I prefer pure, unadulterated Harry Potter

The movie of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released a couple of weeks ago. I meant to write this post then, but I've been, well, busy.

The night that it came out, all my friends went to it at our theater in Georgetown. I however, stayed home. Everyone teased me when I claimed that I would not see the movie. I told them I was a purist. I prefer pure, unadulterated Harry Potter. The hardcore fans understood my aversion to the movies but claimed that they viewed the books and movies as separate entities. Somehow, it is not within my power to do that. I am too involved. There were some people who had only ever watched the movies, and loved them, and had never read the books. Those are my least favorite kind of people. They say, "oh, I love Harry Potter!" And then you find out that the only Harry Potter than they are not ignorant about is the slight amount that is put into the movies and messed with. I had a deep conversation with one such person. He was slightly offended once he realized that I viewed him a kind of a second-class person. I assured him, however, that we could still be friends. :)

Reasons why I don't watch the movies:
1) Plot lines are altered.
2) Emphasis is placed where it should not be.
3) Important scenes are screwed up for cinematographic purposes, screwing up key ideas.
4) Daniel Radcliffe is a horrible actor, and does not do Harry justice.
5) Dumbledore in the movie is crazy.
6) People who have not read the books watch the movies, and then feel as though reading the actual books is unimportant.
7) It gives people the wrong idea about Harry.
8) What makes Harry Potter so great is the detail- the analysis and the mystery. Movies ruin that.
9) They make me very very angry and frustrated. I simply cannot handle it.
10) I get some sort of weird pleasure out of boycotting the movies and being a purist. I like to be.

And there are many more... It's just so hard to explain.

So, when all my friends went to the movie, I walked down to the TV in the basement, and enjoyed an evening with JK Rowling. There was a primetime special on her and the process of writing Harry Potter. It was absolutely perfect and lovely, and could not have been more purely Harry Potter-ish.

And so, instead of falling to the dark side, I enjoyed an evening of pure Harry Potter.

Also, the second part of the story is that on July 7, the paperback edition of Harry Potter 7 was released. Ashley went to Barnes and Noble in Georgetown with me to buy it. I have been waiting for this paperback for 2 years!!! Now, I can read book 7 whenever I want and take it wherever I want and don't have to worry about it getting dirty! I buy the paperbacks so they can be loved and abused while the nice, pretty hardbacks sit safely on my precious book shelf.

A word of advice: read Harry Potter, and DON'T watch the movies.