Following the premiere, I felt, of course, excitement and adrenaline: after all, it was three o'clock in the morning, and I had to wake up in four hours' time for work, so that whole slightly-rebellious thing had me excited. Plus, all the excitement of being with my friends and with all of the other Harry Potter fans in the theatre just had me a little twitchy.
But, the next morning, as I was trudging my way through work, I began to experience something akin to what I imagine post-partem depression to be (without the birthing, maternal association, of course). As I thought about it, it really was like saying that final "adieu" to a very good friend. Harry and I first began our journey together when I was nine years old: a long eleven years ago. Since then, we've really grown up together like childhood friends. We went to school and struggled through classes together; we survived bullying together and learned to let it go together; we made friends and fell in love together; we discovered new worlds and - even more importantly - who we really were, together.
Hogwarts and all of its glory and fantastic stories were there for me whenever I was lonely or sad or anxious. Hermione emphasized to me that being a bookworm was, indeed, a good thing; Ron kept me laughing and fairly relaxed; Luna showed me that being an oddball was entirely desirable; Neville reminded me of the benefits of loyalty and persistence in the face of fear; and Harry, oh, Harry, he kept me inspired and in awe. And these are only a handful of the characters that have affected my life so much! Sirius, Lupin, Snape, Dumbledore, Hagrid, the Weasleys, and even Dobby have all taught me at least little something about my own world. These characters gave me love when I truly needed it; I mourned Sirius' death for weeks, and - tying for my favorite character from the books with Luna - I still sometimes reread over his better scenes in the books.
Granted, the books will always outshine the movies by about two thousand lightyears: quite honestly, there was almost no comparison. I love both movies and books, but they must be judged separately in order to really comprehend each's attributes. This is one of the most successfully adapted books I have ever seen (successfully as in true to the story and also pretty darn good movies). However, for the last ten years, there was always something new to look forward to: new books every few years, then new movies, too. Even when DH the book came out, I was saddened, but there were still three more movies to look forward to. Now that everything is complete, I feel its absence like a wound. Somehow, it never occurred to me, even as the date of the final movie drew nearer and nearer, that it would be absolutely finished. The sting of this finality still rocks me.
As I've said, the movies are, overall, hugely successful I think. However, there are a few things that I feel like they've just gotten wrong. To preface, I will say this: even as a fanatic, I do understand the concept that in the process of adapting a book for a movie, things must be deleted, condensed, changed, and yes, even added (though I have a friend who condemns the movie for this last editing magic). They are inherently different and therefore require different elements in order to make sense and be enjoyable. What I love about the Harry Potter movies is while things have been changed, added, and deleted, the heart of the story and the meat of the plot of each book survived and thrived, where so many other books were completely eclipsed and slaughtered in this editing process. So, without further ado, here are my top five issues I had with the series overall - these are things that I think detracted from the series itself in audience understanding or empathy.
1) Deleting Sirius' and Harry's relationship::Most of their father-son-like relationship is fleshed out in "HP-Goblet of Fire" (book) through letters and visits. I particularly love the scenes where Sirius supports Harry as he recounts his experience in the graveyard to Dumbledore and the scene following where he finally reveals himself to Snape and Mrs. Weasley. But it is really GoF that makes this relationship believable, makes us as readers understand what Harry feels for Sirius and how Sirius truly cares for Harry, and the turmoil that follows those feelings: how Sirius still yearns for James through Harry, and how Harry begins to think of Sirius as "combination of father and brother" (forgive me if the quote isn't quite right, but it's something like that). In the movies, he was mostly deleted from GoF except for about three minutes. Then in "Order of the Phoenix", it portrays them as semi-close, without any buildup. Sirius' death in OotP is a huge moment in the series, both books and movies. But without the buildup of their relationship beforehand, I feel like the final moment before he dies, despite how heart-wrenching Harry's reaction was, just did not ring nearly as true as it had in the book. Also, on a smaller note, it's frustrating to watchers-not-readers (such as my family) who are kind of like, "well, the last time these people all saw him, they thought he was a murderer...WTF?" Luckily, I'm there for the backstory, but that's not true of everyone.
