I finished college this December,
and the whole time I had one thing in mind: I wanted to re read the
whole Harry Potter series after graduating. I was going through a major reading
slump, writing your final thesis leaves you tired like that, and I bought my
brand new HP box set six months earlier, so it was the perfect opportunity.
What did I learn during this
re read? First things first: I was relying on the movies too much. A whole lot,
actually. There were so many key elements that made the Harry Potter books better
than the movies, and I’ve forgotten them all, even though this was definitely
not my first time revisiting the novels.
On this point, let’s start with
the obvious: Ron. Ron hatred is actually quite common in the HP fandom. He can
come off as a jealous mommy’s boy, and sometimes he lets his emotions get the
best of him. Even though I had my
problems with Ron, I was never on the “I hate Ron Weasley band-wagon”. Re
reading the whole series, I could see more clearly his character development, and
honestly he’s a much better friend than the movies show us. It is well known
some of Hermione’s moving lines in the movies were actually Ron’s in the books,
for example:
 |
| Hermione: If you want to kill Harry, you’ll have to kill us, too! |
So yeah, I took a brand new
liking to Ron, now that the movies’ characterisation was replaced by JK Rowling’s.
I still had one problem though, and that is, Ron is kind of a sexist.
Especially, when Hermione and Ginny are concerned. He actually almost calls
Ginny a slut, is constantly wondering who she’s with and pretty much stalks
Hermione every time she gets close to a boy, even if said boy is Harry.
Moving on from Ron, I learned to
love a character that was utterly ruined in the movies, and that’s Ginny. God,
I love Ginny. She’s fierce, has principles, loves her friends, gives Luna a
chance and it’s not afraid to step back when Harry needs her to. Plus, she
couldn’t give a damn about anybody’s opinion on her choices, and I love her for
that. Also, I now ship Harry/Ginny, and that didn’t happen the first time I
read about their relationship.
Sirius was another character that
strike me slightly different while re reading. I found him quite annoying and was 100% on Mrs.
Weasley and Hermione’s side on his obsession with Harry and James’
similarities. I mourned his death though, it gets me every time.
Speaking of death, I have also
found a new appreciation for Dumbledore. We all know Michael Gambon took a
different turn when he stepped in as Hogwarts’ Headmaster. Gambon’s Dumbledore
was a little more unattached and well, ruder, that book-Dumbledore. Because of
this “newfound” Dumbledore the books presented me, I freaking cried my eyes out
when he died. I know I had a similar reaction when I first read Half-Blood
Prince, but since I had long read it, this time it really hit me. Especially
when Fawkes starts singing, oh God.
 |
| Never forget |
Anyways, that’s pretty much
everything I learned during this re read. There’s probably more but I don’t
want to bore you to be honest. Harry Potter will always have a special place in
my heart, I actually never EVER EVER re read books. But when it comes to HP, I
rarely have a choice.
What about you? Did you ever re read the Harry Potter series? Do you agree with me on these notes, or have something else to add? Please let me know!
Post a Comment