Conversation with the Literary Critics

[malsperanza]

Me: I liked it better than the last one, on the whole.

The Pureblood Slytherin 6-Year-Old: Dumbledore dies!

Me: Yes, very sad--

The Pureblood Slytherin 6-Year-Old: Draco is a Death Eater! He will kill Harry Potter!

Me: You are beginning to sound like Dobby the House-elf.

The Self-Confident Teenager: He hasn't even read it yet.

Me: But you told him spoilers?

The Self-Confident Teenager: Oh yeah, like he cares about spoilers.

Me: Point. So, did you like it?

The Elegant 10-Year-Old: I didn't want Dumbledore to die.

Me: But we knew he would, didn't we?

The Elegant 10-Year-Old: Not until the last book, though.

The Self-Confident Teenager: I hated all the dating stuff. It was boring.

Me: I agree.

The Self-Confident Teenager: Really boring.

Me: Because all of a sudden Harry is in love with Ginny, but we hardly even see Ginny, so what is he so interested in all of a sudden? I mean, I would have liked Harry and Ginny dating, if there had been any actual information about either of them being together, but there wasn't. Me, I'm still hoping he'll end up with Luna, because--

The Self-Confident Teenager: Nah, it was all boring, that part.

Me: Humph. How old are you? Reread it in six months and let me know if you change your mind.

The Self-Confident Teenager: You are condescending to me.

Me: It is the prerogative of aunts.

The Self-Confident Teenager: And all the stuff about Voldemort when he was younger, that was boring too.

Me: You weren't interested in how Voldemort got that way?

The Self-Confident Teenager: Well, he's evil, duh.

Me: Oh. Silly me. But at least Dumbledore explained some things to Harry. Harry deserved to know.

The Elegant 10-Year-Old: I liked Slughorn. He reminded me of Mr. Toad.

Me: Toad of Toad Hall? I think you're onto something there.

The Self-Confident Teenager: He was a jerk.

The Elegant 10-Year-Old: He was better than Umbridge.

The Self-Confident Teenager: There weren't enough new spells or weird animals and plants and exploding candy and stuff like that.

Me: The story does seem to be moving away from those comedic details. You didn't find the dating funny?

The Self-Confident Teenager: No, it was--

Me: Boring, right. But speaking of being reminded of things, was anyone bothered by all the scenes lifted from Lord of the Rings?

The Elegant 10-Year-Old: Dumbledore is a lot like Gandalf.

The Self-Confident Teenager: And Voldemort is kind of like Sauron.

Me: Oh yes, and that scene in the underground lake, with the wandlight like Gandalf's staff in Moria, and the Watcher in the Water with tentacles, and Dumbledore having to figure out how to open the door in the rock wall.

The Self-Confident Teenager: And the Dead Marshes were kind of there too. But it was still good, though.

Me: Borrow from the best, I always say. And one Underworld is much like another.

The Self-Confident Teenager: I liked when Dumbledore had to drink all that stuff and Harry lied to him. That was cool.

Me: Because Harry lied to him?

The Self-Confident Teenager: Yeah. I liked that. But Snape is definitely not evil.

Me: I don't see the connection, but I agree with you nevertheless.

The Self-Confident Teenager: Because Harry lies to Snape too.

Me: But--

The Elegant 10-Year-Old: I liked when Draco was in the bathroom with Moaning Myrtle. That was funny.

Me: Draco is getting more interesting, isn't he?

The Pureblood Slytherin 6-Year-Old: I like Draco.

The Elegant 10-Year-Old: You haven't even read it yet.

The Pureblood Slytherin 6-Year-Old: I still like Draco.

The Elegant 10-Year-Old: How can you like something when you haven't even read it yet?

Me (hastily): How did you both manage to read it on the first night?

The Elegant 10-Year-Old: We got two copies.

Me: Harry Potter and the Brilliant Marketing Campaign.

The Elegant 10-Year-Old: What?

Me: Nothing. What about Tonks and Lupin?

The Self-Confident Teenager: That was boring.

Me: And Bill and Fleur?

The Self-Confident Teenager: Boring.

