Ten years of Harry

Ten years later and still watching the mail slot (Growing up with Harry)

It’s that time of year again, time for another Harry Potter film. I’ve been thinking about the series and it's impact  this week, mostly because I wound up having a Rifftrax weekend, heavily featuring the boy wizard.  I realized that over time my affection hasn’t seemed to wane. Now, I’m not the only one writing this kind of Harry Potter recap this week, but I’m using this article… thing… to try and see the influence it has had, where and why I remember it being important, just because.  Rifftrax leading to self-reflection, who knew?

The amount of time in and of itself is a bit weird to me, because, as cliché as it is, I was a different person. High School, College and entering the ‘real world’ all happened in that time. I was so resistant at first, the hype was just starting and there was dumb merchandise everywhere. It was about two months until Goblet of Fire hit the shelves. I wasn’t going to read them, no way no how. They seemed dumb, as I was busy reading far more adult things, like mythology texts, Dune, and Sailor Moon comics.

Many of my friends had already read them, and were ‘encouraging’ me to do the same. Tina and Corey in particular spent a lot of time in Latin class telling me I must love You-Know-Who, and making all sorts of taunting references and jokes I just didn’t get. After weeks, terrible, annoying weeks I said fine, and borrowed the stupid thing from Corey just to know what they were on about. Two days later I traded in for the second, and a week after that (because homework is lame) I was out of content! A few weeks of finals and it was summer; Goblet was released to much to-do.
Of course I didn’t admit I liked them, not enough to buy them at least. Which is why during a family function I read the first two chapters out of my cousin’s book. Everyone else was playing video games, but I saw the chance and took it. Eventually I was able to properly borrow a copy and flew through it, leaving me with the longest wait ever until Order came out. My big gift that year was a box set of books 1-4, which I have read half a dozen times since. It was also the first thing a member of my family bought off the internet, so, landmark event.
Every book release afterward was met with a re-read and a pre-order. The last summer vacation I’ll likely ever have was spent reading in preparation for Deathly Hallows. I spent over a week hiding up in my bedroom, because distraction was intolerable. I finished stupid early, and had time to kill. In that extra time discovered what would turn out to be the greatest of my nerd loves, Doctor Who. I will forever be grateful for that, as I never would have hit play if I weren’t trying to bide my time.

I’ve realized though, it isn’t the stories themselves that make the series as endearing and enduring as it is; let’s be honest, the actual writing is only so-so and the Trio has long periods of annoying bickering and self pity in every single book. Harry himself is the weakest character in the whole series. The pacing is terrible, the dialogue is at times suspect, and there are plot holes waiting to be tripped in. So knowing all of this, why the love?
The thing about Harry Potter is that it just makes me smile, no matter what happened over the course of a day. What makes it so great is a sense of the world, of the community and it’s interactions. I can close my eyes and imagine walking through the halls of Hogwarts, or passing by less than friendly faces on my way into the Hog’s Head. I feel for Neville Longbottom and cheer for Oliver Wood.
I guess my issue with the films (which are neither really all that good or bad) is that there is little or no time to dwell, which emphasizes the flaws in the stories and their protagonists. The world they live in is filled with these fantastic bit players, some of whom get little exposure, but who leave lasting impressions.

This, of course is the information that becomes fandom fodder. A single sentence may be the basis for a 500 page story about the life and times of Susan Bones. I eat that kind of thing up. I haven’t penned any fan-fiction, but obviously I’m a big fanart person, and have taken place in several fanart trades and communities (some of which might make you blush). The amazing thing is that some of these fan works are almost as prolific as the source material within the community, generating fans of their own.
These things helped change how I viewed the source material, giving it new context and develop new views on the characters. Suddenly I could rant for hours on why Barty Junior is the most interesting villain (I got a special bonus when I realized it was indeed David Tennant playing him in the film, oh Doctor…) or why everyone should understand that there is no character better than Percy Weasley.

I interacted this way, but really, what makes the series as important to me as it is all comes back to its presence in my daily life. It became just a part of High School, something to joke about in the halls between classes. It helped me make some of my first, and strongest friendships in College.   First day of orientation I met a girl named Kara, and I believe our first conversation went a little like this: “Comics? Comics. Drawing? Drawing……. Slash? …Slash. Harry Potter?” By the next semester we were room mates.
From Comparing fanart with Kara or cringing after Becka found Fenrir/Draco fiction, it was just another evening in the campus apartments. The three of us chatting in front of Watson and Ryder, them looking at us like we were crazy, then joining in. There was at one point even a fan meetup, and a Wizard Rock concert in the student center. These are some of the memories from college living that lasted, the ones that were beautiful because they were simple, like waiting by the phone for someone to finish a chapter, so you could talk, spoiler free.

So really, as a whole the Harry Potter series gets far more credit than it deserves as a piece of literature. What it deserves credit for is managing to create a world that anyone can relate to and interact with. It has become more of a cultural tool than a work of fiction, which, in my opinion, is endlessly better.

I couldn’t end the night off without a little Percy love, especially when doubled up with Oliver Wood. I still say that Puddlemere United sock stuck in the stairs in book 7 makes this totally canon.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

While I’m thinking on it,
Jesse Cooper Levy’s amazing Wizard Rock.  It is really sweet and catchy, still finds it's way into the morning commute mix.  I miss seeing this guy around campus more than I can say.
http://www.myspace.com/thestruggleofamuggle


And of course, for people who both love and hate Harry, Rifftrax makes everything better. Watch everything they do always.
http://www.rifftrax.com