Spoilers for the Deathly Hallows book may be ahead...
Many of you have probably heard of Harry Potter. I'm not sure how many of you are fans and have seen the films, but even if you haven't, you probably know it's about wizards and witches and a school for wizard kids. Most of the cutesy fantasy stuff gets into the trailers and commercials. Stuff like the candles that float all by themselves, lighting the great hall of this beautiful boarding school:
Or the fun magical charms and curses that the students learn
Or the silly fun that's made of goofy students whose spells don't work right
There are hints of the darkness in the story early on in the form of school bullies like Draco Malfoy
And mean teachers like Severus Snape
But let's get real, folks, this story is about complete and utter tragedy and sadness. Like, from beginning to end!
The Tragedy of Harry Potter
Not only are Harry's parents killed when he is a baby, but they basically die defending him from an evil sorcerer who is still at large. As an orphan he is given to his uncle's family (the Dursley's) to be raised as basically a prisoner. He's not considered part of the family, he is often pad locked into his bedroom, and they treat their own son so preferentially that he is the only one in family photos.
Once he gets the intel about who his parents were and how they died (the Dursley's didn't tell him), he gets to go to wizard school at Hogwarts, where he finds a couple friends (Hermoine and Ron) and at least one enemy in Draco Malfoy. And of course there's the big enemy in Voldemort, the guy that killed his parents.
Over the course of the movies (the movie stories are most recent in my memory), he at first has to grapple with the huge mind-shift that must happen when you find out that a) your parents were killed and didn't die in a car accident like you've been told, b) they were magical wizards which are real and you are too, c) an evil magical wizard killed them and is currently unaccounted for, and d) you are eleven years old. Christ.
Then he has to fight this super-strong murderous wizard for like 7 years. Each year he is basically tortured from afar by this guy. He has awful nightmares, the scar that Voldemort gave him as a baby hurts sometimes, he is put through a series of deadly tests that are all sabotaged in some way. His story is front-page news and everyone refers to him as "The Boy Who Lived," which sucks in a million ways. To be remembered simply for surviving and to be thought of as either a huge hope for the future (pressure) or the sad remains of a loved wizard family (pressure!). He gets treated like a special kid in the worst way.
The adults who have information about his past, present, and future are really REALLY vague about it and sometimes don't tell him things that he needs to know to stay alive. The only adult men in his life that he builds close ties to (Dumbledore and Sirius Black) die before the series end. He loses like 3 father/father figures in the course of the story!
You can write an epilogue that tells me he marries Ginny Weasley all you want, but I think that guy is effed up forever. He should totally have been Severus Snape by the end of the story, burdened by a fate and a past he had little control over.
I found that by the end of the Order of the Phoenix, I was so deeply sad about his story (knowing, of course how it ends) that it took me a day long break to get back to it. And this story has a supposedly happy ending!
The best thing this series did for me was introduce Hermoine Granger, one of the best female characters ever. I heart her nerdy lovely overcompensating little heart. I can't even say I see myself in her too much because she's so much more A+ than I ever was. But the nerdyness, the love of information, the desire to always have the right answer and being kind of pissy when you don't have it, that's totally me. I love how fierce she is about the downtrodden and how she fights back when cornered. She threw an amazing punch that landed on Draco's jaw in Prisoner of Azkaban that made me think the books shoulda put her at the center. Hermoine Granger rules forever into all time. And eventually she works for the liberation and fair treatment of house elves.
And seriously, I think that it is simply inconceivable to me that Hermoine would be interested in Ron Weasley. He's totally the worst Weasley. And there are a lot of them! He's a blubbering idiot who, for a person raised in a wizarding family of 9 people, has little understanding of body language or subtext in a conversation. Or even the literal interpretation of a conversation. He is brave on occasion, but damn if he isn't going to be a lifelong project for our lovely Hermoine, who will be fixing things he's broken and reminding him of basic information forever. I just can't see her being into someone so not smart or good at spells. I never got that. Does she respect Ron? Really? He's loyal and willing to stick up for his friends, but is that all you need in a partner? Is she so insecure about her abilities that she needs someone less smart around to feel better about herself? That would make for a sad story. I would have liked to see Hermoine with Harry, because they seem to both be burdened by the expectations and assumptions of their family line and yet fight hard to make things right for themselves on their own terms. But even more, I would have liked her to find her own guy, separate from the trio. But maybe I'm just super hard on Ron.
I obviously love the story, and am kind of amazed that little kids got into it on such a large scale. I know people had problems with the witchcraft and stuff, but those are crazy people. What I'd be interested to know is if people would be cool with their kids reading such a dark story, if they had known how it was going to turn out and what horrible trials Harry and his friends would endure. I like dark stories and I'd probably let my kids watch whatever they wanted, but when you look at the stories altogether, damn if it isn't some depressing shit.
Side note: While typing this, M. who is a smart and curious guy, but who hates Harry Potter movies, asked me what I was blogging about and this is how our conversation went:
M: What are you blogging about? Are you blogging about me? (He always asks this and it's never him)
Sweet Lady: Harry Potter
M: Are you blogging about how you're in loooove with Harry Potter?
Sweet Lady: No, I'm actually not attracted to Harry in the series.
M: Who are you attracted to?
Sweet Lady: Guess which one I would be attracted to. (At this point I'm clearly thinking it's obvious, but I'm also realizing he has no clue because he hates all things magical and has never seen the movies)
M: Gargamel?
Sweet Lady: Seriously? Gargamel from The Smurfs?!
M: Well I don't f*%$ing know!
Sweet Lady: Severus Snape (showing him my Google Image search of Severus in his many stern poses)
M: The old guy!?
Sweet Lady: But...
M: All I have to say is: old balls.
Sweet Lady: Sigh
And I talk shit about Hermoine's choices.
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