Harry Potter: Worth the Hype?

[Green_crayon42]

Jade Hawkeye Lillian

Reguardless of what the quality of the story is, you can't deny that the HP AND Twilight books got kids (girls mostly for the last one) to read--and LIKE reading. I'm a big fan of don't knock it til you try it (though I'm sometimes a hypocrit), and unless you're a big name author (*cough*Stephen King*cough*) I don't think anyone has a right to b***h about it without admitting this fact first.*

*You guys should be proud of me, I just thought this up...if you're critically thinking about a book/series/whatever, you're becoming a better reader and writer yourself. biggrin

This girl has a very good point.  

[Paradoxismminant]

Wow, Crayon, you wrote a whole dissertation rofl

I mean that in a good way C:.

Don't worry about what you say xd , it's your opinion and you're entitled to it...

My mother is always finding problems with it, but she's still a fan. Its pretty funny  

[Green_crayon42]

I can't stand how 12 year olds are sooo into it. It's complete bullshit. and is incredibly irritating.

Okay. I just...thought I would need to apologize in case people took offense. Glad you enjoyed it though. I do like to give reviews of things. It's kinda fun... 3nodding  

[Paradoxismminant]

Haha, there's lots of people into things, silly or not. It's a human trait, you know C:

Reviews are fun XD. It's just that we don't always have time for them  

[Green_crayon42]

I guess. I just have nothing to do but b***h...sometimes, I use it to my advantage...sometimes not.
I can be nice. but there's only a few good things I can say about Harry Potter.
Redwall, on the other hand, I could go on and on about how great those stories are.  

[Paradoxismminant]

Hm. Personally I never really got into Redwall, but that's just me...  

[Green_crayon42]

Well, they're not really that cool for anyone above age 9...but...I love em. Grew up on em and..since my dad was kindof..a jerk, they became my father figure sortof.
it's just a fun read, that's all. somethin to take ya back to being a kid.. -shrug-  

[Bokusenou]

I love Harry Potter, it may not be great literature, but the books influenced me, and reaching the end of them was like reaching the end of a long, satisfying journey.  

[Paradoxismminant]

Bokusenou

I love Harry Potter, it may not be great literature, but the books influenced me, and reaching the end of them was like reaching the end of a long, satisfying journey.

I just wanted to say that I love that little book at the end of your post eek heart  

[Bokusenou]

Paradoxismminant

Bokusenou

I love Harry Potter, it may not be great literature, but the books influenced me, and reaching the end of them was like reaching the end of a long, satisfying journey.

I just wanted to say that I love that little book at the end of your post eek heart

It's great isn't it? ^^ I found it a while ago after being upset that Gaia didn't have a book/reading emoticon, and searching for a long time for something that looked icon-ish, so I added it as a custom emoticon on this custom Gaia emoticon GreaseMonkey (Firefox extention) script I use. You can use the icon if you want. ^^ I just found it on a profile graphics site and have been using it ever since.  

[Paradoxismminant]

Bokusenou

Paradoxismminant

Bokusenou

I love Harry Potter, it may not be great literature, but the books influenced me, and reaching the end of them was like reaching the end of a long, satisfying journey.

I just wanted to say that I love that little book at the end of your post eek heart

It's great isn't it? ^^ I found it a while ago after being upset that Gaia didn't have a book/reading emoticon, and searching for a long time for something that looked icon-ish, so I added it as a custom emoticon on this custom Gaia emoticon GreaseMonkey (Firefox extention) script I use. You can use the icon if you want. ^^ I just found it on a profile graphics site and have been using it ever since.

Ohhh cool

I might stick it somewhere XD  

[Flarityxx18]

I just have to put my opinion in here since I feel like I should actually post in this guild, and I keep seeing this topic coming up on my guild summary thingie....

I personally love Harry Potter, so does my whole household, my boyfriend, and half of my friends. I will be very sad when it ends in July, but I'm also excited to see the new movie since the last two movies have been really good compared to the books. Although the books are still better, don't get me wrong. But I still love the series as a whole, but I assume this thread isn't for ranting about how good the series is, so I suppose I'll say my problems with it...since I can't even really sum up my love for it other than that I've read the whole thing and just got into it and that I love fantasy...especially British fantasy. And the storyline is kinda what hooked me at the beginning....but, okay, bad things...

