I must disclaim that in this entry, much like the F-1 Races, there will be spoilers. This is your final warning...
S
P
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Got it? All right. This is gonna be lengthy. I feel both Rowling and Potter deserve it.
So, as you have already gathered, I am now joining the millions and millions of bloggers accross the internets in posting about one of my generations' most notable pop culture events: the release and reading of the Seventh Harry Potter book. I have, like many of my friends, been reading the Harry Potter series since it came out. I read the first two when I was in Junior High, after my mother ordered them from some book club. I thought they were pretty fantastic, but I don't think I really, really fell in love with them until the fifth volume. I am not entirely certain what it was about that particular one, but by that point, I felt as if the events in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's lives were happening to real friends of mine. I suffered and rejoiced as they did.
Somehow despite all of that I didn't read the sixth book until a half-year after it was released. When I finally did get around to it, after re-reading the fourth and fifth installments, the book left an indelible mark on my psyche as no work of fiction ever had. Maybe because the troubles in the books worked as a proper escape to the difficult relationship problems I was going through at the time, and perhaps because Harry's love interest in the book struck me in a way I'd never felt (it's true; a fictional character had stolen my heart, something which perhaps only Pippi Longstocking can also lay claim).
As things happen, my constant thoughts about what might happen to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny dwindled, but the undying psychological mark carved by Half-Blood Prince remained, and I had not forgotten it by the time Deathly Hallows was finally released over a year after I had finished the previous book. A few days before the release I re-read Half-Blood Prince, and even knowing what was coming in the narrative didn't stop it from being every bit as intense at the first time (my faulty memory helped with that as well).
I picked up my pre-ordered copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows one day after the release. I was immediately both impressed and apprehensive at the simple note on the inside of the dust jacket, in place of a lengthy description: "We now present the seventh and final installment in the epic tale of Harry Potter." I opened the book to discover two lengthy quotations prefacing the story, both of them relating to death. I knew that book seven would be a serious, and perhaps deadly, narrative from what J.K. Rowling had already said about it. She had even stated that, initially, writing the book felt like "a bereavement." I was prepared for the worst.
Indeed, the book has the highest death count of any of the series by far, many of them important and beloved characters. In the first couple days of reading the book, I was almost frightened to return to it, scared of what things Harry might lose when I turned a page. Sometimes the feeling in my stomach was akin to the tingling before a job interview, or while mustering up the courage to ask someone out (fortunately I know about this).
If I were an easy crier, I would definitely have shed tears at numerous points in the book. I did feel that lurching and wonderful joyous tear-welling at least once, as the heroes began to retake their school and certain characters who in lesser narratives would be relegated to comedy relief positions proved themselves to be something more (Neville Longbottom, specifically).
I was not surprised that Harry Potter was to "die." The ominous feeling about the book was too much to expect any less, although I was not sure whether to expect him to die with finality, or to die temporarily as he did in the book. The connections between this part of the book and certain Biblical narratives are too obvious to overlook, but more on that later. I had half expected Ron or Hermoine to meet a horrible fate, or even Ginny, but I was overjoyed that this didn't happen. It's a testament to the strength of Rowling's characters that I felt for each and every one of them who died, even the minor figures.
All of this emotional strength has caused me to wonder what it is about Rowling's writing that makes it so endearing to me, and to the millions of others that caused Deathly Hallows to break sales records so easily. I am still not sure, but my attention wasn't lost on an article I read connecting Rowling's narratives to Biblical narratives. It implied that we, as humans, are drawn to things which show us our supernatural destiny and how we must achieve it. Rowling has announced her Christianity, although whether she intended certain elements in Harry Potter to be Biblical allegory, we may never know. Certainly Harry's death, descension, resurrection, and subsequent obliteration of a most high evil can quickly be seen as a similarity to Jesus's experiences on Earth. Deathly Hallows is also the only Harry Potter book to contain direct quotations from the Bible, although they are not labeled as such.
As far as Christians being opposed to the story and themes contained in Harry Potter, I can't imagine there being a more misappropriated concern. If they think we have anything to be afraid of from Harry Potter, perhaps they should reexamine the fiction of the infallible CS Lewis. He certainly wasn't afraid to write about magic. In any case, I have to quote here a resonating section from the article I read earlier today: "Rowling is a satirist of the first rank, I think, and she isn't pulling any punches in the books in her critique of government, the courts, the media, institutional schooling, organized sports, everything oddly enough except religion."
