Daily Iowan

July 12th, 2007

I’m just a muggle

I sat on the hot pavement, desperately devouring the words on the page. I needed to finish the nearly 200 pages left in the two hours before midnight. In a circle next to me, five men shouted, “Zip! Zap! Zop!” and pointed fingers at each other. Girls wearing green and gold scarves milled about, and at the front of the line stood someone wearing a pointed black hat.

This was me two nights ago when I joined a group of office die-hard Potter buffs, including my roommate, Tara, to go to the midnight showing of the fifth installment of J.K. Rowling’s series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I finished the book version a mere five minutes before the movie started, all to the tune of dueling wizards and witches pretending to hurl spells at one another with wands in the theater aisles.

And not only did we stay up until ridiculous hours Tuesday night, but we also held a pre-new movie marathon. We watched the first two Harry Potter movies Sunday, the third on Monday, and the forth Tuesday before getting in line for the fifth around 10 p.m. (James had been holding our places in line since 6 to secure good seats). Oh, and I also decided I needed to re-read all the books beforehand — and in the process I discovered that though I thought I’d read all the books and seen all the movies, I had actually only read the first two books and seen the first movie. I’m not sure what that kind of self-deception says about me, but either way, my last few days have been nearly wholly devoted to that tousle-haired pre-teen and his magical friends.

Seriously, what was I thinking? I don’t even like these movies that much!

And here’s the thing about being just a fan of Harry Potter among a group of Hogwarts die-hards: Every time you make a comment that might be construed as negative, you feel like you’re going to get your head bit off.

For example, while watching the fourth movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I ventured to say that I didn’t find Dumbledore’s character quite convincing. Tara shot me daggers. And she threatened to make me sit alone in the back of the theater during Phoenix unless I promised I wouldn’t say a word during the movie. This happened after I laughed uproariously at the magical heavy metal at the Triwizard Ball in the fourth movie.

And while the whole experience was largely enjoyable (though I found myself dreaming about holding a wand a bit too often for comfort), I remain confused about the adult obsession with these books and films. Admittedly, The Order of the Phoenix was not a bad movie, though I did find myself looking longingly at the on-screen pillows, wishing I was in bed rather than in the theater. The acting is incredible, in particular Alan Rickman as the insufferable yet sympathy-invoking Severus Snape and the prickly new defense against the dark arts professor Delores Umbridge, played by Imelda Staunton.

But overall, the movie was disappointing after just reading the book. While the last 200 or so pages of the book kept me entranced and gasping over shocking imagery and plot revelations enough that I really was desperate to finish before the flick started, the movie merely kept me interested. When reading the first quarter of the Potter book, I was uncomfortable — nearly all the characters were rendered as speaking in all caps all the time. Everyone was angry, tense, and scared. In the movie, this sense of terror comes across only marginally — instead of Umbridge’s reign at the school feeling repressive, it feels funny. And the end fight scene in the book is terrifying, but on screen it seems predictable. In general, compared to the book, the movie feels skimpy. In their attempt to condense the thickest and darkest Potter book into a movie, screenwriter Michael Goldenberg and director David Yates have left it rather diluted-feeling.

Still, people do love it. Tara is desperately trying to switch with someone so she doesn’t have to work the day the last book comes out. And I imagine I’ll still read the last two books — but I mostly just want to find out if Ron and Hermione ever get together.

Bye for now,
Maggie

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 12th, 2007 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Arts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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