And this is why...
Today, P chan and I watched HP 7 part 1.
Whenever I even try to wrap my head around that idea, I keep remembering how I could not even imagine seeing this movie back in high school.
High school doesn't feel like it's been that long ago, until I actually do the math and realize that it's been six years already. During my senior year, we were even joking that we'd be done with college by the time the last movie would be released.
And here we are. Today. Watching the first part of that movie.
I can't help feeling a bit sentimental; in a way, just as Harry lingers by the cupboard that used to be his bedroom (in the movie), I seem to feel unsure about the memories left behind and the "now". Has it really been that long ago?
Despite the mixed memories that the house left on Harry's memory (though the bad memories seem to outnumber the good ones a lot), there is still that nostalgia. There is still that anxiety, the uncertainty about whether it is really happening.
After all, the house was where he spent a good number of years of his life in. It also was the place he grew up in, and from. Now he has to "leave the nest", though under more life-threatening and fictional circumstances. But he has to leave the nest, nonetheless.
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Growing attached to a fictional character is somehow magical in its own way. But, there are the theories and more reasonable explanations to shed light on the whole process.
Personally though, I think what makes a character more identifiable, what makes him a part of our own lives, is the fact that he faces the same human problem we all do: overcoming our weaknesses.
There is that incredible sense of triumph when we see someone (fictional or not) overcome the challenges that life gives him. All the more, if this person does so at the best of his abilities, while maintaining the his integrity and respecting the well-being of others.
For what other reason do we feel happy for his triumph, but that we also hope to triumph in our daily weaknesses?
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So here's to Harry Potter, to J.K. Rowling's brilliance, in upholding the hero as the frail human who can prove to be god-like by his actions and compassion.
And a toast to the reason why I still believe that the literary genius of HP can trump that other series any day.