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[cblj_backup]

Coworker: I saw the new Harry Potter movie last night.
Sam: Oh! How was it?
Coworker: It made me want to buy a lot of cable-knit sweaters.

This is kind of how I feel about Harry Potter. I really want to be enthusiastic, but I'm mostly thinking about sweaters.

Today the first part of Deathly Hallows opens in cinemas in the US. I'm sad that I'm so indifferent to it, because Harry Potter was a big fandom for me, and now it's not. I still haven't seen Order Of The Phoenix; I missed out completely on when it opened, and then later on when I tried to watch it on DVD I got bored.

Don't get me wrong, it's not really that my opinions (many and varied) have changed; it's just, my interest has waned. I came to the realisation a while ago that I hadn't really enjoyed the books after book three; they got thick and kind of unwieldy and they played to tropes that, while perfectly legitimate on their own, didn't interest me. I kept reading because there were characters I liked and I wanted to see what JK Rowling did with them, but essentially what she did was first ignore and then kill them. Which is her right, as the author, but as a reader it failed to satisfy me.

I do like seeing fans enjoying the movies and books, and I'm glad that they satisfy for some. I don't mean to harsh anyone's squee. I'm just...thinking about what I've left behind, I guess.

Comments

[celticangel76.livejournal.com]

I go see it tonight and I'm so excited! I don't care that I'm 33 - I'm still wearing my Slytherin tie and bringing the wand I got from Ollivander's in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I hope you enjoy it! WAVE THAT WAND.

[itcamefromjapan.livejournal.com]

I have to say, I enjoyed Deathly Hallows way more than I expected to - I was looking forward to the experience of dressing up and doing the midnight show thing, since I've never gotten to do that for any of the Potter movies, but I wasn't anticipating anything too special from the film itself (especially after HBP, which I found fairly unremarkable). And certainly it had its flaws, but overall I think it was pretty damn fantastic. I can't wait to see it again.

[(Anonymous)]

YEP!

I didn't care much at all for the last two books, and weirdly enough HBP and DH (part 1 at least) are my favorite movies of the lot now.

I seriously had the thought while watching DH last night that JKR must have written this book with movies very firmly in mind. Either that or they adapted it really well! It also helped that the kids (no longer kids) have become muuuuch better actors now..

I loved it! Squeeee

[katyjo.livejournal.com]

The jumpers are the best bit, I agree.

[rockangel7011.livejournal.com]

Lots and lots of plaid, as well.

It was a pretty good movie though, and a better adaptation that most of the others.

[chewipaka.livejournal.com]

It was also... better than the book, I think. I mean, I haven't reread the book since it came out, and the book suffered from pacing issues. The movie suffered from pacing issues, but I wasn't quite as bored during the movie than I was during the book.

Which... come to think of it, is not that great of a recommendation. It's a pretty terrible recommendation, actually.

So yes, the sweaters were awesome. Also, those kids grew up to be attractive.

[pocky_slash.livejournal.com]

I've been feeling the same way, to be honest. I realized at the end of OOtP that I really didn't have NEARLY as much interest in Harry and co as I did in MWPP, and once they were all dead or disregarded, the books lost most of their re-read value for me. I mean, I was superficially interested in the saga in that I wanted to see where it went, but, ultimately, I realized it wasn't a story I cared about very much when you removed the characters that sparked my interest. (This is, btw, what happens to all of my fandoms. If I have a character I love and relate to and want to read and write fic about, that character WILL be killed off/written out/ignored. I've accepted it. Sort of.)

I WANT to be excited, because HP was a huge part of my life when it was a part of my life, but I can't afford to go to the movies right now and I can't say I'm that torn up that I'm missing it.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was mostly interested in the grownups, and they're sort of...well, they're in the books, but not so much in the films after book three...

[tesseract-5.livejournal.com]

Don't worry. All the knitters I know are MAD CRAZY MAD trying to suss out the stitches and patterns for the Deathly Hallows sweaters. Someone has already written out Hermione's delicious grey fair isle sweater.

[purple-chalk.livejournal.com]

Links please? I spent half the movie whispering furiously with my knitting friends about that darn sweater.

[renshai.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm right there with you. I own all the books, but I haven't read anything past Goblet of Fire more than once. I still haven't see the Goblet of Fire movie, or anything past it.

It's just...I read to the end, because I kept hoping things would eventually turn around. But once I got there, all my favourite characters were dead, and then there was an epilogue about people that, by that point, I didn't care about.

None of that, of course, has stopped me from attempting to knit a Gryffindor scarf. But I enjoyed the world more than the books written in it anyways, so whatever. Maybe, in 45 years when I have finished this scarf, I will try to knit one of the sweaters.

[bare-bear.livejournal.com]

Oh cripes, is it out already? I feel like I should go see it, I haven't even seen Order of the Phoenix either (even though I own the DVD). I'm really sad how indifferent I feel about it all. :(

[synekdokee.livejournal.com]

they got thick and kind of unwieldy... ...what she did was first ignore and then kill them.


O_o


I think you finally put to words what I've been trying to figure out for years, ie. why exactly I stopped being interested. And yeah, I was a huge fan when I was a teen, and if I'm perfectly honest, Harry Potter is what got me so interested in English, what got me reading books in English, and quite probably, why my vocabulary is so versatile. I miss loving the books, but mostly in the nostalgic sense. These days I'm just mostly "meh" about it all.

[lily-kohai.livejournal.com]

I feel mostly the same way about those books. I used to love them, and now I'm mostly indifferent v__v And some minor characters were more interesting than anyone of the main characs XD

I never really liked the movies, though >_< The first and second were okay, I suppose, but the third and so on were pretty much useless in my opinion :s

[slice254.livejournal.com]

I'm there with you, too. I think I fell asleep during OotP when I saw it at the theater (though HBP was better), and I haven't reread the books in years.

