Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Harry Potter? Lemon Sherbet!

*this post contains so many spoilers that if you were planning on reading any of the Harry Potter novels than you should probably just close the entire window.*


I’m so excited about tomorrow! The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2, comes out at midnight, which means that work tomorrow is going to be a monstrous affair of time moving epically slow. I’m going to see it at AMC with Christine, and we’re dressing up (House elves forever!).


To prepare myself, I’ve been re-reading the second part of book seven, for the second time this summer. Nerd, I know.

Anyway, re-readingt he second part, and I always come to chapter thirty four, where Harry is apparently just been killed, but isn’t dead because he has a bit of Voldemort in him because Voldemort apparently entered Harry when he tried to kill him the first time as a baby. And then Dumbledore is there and is like, you aren’t dead, because Voldemort made himself using your blood in book four, so really, you two are made of and share the same blood and therefore, him killing you two seconds ago really just killed the bit inside of him that he put there when he was a baby. SO, now Harry is all Harry, and Voldemort is both Harry and Voldemort, which is the bit that doesn’t make any sense to me because wouldn’t that mean that Voldemort also has one of these purgatory times? I guess not, because when he “killed” Harry (just now), he too was affected. I guess that’s their cleansing moment, when they’re no longer connected.

See, it’s so unnecessarily confusing. And although I think I’ve explained it to myself and am content to know that Rowling and I are on the same page now, it only takes me about ten minutes before I’m like, waaait, that doesn’t make ANY sense. Kind of like Donnie Darko.

And then there’s the bit with the wands. Somehow, the Elder wand belongs to Draco, whose randomly the master and NOT Snape, because Snape helped him die. The one, supposedly, who defeated Dumbledore, without ever knowing it, was Draco.

BUT THIS NEVER HAPPENED. EVER.

The Elder Wand somehow recognized Draco as its master, though Draco never knew, and why should he, because he didn’t defeat Dumbledore at all. Like, no. Absolutely not.

And then, of course, Harry disarmed Draco weeks before, and that if the Elder Wand is aware of this fact, Harry is the Wand’s true master.

And I don’t understand this. And it makes me angry.


*Just kidding. It all make's sense now. See, Draco disabled Dumbledore, which apparently is the same as "defeating" him. Also, auto-correct wants me to change Dumbledore to Dumbwaiter.*

I hope for the movie that they try to keep it as close to the book as possible. But this scene… Also, the epilogue. I hope they don’t do the epilogue. For obvious reasons. Of course, it cant be as good as THIS Harry Potter movie.

I feel no shame in saying that I’ve also gone through other pains to prepare for tomorrows movie premiere. Such as reading *gasp* Fan Fiction.

I always thought Fan fiction writers were lazy and otherwise incapable of creating their own characters and backstory, and that their stories would just be, well, bad. I, like many people, have spent life under the view that fan fiction is porn (Harry and Draco slash anyone?) or that it reads like it was written by (and for) middle schoolers.

But today I read an article in TIME magazine where it discussed the misconceptions and ideas surrounding Fan Fiction, and I guess that changed my mind behind the whole premise. It’s kind of cool that these people do so much writing on a subject without ever expecting a penny for their work. It’s cool to think that these people are so devout as fans to a piece of writing that they would give up their valuable time to create more about these fictional characters that were, honestly, someone else’s creation entirely.

I can totally see both sides of the argument, that is, that the writer created the characters and that its almost unethical to let someone else mess with your vision, but the fear that they will change their characters is unnecessary. Fan fiction writers become fan fiction writers because they can love and identify the characters and just never want their story to end.

In a way, it’s the ultimate compliment. You made a character that other people love so much that they never want them to die. In other ways, it’s an insult to a writer, who made the character, which needed the writers to, shall I say, bring them to life.

The piece I read was named “Crossroads”, by Emmyjean. The whole thing is online, and I spent almost five straight hours sitting on the floor reading it (because who needs chairs?). It was about Lily and James Potter, about their relationship that led to their marriage. It was very well done- no grammatical errors, no spelling errors- and the story was almost entirely her own, that is, she used the pieces from Rowlings work to create the story, but it wasn’t as if she didn’t take creative license with it. And best of all, it was really very tasteful and I feel like Rowling would read it and, if not agree with it, at least be touched by the way her characters came to life.

4 comments:

  1. Did it ever bother you that J.K. Rowling made Harry's dad look like such a dick in that one flashback and made Snape look like such a hero in the last book that it made James Potter basically kind of an asshole who never gets to redeem himself?

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  2. I have never heard of fan fiction. Sounds entertaining. It is too bad you were not present for my family's dissection of each movie.

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  3. I was reading this last night and decided to check out the link and ended up staying up all night reading it...now I'm really depressed because they died at the end and mad at myself because I knew it was going to happen but I'm super-upset anyways! agh!

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  4. At Paul- I'm so glad you said something, i always though that James was SUCH a dick. In the newest movie they had flashbacks and every time they showed James (as a boy through adulthood) it was hilariously douche-y.
    I think your'e just supposed to think he's brilliant because he's Harry's dad and all. Plus, in reality (cough "reality" cough), Snape ended up being a death eater, so you know he wasn't too brilliant either.

    At Erin- YEAH!! It's awesome! I'll make sure to talk to your family about Harry Potter when I see you (THREE DAYS!!!!)

    At Christine- WASN'T IT GOOD? I'll send you links to any others I read and enjoy :D ( or we could just wait for POTTERMORE)

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