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Post by fantasyfan1 on Dec 17, 2003 21:04:14 GMT -5
Welcome all to the first edition of my hopefully frequent column!!! (Applause!!) This basically is going to be a combination of short essays and funny lists, and please feel free to comment and leave your ideas (and add to the list)
To Start Off...
Harry Potter's Journey Down the Rabbit Hole??
PART 1
The similarities between the Matrix and HP
After sitting through my year of freshman and advanced english, there's one thing that has stuck with me for some time now.
The fans of the Matrix and Harry Potter definitely overlap.
At first this shocked me... I thought I would have been alone in liking those two very different areas of entertainment. After quite a bit of thought, and a few discussions in that class, i realized i was quite wrong.
For one thing, both the matrix and HP have a central character who is out to save the world. Ironically, both of them do not realize their mission in life until long after they have begun on their journey. Neo in the Matrix is told that he must save Zion, but he did not know quite what that would take. Harry also had to wait 5 LONG BOOKS (aka years) until he realized that he too was destined to save his world from the evils of Voldemort. Both Neo and Harry's destinies were outlined for them in prophecies, though both of those prophecies required quite a bit of intepretion and did not give them their direct path.
Both were also introduced to an entire new world, showing that the world WE live in (the world they came from) was a world of lies and deceit, and that the "real" world contains more possibilities then either could imagine. This common, underlying denial of our world is something that would draw similar audiences in, because the same sorts of people tend to like to get an escape from reality-- to know that there are other possibilities out there.
Ironically, both Neo and Harry find they are evenly matched and almost directly opposite of their enemy. Harry obviously finds his nemesis in Voldemort, who if you analyze is basically the anti-Harry from everything from their magical strengths and weaknesses to physical descriptions. Neo also finds his opposite in a computer program named Agent Smith, who is the only one who can destroy and oppose Neo's god-like dominance over the matrix. Also similarity, Neo and Harry are connected to their enemy by choices. Because Voldemort choose him to kill, Harry received his powers. Because Smith choose to unconnect himself to the Matrix and to "live", he too received his equal powers to Neo.
However, though the Matrix and HP share these basic concepts and similarities, there are quite a few differences that would normally hinder them from reaching to the same audience. HP is a children's book, intended for anyone over the age of 8; the Matrix is a R-rated film that normally would appeal to late teens and 20-somethings who bring in more money for the movie industry than anyone else. They also have different appeals- Harry flaunts magic and mystery, while the Matrix boasts huge explosions amd mind-boggling theories.
So basically, Harry Potter and the Matrix's similarities are enough to tie together one huge audience of 10-20 years- old enough to know and comprehend the Matrix, yet young enough to have been the oldest caught hard by Harry mania (and not to look stupid carrying around an 1000 page book at the pool this summer)
Well, join me next week when I'll use the similarities between Harry Potter and the Matrix to predict what may happen to come in HP. ANY!!! suggestions would be amazing, and don't worry, i'm definitely gonna cover other topics lol!!
[glow=red,2,300]Fantasyfan1[/glow]
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Post by Philosacratic on Dec 17, 2003 23:40:50 GMT -5
nice (= can't wait!
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Post by elysium on Dec 19, 2003 17:07:20 GMT -5
Hmm...as we've proved before, there an extraordinary number of similarities between HP and basically everything else, so I'm confused as to where you're going with this. Also, welcome to the board! I was really glad when I saw you had a column, and I'll certainly be a regular reader. So no pressure BTW, if you don't want replies sorry about that
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Post by fantasyfan1 on Dec 20, 2003 13:08:32 GMT -5
^ LOL of course I want responses, it makes me feel special lol... oh dear now, i feel just a bit of pressure lol...
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Post by fantasyfan1 on Dec 20, 2003 13:47:50 GMT -5
Alright, even though elysium seems a little annoyed that i'm doing a similarities, thing (lol jk jk) i'm going to continue on it, because well, frankly, i'm bored and i'm almost as obsessed with the Matrix as I am Harry Potter... Well, I WAS until i saw Matrix Revolutions which kinda ruined it for me, but the premise of it is just so interesting... Hmmm... maybe I don't want to write exclusively about HP and the Matrix this time lol...