A lot of people have been posting similar things, today, always tinged with a little sadness for a lost part of their youth.

[celtprincess13.livejournal.com]

then later on when I tried to watch it on DVD I got bored.

That was me, only with Half Blood Prince. I know I've seen it, but I'll be damned if I could tell you anything about the movie other than the points I remember from the book.

And I've never even read Deathly Hallows, so...

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

oh god, it was Half Blood Prince I tried to watch *facepalm* I get the last three books mixed up a lot.

[travels-in-time.livejournal.com]

It made me want to buy a lot of cable-knit sweaters.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm affected the exact same way by Sherlock.

[tree00faery.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm feeling pretty much the same way. I mean, I still read some HP fic, but I haven't read the books in years. I imagine I'll watch the movie at some point, but it doesn't excite me the way it used to.

All things change, I guess. If anything I'm grateful to HP for all the wonderful fic it's given me/the world.

[idylll.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you. I haven't really enjoyed the books after PoA, i mean i've read them, but didn't read them over and over like the first three. And while i did the whole first day screening for the first three movies, i still haven't seen the fourth one despite multiple oppportunties. So yeah, i don't think I'll be watchin this anytime soon.

[piplover.livejournal.com]

It makes me sad, because I loved the first three books. Then the tone changed, and it went from being a fun adventure with hope and mysteries and kids being total idiots, into something dark and dreary and kids being total idiots. The latter wasn't nearly so much fun when the first parts changed. I finished the books, but it's the first three books I'll reread.

[jonaht.livejournal.com]

I was able to go to a free screening on Monday and loved it. But I think that since I hadn't read the book in a long time, I honestly didn't remember what was suppose to happen. I think not remembering what happened when or certain scenes at all made it more exciting. This way I couldn't compare it to the book and just sit back and enjoy it.

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

I still admire Rowling's talent for universe creation; both times I've been through the series, I've been completely caught up in Harry's world. (I read the first 3, then the first 3 plus the next 3, then the last 4, at fairly wide intervals; DH is the only one I haven't read twice.) But yeah, toward the end there's was definitely a feeling of doing it for completism, and while I'm sure I'll see the last 2 films it'll be for the same reason. I came to the books and films as an adult on the oldish side, fyi.

[purple-chalk.livejournal.com]

Watching at midnight was particularly weird for me-- the crow was very, very boisterous, and very, very drunk. Only one person in our theatre was under sixteen, and only about five were over forty. What I figured out is that the generation who grew up with Harry just turned twenty-one, and this is as much a celebration of our coming of age (welcome to college/adulthood/the big bad world omg) as it was when Deathly Hallows came out the year we graduated high school. Timing was everything for this movie, and we didn't care a bit how the thing itself turned out.

Also, yes, sweaters! We shall knit them ALL.

[bullet2.livejournal.com]

Yes.This.
It's amazing how many people of that age grew up with HP-myself included-. I didn't see the movie, but I bet for many others it's some sort of ritual almost.

[phamalama.livejournal.com]

IMHO the movie went by pretty fast. There's a nifty animation sequence for the Tale of Three Brothers (deathly hallows inception) and there were plenty of scenes that made me laugh at some of the awkwardness! The midnight showing is just so nostalgic for me... I remember the midnight book parties at the bookstore and having fun with my friends. I wonder if there will be anything that will be such as a big phenomenon for me in the next years...

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I've heard the Tale Of Three Brothers sequence is amazing, yeah, and I might try and just see that bit, for the art.

[quark101.livejournal.com]

I lost interest after the fourth book/movie. I remember reading Order of the Phoenix, getting to page 20-ish, getting bored and stopping. I don't remember why, but I did. And because I got bored with OotP, I never bothered to see the movies, or any since.

However, all of this Harry Potter stuff going on with the new movie has reminded me that I never bought the last two books. My inner completist doesn't like that. (I'm not in a big huge rush, but I do look for the hardcovers every time I'm in a used bookstore. And, yes, they have to be hardcover. Because the other 5 are hardcover.)

[elucreh.livejournal.com]

I didn't go to the midnight release. For the first time, I didn't go to the midnight release, and I...honest to god, can't come up with any negative feelings about that. This is one of the sad parts of growing up and moving on and getting old, all at once, I guess, but HP is so far behind me now...I feel a little like I feel on the anniversary of the death of my favorite old person, or on her birthday, that feeling of sadness that something that I loved is gone and not coming back, but it's been a long time and why get worked up over it?

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think I love Harry Potter any less than I did ten years ago. I remember the wonderful and epic fanfiction you wrote.

I really don't know what the hell happened to me. It's not that my enthusiasm has waned, exactly, but rather that my real life has taken evil turns that seem to be pulling me further and further from fandom and LJ. And I hate it and it's stupid, because I have very few friends these days that I didn't meet on LJ. I feel like I've left fandom and I want so badly to find my way back, but I'm not sure it's there waiting for me anymore.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I think there's always a place for people in fandom, which is what makes fandom so great. If you love something that other people love, and you're not a total asshole (and one presumes you're not; they're few and far between) there's a place.

Finding it can be difficult, mind you, but you'll know it when you do.

[butterbuns.livejournal.com]

This is the first time I'm not seeing a Harry Potter movie opening day. And there's a part of me that sort of wants to cry about that. Not because I'm so upset about not seeing it (Although there is a part of me that is upset, because I've seen every other one within a couple hours of it opening), but because I'm not as into it as I was, and it was such a BIG part of my childhood, it almost feels like I'm losing what little grasp I had left on it as a 20 year old.

Plus, dammit, I hate being the last one to see things, because everyone's all talked out about it by the time you want to talk. Ugh.