OOP: I was disappointed, too

jenny_ravenclaw meboriqua at aol.com
Thu Jun 26 13:38:52 UTC 2003


No: HPFGUIDX 64221

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "joywitch_m_curmudgeon" 
<joym999 at a...> wrote:
 
> The other thing that made me not like OoP that much is that it was 
so dark that it made Hogwarts unappealing.  The reason I fell in love 
with Harry Potter was because it made me want so much to go to 
Hogwarts, to be a witch, to find the magic in the world.  OoP's 
Hogwarts is not a place I would choose to be.  But, I guess that's 
JKR's point – that humans are pretty good at screwing things up.>

I can understand why you feel disappointed with OoP - I had a feeling 
people would feel that way.  I was quite satisfied, though.  I 
certainly didn't find Hogwarts unappealing, even with Umbridge's 
constant meddling.  I'd still choose to go to Hogwarts if I had the 
chance, Umbridge or no Umbridge.  I suppose also JKR was showing us 
how bureaucracy, even in the WW, can make things unpleasant for 
everyone, but as a NYC teacher, I am sooooo used to it.

she continued with: 
> And, there wasn't much character development -- with some major 
exceptions, of course, such as Hermione, Ginny, Neville, McGonagall,  
and (poor) Sirius.>

What about Harry?  I felt he was enormously developed. I loved that 
JKR chose to give him some serious flaws, like his temper and his 
inability to deal with girls. She also nailed the age of 15, which 
Harry was, quite painfully. Every scene where Harry spoke up made me 
cheer for him even more.  In an indirect way, James Potter was more 
developed as well, as we discover he was not the perfect man he 
appeared to be in previous scenes.  I found that very real; often the 
very people we admire are the ones whose faults we ignore.  It is a 
shock, as it was for Harry, to discover that they aren't always nice, 
or smart, or that they mess up, just like we do.

There were definitely a few things that seemed superfluous, like 
Hagrid's tale (sorry, Joywitch!), and there were, of course, things 
that we could all see coming, as we've been discussing HP in minute 
detail for several years now.  For example, finding out what the 
Order was was no surprise to me at all, as someone had already 
predicted that here at HPFGU.  Why Harry stays at the Dursleys was 
also accurately described here, so that wasn't much of an "Oh!" 
moment, either.  That actually made me proud of the people here at 
HPFGU. :-) Really, it would have been impossible for JKR to be 
completely innovative and surprising, given the fact that we all have 
probably spent as much time on Harry as she has.

--jenny from ravenclaw, whose favorite is still PoA 
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