I am going to state the obvious. The final Harry Potter movie was released last week. I’ve already seen it twice and I’m sure that majority of you have seen it, or if not, definitely know about it. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is my favourite book in the Potter series and one of my favourite books of all time too. The movie generally lived up to my expectations, but I’m not here to talk about Part 2 in detail. I think it was a good way to end the movies and similarly the release of Deathly Hallows in 2007 was a good way to end the books. But there’s something that is providing me with incredible annoyance surrounding the ‘end’ of the Harry Potter saga. What’s frustrating me is this talk I am hearing in conversations, on Facebook and all over the blogosphere – talk that Harry Potter is over.
I define something being ‘over’ when it no longer exists. Yes the filming of the movies has ceased, as has the writing of the books and we can no longer look forward to a new release in cinemas or bookstores. Nevertheless, this fact does not mean I am going to throw out my Harry Potter books and refuse to watch the movies. Video shops will not discard the DVD’s, libraries sure as hell won’t burn the books and fans are not going to give their costumes to Salvo’s. Harry Potter is not over. Yes the movies have all been released, but so have the books. It has been four years tomorrow since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released. I don’t know how many times I’ve read it since. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released when I was three years old and I didn’t even read it until I was nine. The end of the books was not the end of Harry and the same goes for the movies.
Something isn’t over until we allow it to be. Literature written in the 1800’s still lives on today in a modern 21st century because people still read and love the books. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was released in 1813 and the latest film adaption was released in 2005. That’s a story spanning for 192 years. That’s got to mean something. Personally I’m not a fan of either the book or film but the fact is that the story still lives on today because someone wants it to. The same can go for our beloved Harry. It’s been going for 14 years already, I’m sure we can make it another 178. And Harry Potter is far better than Pride and Prejudice in my opinion.
It’s even too early to say that it’s the end of the Harry Potter era. We can’t say that until the Harry Potter series has actually dwindled in popularity, which it sure as hell hasn’t and won’t anytime soon. One day that will happen and perhaps one day kids will read Harry Potter and feel how I feel when I read classic literature. Bored. But I think that’s a long way off. Books are timeless, as are the underlying themes of Harry Potter. The importance of love, loyalty and bravery, even in the face of confusion, hurt and danger are things we will need to be reminded of forever.
Even when Harry Potter and his adventures at Hogwarts are something of the past, something to be reminisced, it won’t be over. The story of Harry Potter will not die. I know that I will treasure my seven books forever. I will continue reading them into my adulthood and then read them to my kids. For me, Harry Potter will last forever. I’m not going to stop loving the story just because the final film has been released. J.K Rowling couldn’t have said it more perfectly at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. “No story lives unless someone wants to listen. The stories we love do live in us forever. Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”
Read more by Lauren
Read more by Lauren
