Going Back To Hogwarts

So here I am, almost twenty-three years old, and I'm about to finish reading the Harry Potter books for the first time since I closed Deathly Hallows in the summer of 2007. I didn't want to do a blog where I reviewed chapters- there's already Mark Reads Harry Potter for that, and he's doing a much better job than I ever could. Instead, I wanted to talk about my opinions of the series as a whole, and I thought it best to wait until the end so I could refresh my memory of the entire story. Since I'm not quite finished yet, this post is here to give you an introduction to the blog, the things I hope to talk about and my reasons for writing this stuff.

The Harry Potter series is hugely important to me- I have an emotional attachment to it because of my own experiences of bereavement and bullying, two major themes in the books. Having such a detailed world to hide in when I felt like crap was one of the things that got me through my adolescence with my mind still intact. Coming back to it as an adult was an interesting experience, because in the few years since I last read Harry Potter I've grown up and I can see much more than the "Hermione's life is just like mine!" stuff I saw as a kid.

The stuff I'm seeing this time around is often disturbing, but it's almost always interesting. There's a lot of commentary on our own world tucked away with all the references to folklore and silly puns. I wanted to talk about these things rather than Rowling's writing style, because I'm not an expert- it's clear from this post that I can't write for shit, so I'd feel like a hypocrite if I started raging in public about how she uses too many adverbs (which, for the record, she does, but I read quickly enough to ignore them). On top of that, the wizarding world is interesting enough that it can hold your attention even if you did just read a slightly clunky sentence.

So... topics. I've been thinking about this for a while, and writing notes to myself on public transport, which is where I inevitably have my brainwaves (a few more in the office would be helpful, brain). So far I've come up with this little list, but any further suggestions would be lovely. That doesn't mean I'll actually use them, but I like to know someone loves me :P

1. Privilege and oppression in the wizarding world

- Blood purity as an equivalent to racism (totally going to invoke Godwin's Law right here)

- The House-Elf Liberation Front- treating other sentient beings as less than yourself

- Classism

- Surprising lack of obvious misogyny (maybe not so surprising; this isn't Twilight)

- Bullying

2. Gryffindor good guys vs. sneaky Slytherin... except it's not that simple. Things are never that simple in Harry Potter. As Sirius says, the world isn't divided into good people and Death Eaters.

3. Love as a force for good

- Friendship

- Family

- Romantic love

4. "The dead never truly leave us..." My own understanding of Harry's losses based on a similar (but less extreme) situation in my own life

5. Severus Snape. Yeah, he gets his own post. Morally ambiguous, sometimes cruel and full of unnecessary angst... and the bravest man we ever knew. A character this interesting deserves a closer look, and not just because I have a thing for sarcastic goth dudes.

6. Fandom

- Demographic and why I like it the way it is

- Affectionate parody: Wrock, Starkid and Potter Puppet Pals

- My love-hate relationship with fanfiction

- The whole 'Twilight vs. Harry Potter' thing

7. Cultural references

- Names

- Myth, legend and folklore

- Wizarding equivalents of Muggle objects

Hopefully I'll get around to writing all of this eventually- I will split up each numbered section into smaller parts where relevant, as long as there's enough to write about. For example, it's likely that most of section 1. will be in one post, but with a separate post for blood purity because it's such a huge part of the books. This stuff has been building up in my brains for a few weeks now, so sometimes it will come out as brain vomit that I won't be able to change however many times I try and edit it to make sense. Apologies in advance.

A warning: I do try to avoid language that others may find offensive, so if I use a word that is upsetting for you by all means call me out. Like everyone, I am privileged in some ways and I don't always think about it, so if that's what I need to do, you should let me know. However, I will swear a lot. I won't use words like 'whore' (unless I'm talking about slut-shaming or something) but I will use 'fuck' without apologising. I believe that there are some times where the only way to express yourself is through profanity. I know plenty of other words, of course, but we wouldn't have swearwords if they weren't needed, right? ;) Oh yeah, I also use A SHITLOAD OF CAPS LOCK and memes, sorry about that.

Anyway. This was one hell of a long post. I hope you're looking forward to the rest as much as I am! Now it's time for me to finish reading Deathly Hallows, bawl my eyes out and start writing something intelligent.

P.S. The title of this post comes from the opening song of A Very Potter Musical. You should watch it on YouTube if you haven't done so already. It's really rather good.