This is going to be a difficult post. I am going to attempt to explain my love err…obsession with Harry Potter. A lot of times when I like things—films, music, books, etc., it is usually due to a combination of the kickassness of whatever I like and a large amount of sentimental value. The same can be said for the Harry Potter novels.
I don’t even remember how I got into Harry Potter. My mom purchased the books for my little brother who was probably around 10 at the time. Needless to say he didn’t have the patience/attention-span to dive into Harry’s world. I’d been hearing all this buzz about these Harry Potter books and even though they were kids books, I figured I’d read the first one to give me something to do…oh boy!
Harry Potter is so much more than a kids’ book. The wizarding world JK Rowling created in Harry Potter is beyond amazing. It stimulates the imagination and yet is entirely real. Rowling makes you believe that you, yourself could just be a clueless “muggle” [non-wizard for the HP illiterate] and that these people/experiences do exist. From the first book, the reader immediately cares about Harry—this kid has gotten a raw deal. He’s the most famous wizard in the world—famous for surviving a killing curse that murdered his very young parents. Parents he never met and parents he believed died in a car accident. Quite the thing to be famous for, huh? He lives with his shitty aunt and obese uncle who are horrible to him—and of course his shiteously obese and ignorant cousin, Dudley.
Discovering that he is a wizard and going to attend Hogwarts is a life changing experience for Harry. Discovering Harry was life changing for me as well. I’m not being melodramatic. The magic in the pages of a HP book is pretty incredible. You feel every emotion possible.
So my mom had bought books 1-4 for my little brother and I read those in the 6 months leading up to the release of the 5th book. I was a rising senior in high school and my folks had just moved to Wichita. While all my friends were back home in Alabama, I had to spend my last high school summer in Kansas. Such bullsh!t. Needless to say, I was in a depression. We lived in an apartment while construction was finished on my folks’ new house. I shared a room with my 10 year old brother. I was miserable and I made sure everyone knew it.
The night Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [book 5] came out, my father crept into my room at midnight and asked if I wanted to go for a ride. He took me to the local grocery store, Dillon’s [think Kroger or Harris Teeter] which apparently was staying open late JUST to sell the HP book. Unlike at a Barnes & Noble or Borders there was no line for the book. My dad picked up some milk for the family and HP 5. I sequestered myself in my bedroom, not even coming out for meals and read the entire book in about 28 hours. It was probably the best 28 hours of the summer.
JK Rowling is such an amazing and talented writer. How she created this complicated world filled with its own backstory/history, characters, culture, sports, etc., I’ll never understand. I admire her so much for that. She managed to make a “children’s story” universal to every and anyone. Themes like hope, love, faith, adventure, friendship, and courage are universal and that is what makes the books so fantastic.
The movies have always been so-so for me. Although I do have a major crush on Ron Weasley aka Rupert Grint [gotta love a ginger white boy]. The movies speak to the so-true saying—"the book is ALWAYS better than the movie". I see the movies just in support of the franchise. Reading the 7th book was bittersweet. There are no more.
I bring all of this up to say, Universal Studios in Orlando is opening a Harry Potter theme park, complete with Hogsmeade, an owlry, and of course Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Can we just note tonight I am one HAPPY NERD?!?!? The theme park opens in Spring 2010. I will definitely be making a trip to Florida within the next year!!! Eeeek! Below is a video with some deets about the new themepark. It looks AMAZING. **note: I feel a few non-HP lovers judging me...DON'T. It's that serious!**
