Jul

20

Wild About Harry.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

July 20, 2007 |

It’s almost impossible to believe that a series of seven books and, so far, five films, is close to its end. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows will be released shortly and fans all over the world will have all or at least most of their questions finally answered. It’s more than a little sad that the saga is at its end. Harry’s been with us a very long time, and many have been lucky enough to grow up with him. A child who was eight when the first book was released would be eighteen now.

Harry Potter and his adventures have unquestionably had a major cultural impact, spawning all kinds of products from Bertie Botts’ Every Flavor Beans to bumper stickers that range from the obscure Free Stan Shunpike to the bluntly hilarious Republicans For Voldemort. The books have also spawned bizarre rumors and criticism, such as the claim (helped by a satirical story in The Onion) that the books were sparking a rise in Satanism among children. There’s been serious criticism as well. The author, critic, and translator Jack Zipes has criticized the Harry Potter books for being a “hodgepodge” and for being formulaic in the last essay of his book Sticks And Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children’s Literature. Zipes should know as well as anyone that repetition of certain elements is an essential part of epics and fairy tales. Heroes often have to face similar dangers over and over, since practice makes perfect, before they’re ready for the final battle. Besides, criticizing a book children love is like telling them to eat their vegetables. No amount of big words will make criticism taste good. In fact, read closely, the books are surprisingly unformulaic. The menacing Lord Voldemort exists only in elusive, spectral form before finally revealing himself in Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone, originally released as Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone in Britain, is almost entirely absent (and even better disguised) in Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, is missing from Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, finally returns to corporeal form only at the end of Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, and exerts a distant and, at times, unnoticeable pull in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix. The sixth book, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, slips even further away from formula as we learn about Voldemort’s origins. His background–an orphan with magical abilities raised among non-magic people–isn’t that different from Harry’s.

The marketing of Harry Potter has also troubled some, but let’s consider the possibility that children aren’t stupid. The success of the marketing would be short-lived if the books didn’t deliver, and the bookstore parties that accompanied the release of many books are a chance for readers to come together, or at least were. For the release of the final book Warner Brothers, which owns the rights and is obviously in league with Lord Voldemort, is clamping down on parties, dictating strict rules and objecting to some parties being too large and too commercial. Much, much worse, of course, are the reports of the ending being leaked. What’s wrong with these people?

Most of us who were adults when the first book appeared (in the distant days of 1997) probably feel jealous of the children who grew up reading Harry Potter, who have, in a sense, become the first Hogwarts generation. The children have been lucky enough to grow up with the films as well, which, like the books, have become progressively darker as Harry grows older and his world more perilous. The first film, released under both titles, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone (I can only imagine the headaches for the sound editors redubbing for either release) was directed by Chris Columbus, best known for light fare such as Mrs. Doubtfire, as was the sequel, Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets. Both were surprisingly light, but even more surprising was the sudden dark turn of Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, directed by Mike Newell. The bright colors of the first two films were replaced by sepia and gray and the playful humor was gone. The architecture of Hogwarts changed, becoming slightly more decrepit and eerie, and it’s hard to imagine the Dementors, with circular mouths of rotting flesh, having any place in the earlier films. The same darkness prevailed in Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire, again with Newell in the director’s seat. The films have been not only entertaining but, as much as possible within a two hour or so limit, true to the books. They’ve also been blessed with brilliant casting. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson were, of course, newcomers, but I didn’t need to be told what roles they were playing when I heard the names Robbie Coltrane, Alan Rickman, and Maggie Smith. Kenneth Branagh, David Thewlis, and Brendan Gleeson also seem to have been born for their particular roles. For the third film Michael Gambon replaced the late Richard Harris, giving the character of Dumbledore a less grandfatherly and slightly more mischievous air.

Near the end of the fourth film Hermione says, “Everything is going to change.” The same could be said of the publication of the seventh and final book. The world where the mystery and magic of Harry’s future is still unknown will be behind us. There will never again be a time when someone won’t be able to accidentally let slip a secret or two about Harry’s future when a child picks up his or her first Harry Potter book. In a way it’s like another sequel, Through The Looking Glass, in which Lewis Carrol appears disguised as the White Knight to see Alice off on her way to becoming Queen, a final step on her way to adulthood. Will J.K. Rowling make a cameo appearance in the final book? I don’t know, but I look forward to finding out.


Comments

1 Comment so far

  1. John on August 3, 2007 11:07 am

    Perhaps Harry Potter dies on the last page of this book from a peanut allergy……

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