History Repeats Itself
Why Harry Potter may not have the most original ending
So basically I've been thinking about it. What, if any, stories actually have a great original ending? LOTR ends with Frodo choosing to leave the Shire, and let the age of men begin, The Matrix has Neo choosing martyrdom to save mankind--- even classic literature like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet has the young lovers choosing to commit sucide as not to seperate their love. If I could make a list of all the classic endings to all the classic books, stories, and movies I could find, I would, and the results would prove (with of course, a few exceptions) that most "great" plots ends in a combination of these crucial plot endings: Making a choice, saying goodbye, moving on to the next adventure or chapter in life, and/or death. After reading the first 5 Harry Potter books, it should not come as a surprise to anyone if the end of book 7 contains one of those classic literary endings.
The concept of choice is a huge theme for JKR. Through Dumbledore and divination class, she constiently proves that the future is not set in stone, and that an individual choices determines their future path. This is shown through Voldemort's choice to go after Harry, and thus giving him his powers. With one simple choice, Voldemort changed the possible future; for if he had gone after Neville that fateful night, we would be reading (and rereading) Neville Longbottom and the Order of the Phoneix . With that said, it is more than 99.8% likely that Harry will have to make a choice in Book 7 that will change his life, and the lives of those around him.
Now that we're all convinced (not that you weren't before) that Harry will have to make a life-changing choice, the question becomes: What will he have to choose between? Will it be self-sacrifice in order to destroy Voldemort (VERY reminisicant of the Matrix)? Will it be that he has to give up all the powers that Voldemort gave him through his scar in order to destroy Voldemort? (sorta like how Frodo had to destroy the ring and give up power in LOTR) Will he destroy Voldemort (somehow?) and then choose to say good-bye to everything and everyone he knows b/c after his mission is complete, there's nothing left for him? (also LOTR- though I'm really doubting this one)
If we use my Matrix train of thought from my previous entry, I do think Harry might have to become a martyr. I know that's pretty unoriginal, and i understand that these are children's books, but I think the ties between Voldemort and Harry are so intertwined that if Harry doesn't give up his life, he'll have to give up something very dear and close to him in order to save the world. I really don't think that JKR is going to make it easy for Harry to destory Voldemort, that something is going to tempt him from not succeeding. The choice to destroy evil is easy--- by nature, everyone wants to ultimately do what they think is best. However, when other obstacles factor in, and the black and white becomes shades of gray, the choices become muddled and the decision hard to make. I really hope for the series sake that Harry's choice to destroy Voldemort should not result without consequences. If Harry can save the day without any loss (and not including the risk factor he'll probably encounter) I'll be thoroughly disappointed in the books, and probably throw a bigger fit than i did after I saw the 3rd Matrix movie, because I'm more emotinally involved in HP than i ever was in the Matrix.
So, you all probably didn't get much out of this essay that you didn't already know. But the point is that there is a chance that I'm (and maybe other people out there too) going to be disappointed in the ending of HP, which makes me wary of thinking too far ahead, because I really can't think of any ending that would satisfy me.
Well, that's all i got for now-- next time, i'll probably do some kind of Christmas post. Happy Holidays everyone, and hopefully you all will have great christmases and weather, and (if i'm late on this post) a great new year too.
fantasyfan1
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Post by Dr. Toodles on Dec 20, 2003 22:50:53 GMT -5
^ LOL of course I want responses, it makes me feel special lol... oh dear now, i feel just a bit of pressure lol... [shadow=blue,left,300]yay!!! verrry goood! yes, you are mighty special! everyone special! special! everyone in his or her own way..woow..ok, that was scary... well, feel special; be happy..and good thinger.. [/shadow]
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Post by fantasyfan1 on Dec 21, 2003 22:10:00 GMT -5
^ LOL YAY Dr. Toodles thinks i'm special too!!
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Post by musicchc43 on Dec 22, 2003 16:22:36 GMT -5
for if he had gone after Neville that fateful night, we would be reading (and rereading) Neville Longbottom and the Order of the Phoneix . LOL and THEN if it was called Neville Longbottom and the Order of Phoenix we would all be wondering about What if Voldemort would have made the decision to go after harry instead and the book would be called Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and THEN if it was called that ( which it is) we would all be wondering about if Voldemort would have made the decision to go after Nevill instead and....... lol .....couldn't help myself i'll just stop there...... heheheeI'm more emotinally involved in HP than i ever was in the Matrix. Isn't it crazy how emotional we are about the HP books? I always get so choked up when i read about Dumbledore's single tear falling down on page 844 (american version)
Oh but anyways that was a really excellent column Fantasyfan1! It really made me think!......and you're right, no matter how the HP books end I think i'll be a bit disappointed..... oh well.......life goes on! ;D
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Post by Dr. Toodles on Dec 22, 2003 17:06:17 GMT -5
LOL and THEN if it was called Neville Longbottom and the Order of Phoenix we would all be wondering about What if Voldemort would have made the decision to go after harry instead and the book would be called Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and THEN if it was called that ( which it is) we would all be wondering about if Voldemort would have made the decision to go after Nevill instead and....... lol .....couldn't help myself i'll just stop there...... hehehee [shadow=blue,left,300]lol, I had been thinking that too![/shadow]
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Post by *HPfan* on Dec 22, 2003 17:41:34 GMT -5
LoL, me too! I've been thinking about that ever since I read OOTP. It's a really interesting thought, lol.
