Damned Muggles
So apparently JK Rowling's getting some press (again) with her (repeated) suggestion that some of the main characters in her Harry Potter series might kick off in the last book.
Now I'm not a big Potter fan, nor do I have anything against the author or her books, but various comments have led at least some folks to think that one of the characters getting whacked is the title character himself, Harry Potter. Rowling is taking these hints and running with them, and making further comments to the effect of "If I kill him then other can't write about him after I'm gone."
Now I realize I'm not a multigallionaire selling author, nor am I all that emotionally invested in the books or the characters.* However, a word about this particular development.
A coming of age story, which Harry Potter essentially is, where the character who comes of age dies at the end...is generally a crappy coming of age story. I would think this is obvious, but then you never know how silly some folks can be.
Seriously, why even pretend that it's a good idea up for serious consideration to kill the title character in the final book when he finally grows up and becomes an adult when the whole point of such tales is to see this kid grow up and become an adult? Does the series really need the hype? Aren't they going to sell millions of books anyway,
But then I never get that sort of thing...I'm still trying to puzzle out why George Lucas felt the need to show me the double bladed lightsaber in the trailer for the Phantom Menace.
Anyway, just a random thought...now I need to do laundry.
* Big fan of reading that I am, HP is something I do, in fact, wait for the movies on.
Now I'm not a big Potter fan, nor do I have anything against the author or her books, but various comments have led at least some folks to think that one of the characters getting whacked is the title character himself, Harry Potter. Rowling is taking these hints and running with them, and making further comments to the effect of "If I kill him then other can't write about him after I'm gone."
Now I realize I'm not a multigallionaire selling author, nor am I all that emotionally invested in the books or the characters.* However, a word about this particular development.
A coming of age story, which Harry Potter essentially is, where the character who comes of age dies at the end...is generally a crappy coming of age story. I would think this is obvious, but then you never know how silly some folks can be.
Seriously, why even pretend that it's a good idea up for serious consideration to kill the title character in the final book when he finally grows up and becomes an adult when the whole point of such tales is to see this kid grow up and become an adult? Does the series really need the hype? Aren't they going to sell millions of books anyway,
But then I never get that sort of thing...I'm still trying to puzzle out why George Lucas felt the need to show me the double bladed lightsaber in the trailer for the Phantom Menace.
Anyway, just a random thought...now I need to do laundry.
* Big fan of reading that I am, HP is something I do, in fact, wait for the movies on.
posted by Jack at 3:51 PM
4 Comments:
Rowling is a bit of a media whore really.
She wouldn't have made half as much money out of the Potter franchise if it hadn't been for all the controversey surrounding the books in the US, and I think somewhere deep down she realises this and does everything in her power to court media attention. That's all this is I reckon.
I dunno, I mean there's not that much controversy in the US really. However, like most pseudo controversies, it gets much more press than you'd expect it to.
Not that I'm implying that the media at times manufactures or inflates controversy. I mean, if that were true we'd be hearing all about some actor's drunken outburst for days and days now. ;)
Also, you do make a good point. Even if there isn't that much actual controversy, she could be thinking she needs to generate some.
Again, that's weird to me. The books are already going to sell like crazy.
What's that saying? "Any publicity is good publicity?"
Considering we hadn't heard anything about Rowling or Harry Potter since the last movie, it makes sense (for them) to keep it on everyone's radar.
Not that I agree with Rowling's move, even if I'm not interested in the books or movies either.
Post a Comment
<< Home