ceitfianna | Thoughts on Endings

I don't have a lot of words about Norway or Amy Winehouse as any death is a loss and so many deaths at once is hard to comprehend. The thing I find scariest is how quickly the world turns these deaths to their own use instead of mourning and allowing time between death and anger. That's one of the dangers of how fast our connected world moves, a version can be written that says one thing no matter if its true as long as it satisfies someone. I hope that some justice can be found and those who lost someone will find time to heal.

Today I finally saw Harry Potter and I enjoyed it. The theater was almost full, which was a really nice surprise though it was a quiet audience. I was one of maybe five or ten people who clapped at various points.

I got into Harry Potter rather late, it wasn't until my sophomore year of college that a friend who knows what I like to read recommend them. This was the same person who got me reading the Vorkosignan books and was the only one of my friends who was also in the Classics' department. She had the first four books with her and when she'd heard a lot of us hadn't read them, she lent them out. My roommate and I read them at about the same time and I was completely caught up. Then I think I went to talk to Danii who showed me how to find fanfic and I was amazed. Before this I'd been aware of fandom, I once very briefly played on the Star Trek online chat game and was quite involved in White Wolf and Larping but I hadn't known the world out there. In that first year I read some good fic, bad fic and strange fic but it provided another option of things to do when I needed a break from all my classes.

When the movies came out, I'm pretty sure I saw them with school friends. My mother was actually interviewed when she went to see the first one as she was one of the older people in the line, it came out on her birthday.

Fast forward to my last year in New Zealand, I'm studying in Wellington and the last book is coming out. Thanks to the weirdness of timezones, I actually get Deathly Hallows the day it comes out since midnight was equal to about 11 am in Wellington. Somewhere I still have the purple bag that I got with my book that says the date and everything on it. I went home and I read Deathly Hallows until I finished it and I remember how much it stuck with me, it was the end of a journey. When my parents came to visit that year, I lent them the book and they took turns reading it.

I wasn't able to see the first part of Deathly Hallows in the theater due to a schedule that was far too busy so I finally saw it Monday night on my little tv and was impressed. When it comes to books and movies that share a source, I try and keep them separate as the mediums are so different. I haven't liked all of the Harry Potter movies, but they've all had things that worked and transformed the books.

The final movie felt like the right coda. I appreciated how it was clearly a war and no one came out of it without scars. The whole pensieve thing with Snape was pretty but I still don't like him. Alan Rickman redeems Snape a lot but for me he's someone who never learned how to move on. In the memories we saw, Lily is rather passive which to me shows that he didn't understand her. He had his idea of Lily that he loved but he didn't know her, but his idea of love helped Harry.

I liked how the dueling magic was done and the battle of Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione made me happy with how they drew together and the sense of all the untold stories of those there and taking care of those they love. Neville and Luna were amazing. In terms of the final confrontation, I enjoyed that circle around Harry and having a moment with each of them. It might not have been the honor guard but it was beautiful. King's Cross was lovely, I really do love Gambon's Dumbledore. I could have done with less flailing about for the last fight, but that was a movie choice. I loved the epilogue, it was quiet and lovely and felt like the right end. I probably will watch this again when I'm not worrying as much about money, but it felt right for me.

After the movie, I walked into a drenching rain to get a not so great pizza at a restaurant called Carlyle's that was trying to be much snazzier than it is. It was all dressed up like a really nice steak house but the food I had was just okay.

Another ending I just realized I should mention is Borders, which I keep hearing more and more about since this is their home base. They were my first big bookstore that I could walk to and buy my own books. Its fascinating to get all these emails on my SI listserve of students and faculty talking about Borders and what it meant to them and what their closings means. At some point I will go shopping as I walk by them all the time, its going to be hard to see that big store empty.

Now I'm home, my stomach hurts and the heat has lifted slightly. Life is feeling quite full at the moment. In about two weeks, I have my last class at Michigan and then I dive fully into job searching. At the end of August, my brother gets married and hopefully in not too long, I will find a job and make my next step.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Made me smile to hear your kind words about Borders and the students talking about it. :)

Its hard to escape as I keep getting emails from Borders about the sale and then so many things on the SI listserve. I'll be sad to see it go.

