Prepare to be SPOILED: Draco Malfoy
is a product of his environment.
But before we label him an evil little brat, we have to remember that he's not so little anymore.
I think that any of us would've turned out the same if we'd been raised in Draco's situation. What strikes me in particular is how much I empathize with his competitiveness, his drive to succeed.
I'm thinking about the sixth book, when he successfully infiltrates Hogwarts, finally thwarting Potter. Up to this point, every effort made by Malfoy and his family has failed.
There's something to be said for envying the beautiful. Consider this: Potter is naturally brilliant, lucky, handsome, popular, and surrounded by a similarly capable cadre. Malfoy, on the other hand, has no compatriots, only lackeys. Potter, it would seem, is Malfoy's only peer at Hogwarts.
The Series as a Whole
Overall, I found the Harry Potter Experience to be wonderful. The series last me from late July through late October -- I intentionally took my time with the series, though it was a true temptation to blast through each of the books, and to chain-smoke the books by gluing the back cover of one to the front cover of the next. Owen knows what I'm saying.
Most interesting for me was that I have had a different experience with the series than most folks, who had to wait years for each adventure to appear. This meant that the series seemed one large story with seven chapters for me, though I absolutely noticed the writing quality develop, as several friends promised.
I remember starting the first book while Amelia and Evan started the seventh. And I remember Evan asking Amelia who Olivander was, and thinking how silly that was at the time: Shouldn't super-fans remember all the characters?
In retrospect, I see that there are a whole heap of characters, far more than you realize as you're reading. Still, I didn't forget who Olivander was when I reached the seventh book, but then I didn't have years-long layovers between each story ;)
Probably the neatest thing I learned over the course of the series was an appreciation for book-to-movie translation. You see, I saw the movie version of each book within 24 hours of finishing each book. This made me acutely aware of the movie's shortcomings, and keen to detect the narrative shortcuts.
I also feel that this has given me a sort of understanding for not only the intricacies of the HP series, but also book-to-movie translation as a whole. A few weeks ago, I saw "The Postman" for the first time, another book-to-movie project. And, because I better understood that book-to-movie process, I sort of reverse-engineered the Postman movie back into its book form: I saw scenes in the movie that were kinda cool, but imagined how much more intense and nuanced they must have been in the book. I saw fights on-screen and the cinematographer trying to convey the emotion of the scene, all the while imagining how much more vivid the book must have been. This speaks to the power of the imagination and how "filling in the blanks" can make a story all the more rewarding.
Best and Worst
The best movie was the third, duh. It is quality through and through. And though it isn't 100% faithful, it was the only movie to teach me something about the book. Delightful.
The worst movie was the first five movies, except for the third one. If you're familiar with the series, then you know what I mean.
The worst book was the fifth. The writing so perfectly conveyed the frustrations of Harry and his compatriots, that the book was frustrating to read. And though this parallel between the story arc and the writing style demonstrates masterly writing, it doesn't change the fact that the fifth book was the most painful to get through.
The best book was the fourth, because it managed to honor all the Hogwarts traditions without falling into the narrative conventions of the other books. Here's the general pattern I noticed among the books: Something strange happens right off the bat, a warning or bad times, or something. Then Harry goes somewhere and things are okay for a while, until something bad happens. And while that something bad is happening, when Harry should be closest to his friends, they somehow fall apart until, suddenly, everything is okay again :) And once Harry is back with his friends again, everything starts to get better, and there's hope. Then, Harry and friends muster up the courage to confront the bad something, which turns out to be something different than what they thought, and things are rectified, and there's hope for the future. YAY!
There are some among us who would claim the seventh book as the best, but that's impossible, because the book is such a cock-tease. Think about it: the seventh book is so far off the beaten path for the series, that you're begging to get back to Hogwarts. "But I miss it," you say. "Please, JK, just let me get back there one more time."
So when you finally arrive back at Hogwarts near the end, you're ecstatic to be there. It's so tantric.
It's like Hogwarts was playing hard-to-get throughout the whole seventh book, and then when you finally got Hogwarts, it was so good.
So folks who say that the seventh book is the best are merely justifying their raging Hogwarts hard-on.
In Other News
Keith White just messaged me on facebook. Here's what he wrote:
"hey there
Preston,
What are you up to these days?"
And here's how I replied:
"living
breathing
new yorking
spending money
eating
sleeping
spending money
writing
answering facebook messages
drinking
working
typing
sitting
spending money"
Next Time
Why Chris Rock is right and hippie environmentalists are wrong
and
Orgasmic handsoap
But before we label him an evil little brat, we have to remember that he's not so little anymore.