Me: The part I thought was boring was that the first 400 pages were all just explanations of what was going on in the other 5 books. It didn't really start to get moving til Harry and Dumbledore go to the cave.

The Elegant 10-Year-Old: I miss Sirius.

Me: Me too.

The Self-Confident Teenager: Yeah.

The Pureblood Slytherin 6-Year-Old: Sirius is dead.

Me: Thank you for reminding us.




Elsewhere in the news, I was disappointed by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Not really a whole lot better than the first one. Not a great deal different from the first one, actually. Depp is mesmerizing to look at, but his choice of characterization (pure Michael Jackson, no shadow of a doubt) is quirky without being intriguing, and lacks the usual vivid sense Depp conveys of a sharp intelligence underneath all the goofiness. Like Edward Scissorhands without the, er, sharp edges, or Ed Wood without the passion to create.

And there isn't enough of him, which is part of the problem. There is a great deal too much of the Oompa Loompas. Why is it that every filmmaker in Hollywood dreams of remaking The Wizard of Oz, only better? Can't be done. Shouldn't be tried. Like remakes of Robin Hood *coughthepinkpanthercough*

Comments

[executrix.livejournal.com]

One Horcrux to rule them all and in the darkness bind them.

[idlerat.livejournal.com]

Ha... thanks for the transcript. I have to agree that the cave and the not-evil-Snape are related, structurally and thematically, because what Harry does to Dd in the cave is the same as what Snape does to Dd on the tower.

I am confused by your poll answers. Do you want to get together friday or not? you voted for restaurant, but said "no thanks" to a get together. And I would really like it if restaurant people had a suggestion, cuz finding a cheap place for a big group is hard (for me). Grumble.

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

I am still curious about why my nephew thinks that Harry lying is a good thing (other than the fact that my nephew is 14 and presumably thinks lying is a good thing in general).

Sorry, I think I hit the wrong poll buttons: Yes, I'm free on Friday to talk HP. Am torn between being bone lazy when it comes to traveling uptown and wanting a reasonably quiet venue.

Re restaurant: trying to think of a place that's reasonably quiet on a Friday night & open late & cheap. Hah. Well, here goes (stickin to my own hood here): there's a nice place called Turkuaz on 100th and Bway--big enough tables and a handsome view of the hole where a supermarket fell down the other day. Only thing is I have a feeling they do ugh belly dancing on Friday nights. There's Royal Curry, a perfectly decent one of those cheap Indian restaurants right by the 103d St subway--nothing special, but IIRC not noisy.

Or Flor de Mayo, on 101st, if we get there early enough to snag one of the few big tables. Or El Malecon, on 98th and Amst, v. cheap and good, but sometimes closes at 11 pm. Or Saigon Grill on 93d and Amst. Or there's Sipan (Peruvian), on 94th and Amst. but I think it's gotten pricy and probably noisy. For that matter, there's the old tried and true Abbey Pub on 105th st but it's baseball season so will be noisy. Japanese restaurants are always quiet if you reserve the tatami room--there's Lenge or Rikyu on Columbus in the 70s. Or La Caridad on about 75th and Bway, one of hte last of the Cuban-Chinese places (but Flor de Mayo is better food).

Or of course any large uninspiring Szechuan place bewtween 96th and the Bronx will do. The one I prefer is a small place called Ming's Wok, but there's also the Human Balcony, of course. Krik Krak is a great little Caribbean place on Amst and 101, but it might be too small for a group.

There's a surprisingly good cheap French bistro with outdoor tables near Columbia on 113th St... I forget the name and anyway, it will be packed on a Friday so forget that.

Or here's an idea: The restaurant inside Riverside Park at 105th st is dirt cheap (not literally) and has a great view. On 76th and Bway is Nico's, which is cheap and I love it--same owner as Big Nick's but has actual tables and plates & the floor is not packed dirt but actual tile, and good Greek food.

*keels over exhausted*

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

Heh, exackly.

[idlerat.livejournal.com]

Wow, ask and I shall receive! I can say off hand that I think a number of these will be too crowded, noisy, and or expensive on a Friday night- but some I do not know. There is the possibility of trying to make a reservation. The thing is, a restaurant works better for a group of up to, say, 6; after that, on a friday, it can be tough...

