Harry Potter and the Giant Spoilers

Scott Hardie | July 21, 2007
Does anybody here read the book series? Besides Steve West I mean. I think at least one author does, since I regrettably spoiled part of book six for her. Well, she may want to stay away from this discussion until she finishes the final book.

I just wonder if anybody has any comments on the ending of this cultural phenomenon that has lasted for nearly a decade. There are still two more movies I suppose, but I predict they will be slightly but noticeably less successful now that the series has been resolved in print and the dramatic tension is dissipated.

The plot summary on Wikipedia is the closest I'll come to reading it. I care nothing about the series beyond seeing each film once. I think Rowling has done some of the best world-building of any popular literature, and we'll remember this series as a cultural milestone from this decade, even those of us who haven't sampled it.

I just saw Order of the Phoenix and liked it, even though it had the same aggravating shortcoming that plagues most Potter installments, which is that the hero's salvation is constantly provided by the adults and capable children around him, rather than he himself. He fights off the Dementors in the beginning and he wills Voldemort out of his mind at the end, but all of the numerous other times his life is in danger throughout, it is others who save him and defeat his foes for him. Since I consider this the major failing of the series, I was glad to read in the book seven summary that Harry's defeat of Voldemort is apparently due to his own wisdom and decisions, taking advantage of the villain's poor judgment and eagerness to kill him. It ought to make for a terrific movie someday.

For me, this series has the opposite of the Star Trek Syndrome: The odd films are all good and the even films are both lousy. I look forward to seeing if the pattern holds up twice more.