I am sad to see the Harry Potter series end, but I can't deny that it left in a proper fashion. I think Rowling's decision to end the series with finality was a wise one. That way Potter wouldn't end up in a position like Sherlock Holmes, dead at the hands of a villain and an author who was tired of forever writing his stories. Deathly Hallows wrapped everything up in a fashion which I found suitable and fitting for the tired hero. Our beloved characters, nineteen years later, married as we had hoped they would be, and with no more brooding evil hovering over their heads. At the moment I feel strangely detached from Harry Potter, where previously I felt like he and his friends were almost a part of me. Perhaps because I know, finally, that they are safe and will live, that part of me can, at length, relax.
It's strange to say these things about a group of humans who have never existed, but I only express what I feel.
I'm not sure how long my feelings of infatuation and identification with the world of Harry Potter will remain with me, until something else overtakes them (I am, after all, a human being subject to the ebb and flow of emotions), but I know for sure that I will always remember the indelible mark that Rowling has left not only on me, but on the culture of nations accross the globe.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Luke VS Otakon
I confess. I'm not planning on following up my previous entry. Maybe I'll put some gratuitous pictures of the Giant Tree at the end of this entry. Or maybe I won't! Who knows! Not even The Shadow knows!
That's not the point of this entry, though. Even though I'm now devoid of a suitable camera, and have been for some time, I feel it is my duty to report on my recent adventures to the city of Baltimore, Maryland--for that mecca of anime nerds, the largest Japanophile convention on this side of the planet: Otakon.
Over the past year or so I've become a heavily jaded fan of anime and Japanese-related things. I've seen and heard of too many people become obsessed to a fault over the superiority of Japanese multimedia over our own, and after spending a good month and a half in that very country, I've had a lot of second and third thoughts. In short, I've turned my back on anime and manga at large. That's not to say I dislike it, merely that I'm many times more wary of it. I still consider the top animators from Japan to be some of the best ever, but I've seen too much other beautiful animation from other countries besides Japan to put as much faith in it as I once did.
Shows with giant robots still turn me on, though.
In any case, my brother decided not to do 1812 Reenactments with my dad this past weekend, for various reasons, and since Otakon happened to be on that same weekend, he figured that was a suitable substition. I agreed to drive him (Baltimore is a mere 45 miles from here), and off we went on Saturday.
Otakon was a Friday-Saturday-Sunday event, but we only went for one day. Now, as everyone knows, I've been to Transformers conventions. I've been to the largest one each year, save one, since 2000. That convention usually gathers 4-5000, a respectable number.
This one, however, was an entirely different ballpark. Otakon, as a quick search on Wikipedia tells me, has been running since 1994, which makes it one year older than Botcon, the Transformers convention. Evidently anime fans have enjoyed a much larger and much more exponential increase in fandom since 1994, since the brochure for this year's meeting informed me that they expected a whopping 22,000 attendees. That's larger than the town I go to school in!
Another thing a person may not realize about anime conventions is the tradition of "cosplay," which, if you don't feel like reading wikipedia, is another word for "dressing up in ridiculously complex costumes in order to represent your favorite anime/videogame character." This is extremely common at anime conventions, and since Otakon is the largest, it was even moreso. At a guess, I would expect a full one-third of the attendees to have been in costume.
Most costumes were from anime of some sort (there was an abundance of Naruto-related costumery), but nobody thought the lesser of folk dressed as video game characters, or even completely unrelated costumes. I saw at least two Enterprise officers, as well as some Twi'Leks engaged in a lightsaber duel. If you know what a Twi'Lek is, you gain +10 nerd points. I also found that for every common anime costume, there are two versions: the regular version, and the morbidly obese version. This is true for both male and female costumes.
Also notable about anime conventions is the non-gender-specificity. While Botcon is by no means an all-male convention, the females are definitely few and far between. Otakon, and I imagine anime cons in general, are far more gender-neutral. There were far more (attractive) females than any Botcon I've ever attended. I must note, as well, that at anime conventions, cross-dressing is not only acceptable, it seems to be encouraged.
In fact, a female dressed as Link, the Hero of Hyrule, was responsible for one of the more breathtaking parts of the convention. But more on that later.
After registering, and walking around in awe of the insanely detailed costumes parading by, and spending a little money in the (enormous) dealer's room, I decided to take a break. While leafing through the convention brochure in a nearby Starbucks, I encountered a blurb about an attraction named "Geppi's Entertainment Museum." I recognized the building as being very close to the center, and made it my next destination.
The Museum was located on the upper floor of an old Train Station, sharing the rest of the space with a Sports Legends-themed museum. Geppi's museum, to my utter delight, was a small space dedicated to the history of Pop Culture in America. I've long desired to see a museum devoted entirely to Pop Culture, and was previously unaware that such a thing existed. In short it was beyond my wildest expectations. There was one entire room displaying comics from the 30s and 40s to the present (a small wonder, considering the museum is owned and was created by the owner of Diamond Comic Distributors), as well as another area displaying only Star Wars collectibles and nothing else. Basically it was the greatest thing ever.
