Harry Potter and the Obviousness of his Appeal
Most everybody has seen the George Washington internet cartoon. Well, its creator, comic frikkin' genius Brad Neely crafted a sort-of What's up, Tigerlily?/MST3K reimagining of the first Harry Potter film. It is unbelievably hilarious. Now I haven't read the HP books (I have seen the movies and they are pretty good), but his rendition of Harry and his adopted family's visit to the reptile house pretty much captures my ambivalence (if not outright antipathy) to the story as a whole:
Neely captures what I suspect is the core of the childish wish-fulfillment aspect of these films: Your family are fat, ill-bred louts who do not understand how Specially, Awesome Special your Special Specialness is, and they embarrass you. Ever so put-upon, if only there was a way out, if only your family wasn't your family, but rather a couple of dead saints who left you piles of cash and can never let you down. Plus, as mentioned, they're totally dead which makes your whiny brooding bullshit that much more tolerable.
Fuck Harry Potter.
Click to viewNeely captures what I suspect is the core of the childish wish-fulfillment aspect of these films: Your family are fat, ill-bred louts who do not understand how Specially, Awesome Special your Special Specialness is, and they embarrass you. Ever so put-upon, if only there was a way out, if only your family wasn't your family, but rather a couple of dead saints who left you piles of cash and can never let you down. Plus, as mentioned, they're totally dead which makes your whiny brooding bullshit that much more tolerable.
Fuck Harry Potter.