Harry Potter

[Orionsbelt]

For those of you who are into childish escapism, mind play, and just plain fun. I saw the movie version for "Order of the Phoenix" last night. Great stuff from my point of view. Loved the way they expressed some of those ongoing themes that never seem to make it out of the book. Great prelude to the upcoming book release.

[Stieg]

One other point I failed to mention, adults love to read a story with a child's or young adult's perspective or POV.

[bigape2992]

This question is beyond ignorance. Child escapism? It is imbeciles like you who make me lose faith in humanity. Have you ever even read the books, or have you just seen the movies? Read the books, and try to see the deep meanings behind them instead of the things that appeal to small children. Try going to www.mugglenet.com, and go to the editorial section. There you will learn to broaden your pathetic mind and learn about the immense literary value of the Harry Potter saga. True, the books are favorites amongst children, but there are thousands of serious fans of the books as well. We serious fans analyze the series to no end, noting all the symbolism, allusions, masterful character development, and God knows how much more.

Did you know that many of the people who have contributed most to the fandom are not children? In fact, the most respected include those that do MuggleCast (a small group of college students that do a podcast on literary Harry Potter analysis) and write editorials (many are intelligent high school students, literature majors in college, and occasionally even those worthy of PhD candidacy).

Just go to www.mugglenet.com. I promise that the discussion pages and editorials will help you not only reach a real understanding of Harry Potter but also help you appreciate literature, mythology, history, even more.

Edit: I would like to apologize for the insults. It angers me when people treat Harry Potter as children's books. The truth is that if you actually analyze and understand the series, you would see the true literary value behind them.

[Video Drone]

We shall see what will become of Harry Potter in 10 years. While it is running, we can't judge it.

[bigape2992]

Of course we can judge the books! There are entire websites and books devoted to it, and people spend countless hours analyzing and judging every aspect of the the series! Please support your claim that we can't judge it "while it is running," because there are massive amounts of evidence to the contrary.

[Video Drone]

Well, I can spend hours analyzing and judging every aspect of my favorite movie... in fact, that have gotten quite out of hand... you see, the problem is, just because we like something, or just because we see something in a book or any other work of art does not mean that it is actually there. I have thoughts that many of the Harry Potter fans who are analyzing the book simply love it so much that they see beyond the book itself. The situation, in fact, is very common in fandoms.

Majority opinion does not make anything good or bad. But time often defines whether or not a work had fans loyal enough to remember it for 10, 20, 30 years. If a work was not of great value, it is probably going to be forgotten because those who were its fans were only loyal to it while it was running, while it was popular. If a work has greater value, it may develop a cult following. A work of greatest value will be remembered by a greater amount of people and even remembered in schools and such. Of course, it is all not so certain and straightforward, but it works.

The amount of "follower" a work has does not matter because there are followers who are true (devoted to the work, will remember it after it is no longer running), and not-so-true (those who proud themselves on being the fans of the work, who get angry when the work is bashed and cannot defend it, those who hardly understand the work themselves, just pretend to do it). I did not study the HP fandom, I could as well join it on the side because HP is still one of my favorite books, but I had experience with a fandom before, a fandom of a retired show, and it is miserable indeed. HP fans will be quite happy at the time since everybody loves Harry Potter, but the majority will read it and forget it, as it always happens.

Even if I will agree with what the people on muggle.net have found of HP, it does not mean that me and you and those people are "right". Rightness is a very stretchable concept. It will be well if Harry Potter fans would not become discouraged after Harry Potter is finished. The discouragement of fans after a TV show stops running is huge.

I simply believe that a work of art can only be tested by time.

Of course, this is just my opinion. I'm in the position where my favorite books and movies are not remembered by anyone and are quite negatively reviewed. I've been used to the concept that liking these works of art and studying them too deeply is just my own problem.

[Hyacinth42]

I just finished it... And, there were things I had been hoping for, predicted would happen, extreme suprizes, and a few let downs... And now I want to discuss/gripe about it.... I don't want to spoil it though, and so will wait (although impatiently) for other people who have finished before "discussing" what happened.

[Logos]

Ugh could you fix your signature line? break it up into separate lines, remove some of the hyphens, so that it doesn't force the right margin.

[Bakiryu]

I just finished it... And, there were things I had been hoping for, predicted would happen, extreme suprizes, and a few let downs... And now I want to discuss/gripe about it.... I don't want to spoil it though, and so will wait (although impatiently) for other people who have finished before "discussing" what happened.

Please I need to know!!! i can't get the book until my da answers his phone! tell me: Does harry die?

[Hyacinth42]

I am torn between being mean because you asked and being nice because being mean is... mean. *sigh* While it would be funny to tell you yes (with total honesty), and then leave you hanging, I will opt to be nice... Yes he dies, but he comes back... It was rather lame, and annoying (a whole bunch of things I had thought would happen happened... and then she ruined it by bringing him back) but, it was still a good book...

[Bakiryu]

Yes! Thank you

I'll have to wake up at 4 am and travel 300 miles to get my copy on Monday but I'd be SO worth it.

[Lily Adams]

I was at my friend's house earlier today, and she got her copy in the mail by the time I got there. Her little sister was curious and looked through the last few pages of the book, and her sister got confused and wanted to ask me a question since

1. I'm not a fan, but I used to be, so I could at least help with the plot a little. Even though I don't remember much because I don't care.
2. My friend didn't want ANY spoilers.
3. Spoilers obviously don't matter with me anymore.

so she dragged me into her room and showed me the end. This is my opinion:

I think the epilogue is...really bad. It reminds me of fanfiction. Bad fanfiction that makes baby Jesus emo. And me emo. Anyone else agree?

[dramasnot6]

Same here Lily! I hate how cliche the whole thing is (especially Harry and Ginny AND Hermione and Ron getting together, how predictable! ) . I was also a bit dissapointed at so few people dying in the novel, all the reviews made it sound like 10+.

[Bii]

Yes, there were elements that were predictable but perhaps you were all expecting too much - it is, after all, a children's book. I thought the ending was nice, and necessary. In the absence of closure in Bloomsbury's desperation to keep their heads above water I wouldn't be surprised if they'd have commissioned someone to write more books which would be damaging to the series. Imagine if more Narnia books were written without C.S Lewis being at the helm?

In terms of the numbers that die, I get it to at least 10, being a combination of major and minor characters. I'd list them, but I don't want to spoil for anyone that's still reading. I was getting close to the end of the book wondering if there would be anyone left.

[applepie]

I actually liked it a lot even with the predictability. It was your basic good vs evil, and I may have been much more sad if the good guys didn't live happily ever after, well at least for the most part. There were losses and gains, but as Bii pointed out, it is a children's series. What did you really expect to happen at the end?? It is a happy end and one that isn't likely to be written around by people wanting to extend the franchise and increase profits.