Pottery Lessons
Harry Potter mania has once again reawakened in the form of a new movie and the upcoming final book.
Unfortunately, the first salvo was a dud. We went to see the movie last Saturday and was it a clunker! HP 5 was a dizzyingly fast-paced movie, and the production seemed based on cliff notes rather than the actual tale. That's why it presented viewers with a Catch-22 dilemma:
If you have read the entire HP series, you'll know that watching HP and the OotP is like reading the book in fast-forward mode. Some important scenes were glossed over, and some entirely reinterpreted. This wasn't supposed to be like this. harry was supposed to be an angry young man in this episode, but what we see borders more on confused, which the audience readily relates to from the opening credits till the copyright notice.
For those who braved the movie yet haven't picked up the book, the movie won't make much sense. I'll even stop trying to explain.
--
I hope for everybody's sake that the book series ends with a flourish. But from the looks of it, JK Rowling has worked on the last three books with a sense of obligation rather than a need to weave a magical story. It's like opening up an appliance to repair it and discovering midway that you have no idea how to repair or that there's nothing you can do. You resolve to finish it but end up taking your time in putting it back together.
Don't get me wrong: I still love the Harry Potter books though. It's just that sky-high expectations were created the moment it became a bestseller. Normally, you have the whole thing finished before you release it to the public, but JK Rowling became famous in the midst of writing. Now it's impossible for her to follow her own vision without some marketing person or a publisher's assistant telling her what sells. I believe she does have final say, but on the way, some quarters may have been dutifully given to those riding her coattails.
I can't fault her for that. It's just harry got too big too soon for the story to end.
By the way, remember the famous prophecy?
‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…’
Is it me or has everybody been misled to think that it's between Harry and Voldemort? This is a classic case of a need to read between the lines. I think the phrase that one of them has to die is about the two people born on the same day -- Harry and Neville. One of them has to die at the hands of the other so that the survivor can finish off Voldemort.
(You heard it here first, before the last book is out.)
This is just my humble conspiracy theory. Of course, if i'm wrong, nothing the worse. I didn't even notice that Bruce Willis was wearing the same blue shirt the night he was shot the whole time in The Sixth Sense until it was pointed out to me.
EPILOGUE:
I did manage to spend the whole of saturday reading the book. Thankfully, JK Rowling was able to tie all the loose ends together -- some may say too conveniently. But otherwise, it was a page-turner, and i was holding on tight to the book as every chapter seemed to give notice to another death of a character.
And yes, i predicted wrongly. The prophecy was an afterthought the whole book. and Neville came on board late in the story.
Unfortunately, the first salvo was a dud. We went to see the movie last Saturday and was it a clunker! HP 5 was a dizzyingly fast-paced movie, and the production seemed based on cliff notes rather than the actual tale. That's why it presented viewers with a Catch-22 dilemma:
If you have read the entire HP series, you'll know that watching HP and the OotP is like reading the book in fast-forward mode. Some important scenes were glossed over, and some entirely reinterpreted. This wasn't supposed to be like this. harry was supposed to be an angry young man in this episode, but what we see borders more on confused, which the audience readily relates to from the opening credits till the copyright notice.
For those who braved the movie yet haven't picked up the book, the movie won't make much sense. I'll even stop trying to explain.
--
I hope for everybody's sake that the book series ends with a flourish. But from the looks of it, JK Rowling has worked on the last three books with a sense of obligation rather than a need to weave a magical story. It's like opening up an appliance to repair it and discovering midway that you have no idea how to repair or that there's nothing you can do. You resolve to finish it but end up taking your time in putting it back together.
Don't get me wrong: I still love the Harry Potter books though. It's just that sky-high expectations were created the moment it became a bestseller. Normally, you have the whole thing finished before you release it to the public, but JK Rowling became famous in the midst of writing. Now it's impossible for her to follow her own vision without some marketing person or a publisher's assistant telling her what sells. I believe she does have final say, but on the way, some quarters may have been dutifully given to those riding her coattails.
I can't fault her for that. It's just harry got too big too soon for the story to end.
By the way, remember the famous prophecy?
‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…’
Is it me or has everybody been misled to think that it's between Harry and Voldemort? This is a classic case of a need to read between the lines. I think the phrase that one of them has to die is about the two people born on the same day -- Harry and Neville. One of them has to die at the hands of the other so that the survivor can finish off Voldemort.
(You heard it here first, before the last book is out.)
This is just my humble conspiracy theory. Of course, if i'm wrong, nothing the worse. I didn't even notice that Bruce Willis was wearing the same blue shirt the night he was shot the whole time in The Sixth Sense until it was pointed out to me.
EPILOGUE:
I did manage to spend the whole of saturday reading the book. Thankfully, JK Rowling was able to tie all the loose ends together -- some may say too conveniently. But otherwise, it was a page-turner, and i was holding on tight to the book as every chapter seemed to give notice to another death of a character.
And yes, i predicted wrongly. The prophecy was an afterthought the whole book. and Neville came on board late in the story.
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