Harry Potter and An Honest Analysis
So I think it's safe to say that the Harry Potter series is something incredible. The fact that it spread throughout a lot of our lives simply through friends and family's recommendations, and then managed to make such a serious impact on our culture and youth as a whole even beyond it's end is spectacular! I still remember when my friend first suggested the read to me; I binged the series as fast as possible. The books are certainly something I'll keep them close to my child's heart for the rest of my life, there's nothing quite like growing older with the magical trio and getting sucked into their truly fantastic world.
Beyond singing it general praises, the series as a whole was rich with fun characters and a lot of humor that I wished could have translated over better to the movies; Harry was so much more of a snarky kid, not to mention what we discussed about Hermione's treatment in the film regarding her activism.
I had a particular love for the Ginny we saw in the books, who was feisty and self-driven rather than the incredibly awkward depiction we saw in the movies, yeesh. It's not that her ending up with Harry was bad; I actually enjoyed it in the books! A lot of people I knew at that point in time when I was reading couldn't understand why he'd end up with her and not Hermione, but Ginny took charge and got her guy too, which I thought was way more fun than a stereotypical token trio female ending up with the hero of their squad. I'm way more for the bad-ass female Quidditch captain and member of the rebellion that ended up with Harry than the embarrassing back-stage Ginny from the films, it's sad she didn't shine like I remembered her.
But It's not all sugar and cookies with my experience with Harry Potter; well, most of my issues lie with J.K. herself, and her current internet presence.
She's so willing to assign characters in her book labels and titles after the fact, which can be disappointing; I'm sure a ton of people already know about how she's declared Dumbledore to be gay. Which is great-- BUT it would have been so much better if she could have wrote some semblance of that fact into the books; it seems super performative when an author uses the "They're [blank]! Just because I said so just now, and because anyone can be without you ever knowing it!" because people like the LGBT+ community come from so many specific backgrounds and experiences. Seeing the label tacked on like an afterthought (not to mention that his sexuality is not even going to be addressed in the new movie) really didn't sit well with my after growing into my own person later in life as part of the community.
Also just as a personal view on the newer works, I find she's just exhausting the works; I was happy to let Harry Potter sit perched upon a nostalgic shelf in my heart after it ended! The curtains closed on the final movie, and we're left as a community with a rich world to play in. I can understand continuing the series and the concept, but I just really didn't like the choices she's made with things like The Cursed Child. I didn't find myself caring nearly as much about the plot or the characters despite their clear connection to the series, plus that bonus little bit of possible queerbaiting thrown in there.
Again, nothing wrong with having a lovely written friendship between to guys, it's fine and I enjoy representations of boys begin able to interact with each-other in a way that's not horribly bungled by toxic masculinity! But when there's such a clear opportunity to have actual representation where people absolutely crave it, especially younger fans of a series, I think it's more important to have actual representation rather than what I've seen praised as a "stepping stone" to get there. I never really kept up on the series itself, it wasn't my jam at this point, but I knew plenty of underclassmen at our high-school who were crushed thinking they finally had a concrete representation of themselves in such a prolific series.
Despite my hangups with Rowling currently, I do love Harry Potter, and I'll be waxing poetic about the world's rich opportunities in different styles and schools of magic far into the future (I still have a lovely Slytherin scarf pinned above my headboard back at home that doesn't plan on coming down any time soon!) And at this point, I think the newer series like Fantastic Beasts and The Cursed Child, though not for me, are a sweet way for the younger generation who didn't read and watch it unfold in real time to connect to such an amazing phenomenon. I hope they continue to find the magic I found throughout my own dive into the wonderful world of Harry Potter.
Beyond singing it general praises, the series as a whole was rich with fun characters and a lot of humor that I wished could have translated over better to the movies; Harry was so much more of a snarky kid, not to mention what we discussed about Hermione's treatment in the film regarding her activism.
I had a particular love for the Ginny we saw in the books, who was feisty and self-driven rather than the incredibly awkward depiction we saw in the movies, yeesh. It's not that her ending up with Harry was bad; I actually enjoyed it in the books! A lot of people I knew at that point in time when I was reading couldn't understand why he'd end up with her and not Hermione, but Ginny took charge and got her guy too, which I thought was way more fun than a stereotypical token trio female ending up with the hero of their squad. I'm way more for the bad-ass female Quidditch captain and member of the rebellion that ended up with Harry than the embarrassing back-stage Ginny from the films, it's sad she didn't shine like I remembered her.
But It's not all sugar and cookies with my experience with Harry Potter; well, most of my issues lie with J.K. herself, and her current internet presence.
She's so willing to assign characters in her book labels and titles after the fact, which can be disappointing; I'm sure a ton of people already know about how she's declared Dumbledore to be gay. Which is great-- BUT it would have been so much better if she could have wrote some semblance of that fact into the books; it seems super performative when an author uses the "They're [blank]! Just because I said so just now, and because anyone can be without you ever knowing it!" because people like the LGBT+ community come from so many specific backgrounds and experiences. Seeing the label tacked on like an afterthought (not to mention that his sexuality is not even going to be addressed in the new movie) really didn't sit well with my after growing into my own person later in life as part of the community.
Also just as a personal view on the newer works, I find she's just exhausting the works; I was happy to let Harry Potter sit perched upon a nostalgic shelf in my heart after it ended! The curtains closed on the final movie, and we're left as a community with a rich world to play in. I can understand continuing the series and the concept, but I just really didn't like the choices she's made with things like The Cursed Child. I didn't find myself caring nearly as much about the plot or the characters despite their clear connection to the series, plus that bonus little bit of possible queerbaiting thrown in there.
Again, nothing wrong with having a lovely written friendship between to guys, it's fine and I enjoy representations of boys begin able to interact with each-other in a way that's not horribly bungled by toxic masculinity! But when there's such a clear opportunity to have actual representation where people absolutely crave it, especially younger fans of a series, I think it's more important to have actual representation rather than what I've seen praised as a "stepping stone" to get there. I never really kept up on the series itself, it wasn't my jam at this point, but I knew plenty of underclassmen at our high-school who were crushed thinking they finally had a concrete representation of themselves in such a prolific series.
Despite my hangups with Rowling currently, I do love Harry Potter, and I'll be waxing poetic about the world's rich opportunities in different styles and schools of magic far into the future (I still have a lovely Slytherin scarf pinned above my headboard back at home that doesn't plan on coming down any time soon!) And at this point, I think the newer series like Fantastic Beasts and The Cursed Child, though not for me, are a sweet way for the younger generation who didn't read and watch it unfold in real time to connect to such an amazing phenomenon. I hope they continue to find the magic I found throughout my own dive into the wonderful world of Harry Potter.
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