Harry Potter VII, Part I: Making us grow up too quickly
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I remember the first time I was introduced to Harry Potter. It was in 6th grade and my middle school teacher decided to end class by reading fifteen minutes from the first Harry Potter novel. From the first few pages, I was already enraptured by JK Rowling's imaginative writing style. She allowed me to go to a world where owls delivered letters, where people could use magic to fly, and where children could save the world. Like most in my generation who grew up reading the series, I was eager to see how the last novel would be depicted by Hollywood. As Harry and his friends battled monsters, defeated evil wizards, and confronted perhaps one of the most terrifying parts of growing up –young love – I too matured through the years. Yet each time a new book or movie came out, I always turned to Harry to return to my childhood and to take refuge from the "real world." However, the newest film was a mix of excitement and disappointment. While the movie certainly captured the more thrilling aspects of the final book, it also injected some inappropriate scenes that added very little to the overall plot and detracted from the magical essence of Rowling's writing.
There were two scenes in particular that could have and perhaps should have been cut from the 150-minute film. The first was the Harry and Ginny scene the morning of the wedding. While I definitely understand that adolescence is filled with a good share of awkward moments, I don't think that having Harry zip up Ginny's dress really conveys this. What happened to Rowling's birthday scene? In that scene, Ginny tells Harry, "I couldn't think of what to get you, I didn't know what would be useful. Nothing too big, because you wouldn't be able to take it with you. So then I thought, I'd like you to have something to remember me by, you know, if you meet some veela when you're off doing whatever your doing." This endearing flirtation is followed by Ginny's present – a passionate kiss.
I would have appreciated this awkwardness much more. I think what made the movie scene uncomfortable to watch was the lack of anxiety on the part of Harry and the ease with which he zips up his girlfriend's dress, as if he has done this many times before. Unlike the scene in the movie, the one originally written by Rowling would have allowed all of us to remember what it was like when we were that age – feeling crazy butterflies and anxiety when you are alone with the person you like.
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