If you follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook, then you probably know that I went and saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 early last Friday. I contemplated attending one of the Order of the Phoenix/Half Blood Prince/Deathly Hallows Part 1 marathon showings they were having in theaters Thursday night, but I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to stay up that long. So instead I got up nice and early and saw it with a moderate sized crowd. When Goblet of Fire came out, I was up in Jackson, Mississippi so I went and saw the movie alone, and since then it's been practically a ritual to see it that way. The good part is that I get to cry when the sad moments come without anybody seeing me. In DHP1, I was practically sobbing at a certain moment. The couple sitting in front of me were actually laughing. I think it was because the woman burped loudly a moment before. At least I severely hope they weren't laughing at me.
I came into the Harry Potter series a little late. I remember in the early days that it was sort of off my radar.. this book that apparently a lot of kids loved. The cover art did nothing to attract me, and let's face it, kids like really stupid things sometimes. Then the first movie came out, and thanks to a descrambler that we had at that point, I caught bits and pieces of it on pay per view a lot. I got to talking about it with a friend of mine, and he assured me that the books were not childish at all and in fact awesome. I saw one more friend with one of the books in hand who also gave it a glowing review and that was enough. I was able to get all of them through Order of the Phoenix on paperback, and then patiently waited for the last two books and now of course the films.
I thought about the possibility of reviewing DHP1 on here, as I pretty much do with anything I watch/read/play these days. The problem is that seeing these movies, I'm basically just waiting to see certain scenes in the book come to life, and I really can't judge them from an open view point, certainly not on the first viewing. Plus, I haven't read Deathly Hallows since it came out so talking accurately about what they left out or how they represented certain moments would be practically impossible.
So I've come up with another idea. I'm going to read each book, then watch the movie adaptation right afterward. This is NOT going to be a marathon, as I would probably lose my mind if I attempted to go through all of these quickly. I'll read the books as free time allows, giving updates on Twitter on about where I am in case you want to read along, and when I finish I will also mention when I'm going to watch the movie. If enough people are interested, I'll attempt to do another live watch via friendfeed. Once that's done I'll do a review of the book and movie, doing my best to separate spoilery things from nonspoilery things for anyone who is coming into the series late. If all goes well I'll be finished in time for Deathly Hallows Part 2 in July, but at the worst it'll at least get timed with the DVD/Blu-ray release.
Oh fun!! Bill and I have been rewatching the movies (we're going to go see it this weekend), and in January I'm going to re-read the series, but in my British paperbacks. :)
ReplyDeleteOkay, I have to ask: which part had you crying? I was entertained, yet largely unmoved; likely owing either to the fact that I stopped reading the books after Goblet of Fire, or that I am unfeeling robot. In case the latter is the cause, I am interested in learning more about the emotional responses of humans. Enlighten me.
ReplyDeleteI think I cry more for characters in long running series than I do for real people. What that says about me, feel free to judge.
ReplyDeleteSpoilers ahoy! (Jen, you in particular probably don't want to read since you haven't watched the movie yet and there are some scenes not in the book).
I shed a single tear when Hermoine was erasing her parents' memories. I spent the scene where the locket is tormenting Ron near tears and saying in my head "Be brave, Ron!!" until he summoned the courage to do so (Ron is my favorite of the main three). But mostly... oh, Dobby. I didn't even like him before Deathly Hallows. He was annoying for the most part in Chamber of Secrets, and I always thought the whole SPEW storyline in the books was a bit unnecessary and preachy. But he gave that brave little speech, and then he gets stabbed and the things he said while Harry was holding him dying.. and then poor Harry, in his grief, insisting on giving him a proper burial.. it was heart breaking for me. I had pretty much the same reaction when I first read the book too.