I spent an hour and half ogling original Walt Kelley prints, and had a chat with one of the museum workers about the place and about Otakon. She told me Otakon had risen in popularity dramatically in the past few years, and as a result the quality of the costumes had suffered. Regardless, she told me, I should go back for the event called the "Masquerade," in which members of the convention present short skits, and afterward the best costumes of the weekend are paraded out. Basically it was a nerd talent show.
I did return in time to wait on a titanic line bordering the entire building, which fortunately moved quickly as soon as the doors opened. My brother joined me momentarily. The theater where the Masquerade took place was immense, clearly intended to provide for large concerts or maybe an awesome laser-light show. The people onstage were barely visible from our vantage point, but thankfully there were two titanic screens which provided decent viewing of the skits.
There were around 40 skits in all, ranging from the embarrassingly bad (a lone nerd playing out shaky renditions of Zelda tunes on an ocarina, joined by an awkward friend who, we are told, forgot his instrument) to the completely contrived (the entire "Charlie the Unicorn" sequence reenacted by Kingdom Hearts characters); to the freakin' amazing (more on that in just a sec). The parading of costumes, afterward, was also quite satisfying.
Now, since I don't have any pretty pictures to show you, I decided I'd do something a bit different. Fortunately for me, some kind souls illegally recorded some skits during the masquerade, and uploaded them onto our favorite YouTube! That's right, free videos! And I found footage of some of my favorite skits, as well...
Firstly, we have a bunch of unusally acrobatic nerds dressed as Street Fighter characters jumping and vaulting around and performing various video-game inspired moves, all to music. Their choreography is actually pretty great, and their kicks and leaps are very accurate to the impossible gravity-defying special moves they are trying to imitate.
That was pretty cool, but this next one is the one I will remember for the rest of my nerd days. This little girl, dressed as Link, mentioned earlier, flounced out onto the stage, tossed aside her shield, and drew from her scabbard not the Blade of Evil's Bane, but a shiny gold flute. She raised it to her lips and proceeded to play what I can only describe as the most intense arrangement of Zelda melody that I have ever heard, to the delight and astonishment of the audience. It really must be seen and heard to believe, and fortunately this is possible via YouTube. You may have to raise your volume, as this video is particularly low.
She received a couple Judge's awards, but nothing else--I don't know why, as most of the other skits were pretty tame in comparison to this.
The rest of Otakon was mostly spent walking around and staring at the awesome costumes, but I have one more thing for you before signing off:
SPECIAL BONUS!! Footage of Nerd Rave! You must watch this until at least the 1:20 mark so you can see the person dressed as a Wii Controller. Dancing.
Thought I do not, perhaps, share the fandom's enthusiasm for the media, I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Otakon, and will, perhaps, attend again.
That's not the point of this entry, though. Even though I'm now devoid of a suitable camera, and have been for some time, I feel it is my duty to report on my recent adventures to the city of Baltimore, Maryland--for that mecca of anime nerds, the largest Japanophile convention on this side of the planet: Otakon.
Over the past year or so I've become a heavily jaded fan of anime and Japanese-related things. I've seen and heard of too many people become obsessed to a fault over the superiority of Japanese multimedia over our own, and after spending a good month and a half in that very country, I've had a lot of second and third thoughts. In short, I've turned my back on anime and manga at large. That's not to say I dislike it, merely that I'm many times more wary of it. I still consider the top animators from Japan to be some of the best ever, but I've seen too much other beautiful animation from other countries besides Japan to put as much faith in it as I once did.
Shows with giant robots still turn me on, though.
In any case, my brother decided not to do 1812 Reenactments with my dad this past weekend, for various reasons, and since Otakon happened to be on that same weekend, he figured that was a suitable substition. I agreed to drive him (Baltimore is a mere 45 miles from here), and off we went on Saturday.
Otakon was a Friday-Saturday-Sunday event, but we only went for one day. Now, as everyone knows, I've been to Transformers conventions. I've been to the largest one each year, save one, since 2000. That convention usually gathers 4-5000, a respectable number.
This one, however, was an entirely different ballpark. Otakon, as a quick search on Wikipedia tells me, has been running since 1994, which makes it one year older than Botcon, the Transformers convention. Evidently anime fans have enjoyed a much larger and much more exponential increase in fandom since 1994, since the brochure for this year's meeting informed me that they expected a whopping 22,000 attendees. That's larger than the town I go to school in!
Another thing a person may not realize about anime conventions is the tradition of "cosplay," which, if you don't feel like reading wikipedia, is another word for "dressing up in ridiculously complex costumes in order to represent your favorite anime/videogame character." This is extremely common at anime conventions, and since Otakon is the largest, it was even moreso. At a guess, I would expect a full one-third of the attendees to have been in costume.
