iamwidescreen

Tribal politics and the deathly hallows

There were a few key moments earlier this evening when I definitely felt like a guest in the ‘real’ fans front room. And that’s not a bad thing, either. 

For me, I was never a huge fan and it was only recently with the hype for the last movie coming up that I decided to give it one final last try to make something of the whole series or just give up on it. You see, there had always been things that I liked buried underneath the weight of Rowlings somewhat 1950’s Enid Blytonesque twee naming conventions that were just so cutesy cute that I wanted to vomit. ‘Muggles’, ’ Quidditch’, ‘Hogswart’ - it was all just godawful to me. 

 But some of the darker tone I had detected in one of the movies I had seen impressed me and so finally I sat down and watched all the movies up until the last one over a space of a few weeks. And suddenly it all made sense over my compressed time. The first few movies were ones to get out of the way, albeit pleasant enough diversions with excellent actors like Richard Harris and Alan Rickman to pass the time with, but nothing too gripping or fascinating. And then it all changed with the third movie and just kept getting darker and darker, more and more grim and ‘realistic’ in the sense of repercussions, responsibility for one’s own actions and the definite power of the evil side. Characters were no longer as black and white and lots of thematic struggles, tragic mistakes and dilemmas reflected fan favourites such as ‘Star Wars’ (obi-wan training the gifted child= dumbledore taking Tom Riddle into the school) and the X-men dark phoenix saga ( also ripped off a lot more closely in Buffy: TVS’s excellent sixth season). 

 So it was that I came to finally see the last movie, excited and actually caring what happened to the characters and how Voldemort was defeated finally. It was a few weeks into the movie being out so we expected an empty theater, especially in this historic summer of movies, with every week bringing another Superhero movie, or so it seemed. But no, people just kept pouring in until we were jammed full. And this is where the key moments came into play.  

 The die-hard Potter-o-philes or whatever their preferred sobriquet is were having a great time, laughing at the right parts, gasping similarly and clapping at certain scenes, such as Neville with the Sword of Griffendorf. And the round of applause they gave the end credits. This was really the end of a rite of passage for many of them- they will always have Harry Potter but now as a complete thing, a finished thing and not something one is living through and growing with. And their obvious love of the series and joy and satisfaction they felt in watching the last of the movies (books already finished) made me smile. And made me feel like a welcome guest as they finished off their series and I not only enjoyed the last movie but also felt the specialness of such an occasion through all of the fans and for their graciousness and good-natured enjoyment of it I have to thank them all. 

 ’Muggles’ is still a crap name for humans though. Ahem.