic things. When that nobility is stripped from our fantasy, it is depressing! The world becomes so fatalistic..... what is the point of it all?
Longbottom says something along the lines "Everyone dies, but they are always apart of us, (points to his heart).... those who died tonight did not die in vain, but you (points to Voldemort) will, because what you are fighting for is WRONG!" Longbottom, is another unlikely hero, who saves the day.
There is another reason why this story in invaluable. It came to me after hearing this quote.
Dumbledore says "Do not pity the dead, Harry, pity the living. Especially those who live without love"...
It can be argued that death is a major theme of the book, and that is true. But I see Love being even more important though. Love is more powerful than Death, Love conquers death. Because of love, death is not necessarily viewed as the end, or even bad.
A couple instances that I thought were powerful examples of love...
Lilly's love protects baby Harry and thwarts Voldemort's magic.
Snape's love for Lilly .... he lives his life doing all he can to protect her, then her child, even though his love is never returned.
I do have to say that I think Voldemort is the baddest bad guy around. Recently I had a humorous conversation with some guys about who the best evil guy is. Some were really fighting for Darth Vader, I threw in Magneto...(he is pretty bad and powerful).. Sauron.... the list went on. But no, Voldemort is pure evil.
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