And I think if we're going to make it a restaurant, there may be a move to make it midtown, cuz people are coming from different places.

[thegraybook.livejournal.com]

Because all of a sudden Harry is in love with Ginny, but we hardly even see Ginny, so what is he so interested in all of a sudden? I mean, I would have liked Harry and Ginny dating, if there had been any actual information about either of them being together, but there wasn't.

I have been flipping through all the books trying to find a single scene where the two of them have a conversation about anything other than something one of them was already talking about with Ron or Hermione, and have come up with nothing. As I concluded earlier, I think JKR not all that keen on The Romance, and never really had any interest in building up a relationship between Harry and Ginny, or perhaps at any point sharing with us, perhaps, why Harry might like Ginny. You know, does she make him laugh or something? Do they have the same hatred of sporks? God knows, but she certainly has managed to produce a Harry/Ginny relationship so boring that even I didn't mind it. :>

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

Oh.



Midtown, eh? Inexpensive is not possible in midtown, unless maybe at Nick's, the not-too-bad Greek place on 9th ave.

[idlerat.livejournal.com]

See, I was thinking like a diner on 9th ave. I mean the important thing is not to get a good meal, but to have a place where everyone can sit down and talk...

I absolutely adore Grand Szechuan at 9th and 50th, which isn't expensive (certainly no more than Nick's). But again- big group, friday night.

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever seen an author put less effort into justifying an event. She might as well have included a headnote saying, "Well, they're 16 now, and I know there are 300 bazillion shippers out there who won't let me get through this book without some snogging and Harry having Urges and so forth, so here goes, yadda yadda."

For that matter, she is lackluster in the description of Tonks's sekrit passion for Lupin, which (as black_dog complains) makes that outcome about as heart-stirring as the death of Ararog, and not half as funny.

But before I lambaste her for this failure (or refusal) to give proper attention to Romance, I am willing to wonder if there is Purpose in it. The great theme of the HP is stated in no uncertain terms by Dumbledore, in the most explicitly Arthurian speech of the book: love is the weapon. Love can defeat any tyranny, political or personal.

"But I haven't got uncommon skill and power," said Harry [...]

"Yes, you have," said Dumbledore firmly. "You have a power that Voldemort has never had. You can--"

"I know!" said Harry impatiently. "I can love!" [...]

"Yes, Harry, you can love," said Dumbledore. [...]

"So when the prophecy says that I'll have 'power the Dark Lord knows not.' it just means -- love?" asked Harry, feeling a little let down.

"Yes -- just love." said Dumbledore. [...] "You have never been seduced by the Dark Arts, never, even for a second, shown the slightest desire to become one of Voldemort's followers! [...] You are protected, in short, by your ability to love. [...] The only protection that can possibly work against the lure of power like Voldemort's! In spite of all the temptation you have endured, all the suffering, you remain pure of heart..." (pp 509-11).

Well, the pure-of-heart stuff is a little icky, bordering on the sort of noble glop found in Victorian boy's adventure stories, which HP sometimes lampoons and sometimes resembles. ("Albert! be purity of character your duty!" as another satirist puts it.) But after all, Dumbledore is a man of his times, i.e., the 1860s (for large chunks of HBP, he sounds just like Holmes expositing to Watson), so who can blame him?

But this does suggest that the one thing JKR is unlikely to overlook or bungle is the description of Harry in love.

What Harry feels for Ginny isn't love, not even puppy love. It's 2 parts peer pressure, 3 parts hormones, and a dash of affection. And even that is portrayed with such an utter lack of interest on JKR's part that it can't be accidental. If we had seen Ginny growing more lovely, rather than simply being told that she was hot, their dating might have been a bit more plausible. Not only is Harry nearly indifferent; Ginny also doesn't seem terribly thrilled to be dating the captain of the football team, much less the Hero who saved the world (not to mention her). The degree of distance from the reader is so extreme that I can only hope it's deliberate.

And so I return to my harebrained notion that Luna Lovegood is worth keeping an eye on. She is there in the wings, speaking truth to power in the most uncomfortable way. Fingers crossed that JKR will know how to write a real love scene when it actually matters.