I won't lie, in my opinion the advertising campaign for this reunion was not really great, unless the idea was to keep it secret as long as possible. In which case: success! Until the trailer came out I did not realize that is has been 20 years, and well, this universe is around us in many ways, from the books, obviously, the movies, the remakes, the musicals, the stage play, the continuation in the Fantastic Beasts (2016-) film series, the theme parks and the never ending line of toys and stationary. If I had a penny for every time I saw someone with a Harry Potter tattoo over the years, I would probably have the money to go the theme park! More than this I look forward to the 40th and 50th anniversaries, because I am very curious to see how many more generations will be impacted by this story one way or another. So, before reading my next paragraphs, I do recommend you check out the reunion first.
I have a lot to say on the topic, but I divided it into subtopics, because I wanted to make sure not to miss anything. As I was watching the reunion, thousands of thoughts kept running around in my head. I am currently listening to several podcasts about old shows and they all reveal so many things about the emotional state of actors, that it is impossible for me to turn that off when I watching these kinds of reunions. So many more emotions go into it, as much as we would like to pretend that there are actors and then separate from them there are the parts they are playing, in reality, these get often mashed together. The best way to measure that is how fans keep acting as if the actors were in fact the characters they portray. And if anyone, child actors are constantly submitted to this kind of line blurring, as was the case with Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. It was an interesting experience, sort of like an Actors on Actors interview series, rather than any other reunion I had seen. (As a matter of fact, this makes me wish they had not included James Corden into the Friends: The Reunion, but would have instead let the actors just talk to each other through the whole special.)
Book vs. Film
If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you know that I haven't read the books for the longest time. Honestly, my reptile phobia is still a major issues, so even when I watched the movies I needed somebody to be with me and let me know when I can look at the screen again. The fact that there was not enough creativity, despite the fact that this whole world is MAGICAL, from changing the stupid spiders and snakes into literally ANYTHING else, is a beef that I am just not willing to let go of. That having been said, the books have not been, for the longest time, connected to me in any emotional way, not in the way that the movies have been. I know that people did not like the movies, but I was never hard on them. I got to go to this magical place for two hours, enjoy the fantasy and the adventure, and return to my world any time I wanted to. This is something the actors did not experience, but I will talk about that later on. As a final note on the topic: the people who were writing the script also suffered from the plain and simple fact that there was yet no end to the story. If you compare this to other adaptations, there is no question about the fact that those movies that are made from major franchises that have concluded already, are much better received. The phenomenon that Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone/the Sorcerer's Stone (1997) ended up being was quite unpredictable, and of course they wished to make it into a movie much before the seventh book came out. More than anything I am patient with the adaptations for this one reason, and if they were to remake these books, knowing the ending, the small details that lead up to the end conflict, the deaths and interactions that define the main characters, as well as the evolving romantic relationship among the leads. I actually will always look upon these actors as the incarnation of these characters, but I am open to any new adaptations, simply because this is a beautiful universe, and every time I see an adaptation, I just feel like I have the chance to look into another reader's mind and see their interpretation and it is fascinating.
Let's Not Forget J.K. Rowling
A lot of controversy is surrounding this woman right now, and I do not wish to add to that in anyway. I do not like her remarks and it is very important that we look at the amount of people one celebrity can touch with a tweet: there are consequences. That having been said, as I have not read the books for years, for me this universe is very loosely connected to its author. For me, Harry Potter is the actors that brought it to life, and the directors that helped them along the way. I cannot pretend that this author is not to be thanked for the fact that this universe was invented in the first place, and for that, I am grateful. It has brought so much joy to the people I love, and it brought about friendships, communities, trends that were, undeniably, beneficial in a society that loves to argue and to debate and, most of all, to hate online. Going to Hogwarts, either through the books, or the movies is something remarkable that people of all ages have experienced. However, because the movies have a much more important place in my heart, I did look forward to this reunion, and as such I really have no issues "distancing" myself from Rowling, as she was almost more of a name, then an actual person to me. I would like to emphasize how disgusted I am about her remarks, of course, I do not know if cancel culture will actual solve this one, because the problem with cancel culture is that it cannot really be applied in every situation, despite the fact that we keep doing it. We should have conversations about these issues, teach people of all generations about the consequences of their inflexible nature, and help them learn instead of "cancelling" them. This all having been said, I would like to add a small messages to all of those who looked up to Rowling and whose childhood was impacted by these books: I'm sorry. I am so effing sorry this is happening. I have had things from my childhood taken retrospectively because people out there can be quite shitty, so I know the pain. But, we go on. Just remember, be part of the conversation and do not just "cancel" without reflection: the only way to educate people is by talking about these issues.
The Reunion
I really loved this special. The reason for that is was a small documentary, but more than that, it was like a DVD special. AND I LOVE DVD SPECIALS! We all love to see the actors that conveyed the characters that meant so much to us to admit that it meant a lot to them too. Obviously most of these are built up to work up the nostalgia in us, to get us to feel things, and well, it worked with me. I do not think, actually, that there was one single dry eye in the house when Robbie Coltrane said: "The legacy of the movies is, I suspect, that my children's generation will show them to their children. So you could be watching it in 50 years' time, easy. I'll not be here, sadly, but... But Hagrid will, yes." We have, quite literally, grown up with these actors. They are all actually my age, my generation, and every time they talk about these movies and their experience it does feel like a class reunion for me. I am fortunate to live at a time on this planet when so many beautiful milestones in popular culture have embedded themselves in our history. Of course, the kind of fan service that most of these reunions are based on lately is not for everyone, but if you have seen as many DVD extras as I have, you can easily see the thoughts and the built up in the mind of the director, and appreciate it for what it really is: a glance behind the curtains. I cannot wait for the 30th anniversary, maybe we'll get some other actors to tell us more stories of their time at Hogwarts.
Would you like to see a new adaptation? Or would you prefer they continue the Fantastic Beasts series (despite a whole new bunch of controversies and issues!)? I am very curious about where everyone else stands on these issues.
Thank you for reading, have a great day.
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