Ok, so maybe JK Rowling is a little bit of a genius.

Although I readily admit to getting a kick out the ole Harry Potter books, (not the least because they spawned a movie franchise that continuously parades the pantheon of British acting elites) but I've never really believed that they really qualify as "great work of literature."

Sure, the Harry Potter global phenomena (even pre-movies) needs to be acknowledged. And, to be fair, she's cooked up some pretty stupendous characters, dreamed up some great settings, has a pretty good sense of wholesome humor, and suspense, and can clearly write an engaging adventure. She definitely has a more than healthy dose of creativity and narrative-construction skills.

But still, in my book, she still wanders into some pretty cliched or let's say heavy borrowing of ideas not really worthy of her---why oh why the "chosen-one" prophesy thing? we were so fine without it!--- and her writing is not what I would consider "great prose."

HOWEVER, perhaps I've been overlooking a few other things that deserve mentioning.

I came across this blog post entitled "The Women of The Harry Potter Universe," and by golly, now that you point it out to me, JK has serious done something pretty incredible: She's constructed a world and a narrative that takes women's equality as a given.

As the article explains, the women in the Harry Potter books are not only well-constructed, dynamic characters who avoid stereotypes (not a treatment the gals regularly get) but they are just as awesome, active, and crucial to the stopping the baddies as the gents. Sure Harry is the protagonist, so we spend a bit more time fussing over his feelings and his mentors/nemesises (Dumbledore, Black, Malfoy, Snape) but he is only ever as good as his supporting cast--- male and female. And as Feurbach says:

"These women fill all sorts of roles: mothers (Molly Weasley, Narcissa Malfoy, Lily Potter), professors (McGonagall, Pomona Sprout, Sybill Trelawney), highly trained aurors (Tonks, Alice Longbottom), Dumbledore's Army members (Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, the Patil twins, Lavender Brown), nurses (Madam Pomfrey), Triwizard champion (Fleur Delacour), and Quidditch players (Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Cho Chang)."

The women are just as strong, diverse, competent, inspiring, and talented as the men who run about doing awesome things alongside them--- just like in real life.

But hold the applause. There is more.

What is even more incredible is that Rowling has also managed to give us a cast of male characters who see this whole thing as a non-issue. Harry, Ron, Neville, Dumbledore, Fred & George, Hagrid, Lupin, Dean, Seamus, Flitwick, and the rest of the lads are not wimping around worrying about the state of their masculinity and plotting petty ruses to undermine the ladies. Because you know what? It doesn't bother them.

Just because Hermione is brilliant, doesn't mean Harry can't be brilliant. McGonagall being great doesn't make Dumbledore somehow less great. Angelina Johnson and Oliver Wood can both be phenomenal athletes. You'd want Ginny and Mrs. Weasley on your side, just as much as you'd want Ron and Mr. Weasley. Lupin is not crippled with an inferiority complex because his wife is also a super-cool auror. Even Bellatrix is just as horrible as the other death eaters.

Somehow, these men are able coexist with these spectacular women without feeling threatened and inadequate. It goes without saying, that they can admire them, appreciate them, and, you know, respect them as equals. Again, just like thousands men in the real world! For some reason these men don't usually make it into our mainstream narratives, but thanks to Rowling, we've now got a few (quite a few) more!

In short, JK Rowling gives us a story in which men and women being equally extraordinary can work together to achieve victory over evil. And what a great story! Both genders bring tons of talent, courage, and charisma to the table--- regardless of their genders. She doesn't make a huge song and dance about how women and men are equal, she just shows us that they are.

The beauty is in the simplicity. And that, friends, is a pretty great achievement.

Ou etait Neville?

~ My review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood ~

Rating: A solid 3 stars.

While an enjoyable and artistically excellent film, the sentiment with which I left the theatre after watching this installment of HP adventures was one of dissatisfaction. Essentially, it could have been better. It deserved to be better. And it was not. I wish it had been. But it wasn't.

Now before everyone starts accusing me of having too-high expectations (which may by the way be a completely accurate allegation), I would like to point out that I thought a lot of the film was brilliant. The acting was its at its usual standard of perfection, the art direction and production design, impressive etc. What was most gratifying was the skillful and precise way in which the humorous parts of the story were crafted and presented--- something which had been until now been being gradually pushed out of the past films. What was most disappointing however was that the careful management of timing, transition, performance, writing, editing, and directing that made the comedic moments so successful did not carry over to the handling of the dramatic moments. As I remember, the sixth book was actually quite exciting and the eb and flow of tension and emotion was relatively well-structured. Virtually, none of this carried over to the movie in my opinion. The film had all the right pieces, but it rather mucked it up in putting them together. Transition was not its strong point.

In its defense, I can't help but feeling like it might have been a issue of time for this film. As we all know, the release of the film was pushed back in order to give the producers, editors, directors, effects people etc. more time to finish the film. Unfortunately this probably was not enough time. I say this because the quality of the scenes individually is very high--- indicating that they managed to film all the right stuff, but did not have enough to fine-tune its mashup. That and the first half of the film is much better than the second half, something highly typical of a film that lacked the proper allocation of time to put on the finishing touches.

But all in all, the most disappointing thing about the film--- and I hope you don't mind me giving this away, and actually I think it is good to know this going in so you are not a gravely disappointed as I was--- is that it excised Dumbledore's funeral. The film did a bumbling job of paying its respects to the character in that his death is actually rather anticlimactic, but it could have made up for this by doing a bang-up job on his funeral.

Though I do not have the highest of opinions for JK Rowling's writing, I thought her use of the funeral as a venue for catharsis, sum-up and 'coming up next' was rather impressive. The scene while filled with excellent emotion is highly functional. Losing that scene meant the film rather dropped the ball on everything it did for the story. Instead it is replaced with a rather out-of-place Harry-Hermonie dialogue about how beautiful Hogwarts is, shame it's going to the dogs now, and it's really kind of strange that Ron is included in this scene but not given any lines and is instead reduced to just giving a supportive nod of agreement every now and then. Credits.

I sort of went along with the scene as I waited for the cut to the funeral. It never came.

The other major disappointment about this film is that our dearest dear, Neville, is essentially not in the film. He gets to play the role of the concerned onlooker, peering over McGonagall's shoulder now and again, but that is it. No lines at all. We are all coming somewhat to terms with franchise's reduction of our various favorite supporting characters to mere cameos, but this is a bit excessive. Neville is not only hugely popular and awesome, but extremely important. Let's just hope they address him properly in the last two films. We all know he really ought to have been the Chosen One, and the least the movies could do is acknowledge this.

Other notable absences: the Dursleys do not appear. I always liked opening with them and despite their magic-hating despicableness, I rather missed them.

In summary, I was dissatisfied. The film feel grossly short of the last film, and this was the first HP film I will pronounce not as good, not even on par, with the book.

Tra!

P.S. One of the best parts of the night was hearing the theatre erupt in the deranged screams of rabid Twilight-fan girls when the New Moon trailer came on. It was almost as hilarious as the shower of boos that all the boys in the theatre could not stifle once it had finished. Most amusing!