I went to the latest Harry Potter film with family on Saturday before flying out to South Africa. The resultant pressure on time and a motorway accident ahead of me meant that the hire car was left in the short term car park, I had to beg BA to re-open the flight half an hour before departure time, and my luggage is in London, while I am in Pretoria. However it was worth it. Book five of the series was always a transitionary book, the least like a complete story in itself of the series so far. Potter fans read on, others move on!
The lapse in time since the last film has resulted in a new level of maturity in the actors. Imagine spending seven years from the age of eleven in the company of people like Dame Maggie Smith! The new Director (David Yates took over from Mike Newell ) has produced the most stunning in terms of cinematography. The final fight scene between Dumbledoor and Voldemort is excellent, not over stated but with raw emotion, and the symbiosis between Harry and Voldemort magnificently portrayed. The critics overall have given it a mixed reception but overall its positive and should be more so.
Now of course we have a week to go to book seven and the big question, how will it end? Three copies have been ordered from Amazon (for children and spouse) and I will get mine in Sydney airport on arrival from Johannesburg. Now I did well with book six, predicting that Dumbledoor would die or disappear. That was easy, we are after all living the hero's journey and the mentor has to depart to allow the hero to grow. The final book is more difficult though. We know that one of the main characters will die. Given that Voldemort has got to go, that means that according to the prophecy (if you don't get this you are not into the book) Harry will live.
Now I think its an outside bet that Ron and family are for the high jump in whole or in part, Jenny going would leave Harry free to Hermione who is after all the representation of the author and Harry is her hero figure. Snape is the other candidate, sacrificing himself to save Harry after Harry finally realises that his father's boorish tactics were responsible for Snape's character defects in the first place. My son suggests Hagred but I don't agree. Probably we all wrong, but the suspense is killing me.
Comments (4)
Voldemort dies. Harry lives on but in his fight w/Voldemort looses his magical powers. At least that's how I see it here in San Diego California!
Posted by Cordier | July 15, 2007 8:17 PM
Posted on July 15, 2007 20:17
So, what are the options? The prophecy says one of them has to die. It is virtually inconceivable that Rowling would let Harry die and Voldemort live (although, if she did go this way, by the time the readers get to the last page she has made all her money anyway and has nothing to lose). It is likely that Harry will live and Voldemot will die - but I'm too cynical to believe that it will be that easy. The prophecy makes no mention of the possibility that both could die. My money is both of them dying.
Posted by Aiden Choles | July 15, 2007 8:18 PM
Posted on July 15, 2007 20:18
Do you remember me? You took me to the football once and bought me an icecream (thanks again!)
I am an immense Harry Potter fan and enjoyed the Order of the Phoenix film. My favourite character is Luna and Evanna Lynch portrayed her beautifully (she is a lot like Luna in real life). I agree that the actors have improved over time but the film did still miss book plots that I enjoyed (Rita Skeeter and SPEW). I still believe that the fourth movie is better.
Now, as for your book seven predictions, it is true that two major characters will die and Voldemort will almost definately be one of them. JK Rowling has revealed many clues in interviews. A clue that I remember is that she stated she would like to have dinner with Harry, Ron and Hermione when the series is over (this says that they will all live to the end of the series). In the TLC/Mugglenet Interview, JK Rowling says that after book 6 it is clear that it is definately Ron and Hermione not Harry and Hermione. This is a link to a transcript of the interview.
http://www.mugglenet.com/jkrinterview2.shtml
Finally, two small errors that were made in the post. Firstly, the youngest Weasley child is called Ginny not Jenny. Secondly, Hagrid is spelt with an 'i' not an 'e.'
Posted by Alex Callahan | July 16, 2007 11:32 AM
Posted on July 16, 2007 11:32
Dave,
The number of directions you could go to from this post is quite large. But one of the things that interests me is how things such as Harry Potter happen and do they have any long term impact, other than simply entertainment? What are they indicative of, if anything? You mention the archetype Hero and Heroine themes, etc. But there are a few questions I always wonder about with this kind of phenomena.
As a first question, "20 years from now will anybody be reading Harry Potter?" "Is Harry Potter 'good reading' in some sense of the term?"
An example I always think of is Mark Twain and Artemus Ward. Like Twain, Ward wrote in vernacular, was a humorous writer and speaker, etc. and was a contemporary of Twain. He was at least as popular as Twain, and probably more so. Yet today he is unknown and his writings are of little value. Again, The Great American Novel, 'Huck Finn', was a bit of a disaster when it first came out and only well after Twain's death was it added to the cannon of great literary works.
Any thoughts on how all of this relates to Rowling / Harry??
Wayne
Posted by Wayne Zandbergen | July 16, 2007 5:56 PM
Posted on July 16, 2007 17:56