that some Higher Power graces its presence upon my sorry being-what shall I do?
—sigh, don’t ask me where THAT came from. I’m in a strange mood (surprise) and I felt the need to vent a bit, even if i don’t know what sort of energy I’ve got stuck inside me. Just general annoyance, I suppose. I’d like to think that I’m pretty reasonable for the most part. I mean, we all have our pet peeves, but aside from my distaste of bland, senseless noise and finger taping, I’m cool.
I am now going to take issue with the fact that people have adapted to settle. And I don’t mean physically~because to each her own. I’m a hopefully traveller, but I get the appeal of having a reliable home base. And if that home base is in Stars Hollow, all the better! What i’m referring to is the apparent satisfaction people get when they under-expect (what’s the word?). What’s up with that?
I went to see the last HP (along with the rest of the world) last week and enjoyed it immensely. Not because the film was particularly good, but because I was ending a tradition of HP viewing that started years ago. And last week, the journey ended. I sobbed whenever Alan Rickman was onscreen and when I knew a death of a beloved character was about to occur. Why? Aside from Maggie Smith and Rickman’s enduring performances, I wasn’t terribly convinced by anyone else (the trio still had plenty to learn and it was obvious that that the veteran actors had only read the scripts–which were obvious collages of the original text). I cried because my childhood, in a way, had ended. I learned English by trekking through HP3 (the first book I picked up in the library) and had to deal with the confusion that “muggle”, was in fact not a real word (a fact i realized after consulting the dictionary). Harry was real to me, so were Ron and Hermione, even if they got on my nerves (as the latter frequently did. Ron’s always been my favourite. And Rupert Grint would not have been more perfect for the role, even if the script gave him no meat).
Anyway, to see the climax of the story condensed into more than just 2 hours was never going to be that good. The movie, though it hosted some brilliant scenes, felt like a long-winded series of snapshots. It felt long, even though it left so much out. They changed and added scenes, which made everything more chopped and confusing. WHY WHY WHY?! Some of the shots were obviously done for the sake of grandeur, for sheer “epicness”. And yet, it all fell way below the LOTR films, which were made a decade before.
So all in all, the HP franchise as a whole was enjoyable, but falls short of the novels (which also followed a slow descend. The latter half felt wordy-and try too hard.). Someone I know said to me “Your expectations are too high.” Maybe. But if I were to pay 14bucks for a movie, I’d better get my buck’s worth. Everyone knows that I’d never see an action movie at the theaters, expect for the upcoming Hobbit ones. I don’t regret seeing HP, because it was a tradition, but if it was any other film-I’d be pissed.
I took a break in the middle of writing this and have lost my steam. Sorry if non of it is coherent.
Kaity
3woodlandcreatures 