Most costumes were from anime of some sort (there was an abundance of Naruto-related costumery), but nobody thought the lesser of folk dressed as video game characters, or even completely unrelated costumes. I saw at least two Enterprise officers, as well as some Twi'Leks engaged in a lightsaber duel. If you know what a Twi'Lek is, you gain +10 nerd points. I also found that for every common anime costume, there are two versions: the regular version, and the morbidly obese version. This is true for both male and female costumes.
Also notable about anime conventions is the non-gender-specificity. While Botcon is by no means an all-male convention, the females are definitely few and far between. Otakon, and I imagine anime cons in general, are far more gender-neutral. There were far more (attractive) females than any Botcon I've ever attended. I must note, as well, that at anime conventions, cross-dressing is not only acceptable, it seems to be encouraged.
In fact, a female dressed as Link, the Hero of Hyrule, was responsible for one of the more breathtaking parts of the convention. But more on that later.
After registering, and walking around in awe of the insanely detailed costumes parading by, and spending a little money in the (enormous) dealer's room, I decided to take a break. While leafing through the convention brochure in a nearby Starbucks, I encountered a blurb about an attraction named "Geppi's Entertainment Museum." I recognized the building as being very close to the center, and made it my next destination.
The Museum was located on the upper floor of an old Train Station, sharing the rest of the space with a Sports Legends-themed museum. Geppi's museum, to my utter delight, was a small space dedicated to the history of Pop Culture in America. I've long desired to see a museum devoted entirely to Pop Culture, and was previously unaware that such a thing existed. In short it was beyond my wildest expectations. There was one entire room displaying comics from the 30s and 40s to the present (a small wonder, considering the museum is owned and was created by the owner of Diamond Comic Distributors), as well as another area displaying only Star Wars collectibles and nothing else. Basically it was the greatest thing ever.
I spent an hour and half ogling original Walt Kelley prints, and had a chat with one of the museum workers about the place and about Otakon. She told me Otakon had risen in popularity dramatically in the past few years, and as a result the quality of the costumes had suffered. Regardless, she told me, I should go back for the event called the "Masquerade," in which members of the convention present short skits, and afterward the best costumes of the weekend are paraded out. Basically it was a nerd talent show.
I did return in time to wait on a titanic line bordering the entire building, which fortunately moved quickly as soon as the doors opened. My brother joined me momentarily. The theater where the Masquerade took place was immense, clearly intended to provide for large concerts or maybe an awesome laser-light show. The people onstage were barely visible from our vantage point, but thankfully there were two titanic screens which provided decent viewing of the skits.
There were around 40 skits in all, ranging from the embarrassingly bad (a lone nerd playing out shaky renditions of Zelda tunes on an ocarina, joined by an awkward friend who, we are told, forgot his instrument) to the completely contrived (the entire "Charlie the Unicorn" sequence reenacted by Kingdom Hearts characters); to the freakin' amazing (more on that in just a sec). The parading of costumes, afterward, was also quite satisfying.
Now, since I don't have any pretty pictures to show you, I decided I'd do something a bit different. Fortunately for me, some kind souls illegally recorded some skits during the masquerade, and uploaded them onto our favorite YouTube! That's right, free videos! And I found footage of some of my favorite skits, as well...
Firstly, we have a bunch of unusally acrobatic nerds dressed as Street Fighter characters jumping and vaulting around and performing various video-game inspired moves, all to music. Their choreography is actually pretty great, and their kicks and leaps are very accurate to the impossible gravity-defying special moves they are trying to imitate.
That was pretty cool, but this next one is the one I will remember for the rest of my nerd days. This little girl, dressed as Link, mentioned earlier, flounced out onto the stage, tossed aside her shield, and drew from her scabbard not the Blade of Evil's Bane, but a shiny gold flute. She raised it to her lips and proceeded to play what I can only describe as the most intense arrangement of Zelda melody that I have ever heard, to the delight and astonishment of the audience. It really must be seen and heard to believe, and fortunately this is possible via YouTube. You may have to raise your volume, as this video is particularly low.
She received a couple Judge's awards, but nothing else--I don't know why, as most of the other skits were pretty tame in comparison to this.
The rest of Otakon was mostly spent walking around and staring at the awesome costumes, but I have one more thing for you before signing off:
SPECIAL BONUS!! Footage of Nerd Rave! You must watch this until at least the 1:20 mark so you can see the person dressed as a Wii Controller. Dancing.
Thought I do not, perhaps, share the fandom's enthusiasm for the media, I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Otakon, and will, perhaps, attend again.
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