For numerous reasons, I’m absolutely stoked about HBO’s new Harry Potter series that’s in development! I love magic and fantasy and epic adventures, and stories starring children as the leads. That goes way back to my childhood and has carried on well into my adult years.
But, I’m not really a fan of the Harry Potter movies. In
fact, I haven’t watched them in years. With a few exceptions, the films just
didn’t meet my expectations, which is strange to admit because I did watch the
movies before reading the books. I guess I just didn’t know how much MORE there
is in the books than what the films allowed.
I did “like” the movies when I was younger, but I LOVE
Rowling’s books. She created such a masterful world of imagery and experiences
and characterization and my hope and prayer is that the HBO series really brings
that world to complete life.
Funnily enough, my favorites of the Harry Potter movies are
the first two! They felt the closest to the books with so much obvious magic
just everywhere. I LOVED that feeling so that vibe is what I’m literally
crossing my fingers for in the series remake.
I also have a gentle confession to make so if you don’t want
to get a little political, it’s okay to skip the below paragraphs and join up again
at the end.
I support J. K. Rowling and I don’t think anything she said concerning
biology and female spaces should have ever created the massive controversy the
Harry Potter fanbase finds itself in. Because HBO is standing firm in its
stance on having her on board with the new series, I am also on board with them.
You cannot have Harry Potter without JK. Nor should you try because that really
is just disrespectful to the creator of such an imaginative world.
My sister and I had tickets to Leaky Con back in, oh 2021,
in Denver. It’s a Harry Potter themed convention that has, apparently, evolved into
something called EnchantiCon but hasn’t really changed their mindset from what I
can tell. That season was at the beginning of the intense anti-Rowling
sentiment that was infiltrating the Harry Potter fandom. We read through the
new “rules” for the convention which were quite long and ranting and realized
that unless you towed the line and went with the anticipated anti-Rowling
narrative that was going to be in a lot of the talk sessions, you really weren’t
welcome at the convention. We got refunds for our tickets.
I have no patience with authoritarianism whatsoever and the
entire convention reeked of it. You have no idea how very much that grieved my
heart. I wanted to go. I wanted to celebrate Harry Potter and just have an
incredibly good time with my friends. The convention should have been about
Harry Potter! But they made it about politics. The convention was tainted because
it no longer allowed for diversity of thought or opinion on Rowling herself. Authoritarianism
isn’t left wing or right wing. It can infiltrate any belief system, any
fanbase, and any political party and that is what happened with Harry Potter.
It’s taken me 4 years to reach a place of psychological
safety where I can publicly acknowledge that I love the Harry Potter books and
JK. Nobody wants to feel that they’re putting themselves in a position of
potential harassment by complete and total strangers online for coming out in
support of something.
If a person decides that reading the Harry Potter books violates
their personal ethics, I’m not going to argue with them. But just because that
person feels that way, does not give them the right to thrust that opinion on
everyone else in the fandom and demand that we follow suit. Because that’s not happening.
End of gentle confession/rant.
I have a delightful Autumn at Hogwarts
ambience on Youtube playing on my computer while I’m writing this. If you have
never played ambiences, either while working from home or crafting or just if
you’re sitting and reading a book, I highly recommend the experience! My sister
and I have at least a hundred ambiences saved for a variety of themes, and they
are so relaxing as an experience!
We’re making Pumpkin Pasties tonight for Thanksgiving tomorrow, using the delectable recipe from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. We’re not big on pumpkin pie in my house but Pumpkin Pasties are another matter entirely! If you’ve never given them a try, I highly recommend using the recipe from this cookbook.