The Harry Potter movie franchise ended.
The first internet rumor I read about a possible movie was
the creation of “Hogwarts High” and how they were going to make it an American
teen cast. I think I ran to the bathroom
to throw up. Then slowly but surely more
professional announcements were made and we saw our very first picture of Dan,
Emma, and Rupert in early 2001.
Those three little kids are incredible actors now…
The movies took on their own cultural experience. When you buy your ticket, which theater you
go to, which time you went, what you were wearing at the event-all of those
things matter. This has to be the only
set of movies where fans seriously have melt downs if something isn’t exactly
the way they had the image in their head.
Serious Potter fans want Cornelius Fudge in a lime green bowler hat-not
the brown one his actor was always wearing.
No one wanted to hear Ron say “Why couldn’t we follow the butterflies?”
in Chamber of Secrets or Neville say, “Oh my God! I killed Harry Potter,” during the second
task in Goblet of Fire. The books began
to take from the movies too- Horace Slughorn called Ron “Rupert” when he
couldn’t remember his name.
I'll confess. While I went to ever
midnight book selling, I never once attended a midnight movie premiere when
they began. I apologize to all Potter
fans everywhere, but I could never get anyone else in my age bracket to go
along with it. Despite this shameful
confession, please keep reading this post.
Now, for my Potter movie timeline:
October 2001-first trailer on television, internet not quite
so out of control at this point-I asked my husband to “please be quiet because
I almost missed Mr. Ollivander telling Harry that the wand choses the wizard
and he must be destined for great things because his phoenix feather matches he
who must not be named.” My husband gave
me the longest stare ever that night.
November 16, 2001- I go opening night, husband goes with me,
see about eleven students there, all of them fairly intelligent kids. On the way out, one adult woman is crying
that everything is ruined now and how could they make a movie and how could she
have gone to see it. I felt her pain,
but in my head I still see what I want to see. It’s fun to live in La La land….
May 2002- The last time I ever bought a VHS tape before we
bought a DVD player. It had extras at the end of the tape and I fast forwarded
through the movie to watch the bonuses first.
I believe one month later I had the DVD.
November 14, 2002- Chamber of Secrets on opening night again
with husband and college Roommate Kim, who never reads fiction but read Harry Potter
for me. This was the last movie with
Richard Harris as Dumbledore. This was
also the last movie that was the book adaptation ver batim.
October 10, 2003- I packed my hospital suitcase and planned to watch the Harry Potter DVDs while I labored au naturel with little Miss Frances. Of course she was a breech scheduled c-section. But we watched the movies in recovery no problem.
June 4, 2004- First movie as a new mother. I went opening day to the
first showing with one of my best friend’s daughters. I had another student in line tell me she was
going to beat me to the theater. I told her she would not so I raced an eleven
year old into to the room. Alfonso Cuaron did a PHENOMENAL job with book three. Just phenomenal…. I went again on the 4th of July-this time an IMAX.
November 19, 2005-
Opening night at the IMAX theater.
I was nine months pregnant and my stomach hurt every twenty minutes-what
was up with that? My son let me watch the movie and was born the next morning….
Academic year 2006-2007-I taught high school in
Fuquay-Varina and every Friday they had to do a “cloze” activity with a movie
clip from Harry Potter. I think secretly
they began to like it….
July 17 2009- Now we are in Connecticut and it's the first time I don't go on opening night, but I did wear my Weasley sweater and hand knitted scarf.
November 19, 2010- Five Novembers after I went into labor with my son, I'm back at a Harry Potter movie on an opening night. This time I went with a British friend!!! Still in Connecticut.
Finally, on Sunday, July 17, 2011, I wore my special Gryffindor scarf
that my grandmother knitted for me and my sweater that Molly Weasley made me
and sent by owl Christmas morning to Fuquay Varina (don’t you dare tell me
otherwise) and I went to the last show. This was the first time I went to the 3D version. Here is the picture of me, so I will never forget:
I
still have all the stubs to all the movies.
My movie going spanned over ten years and three states,
students, friends, family, babies coming in to the world, popcorn, junior
mints, diet cokes, not bathroom trips- a big deal the year I was literally nine months pregnant. Emails to friends telling them if it was
good or not…blog posts, Facebook updates…midnight phone calls from old friends
across the country..
Now, those three eleven year old child actors are in their early twenties and moving on with their careers. It's very happy and very sad..but it is time.
Things end and you really should in no way make them last longer than they are intended to last.
You are supposed to live what you live and experience what you are going to experience. Soak it up. Remember it, embrace it. Learn from it and don't be ashamed of it. But when it's time for the next thing, move on. A novel series needs complete closure, as do their movie adaptations. Guess what? The world is still spinning. The economy still needs help. My children are still rocking my world. Game of Thrones is working its way into my fantasy loving heart.
And Harry is thirty one years old and head of the Aurors office at the ministry of magic in London.