Like many, many other people, I saw Deathly Hallows Part 2 last night at midnight.
I really enjoyed it! I said on Twitter I'd give it an A- and that's about right. It was sufficiently epic and emotionally satisfying; I didn't cry all the way through it or anything, but I was with one hardcore fan who did, and have talked to others who had the same reaction. I was also with my brother, who has only seen the movies and not read any of the books, and a friend who had never seen any of the movies/read any of the books before last night, so I was hyperaware through the entire movie of how it would look to the uninitiated, and of the ways that these movies really are *for* people who were already fans of the books. Granted, this was obviously a part 2, but it's true of all of the movies. Which is fine! I may even prefer it, but I definitely *noticed* it.
(My friend who had never seen any of it livetweeted the entire experience. Before he went in, he knew that "Harry Potter has two sidekicks, a girl and red head. There is something called butter beer. And Snape kills Dumbledore." He commented that he was"afraid to find out what Hogwarts are." The Twitter stream ended up being pretty hilarious, and also confused.)
Other than a few relationships/people that I wish had gotten more screentime, the things that bugged me were the things that bugged me in the book, for the most part - the deaths that happen off-screen, the low body count making it seem like the stakes aren't high enough, the fucking epilogue (though I liked it better here than in the book, actually. Just as trite and cheesy, but not so *depressing*). Also, Harry's resurrection didn't feel totally earned after the whole "he has to die" stuff. I actually wasn't bugged by that in the book - and I remember *expecting* to be bugged by it - so some part of that just didn't translate well for me, which also made the end feel a little abrupt.
But overall, it worked for me. There were definitely moments in the battle when you *did* feel the stakes. I got chills during the whole sequence of McGonagall defending Harry from Snape and then setting up the defenses of the school. Neville killing Nagini is a great moment (again, with a resonance that those who haven't read the book probably wouldn't get). Hermione and Ron taking on a Horcrux on their own. The scene where all the students welcome Harry back. ♥ ♥ ♥
The big thing with Harry Potter for me, though, really is in the sharing of it. How excited *everyone* gets, the overwhelming cultural response. That's my favorite part. We had a pretty good audience - not the best fan audience I've ever been in, but definitely involved and participatory and that always makes such a difference.
In conclusion, Harry Potter, yay!
Today I "telecommuted" which mostly meant watching my work email while my brother coached me on Halo. I'm still pretty sick and I felt like shit when I woke up, but I'm pretty dosed up on Mucinex now, and I'm planning to keep it that way. A bunch of my school friends are going to Ocean City tonight and I've been going back and forth for days on whether I'm going with them (I'm sick! I have to come back early for my brother's birthday tomorrow! I need to sleep!), but this afternoon I just decided fuck it, I am going to the beach. I do thrive on sunlight, so maybe it will heal me. And if it doesn't, there's still the fact that it is a fundamental belief of mine that the answer to the question "do you want to go to the beach" is "yes." We'll see how I feel about this choice tomorrow.
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I am still using a Ravenclaw icon, even though if grad school taught me anything, it is that I am not a Ravenclaw AT ALL.
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