I think that any of us would've turned out the same if we'd been raised in Draco's situation. What strikes me in particular is how much I empathize with his competitiveness, his drive to succeed.
I'm thinking about the sixth book, when he successfully infiltrates Hogwarts, finally thwarting Potter. Up to this point, every effort made by Malfoy and his family has failed.
There's something to be said for envying the beautiful. Consider this: Potter is naturally brilliant, lucky, handsome, popular, and surrounded by a similarly capable cadre. Malfoy, on the other hand, has no compatriots, only lackeys. Potter, it would seem, is Malfoy's only peer at Hogwarts.
The Series as a Whole
Overall, I found the Harry Potter Experience to be wonderful. The series last me from late July through late October -- I intentionally took my time with the series, though it was a true temptation to blast through each of the books, and to chain-smoke the books by gluing the back cover of one to the front cover of the next. Owen knows what I'm saying.
Most interesting for me was that I have had a different experience with the series than most folks, who had to wait years for each adventure to appear. This meant that the series seemed one large story with seven chapters for me, though I absolutely noticed the writing quality develop, as several friends promised.
I remember starting the first book while Amelia and Evan started the seventh. And I remember Evan asking Amelia who Olivander was, and thinking how silly that was at the time: Shouldn't super-fans remember all the characters?
In retrospect, I see that there are a whole heap of characters, far more than you realize as you're reading. Still, I didn't forget who Olivander was when I reached the seventh book, but then I didn't have years-long layovers between each story ;)
Probably the neatest thing I learned over the course of the series was an appreciation for book-to-movie translation. You see, I saw the movie version of each book within 24 hours of finishing each book. This made me acutely aware of the movie's shortcomings, and keen to detect the narrative shortcuts.
I also feel that this has given me a sort of understanding for not only the intricacies of the HP series, but also book-to-movie translation as a whole. A few weeks ago, I saw "The Postman" for the first time, another book-to-movie project. And, because I better understood that book-to-movie process, I sort of reverse-engineered the Postman movie back into its book form: I saw scenes in the movie that were kinda cool, but imagined how much more intense and nuanced they must have been in the book. I saw fights on-screen and the cinematographer trying to convey the emotion of the scene, all the while imagining how much more vivid the book must have been. This speaks to the power of the imagination and how "filling in the blanks" can make a story all the more rewarding.
Best and Worst
The best movie was the third, duh. It is quality through and through. And though it isn't 100% faithful, it was the only movie to teach me something about the book. Delightful.
The worst movie was the first five movies, except for the third one. If you're familiar with the series, then you know what I mean.
The worst book was the fifth. The writing so perfectly conveyed the frustrations of Harry and his compatriots, that the book was frustrating to read. And though this parallel between the story arc and the writing style demonstrates masterly writing, it doesn't change the fact that the fifth book was the most painful to get through.
The best book was the fourth, because it managed to honor all the Hogwarts traditions without falling into the narrative conventions of the other books. Here's the general pattern I noticed among the books: Something strange happens right off the bat, a warning or bad times, or something. Then Harry goes somewhere and things are okay for a while, until something bad happens. And while that something bad is happening, when Harry should be closest to his friends, they somehow fall apart until, suddenly, everything is okay again :) And once Harry is back with his friends again, everything starts to get better, and there's hope. Then, Harry and friends muster up the courage to confront the bad something, which turns out to be something different than what they thought, and things are rectified, and there's hope for the future. YAY!
There are some among us who would claim the seventh book as the best, but that's impossible, because the book is such a cock-tease. Think about it: the seventh book is so far off the beaten path for the series, that you're begging to get back to Hogwarts. "But I miss it," you say. "Please, JK, just let me get back there one more time."
So when you finally arrive back at Hogwarts near the end, you're ecstatic to be there. It's so tantric.
It's like Hogwarts was playing hard-to-get throughout the whole seventh book, and then when you finally got Hogwarts, it was so good.
So folks who say that the seventh book is the best are merely justifying their raging Hogwarts hard-on.
In Other News
Keith White just messaged me on facebook. Here's what he wrote:
"hey there
Preston,
What are you up to these days?"
And here's how I replied:
"living
breathing
new yorking
spending money
eating
sleeping
spending money
writing
answering facebook messages
drinking
working
typing
sitting
spending money"
Next Time
Why Chris Rock is right and hippie environmentalists are wrong
and
Orgasmic handsoap