YOUNG VOICE
Love Conquers All
Lessons from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Year 2004. A thirteen year-old girl in pigtails was the first person at the ticket booth. Hours before the cinema opened, she and her packed lunch had been waiting. Judging by the overwhelming print of Harry’s face on her T-shirt, she is a fan of the Harry Potter series. It was the year when the third blockbuster installment was out in theaters. She had watched every trailer, downloaded every promotional image from fan websites and read the book more than five times. The moment has arrived. It was the first day of the movie release. She saved twenty pesos per day from her allowance, sacrificing the delights of a drumstick ice cream every after lunch, just to come this far. With sweaty hands, she secured her hard-earned hundred-peso bill, smoothened its creases and handed it in to the ticket lady who sold the very first ticket of the day.
Year 2009. Five years and two more installments of the same series later, the 13-year-old girl in pigtails had been among the last persons at the ticket booth. She was then eighteen and brought along her packed supper. She is still a fan of the Harry Potter series, yet she was in her white school uniform, freshly drawn from a half day’s worth of lecture.
The sixth blockbuster installment rocked worldwide screens. She had just watched two out of the many trailers, downloaded three out of the hundreds of promotional images, and read the book once. With a possible exam for the next day's lecture in mind, she handed in her reserved ticket to the ticket guy.
Well, that girl's me.
A lot has changed. I did not realize that it has been almost 10 years that I, along with others, had been making J.K. Rowling (author of the Harry Potter Series) richer than the queen of England. The excitement and anticipation never died nor slumbered in my spirits. Harry never lost his charm in me. But the manifestations of these apprehensions were quite different than they were several years ago. I guess my world doesn’t only revolve around neologistic incantations and flying brooms anymore.
I initially planned to make a movie review for this column. But I realized that I couldn’t go away with my inevitable biases and fanatical adornment of the Harry Potter series. Yet, here’s a desperately tried seemingly objective general comment of the Harry Potter and the Half blood Prince.
The cinematography was remarkable and it is by far the most loyal to the sequence and progression of the book counterpart. In short, it was wickedly magical!
Yet, here are some reflections and realizations that I had for the past 10 years that were consequently strengthened and proven to be immortal by the sixth installment.
Harry, Hermione and Ron’s friendship is without doubt, truly admirable. They have different personalities; one is potentially problematic and is chosen to defeat a no-nose dark wizard, the other overly bookish and takes pride in being branded as a desperate know-it-all, and there's the laid-back arachnophobic heavy eater. Though they are diverse, their friendship sought the commonalities. This got them through every encounter. This gave them the courage to willingly offer their lives to save the other.
Love does conquer all. The wizarding world considers Albus Dumbledore as the greatest wizard and people may then come to a conclusion that he can procure the greatest spell, curse or enchantment existing. But, Dumbledore himself said untiringly that the greatest of all powers is love. This love made Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived. This love is what holds them together, just as how magic makes a simple twig into a nifty wand.
What is great about the series is that the wizards’ powers are limited since they have governing laws, and that not everything can be solved through magic. Sure they can fix a broken house, but never can magic repair a broken home. The most important and essential in life are left uncontrolled; death, life, love and hope.
There was a split second thought before I entered Cinema 6. I recalled my thirteen year old self in pigtails all excited and thrilled to see the charming face of Harry and hear his adorable English accent. Those were once my primary reasons why I would arrive several hours before the cinemas open.
Now, it’s different. I didn’t feel any tinge of regret seeing Harry kiss Ginny. I didn’t care whether or not Harry looked spectacular riding his Firebolt. Rather, I loved the scenes when the trio would gather around the fireplace and console each other, when Dumbledore would pace around his office and talk about hope, when Harry would ignore the risks and consequences and just fight for love.
This was supposed to be a movie review. Just subtract the biases and it’ll do fine.
For the meantime, I urge you to watch the movie.
(For comments and reactions send me an owl at reylangarcia@gmail.com or drop by Floo Powder at my blog at http://www.theyoungvoice.blogspot.com)