Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Boy Who Lived

I wrote a book column when I worked for The Appalachian a few years ago. My first entry, fittingly, was about Harry Potter. Though I have long been done with and re-read the last of the books, the final movie installment seems to really seal the deal for the end of the HP era. Yes, like other epic series it will live on, but we are the HP generation. We are the kids who grew up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, not just the ones who will read about them doing so.

I have some qualms with the last movie, but I'm not even going to list them because I still got to see some of my favorite moments of the series finally come to life on a huge screen. I would fangirl the shit out of them here, but I think spoilers are just pretty damn rude. After all, the point here really is that it's all finally over and that's a bittersweet feeling.

I will miss the excitement I felt waiting in line for the newest book as much as I will miss waiting impatiently through previews in an extremely uncomfortable and dirty chair for the latest film to start. I will miss being with the trio (and their equally lovable supportive cast) as they experience new adventures. I will miss seeing their friendship grow into something that makes me weep because it is so pure, strong, and enviable.

A part of me always wanted to be each one of them while simultaneously being loved by each one of them. They may not be real to you or the rest of the world, but they're as real to me as any of my best friends. They always will be.

Harry, I was with you 'til the end and I'm always gonna be.

(There are thousands of jokes I'm dying to make about this last film, but as a courtesy to those who haven't seen it yet, I'll wait at least a month. You've been warned. You have four weeks to see it before I conjure up another Potter entry.)

You know the deal: I'll be working on my gonnas the rest of this week (and maybe try to stop talking about HP so the bf doesn't shoot me execution style).

1 comment:

  1. Shannon Atwood WrightJuly 23, 2011 at 12:33 AM

    You wrote much of what I was thinking and feeling myself. NONE of the movies are perfect, but I wasn't able to pick this movie apart like I have been able to do in the past. I'm sure I'll be able to in the future, but it's too soon now.

    I remember the first time I read Harry Potter. I was 11 years old and I was in the hospital for another surgery. My grandparents brought me several books to keep myself occupied while in the hospital and while recovering at home. I can't even tell you what the other books were, or what they were even about. But I can tell you that I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone all the way through with no breaks except for getting up with help to go to the bathroom. I read while eating and drinking, and I didn't sleep until I had finished.

    The next day I read it again. That began my long relationship with Harry Potter. It was such a huge part of my childhood. I loved the movies once they started coming out, but I would always come back to the books. When Deathly Hallows came out, my copy was delivered early in the morning since I had pre-ordered it. I promised myself that I would pace myself and take breaks, so I could draw out the inevitable end. Didn't work. When I finished it, I had a nice long cry and felt like kicking myself because it had gone by so quickly. It sounds so dorky that I considered those characters friends. They had been there through some of the most difficult times of my life, and when my "friends" would turn their backs on me whenever I'd get sick again, I would turn to those books.

    It really was a sense of loss I felt when the books finished. I was still able to look forward to the films, so when I went to the midnight showing of Deathly Hallows pt.2 I cried again, but this time it was for a different reason. Even though I know I'm an adult, and I recently celebrated my first wedding anniversary, I guess I never felt my childhood had ended so completely. That probably sounds really weird. That's what it truly felt like though. But I'm proud to have been able to grow up with Harry, Ron and Hermione and I will still pick up a HP book when I'm going through a rough time and I hope that one day my kids will do the same.

    Sorry for the sappy comment(essay? :p) that I left on your blog. I just don't have many friends that have similar feelings about HP so when I get started, I tend to go on and on ;)

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