Leaving Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix

HARRY POTTER AND the order of the phoenix

book 2003    movie 2007   first read 2003    first watch 2007

A fifth-in-a-row return to the school of wizardry and witchcraft, where I realize the upside of growing up and that Professor Umbridge is really Goebbels.

Leaving Hogwarts and the Goblet of Fire

HARRY POTTER AND the goblet of fire

book 2002     movie 2005     first read 2003?     first watch 2005

A fourth-in-a-row return to the school of wizardry and witchcraft, where I marvel at the fast pace, cleverly constructed plot and the connections to North By Northwest.

ZOOM IN.

Leaving Hogwarts and the Prisoner of Azkaban

HARRY POTTER AND the prisoner of Azkaban

book 1999      movie 2004      first read 2002?     first watch 2004

A third-in-a-row return to the school of wizardry and witchcraft, where I swoon over Alfonso Cuarón's directing style, Daniel Radcliffe's improved acting skills and how Hermione's hair looks from behind.

ZOOM IN.

Also known as "The One Everybody Loves", Prisoner of Azkaban marks the point at which the Harry Potter film adaptions became a force to be reckoned with. Changing out director Chris Columbus, who had approached the previous two films from a traditional "children's movie" perspective, with the darker and more stylized mind of Alfonso Cuarón, stepped up the game quite a bit. It also helps that the three leads have grown into better actors and that their characters are able to develop in a more interesting, nuanced way. Finally, Prisoner of Azkaban connects another two Brilliant Brits to the series with Gary Oldman as Sirius Black and David Thewlis as Professor Lupin.

Leaving Hogwarts and the Chamber of Secrets

HARRY POTTER AND the chamber of secrets

book 1998     movie 2002      first read 2005?      first watch 2003?

A return to the school of wizardry and witchcraft, where I pay my accolades to Hermione's last truly geeky year, sleek-hair Malfoy, Ron's first wand and the old Dumbledore.

ZOOM IN.

Once hooked by the magical world of Harry Potter, I never considered actually reading The Chamber of Secrets as preferred to just watching the movie. It was out there, so why not just slip it in the DVD player (easier said than done, but my birthday wasn't far away). I was young, I was stupid. So when I finally did go back and read the book, about two years after watching the film, I was surprised to find so many new aspects of the story in the book. Whether my surprise was caused by the bigger similarity between the first book and its film or whether I was just too inexperienced to know that things do get lost in translation, I'll never know. The scene that left its biggest impression on me then was definitely Sir Nick's ghost party, which I didn't see coming at all. Speaking of that, the ghosts were rather neglected in the Harry Potter films, am I right (Peeves, anyone)? Still, I do love them.

Heroes I Somehow Missed Out On As a Child

This morning, I watched Toy Story 2 for the first time in my life. And doing so, there were a couple of things I realized.

The first one is: Toy Story is the most awesome animated film (series) I have ever seen - chances are it's the most awesome one ever made, in case there's no totally underrated and unknown independent animated film from some country most people don't even know exists. Which I think is unlikely. 

The next thing I realized was that little kids are really stupid, and sometimes their parents should force them to watch certain movies. When I was a child, we often borrowed videos from the library (remember the times before DVD? so annoying...), and yes, I did walk past the Toy Story tape a couple of times. But I didn't watch it. Why? Well, it can't be there wasn't enough pink or enough girls, because I did watch both Tarzan and The Jungle Book and The Lion King back in the days. 

Maybe the reason was the animation? I think I didn't watch animated films until Finding Nemo in 2003... oh, except you can count Dinosaurs, I think that one was animated too...?

Well, let's just conclude that there was absolutely no good reason for me to not watch Toy Story... and nevertheless, I didn't watch it until a few weeks ago (the first part, I mean). Sadly, no heavenly coincidence made me watch it back in the days and let it become part of my childhood, as was the case with Harry Potter.

But is this necessarily a bad thing? I'm not sure. Maybe the fact that I've seen Toy Story as an almost (officially) grown-up teenager will make me appreciate this movie even more. Because it reminds me of what it was like to be a child, how important toys were to you, how mystical and wonderful they were, while those times still don't feel very long ago. Maybe it will make me see the world through the eyes of a child more often?