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Post by fantasyfan1 on Dec 24, 2003 9:43:20 GMT -5
I'm officially glad I got a column now! Its so fun to just sit down and write out my thoughts,even if most of them don't make sense, and I make a point that really I didn't start off intending to. (LOL, sounds a lot like english class...) Anyway, you all are going to have to excuse me, I just woke up, so this all may be a little jumbled.
[glow=red,2,300]Alll I Want for Christmas...[/glow]
Today is Christmas Eve. Its 8:01 in the morning, and I woke up to the sound of shovelling outside. You know that scraping sound against the pavement, the one that sorta sound like a mild version of scratching your fingers on a chalkboard. There seem to be a couple things in common with my Christmases for the last 4 to 5 years (and I don't know why).
1. There always is snow, even if there hadn't been any snow yet this year.
2. I never receive copies of the Harry Potter books for Christmas.
No joke, every year I seem to put down on my list that I would like the hardcover versions of the books (I only own books 3-5, unless I steal book 1 from my fellow harry potter avid, who has both hard and softcover copies of the books, with really cool HP bookends as well) and every year I look expectantly under the tree, and the closest I've ever come is a couple of Brian Jacques's Redwall books, which I have yet to read, and I doubt I ever will at this rate.
Even now, as I am typing this very column to you, my mother opens the door to my bedroom, and very sleepily and confusedly asks me what in the world i'm so "furiously" typing at this hour. I lie and say "email", because, well, if you haven't figured it out, I sure have.
My mother for some very random and unexplainable reason does not like Harry Potter.
I really don't get it. Though my mother is a pretty strong Christian, its not like my Church is very anti-HP or anything. (My pastor said something along the lines of "It's a book, and I won't tell you to stop reading.") My mother is also the woman to whom I give the most credit to even starting me in the fantasy genre, reading me and my sister Lloyd Alexander "The Black Cauldran" books, Diana Wynne Jones, and many other fantasy/science fiction books as bedtime stories, long before I was able to read them myself. Hell, I can remember sitting next to her as we read a book called Drowned Amulet in the Dalemark Chroncles (or something) by an author I cannot remember anymore, and I would look over my mother's shoulder and gasp and be very shocked and alarmed as she would skip over the word "damn" when reading my bedtime story because I didn't know that was a word that people actually said to eachother, outside the context of her daily soap operas that I was rarely allowed to watch.
I actually know my mother would love HP, if she gave it a chance. But the thing of it is, I'm almost 16, and I really don't care what she wants or doesn't want me to do. And its not like she tries to put that many restrictions on me in other areas. I don't have a curfew as long as I tell my mother I'm with my friends or at their house, which is not a priviledge I often abuse, but hey whenever I need to, I do use it. I'm allowed to take a train into the city with just my friends, and my mother will say something like, "Be home early enough that I won't be asleep to pick you up." Seriously, she, like all parents, can be over-protective at times, but she's not that bad actually, espeically because I'm pretty responsible, and I'm her last child.
Even for all those long and drawn out explanations of why she SHOULD like HP, she doesn't. She looks very accusingly every time she (without permission) walks in my room and is reading a book over 600 pages. So I guess the ultimate question I'm trying to get at is this: Why is my mother, and a lot of other parents, so hesitant to let their children read Harry Potter? Is it because they're afraid that they'll become obsessed, being a frequent member on a message board, and writing long and drawn out stories (and columns) that ultimately pertain to HP? Ummm.... too late, mom.
I actually don't know why my mother is anti-HP. However if I was to take a guess, I would say it is because of all the media attention it has gotten, and well, someone telling you the plot of the story could sound just a little satanic if you think about it. Although I've never talked to her about plot events of HP, i'm sure she's heard some things about book 4 that she probably didn't like. As mad as I would like to be at whoever ruined this for me, I have to admit, I would not be able to tell ANYONE the climax of book 4 and not make it sound just a little, well, evil.
