Warning spoilers ahead.
Since I am 95% percent sure I choose the theme this week I am going with the obvious. Harry Potter. I didn't get into Harry Potter until after it had been out for a while. I was a voracious reader and read above my grade level. I kind of dismissed Harry Potter as being "trendy" and for little kids. (wow reading that, little Allysa sure had a hipster attitude). Anyway I got the first one for my dad for Christmas a year or two after it had come out and of course I read it too. I like it, alot Harry Potter has a way of catching the imagination. I definitely played witch in the field behind my house. The first book of the series will always be my favorite and I think it is the strongest of the series and gets the most things right. So I'm not a Harry Potter hater, but, there are things I don't love about the series. I think because Harry Potter is such a phenomenon and so many people love it so much there is a reluctance to talk about the fact that some parts of it aren't great.
When I think about the sereis as a whole I divide it into three parts books 1-3 book 4 and books 5-7. Part One I see as being really good children's fantasy fiction, top of it's class (but not untouchable). In the same category as The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, Or the Book of Three By Lloyd Alexander. The third part I see as being ok but not great YA fantasy. Book Four goes back and forth between the two, with elements of each.
I have some very specific issues with the series as well. First of all and least seriously no one talks about or has sex in the books. Now I don't think that every seventeen year old is out there bed hopping but, they are sure as heck talking sex. Every romantic relationship in the book reads like they are all thirteen the entire time. I'm not saying there should have been a sex scene in any of the books but it felt like an issue that was very carefully stepped around.
Issue number two: determinism. So generally I don't enjoy fiction that involves time travel. I have to turn off my brain to watch Doctor Who. Mostly because in fiction the rules of time travel are rarely well explained and are full of logic holes. Harry Potter obviously skips past most of these problems with MAGIC which is good, it makes my brain not hurt to much, if I don't think about it to hard. However the rules of time travel are deterministic. In the third book when we go through the central sequence of events the first time certain events happen that can only happen if they travel through time. If they do not travel through time, those events do not happen. So they have no choice about what to do, or their choice has already made in the future. This is the first symptom of determinism in Harry Potter. The second symptom of determinism and my biggest pet peeve in all of literature prophecy.
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies
I strongly dislike fantasy novels that include prophecy. Very very rarely it can be done well and create a sense of mystery and excitement. I almost always get the sense that the author is being lazy, like they couldn't figure out a way to get from the beginning of their story to the end so PROPHECY bam right there forcing the characters. Maybe it's just me but I saw the ending coming from miles away and that was disappointing the suspense was gone. We don't get a startling twist where the prophecy turns out to be something no one expected or a tragic self-fulfilling prophecy in the traditional Greek style. No one ever questions whether they should be helping the prophecy come to fruition, everyone just does it. Not only do they apparently lack free will in the Harry Potter universe but they don't even question that they lack free will. Oh man I'm all riled up now. Really it's a pet peeve of mine and there is so much good about the books but when I think about it I first, get confused and then steamed up.
Well that was longer and more involved than I intended and it doesn't even scratch the surface of my thoughts on the Harry Potter Universe, something I probably think to much about. I am really excited about the movie coming out and will probably go see it on the weekend yay!
My question for you all this week is what house would you have been sorted in when you were eleven? How about now? When I was eleven I would have been a Ravenclaw hands down, now I'm more of a Hufflepuff.
Best Wishes,
Allysa
P.S. On a non Harry Potter but still nerdy note have you listened to Still Got Legs yet. If not go do it now. RIGHT HERE
As an 11-year-old I probably would have been a Hufflepuff.
ReplyDeleteToday, I think that as much as I'd like to think I'm a Ravenclaw, I'd likely end up in Gryffindoor. As a Ravenclaw I would be forever stuck behind that riddley door to the bedrooms...or I'm underestimating myself/overestimating the door.
I agree with the time travel thing. It always makes you think of how they got it all wrong XD
ReplyDeleteI read up on it just now and I think I'll be in Ravenclaw otherwise I'll be in Hufflepuff if not for my competitive nature
When I was eleven... definitely Ravenclaw. Today... probably still Ravenclaw, but much less clearly so. I think the descriptions of the houses vary quite a bit from sorting to sorting (and book to book), so it's difficult to say. Just definitely not Slytherin (neither when I was 11 nor now).
ReplyDeleteIt never really bothered me that Rowling didn't mention sex that much (I thought she did implicitly? But it's been ages since I've read the later books, so I might be wrong). Frankly I could've done with a lot less romance as well. I mean... she never says that they don't have sex, does she? So she just sets other priorities for her stories, which suits me just fine, especially considering how bloody long the later books are already xD
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ReplyDeleteLaws of attractions