30 Days of HP Meme
I was *so* not going to do this...but what can I say? Add me to the flock....baaaa!!
01. Discuss how you got into Harry Potter
02. Your favorite book
03. What house would you be in?
04. Your favorite movie
05. Wizard Rock: discuss
06. Your favorite character(s)
07. Song that reminds you of HP
08. Your favorite ship(s)
09. Fanfiction: discuss
10. Favorite book moment(s)
11. Character you're crushing on
12. Favorite movie scene
13. Least favorite character(s)
14. Moments in the books/movies that made you cry
15. Whatever tickles your fancy
16. How have you participated in the fandom over the years?
17. Your favorite celebs from the movies or fandom
18. If you could change one thing about canon, what would it be?
19. A favorite fanart
20. A favorite quote
21. How has the HP fandom connected you to other fandoms, interests, or people?
22. Your favorite villain
23. Share some HP icons
24. Rant about Steve Kloves something
25. Song that reminds you of HP
26. What aspect of the books has been best translated to film?
27. What aspect of the books has been most poorly translated to film?
28. Hogwarts subject you would most like to take
29. Favorite location
30. Whatever tickles your fancy
01. Discuss how you got into Harry Potter
Okay. So I was another of those people who was adamant that I was *not* going to get sucked into the whole "Harry Potter Phenomenon" when it was seemingly sweeping the entire country. I was mid-way through college when the books really took off in the US, and I vividly remember several of my dorm mates spending hours reading them and discussing them, and I would always sort of look askance and wonder why college age students were reading what I *thought* was simply young adult fiction.
Internally, I would scoff because, after all, I had picked up Sorcerer's Stone three or four times while browsing in a bookstore and, in an attempt to get into the series, I had read the first few chapters and bits and bobs from the middle. Frankly, I wasn't terribly impressed, thought it was over-hyped, and always ended up putting the book down without buying it.
I think a lot of this had to do also with my devoted love for another series, which at the time (when I freely admit I didn't know any better :D), I felt JKR was coming a little too close to mimicking. This was The Dark Is Rising Sequence. They were written in the 1960's and 1970's by Susan Cooper and *they* had been to me what Harry Potter was to - it seemed - absolutely everyone else. I had read them in junior high and early high school, but they were easily books that had appeal for adults as well because they were so well-written and, frankly, rather dark. When I first read them they were the sort of experience that you almost had to read all in one sitting - I could barely ever put them down and wasn't allowed to read them till after I'd done all my homework for the day, because I would not have stopped.
They centered on an unassuming British boy who found out that he was magical when he turned eleven. You can see why I thought there were some similarities, yes?
There were also other bits of The Dark Is Rising that seemed to be echoed in what I heard about Harry Potter...in The Dark is Rising the boy, Will, is led through his initiation into magic by a wise older magical person (they didn't use the term wizard in the books) with a bushy white beard; Will is the youngest son of a huge family who live in a ramshackle house and have a pair of twins amongst the other children; eventually Will's adventures lead him to seek a number of hidden magical symbols; and at one point he encounters a boy who's hair is so blond as to nearly be white - this character is rather standoffish at first but they eventually become friends (now *there*'s a difference from HP!).
I suppose, out of some sort of misplaced possessiveness I foolishly saw HP as a "threat" to my beloved series. I freely admit, looking back on it, that this was more than a bit silly and now feel rather sheepish about it. But what finally changed my mind and hooked me on the HP books was actually the films. I went to see the first one with a friend and was utterly charmed by the world that had been created and I started to feel the first feelings of "maybe I should give the books another try." But it wasn't until the movie for Prisoner of Azkaban had been released that I completely fell in love. I *had* to go back and read them and so I started buying the books one at a time and reading them slowly.
I think that one of the reasons I've always felt more charitably towards the movie versions is because they were what made me give the series a second (or, well, alright, more like fifth) chance, and because I didn't go into the film of Sorcerer's Stone with any expectations whatsoever about what it should be like.
So, that's my very long-winded explanation of how I finally came to see the light and understand the true marvel and wonder that is HP and to realize that I had room to love more than one book series deeply :D. (I *do* still recommend the Dark is Rising though, if you haven't read them...they're fab...though be warned, the first one, "Over Sea, Under Stone," is kind of slow and you don't meet Will until the second one. Also, do *not* go to the movie of this one...it was awful and nothing like the book!).