I can see it now, "Well, Harry goes through this maze-thingy, and when he gets to the center, the trophy transports him and this other boy who reaches it at the same time to where the evil wizard is, and he kills the other boy and then tries to kill harry, but instead he just makes a blood sacrifice of Harry as to restore his powers. And then Harry gets out and they all find out his teacher betrayed him and now the evil wizard is back in power and the government doesn't believe him."
Yeah, I see that going down well with parents...
My theory is that that it is these stories taken completely out of context by second hand story tellers that ruin it for so many children. I'm of the mindset that if it take JKR 700+ pages to be able to make the events of Book 4 NOT sound satanic, then it would take me a lot more than 700 pages to complete the same task (with a lot worse writing from my end, of course!)
The solution: all Harry Potter readers become a secret silent society about the books, who are only allowed to discuss HP among themselves, and thus everyone would have to actually READ Harry Potter themselves before they get a very biased opinion against it. If someone reads HP and doesn't like it, I'm inclinded to think they're crazy, but I would at least accept their position. However, I do get a little annoyed if you don't like something you don't know about.
With that said, I hope you all enjoy your Christmases, and hopefully I'll finally get books 1 and 2 in about a month, b/c my best friend and I are going to throw a giant duo birthday party together (hopefully hosting about 50 ppl, and well, some of our friends should be nice enough to give us gift cards to Borders Books and Music...) Merry Christmas!!
Fantasyfan1
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Post by ~*~SONYA~*~ on Dec 24, 2003 23:32:49 GMT -5
Cool column cant wait for next one! and i also need HP books 1 and 2 for my collection ;D
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Post by fantasyfan1 on Dec 25, 2003 12:48:53 GMT -5
As a quick addendum to my last column, "santa" gave me $200 to my favorite book/music store. Guess what i'm buying, lol... Merry Christmas!!
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Post by Dienne Herlsif on Dec 27, 2003 17:19:50 GMT -5
"its not like my Church is very anti-HP or anything"
Yeah... actually, this last summer, even the Vatican announced that HP was okay!
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Post by fantasyfan1 on Dec 28, 2003 23:48:06 GMT -5
Okay, here's a short little essay to end my night, which I'll probably keep on adding to in various posts, so keep on checking in ;D Will Harry Become a Classic? PART 1 Will he even reach the "classic" state? Romeo and Juliet. 1984. Treasure Island. A Tale of Two Cities. The Wizard of Oz. Old Man and the Sea. The Red Badge of Courage. Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. Frankenstein. Canterbury Tales. This is just a tiny, insignificant list of books that I can think of at 10 at night that most people have heard of, that have stood the test of time. They're the books that say on the back cover "loved by a generation" or "sold 500 million copies". And these books have another thing in common. They were written long before most of us were born. So what made these books special that they didn't just disappear into obscurity like most of the millions of books published each year? Most "brilliant" classic stories are written for their comtemporary time, yet have an appeal that transends all time. They usually make a point about human nature or values that not only applies in France in 1800, but in America in 2000. They focus on our ideals, yet teach us a lesson without even knowing it. They're widely popular in their own time. They're well written, and the author usually has an unique style or way of looking at things. And typically, they're very original. So, the question, to me, is: Will Harry become a classic? Does he have that lasting quality, or is he gonna die out a reminder of the time around the turn of the millenium (like Beanie Babies)? The books have already been declared "modern" classics, but will they reach out into new generations beyond our own? I'm actually really torn on this issue. I really want HP to be a classic because they're my favorite books and I want people years and years down the road to enjoy them as much as I have. I mean, it already seems that LOTR will be (is?). And HP has more of the same comtemporary popularity and originality that it could follow right in the footsteps of LOTR to show what literature was like in our time. However, part of me aches to know that no matter how amazing HP is, it does not have the same "classical" quality that writers had even 50-75 years ago, like Hemingway or Orwell. You read those books and you just KNOW that this is what literature is supposed to be like, with the depth and the intellect and the symbolism and the themes. And to even go beyond just HP, there is very little recently written, if ANY books, that has that quality to me. Will our writing generation be a "dud" when historians look back on our time? I'm convinced that Harry will be classic, even when it lacks the symbolism and depth. I truly think it will be a classic children's story telling right from wrong, good from evil, in a very interesting and exciting way. However, I'm thinking its only gonna be a classic because the writers of this generation have failed to produce other "time-transcending" literature for HP to compete with. You may disagree with me on the greatness of the authors of our generation. But seriously, to me, when Stephen King is the "great" writer of the time, then we have a problem. Join me next time, when I'll try to make you think twice of whether or not you actually WANT Harry to be a classic. Thank you, and good night, and I hope you all have happy and safe new years!!
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