We might be the only two people on the planet who aren't fans of Snape. I actually found that pensieve scene to be pretty overdone, like they had to repeat the point they were trying to make in case we didn't get it the first three times. I'm still a fan of Alan Rickman, though. I can't bring myself to see Snape as a romantic hero no matter how hard I try. He did some very bad things along the way, and I hated seeing that whitewashed.

That aside, I like your recap of the film. It's kind of nice to see a quiet tribute. In the meantime, if you haven't seen it yet, here's a video of Jason Isaacs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2EKGLBVQX8) making a surprise visit to the Harry Potter panel at SDCC and talking about playing Lucius a bit. He's pretty great.

Yes, there was too much of it. I actually liked how Dumbledore went, wait, you care about Harry and then its all about Lily. To me that showed how Snape works so well and the other parts could have been smaller. There was a bit too much of redeem Snape slightly at the expense of Dumbledore.

I mean Dumbledore did some rather messed up things too but he was fairly honest to Harry. Snape never took Harry on his own, all his interactions were colored by Lily and James, which I found rather sad and disturbing.

One thing I've always appreciated about the books is how there's a lot of grey area around everyone. The movies don't have quite as much of that which is a shame but I think something that wasn't a focus in how they made the movies.

...and that's why we have books, so all the nuances can be appreciated in their great glory. Of course moviemakers have to pick and choose and they can't possibly be as inclusive as the books. So we have to go into them realizing that our interpretations probably won't be matched, and that's cool. It's when we expect them too meet all our own standards that we get disappointed.

Also, I should credit my friend

pinkfinity with pointing out the Jason Isaacs video. She was actually one of the people running that panel.

Yes, between the books and the movies, there's a great world to poke at. Oh yes, I'm always pleasantly surprised when something in a movie fits with my ideas but don't go in expecting it.

Its a great video as you'll see since I've passed it on. I love when actors are clearly excited about being part of something.

Nice review of the film. And I don't like Snape either - as a person. As a character in a book he's brilliant but as a human being he was lacking and I don't think the fact that he loved someone who died is a good excuse for being a total failure as a teacher to a whole generation of little Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Also I've met the guy that Book!Snape was based on so Sex Symbol!Snape doesn't fly either, no matter who played him in the film.

Yes, he's a really interesting character but I wouldn't want anything to do with him.

Oh neat, how did you end up meeting the man he's based on?

I was 'being Roman' at Caerwent for a village fete and he was bouncing around dressed up as an ancient Briton. Some of his pupils at the school attended by JKR came over to chat to me and told me who he was and warned me that he was very proud of it. later he came to chat and told me himself. He has had a set of 'Snape' robes made and bought a wig and is licenced to do tours around the parts of Tewkesbury Cathedral that were used for HP films.

He's shorter than one would anticipate but other than being grey and short haired now he's a dead ringer for the description in the book.

That sounds rather bizarre and kind of interesting all at once. He was recently mentioned in a Cracked.com article about fictional characters based on real people.

I too started reading the HP books very late. I ended up tagging along with my cousin to see the first movie because I had nothing else to do and I ended up liking it enough to start reading the books. By book three, I was totally hooked. The farther along into the series I got, the more into I became, like each book got better and better.

I also always try to view movies and books as two different things, because books offer so much internal thoughts and emotions that movies can't convey and movies have a totally different story-telling aspect to them. But sometimes a few of my favorite character-moments were left out and I would be disappointed. It's inevitable.

I thought the final film was very well done. Breaking the last book into two parts was a great idea, because they didn't have to shred it so much. I too liked that everyone seemed to get their moment in this movie - from all the kids to the Weasleys to the teachers - we got to see how they were all involved in this final battle.

Borders - The BFF went to U of M and apparently did all her best reading/writing in that store. She's quite put out about it closing up.

First off, I love your icon. I was really happy with how the movies handled the last book since it was a complex one.

The Borders' closing is so sad, a lot of people at SI have connections to it so there were lots of thoughts. Now the going out of business sale has started and its even sadder. Though someone posted a sweet little sign near the door saying You are Beautiful that I took a picture of.

I'm still wandering in there but its sad how quickly things can change. Going from a quiet bookstore to going out of business and people asking the price of fixtures. Due to where I live, I walk by the store most days so its not easy.

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