Harry Potter Marathon: A Memoir

[This was originally posted on my personal blog, here, a few weeks ago, when Harry Potter 7.2 came out. I thought it might be nice to add it here, too.]

Fine. Not really a memoir. More like a paragraph. Or maybe just a few.

I watched all 7 of the previous Harry Potter movies this week, in preparation of the final film, Deathly Hallows Part Two. Having read all the books and seen all of the movies previously, of course, I had experienced the whole story before. But, I hadn’t experienced it in such a short period of time. Having now seen all 8 movies in a single week (over 20 amazing hours, by the way, all together), the story is not only clearer, but much more enjoyable than it is piecemeal, one book/movie every year or so. The same is true for me of TV series, when watched in the course of a few weeks, rather than over several months or even years (it took 11 years to make all the movies).

Seeing the development of Harry and his friends, of the professors, of Hogwarts itself, of the whole wizarding world, is truly epic. JK Rowling has told one of the most incredible, sweeping, and accessible stories of her time, I think. There are a number of great epic stories, but how many of them appeal to hundreds of millions of people, on both page and screen?

The unity of the films is remarkable, especially considering that they were created by, among countless others, four different directors, six cinematographers, four composers, and five different editors. The glue is a number of people combined – beginning with Rowling, of course, overseeing it all – but one person seems to stand out to me: Stuart Craig designed the sets for all 8 movies. The movies wouldn’t be Harry Potter without perfect sets. Every Hogwarts building, Quidditch field, Diagon Alley, Room of Requirement, house common room, the Hogwarts Express – I could go on for days here – are designed with the utmost attention to detail.

The artistry in all aspects of the movies is rich and beautiful in every way. From the script to the costumes to the computer graphics. The only bad part is that, in some sense, it has to end. The closure at the end of the story helps in some way to deal with the fact that there won’t be any more new Harry Potter books or movies. But, we can keep reading and watching them, experiencing the story and the wizarding world time and time again.

Now, I think I might just have to reread all the books (and The Tales of Beedle the Bardand Harry Potter Schoolbooks: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them / Quidditch Through the Ages, which I’ve somehow never read)! And play Pottermore! And visit the Wizarding World theme park in Orlando! (I seriously cannot wait to do that.) The list goes on. The point is: even though there (probably) won’t be any new books or movies in the Harry Potter story, the story itself never ends, the wizarding world never goes away, and Rowling has done a great job of making sure that it never will.

P.S. If I could, I would totally read the book Rita Skeeter wrote about Dumbledore (The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore) after his death. What I’m saying is this: Ms. Rowling, please bring us this book, so we can read it. All 900 pages. Thank you.