For the past eight years, I’ve read the books in the Harry Potter series. It started with my mom reading the first book to me and my sisters when I was 11. We read through the books mere weeks after they came out and anxiously awaited the next in the series. But now it’s over. I’ve read the seventh, and presumably the last, book. Now, I won’t spoil anything for those of you who haven’t read it yet. I will say, though, that it’s definitely the best in the series. J. K. Rowling did a damn fine job with this book in particular, especially considering she had the last chapter in mind before she even began writing the first book.
Anyways, now that I’ve read through the entire series, I’m at a bit of a loss. It’s all over. No more new Harry Potter books to look forward to. Sure, there are always the movies (still got two of those coming), but let’s face it, the movies just don’t do credit to the books. Indeed, it would be preferable to keep the movies shorter than LotR lengths (<4 hours), but a lot is left out when you need to fit a 800-page book into a movie. The latest movie (the fifth) is a good example of that. Where did Ron’s Quidditch successes go? What about Ron and Hermione as prefects? Why is Percy and his split from the rest of the Weasleys never mentioned or even seen (unless that’s him in Dumbledore’s office, sans horn-rimmed glasses)?
Now, I don’t mean to portray the fifth movie as an absolute failure, but it does not even come close to the book. I doubt future movies will improve on this, which makes it hard to anticipate them as much a I did the books. It’s a bit of a bummer, really, but at least I got good closure out of the last book. I’d hate it if Rowling had left off on a cliff-hanger. I get enough of that from Lost.
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For once, I couldn’t think of a clever title. Oh well. This one’s straight and to the point. Anyways, as any long-time fan of Harry Potter knows, the boy is pure evil. You heard me right. He’s a wizard and he goes to a school devoted to teaching witchcraft and wizardry. That makes him evil. Why? Well, somewhere in the Bible (I have yet to find where), there’s a passage saying that practicing magic in any form is a big no-no. Why? Well…er, I don’t know. Having not read the passage, I can’t really say why, but I bet it has something to do with not invoking power through God. Come to think of it, that really may be the reason. I once wrote to some lady who was on a vendetta against Harry Potter and her email back said something to that effect. But with more “Repent lest ye be damned!” and such. Apparently, daring to question someone who has (or thinks they have) God and the Bible on their side is even worse than reading about Harry Potter.
While I can kind of understand how some religious people can see magic as being “bad” (if only because their religion says so), I don’t think they quite get the big picture regarding Harry Potter. Heck, I highly doubt most of the hardcore anti-Harry folks have even read the books. See, Harry Potter is all about the dichotomy of good vs. evil. Sound familiar? Yeah, it’s in the Bible, too. Good wins, evil doesn’t. Old hat. So why does magic throw a wrench into the whole deal? Yes, Harry Potter practices magic. But do you see him using for anything other than good? Okay, he’s lost his temper a few times and performed a forbidden curse at least once, but that’s nothing compared to guys like Voldemort and his crew of Death Eaters. Does Harry murder? Does he torture? Does he inflict unimaginable pain on wizards and Muggles alike for amusement? No, of course not. Because he’s good. Voldemort does do these things because he’s bad. See what I’m getting at here?
Continue reading ‘Harry Potter is not evil’
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I went and saw Harry Potter with Lindsay yesterday. Oh man, it was intense. Yeah, there were a lot of bits missing, but I can understand that when I remember how long the book is. Afterwards, we went over to her house for pizza and a(nother) movie. Actually, it was the last 15 minutes of Phenomenon, all of The Nutty Professor, and an episode of Seinfeld. There were cookies, too. Ah, good times. Now I can’t stop thinking about her…
Not much else going on recently, aside from massive amounts of AP homework, namely calculus, physics, and English, and other related crap. Calc isn’t really terribly hard (just kind of oddly-worded and overloading), and English is just mindless pointless drivel under the guise of literary analysis, but it’s physics that’s getting me. I stayed after school today to make up the test I missed on Friday (I had a good excuse!), and understood about half of it. Now we’re starting on a new chapter, kinetic energy and work and all that jazz. Well, it’s better than friction and uniform circular motion. Which is better than the applications of derivatives we’re learning in calc. Which is better than trying to figure out how to put a theme into a thesis about the exact moment of the climax of Hamlet. There’s no theme to be found for that particular thesis! Damn you Munro…why’d you have to let everyone choose their topic on the one day that I wasn’t there…at least we don’t have vocab. Thank the FSM for Thanksgiving!
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