1. The characters have no depth. Like Crayon said, they're very two dimensional. Perhaps that's a British thing, I don't know. But that's why I do personalized quiz thingies on Quizilla for HP and change the characters, giving them a little more depth and a few more personality traits that what Rowling gave them. It works a whole lot better and is a lot more interesting. This is what fan fiction is for =).

2. The Houses are exactly the same. I COULD copy and paste a House rant I did on another guild, but I'll just sum it up for you. Rowling made it so Gryffindors (good) and Slytherins (bad) could not get along and were good vs. evil and all that. But what about the other Houses? Rowling made it so every House hates Slytherin and gets along with each other, basically. Let me put the House traits down for you. Gryffindors are brave, courageous, and loyal. Ravenclaws are intelligent, witty, and independent. Hufflepuffs are loyal, hardworking, and nice. Slytherins are cunning, ambitious, and misunderstood. As you see, there are many similar traits between Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs as well as Ravenclaws and Slytherins. But because Rowling made it that everyone hates Slytherin, Ravenclaws can't get along with them like I believe they should be able to (maybe I'm a bit biased because I think of myself as a Ravenclaw), and Gryffindors never call on Hufflepuffs to help them when it's quite obvious that they can, and vice versa. Which would mean that Gryffindors and Ravenclaws couldn't get along (because Ravenclaws are actually a lot like Slytherins, they just won't do evil) and Slytherins and Hufflepuffs couldn't get along (because Slytherins are strong, intelligent people and Hufflepuffs are pathetic dumbasses who go on being nice alone, and some of them aren't even that nice). See what I mean? When you put that all together (if anyone can decipher my logic razz ), it amounts to Gryffindors and Slytherins NOT being the good and bad of Hogwarts. More like Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs versus Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Although that's kind of contradicting myself, because Gryffindors are still on the 'good' side and Slytherins are still on the 'bad' side...but basically what I'm saying is that Rowling should've made it so there was more balance between the Houses instead of everyone just hating Slytherins...

3. The whole thing is basically a big Mary-Sue (for those of you who don't know what that is, it's a term used in fan fiction meaning that it's basically an inhumanly perfect story, everyone gets what they want, is friends with who they want, marries who they want, and it basically ends perfectly). I mean, Harry triumphs over Voldemort. Ron marries Hermione and Harry marries Ginny, which in turn made it that all the 'best friends' in school ended up being related, and I really don't like that. The whole thing was not only too perfect, but it was also very predictable. Has Rowling never heard of the term 'unexpected plot twists'? It would've made for a lot more of an interesting and suspenseful plot line.

4. Although I like that Rowling kinda put personal experiences into her stories, I don't like that she gave Harry so many 'father figures' (Sirius, Lupin, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Mr. Weasley) just because her own father was a deadbeat. I mean, one works just fine...we don't need five...

5. There is a lot of favoritism going on toward Harry and Gryffindors in general. I mean, right away in the first book, Gryffindor was in last place for the House Cup and Slytherin would've won, had Dumbledore not given Gryffindor an extra 170 points so they could just squeaky past Slytherin and win, and for what? The best played game of chess, pure nerve and outstanding courage, the cool use of intellect when others were in grave peril, and standing up to your friends. Although they sound like good things, I really don't think they deserved to have that many points just handed to them for only trying to survive, and only because Dumbledore wanted them to win the House Cup. Dumbledore is not a fair Headmaster. I believe McGonagall would make a better one, mostly because she's fair and she does not judge just because she's Head of Gryffindor House. She gives the same punishments to Gryffindors that she does to any other House, and it's the same with rewards.

I'll probably think up more as I think about it, but that's my two cents for now...actually, more like a few dollars...lol.  

[Bokusenou]

Glad to see a fellow Ravenclaw. xd

Anyway, the books have their flaws, but I still really like them. Has anyone seen J. K. Rowlings Harvard commencement speech? It was more moving than I expected it would be.