2) Deleting Dumbledore's family history::On a similar note, in the movie "DH7.2", Aberforth calls Dumbledore's character into question, stating that he sacrificed people on his way to power. In the book, Dumbledore tells Harry his family's past and how terribly he feels about all of it and how he's kept himself in check ever since. In the movie, however, Dumbledore never gets to defend himself. We see in 7.1 the book "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore", and then Aberforth's accusation. Perhaps viewers would have forgotten about all of this by the end, what with all the excitement of the final battle and everything, but all in all, I feel like it sort of left a bad taste in my mouth as far as Dumbledore's final big-screen image goes.
3) Deleting the history of the Marauder's Map::In the movie "Prisoner of Azkaban", I'm sorry, but there really is not excuse for not explaining about the founders of the Marauder's Map and how they related to Harry. It would have taken an absolute maximum of about five minutes to go through the story, and I know it would have cleared many things up for viewers-non-readers. Just tonight, my family and I were rewatching GoF, and Peter is constantly referred to as "Wormtail" - my mom had to ask why. Only when I told the whole story and reminded her of the opening welcome of the Marauder's Map did she make the connection. This was a very big part of Sirius', Lupin's, and James' individual characters: how the friends found out about Lupin's predicament and went all-out to make sure they could make things better for him. It really shows the strength of their friendship. It also demonstrated the despicable betrayal by Wormtail: how he was so trusted among his friends and yet still fell in among evil doers. Also, a side note, it would have explained the significance of Harry's stag patronus, how his father's spirit seemed to emit from him.
4) Deleting the scene where Harry asks about his father's questionable youth::It's a short scene in OotP, after Harry sees his father's less than admirable behavior towards Snape while they were children. In the book, Harry risks detention and possibly more brutal punishment in order to ask Lupin and Sirius to explain the circumstances and make sure his father's image remained a source of inspiration to himself. In the movie, however, we just have this short clip of James and Sirius picking on Snape, seemingly without any sort of provocation. It does the same thing as Dumbledore's misfortune: it just sort of leaves a bad taste in my mouth as far as James goes. Harry, never having known his father, always thought of him in times of distress: he imagined his father dying while standing up to Voldemort, giving him the strength to face the Dark Lord in the graveyard in GoF, for example. Harry's newfound insecurity at his father's integrity - and James' friends' defense of him to Harry - just show a deeper level of consciousness on Harry's part: that he actually does recognized that maybe, just maybe, his father had moments of which he would not be proud. But the comfort he gets from his friends reminds him that everyone does, and that overall, James was a very good man with a few minor indiscretions. Without this in the film, James is easily forgotten, but he just does not get the justice he deserves.
5) And last, but not least, the Abridging of Dumbledore's explanation of the prophecy::In the book OotP, Dumbledore takes a great deal of time and effort to explain not only what the prophecy means for Harry and Voldemort, but also why he himself never told Harry about it before. The reason amounted to that Harry held a special place in Dumbledore's heart, which made it painful for Dumbledore to think of placing Harry in harm's way at so young an age, or any age for that matter. This effort he takes to explain everything to Harry and apologize for his mistakes shows exactly what McGonagall says in HBP the movie: "You meant a great deal to him". In the movies, however, Harry and Dumbledore come across more as cordial partners than two friends or an old man with a grandfatherly love for the younger.
So, that's my say on the bits of the movies that, I feel, were just flubbed up. There are more instances, I believe, that just were not done quite right, but these will suffice. The good of the movies so far outweighs the bad that I can overlook this and fill in all the gaps myself.
In closing, I just restate that I still feel pangs of a sort of emptiness when I remember that it has ended, mostly for good. I am comforted by the fact that there are still surprises to come, such as Pottermore.com in October, and the mysterious HP-related announcement on August 14. All in all, Harry Potter, through print and action, has given me so much to love and to learn. I know that the books still have many more lessons to teach me, and I can't wait to start learning as much as I can. I don't know if I could ever learn it all - just as no one really learned all of the secrets of Hogwarts - but I'll get as far as I can get.
Harry, thank you for all you have given me. Thank you for all the stories and memories.
~
"So, Ms. Rowling, here is a song I wrote for you, because I'm grateful for all that you've taught me and inspired me to do. You showed me good triumphs over evil, and you taught the whole world how to read. So thank you, Ms. J.K. Rowling - thank you so much for Harry." --RiddleTM, "For Jo"
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