01. Discuss how you got into Harry Potter
02. Your favorite book
03. What house would you be in?
04. Your favorite movie
05. Wizard Rock: discuss
06. Your favorite character(s)
07. Song that reminds you of HP
08. Your favorite ship(s)
09. Fanfiction: discuss
10. Favorite book moment(s)
11. Character you're crushing on
12. Favorite movie scene
13. Least favorite character(s)
14. Moments in the books/movies that made you cry
15. Whatever tickles your fancy
16. How have you participated in the fandom over the years?
17. Your favorite celebs from the movies or fandom
18. If you could change one thing about canon, what would it be?
19. A favorite fanart
20. A favorite quote
21. How has the HP fandom connected you to other fandoms, interests, or people?
22. Your favorite villain
23. Share some HP icons
24. Rant about Steve Kloves something
25. Song that reminds you of HP
26. What aspect of the books has been best translated to film?
27. What aspect of the books has been most poorly translated to film?
28. Hogwarts subject you would most like to take
29. Favorite location
30. Whatever tickles your fancy
01. Discuss how you got into Harry Potter
Okay. So I was another of those people who was adamant that I was *not* going to get sucked into the whole "Harry Potter Phenomenon" when it was seemingly sweeping the entire country. I was mid-way through college when the books really took off in the US, and I vividly remember several of my dorm mates spending hours reading them and discussing them, and I would always sort of look askance and wonder why college age students were reading what I *thought* was simply young adult fiction.
Internally, I would scoff because, after all, I had picked up Sorcerer's Stone three or four times while browsing in a bookstore and, in an attempt to get into the series, I had read the first few chapters and bits and bobs from the middle. Frankly, I wasn't terribly impressed, thought it was over-hyped, and always ended up putting the book down without buying it.
I think a lot of this had to do also with my devoted love for another series, which at the time (when I freely admit I didn't know any better :D), I felt JKR was coming a little too close to mimicking. This was The Dark Is Rising Sequence. They were written in the 1960's and 1970's by Susan Cooper and *they* had been to me what Harry Potter was to - it seemed - absolutely everyone else. I had read them in junior high and early high school, but they were easily books that had appeal for adults as well because they were so well-written and, frankly, rather dark. When I first read them they were the sort of experience that you almost had to read all in one sitting - I could barely ever put them down and wasn't allowed to read them till after I'd done all my homework for the day, because I would not have stopped.
They centered on an unassuming British boy who found out that he was magical when he turned eleven. You can see why I thought there were some similarities, yes?
There were also other bits of The Dark Is Rising that seemed to be echoed in what I heard about Harry Potter...in The Dark is Rising the boy, Will, is led through his initiation into magic by a wise older magical person (they didn't use the term wizard in the books) with a bushy white beard; Will is the youngest son of a huge family who live in a ramshackle house and have a pair of twins amongst the other children; eventually Will's adventures lead him to seek a number of hidden magical symbols; and at one point he encounters a boy who's hair is so blond as to nearly be white - this character is rather standoffish at first but they eventually become friends (now *there*'s a difference from HP!).
I suppose, out of some sort of misplaced possessiveness I foolishly saw HP as a "threat" to my beloved series. I freely admit, looking back on it, that this was more than a bit silly and now feel rather sheepish about it. But what finally changed my mind and hooked me on the HP books was actually the films. I went to see the first one with a friend and was utterly charmed by the world that had been created and I started to feel the first feelings of "maybe I should give the books another try." But it wasn't until the movie for Prisoner of Azkaban had been released that I completely fell in love. I *had* to go back and read them and so I started buying the books one at a time and reading them slowly.
I think that one of the reasons I've always felt more charitably towards the movie versions is because they were what made me give the series a second (or, well, alright, more like fifth) chance, and because I didn't go into the film of Sorcerer's Stone with any expectations whatsoever about what it should be like.
So, that's my very long-winded explanation of how I finally came to see the light and understand the true marvel and wonder that is HP and to realize that I had room to love more than one book series deeply :D. (I *do* still recommend the Dark is Rising though, if you haven't read them...they're fab...though be warned, the first one, "Over Sea, Under Stone," is kind of slow and you don't meet Will until the second one. Also, do *not* go to the movie of this one...it was awful and nothing like the book!).