Wednesday 13 July 2011

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

At 11.30 yesterday I walked down to the cinema to watch the midnight screening of the eighth and final Harry Potter film. I was excited and terrified at the same time. This was the closure of my childhood. Harry Potter has meant so much to me and millions of others and now it's over.

10 seconds into the film they showed Dobby's headstone and that's when I started crying. But before the seriousness began at the Battle of Hogwarts there were a lot of laughable moments, one of my film original favourites being McGonagall saying: "I've always wanted to use that spell" looking like an excited little school girl. And they didn't destroy the most awesome lines from the book. 1) Bellatrix Lestrange attacking Ginny and Molly Weasley coming at her (Bellatrix) saying "Not my daughter, you bitch". 2) After Harry has had his talk with Dumbledore and Dumbledore says: "Of course this is all happening in your head. Why would that make it not real?"

I did love the film (that's a first!) but that's probably cause I've only read the book twice and last time was two years ago. I'm gonna put Joe Abercrombie's "The Blade Itself" on hold for a while to re-read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" before I'll probably go see it at the cinema again. I love how Snape's tale turned out, although I hate how they did Petunia there. Not the casting, but her reaction. She actually didn't think Lily a freak until after she (Petunia) had asked Dumbledore to take her as well and Dumbledore had turned her down. Petunia's hatred for her sister roots purely in jealousy.

When I got home from the cinema I felt empty but exalted at the same time. Now it was truly over. I felt that already when I got into the salon at the cinema and saw that on the screen they showed behind-the-scenes after the last filming. How Dan Radcliffe thanks everyone and saying that it's been a privilege to work with all of them and hoping to see them again sometime. And Emma, Dan and Rupert hugging... This was the end of a worldwide phenomenon.


I met Harry Potter in 1999 when I, on my 9th birthday, was given Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (I refuse to accept the American name) in Swedish. For 12 years I've always had something Harry Potter-ish to look forward to, but no more. The gap between the fourth and fifth book felt ridiculously long and the wait was the hardest. In eighth grade I and a friend sat in the back of the classroom whispering rumours of what was going to be in the fifth book to eachother. When I finally got my hands on the fifth book I finished the 1000-pages novel in two days. The sixth book became the first one I read in English. I bought it in 2005 when I was in England on a language course. I sat late into the night reading. I couldn't believe the end, I had to read it twice to actually understand that it wasn't a joke. He actually died. My hero died. The next day I felt like exploding cause I had no one to talk to about it. I stood in line at midnight on the release of the seventh book and the next day I had finished reading it. Even after finishing the seventh book I felt empty, but back then I comforted myself with the knowledge that the films were still there. Now there are no more films. What can I think of now? What can comfort me now? My childhood is now truly over.

The most fitting to add here now I feel is this poem, written by the winner of Beedle the Bard writing contest:
When I was six, he was eleven
I learnt how to be brave

When I was seven, he was twelve
I learnt to misbehave

When I was eight, he was thirteen
He taught me how to cry

When I was nine, he was fourteen
He showed me how to try

When I was twelve, and he fifteen
He taught me to forgive

When we were fourteen and sixteen
I learnt what it was to live

When we were fifteen and seventeen
He showed me he could bleed

But growing up with Harry taught me, mostly, how to read.

When we exited the cinema Love said that now I have to find a new obsession. I told him that it was impossible. I switched Heroes for Game of Thrones, but to switch Harry Potter for something I will have to find a new series that spellbinds an entire generation, a series that is published in 200 countries and translated into 70 languages. I'll have a hard time finding something like that...


2 comments:

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