Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

I once spent a good half hour failing to convince my English professor and friend, Meade Harwell, to read The Lord of the Rings. This would have been in the mid 70's. Harwell was a fine teacher in the old school sense. I learned how to read short stories in his class and that lesson has served me well ever since.

I argued that 1) the book was rooted in a rich, genuine scholarship; 2) it had a profound and apparently durable impact on a generation of readers; and 3) it was a rocking good story. He didn't consider LOTR to be serious literature and that was that.

I think I have been vindicated at least on point 2. The Harry Potter novels have certainly had the greatest impact of any new work of literature (serious or not) in my lifetime. They are in many respects deeply derivative of LOTR. Ordinary folks are guided by a white-haired, white robed wizard to defeat a transcendently evil wizard. They do so by destroying magical objects in which the villain has invested his power and being. If you are interested in the place of Harry Potter in literary culture, you need to know LOTR.

Slate has a two part conversation between two editors who had neither read the books nor seen any of the movies. Between the two parts, they watch Deathly Hallows Part 2. It does confirm one of my opinions about the last two films: that they rely heavily on the audience knowing pretty much the whole story in advance. Having seen only the final installment, they have only the dimmest idea what is going on. The one thing they do know going in is that Dumbledore is gay, something that has absolutely nothing to do with the books or the films.

DH2 is magnificent. Given that it had to squeeze half of 759 pages into two hours, it is close to perfection. One reason is precisely that it bothers to explain almost nothing, so it can devote itself to the action. The action is so stunning and the pacing so perfect that, unless you are allergic to fantasy fiction and have no idea what is going on, you'd enjoy it. It does, however, rely on a vast audience with a very good idea of the story. Few film makers have been in a position to rely on that as much as they did here.

DH1 was very good. DH2 is much, much better. That's largely because the second half of Deathly Hallows was a lot better than the first half. DH1 was the long slog, rather analogous to Frodo's dreadful walk through the black half of Middle Earth. In DH2, all the fault lines move and all of the molten story lines spew up out of the bedrock into the air.

MODEST SPOILER ALERT

Relatively few viewers will not know how the story ends. I will tell you that the conversation between Harry and the Goblin Griphook at Shell Cottage was superb. I cried twice during the movie, both times involved the fate and back story of Severus Snape. I came to love Snape more than any other character in the novels. I guessed correctly when first reading the early books that Snape was a son of a bitch, but not evil. The revelation of Snape's story revealed that this fact about him constituted a genuine classical tragedy. If he had been a nicer person or even had a sense of humor, he might not have lost his love. Were it not for his love and the influence of Dumbledore, he would have escaped the agony and sacrifice that were the whole story of his life after Lilly. Being good does not always go unpunished.

Finally, both LOTR and HP share an argument. Good muggles and wizards have no trouble understanding the motives and stratagems of their evil advisories. Evil, by contrast, encourages an asymmetrical blindness. Why does Sauron not anticipate that his enemies will try to destroy the ring? He cannot believe that anyone would give up such a power. Voldemort recognizes only pride, greed and fear; he cannot conceive of genuine courage. As a result he is always chasing the wrong thing at the moment, leaving Harry, Hermione and Ron the space they need to operate. Note to the Dark Lord: when you're down to one horcrux, don't take your reptilian eyes off the damn snake.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is a very satisfactory end to this cinematic adventure.

Comments

[Stace Nelson]

You were spot on with the LOTR books. History has shown you to have won that debate with overwhelming vindication. Ironic how scholars have picked winners and losers over the years with moving criteria for success. The Harry Potter series has driven legions of children and adults back to curling up with a book. I personally have seen the raucus excitement of people over running book stores to get the new releases of the series. The old masters had the advantage of a captive audience. The new masters have the challenge of breaking through the wall of techno distractions that parents have a hard time making a crack in to get their children to simply read.

[Bill Fleming]

My English prof at YC was Doc Eherensperger, who was a friend of J.R.R. Tolkein. I was lucky in that regard. Still working on the Silmarllion after all these years. I wonder if Rowling has developed and equivalent to inform her as she goes. Do you know, KB?

[larry kurtz]

Doc: your wizardry at diverting our attention from the NewsCorps meltdown is nothing short of brilliant, sir. i doff my hat to you, sir.

[Ken Blanchard]

Bill: I don't know about that. I have seen rumors of a new series based on Ted Lupin.

Larry: I thought I was diverting our attention from the Fast and Furious scandal.

[AR]

Having been a fan of both the LOTR adn the Harry Potter series, I immensely enjoyed your analogies of the two and your film review. Just as a sidenote, I must admit that the snake's decapitation was not entirely true to text and Voldermort was every bit as possessive around Nagini at the end as Sarah Palin is about her views.

[Mike]

Stumbled upon a site http://hpnext.com/, where already tell about the creation of eight books about Harry Potter

[Jimi]

Larry,

I thought he was diverting our attention away from the Debt Ceiling debate or the new James O'Keefe MedicAid fraud videos?

[larry kurtz]

More allegory: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jdevine/harry_potter_and_the_chamber_o.html

[larry kurtz]

More allegory: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jdevine/harry_potter_and_the_chamber_o.html

[larry kurtz]

it's my birthday; GMAFB!

[penny auction]

I thought I was diverting our attention from the Fast and Furious scandal.

[France]

VERY good movie to the end of a VERY GOOD SERIES!!! Harry potter has filled my childhood, and this was definitely a fabulous end to it. CANNOT wait to own it!!!