Why Are Adults so Excited About Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Premieres Nov. 19, 2010
The excitement has gotten extreme. Hero Complex has been counting down the days to the premiere for the past month, and they have video feed from the New York premiere. The movie will premiere on Nov. 19 for the rest of the world.
I'm not quite excited enough to stand in line for seven hours on the night it premiers, but I've insisted on making a date night next week with my husband to go see it. I haven't been this excited about a movie premiere since, well, I really have never been this excited about a movie premiere before.
So why are adults (me) so enamored with the Harry Potter movies?
My niece, who's 21, at least has the perfect reason why she loves the Harry Potter movies. She grew up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. As each book came out, she read them. The characters were about her age and she could relate to their thinking and actions. The trio of friends could have been her friends; the conversations, her conversations. She literally lost herself in those books.
I'm a touch older than her, so I can't use her reasoning for my own passion when it comes to Harry Potter.
I wasn't always this way. I didn't wait with bated breath for the first three movies to come out. I liked the movies enough to buy them on DVD, but not enough to go see the movies in the theater. When Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out on DVD, I bought it the day it was released. I did the same thing with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. We did see the Half Blood Prince in the theater a month after it premiered (I couldn't wait for it to come out on DVD), and by then there was no turning back.
Until this point, I let myself just enjoy the movies. From past experience, I know that the books are always so much better and I didn't want to lose the magic of the movies by sitting there the whole time thinking "that's not the way it happened in the book!"
After seeing the Half Blood Prince, I finally broke down and read all seven Harry Potter books. They aren't stellar literary works, but J. K. Rowling does let you into the mind and soul of Harry. The movies followed the books very closely, especially the earlier books. It's probably because the books are rather short and they needed every ounce of the book to make a good movie.
So why am I so excited about the new Harry Potter movie?
Okay, okay, I was taking the long way in getting to that, sorry. My excitement for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes from finally reading the books. After seven books (and movies), the characters do kind of grow on the reader (me).
There are several things that the movies skim over that the books go into more detail about. These scenes were what raised some questions the books were able to answer. Ever so often, my husband quizzes me about the ring in Dumbledore's office (which the movie glanced at but never went into) or about Tom Riddle's past. He won't read the books, but he still wants to know the details.
There is a "must read" spoiler from the movie that was written just for the movie. The scene is not anywhere in the Deathly Hallows book. Read this for the spoiler. With this kind of build up, it's no wonder adults are anxiously awaiting the premiere.
I guess the biggest reason for my movie excitement is because it will start to wrap up seven years of a young boy's life. Questions will be answered. In both the books and the movies, we see everything from Harry's perspective. We have very little inside information. We grow with him, we see what he sees, we know what he knows, and in an imperceptible way, we become Harry.
Sources:
'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1' premieres in New York
Showbiz Spy: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows NY Premiere
Published by Kim Keason - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle
Full time mom, part time nurse, and part time freelance writer. View profile
18 Comments
Post a CommentI lost interest in the movies after Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I love the books- have read them several times :). I think the movies lost something. Good article!
teriffic article - thanks for sharing ♥ - I was a bit surprised it stopped when it did, but am definitely looking forward to part II
I read the article about the new scene in the movie that isn't in the book. I finished the book in about 3 days when it first came out, so I didn't even realize that that scene wasn't in the book--I'd forgotten a lot of the details. I really LIKED the dance scene and that moment of sexual tension, I must say. :)
My husband and I saw it a couple weeks ago. He liked it more than I did. I thought it was too slooooooooow in the middle (but I thought the same thing about the corresponding section in the book), but I absolutely LOVED the beginning and thought it ended okay. "Prisoner of Azkaban" is still my favorite HP movie, by far.
I love all the Harry Potter books, but I've never really cared much for the movies and probably wouldn't have watched them all, except that I love Harry Potter. (More so than any of my 4 kids who were of the age to grow up with Harry). I was very happy with this particular film, though, I think it's the best Harry Potter film so far. BTW, I didn't like the spoiler scene, it just seemed too awkward but that's probably what they were going for.
I wound up listening to all the books, and I saw Deathly Hallows I the morning after it came out. Something I never do. I was excited because the book was split, meaning less condensation of the storyline that happened with some of the other movies.
I loved this movie. I am glad you wrote about it from an adult's perspective.
My fiance's ex-wife is nutty over these movies- like crazy, mark it on her calender, pee her pants in line, bad. It's cute. I never got into Potter at all, and the movies just confuse me
I had an opportunity to read the first Potter book but after a year of not reading it, the owner wanted it back. OOPS. I read only a few pages and it didn't hold my interest. I did like the movies however.
my daughter in law loves all things Harry Potter! Good article!