Certainly, the film gnaws at my conscience for having sold so many of my old toys... though maybe it's better that way. Most of them were bought by little children or their parents, and I think my Barbies would rather be played with than rot in an old case, won't they? I hope so... I'm sorry, Barbies. And dolls, and horses. If I will ever have the chance to say I'm sorry, I hope it's now.

I think seeing Toy Story now is better than never. It is a fantastic, excellent movie that will forever be dear to me from now on. But thinking about all of this, I guess it will never be as magical and mystical to me as the films I did see when I was a child - Harry Potter, The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo and all the others... It just won't ever be the same, because I won't remember the enchantment of watching the film(s) as a child. 

But remembering the enchantment of watching them as a teenager might be very close to just as good.

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My Childhood Heroes, Part II: Ariel

Welcome back to the My Childhood Heroes feature, where I talk about the heroes and idols of my childhood. Some of you might remember the previous, first post in this series, highlighting Hermione Granger. This month's hero is a very different one. 

First of all, she's an animation. Secondly, she's a mermaid. And thirdly, she's a princess.

So what we have here is our typical Disney princess heroine who goes on a journey and gets the prince in the end. Or do we? Is Ariel really that shallow a character?

Not from my point-of-view. I wouldn't highlight her in this feature if this was the case anyhow - to me, Ariel is one of the most unique and inspiring characters that Disney has ever designed.

My Childhood Heroes, Part I: Hermione Granger

Welcome to the latest strawberry feature of this blog, where I will talk about the heroes and idols of my childhood and take a look at how they have inspired me and made me the person I am now.
Most of them are female, but the word "heroine" makes me think of either a glamorous actress or a drug, so I'm not going to use it in this feature.
This is also going to be quite personal, which some people might like, while others might not.

The first hero that will step in to the spotlight in this feature, is perhaps the greatest one, and also the one that has had the greatest influence on me: Hermione Granger from the HARRY POTTER series.

When I read the Harry Potter books, I thought Hermione was a lot like me, but I didn't like how her looks were described - she didn't seem very beautiful, and as every little girl, my idols had to be not only smart and admirable, but also pretty.
The one person who really brought Hermione to life for me then, and who also became one of my teenage idols, was Emma Watson. Right after seeing the second film (which was the first one I saw, strangely), I went my mum and asked her to cut my hair Hermione-style. So I ran around with straight bangs - and looked like an idiot.
Anyways, as Hermione changed looks after the second film, I did too, and inspired by Emma Watson's personal style, I grew interested in fashion too.

But to get back to the first films (and books); Hermione was quite snotty and bigheaded at the beginning - and I just admired that. The way she seemingly didn't care if anybody was harassing her, I was really jealous of that.
Then, when she locked herself in the bathroom because she was sad, I was close to crying. Though I always had a few close friends when I was smaller, I was more of an introvert because of various things, and the fact that I was always the best in my class wasn't helpful.
But then I found that Harry, Ron and Hermione - they all were very close friends, and they weren't in some big gang or something. So even their friendship became a role model for me, and made me realize that having a few really good friends is so much better than having many meh-friends.

Hermione also inspired me to take interest in school though it wasn't "cool", and though sometimes it was really boring because it was so easy. I also learned, especially through the third film/ book, that I couldn't do everything and say yes to everything. Just because you're smart it doesn't mean your energy isn't used up at some point.

Whenever I sat down and read for hours, and the thought crossed my mind that this was just too nerdy, thinking of Hermione reminded me that being nerdy wasn't something bad - it was okay, maybe it was even cool. Then, with the years I stopped reading that much and started watching movies, but it was still the same thing, and I still sometimes think of Hermione when I feel nerdy. Like right now, blogging... blogging about movies, analyzing movies - let's face it, it's nerdy!
But non-nerdy people are actually quite often jealous of us. And that's not just something I say to make me feel good, it's true, there are people who have told me this.

There are so many things that make Hermione one of my greatest heroes, that I'm not able to express them without writing a whole book about it. But there's one last thing I would like to mention at last: remember in one of the last books, when somebody asks Hermione what she wants to do when she's done with school? And you expect her to say something about a post in the ministry - but she says she wants to help people, maybe expand that Elf-organisation.

And that's when I truly realized that you should do what you want to and what you love, not what people expect you to.