Harry Potter fans come of age

[Gob]

When Erica Crombie's parents bought her a book about wizards to alleviate the boredom of a wet week in a Queensland holiday park, little did they know what they had let themselves in for. Between the covers lay a story so compelling, it drew the nine-year-old into a parallel world where she would spend the next half of her life.

From the time she turned the first page and met Harry Potter crouching in a cupboard under the stairs at No. 4 Privet Drive, the young Crombie was hooked. Then followed a decade of adventure in which she has spent close to $20,000 on Potter paraphernalia and trips to the US and Canada for conferences, where lecturers gave earnest talks such as Not Just Good and Evil: Moral Alignment in Harry Potter.

On July 13, the final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, will come to a cinema near you. ''It all ends,'' say the posters ominously. But for fans across the globe, it is not just the end of the series, it's the end of their childhood. Like Harry, they have come of age, and are entering the workforce or university.
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''It's time to grow up,'' concedes Adam Shelley, 20. ''But I don't think I can imagine my life without Harry.''

When I meet Shelley and his equally Potter-mad friend Aleysha Vanheusden, 20, she is wearing a Gryffindor scarf as a means of identification. Over mugs of hot chocolate in lieu of steaming butter beer, I ask the million-dollar question: what is it about Harry Potter that's so appealing? Both struggle to explain the magnitude of their feelings. ''It's the whole story of a boy being treated horribly by his adopted family and then discovering there's a world out there that's bigger and better,'' Shelley says. ''It's about finding yourself, about discovering that you are needed. It's so hard to explain.''

The childhood fantasy in which you imagine the dreary adults you're stuck with are not your ''real'' parents is a recurring theme in children's fiction (think of the Ugly Duckling). Freud called it ''the family fantasy'' and while its purpose is complex, he believed it helped a child cope with the disappointment they felt towards their own rather boring parents and the inevitable separation from them.

And where better to embed a story about separation than in an English boarding school? Hogwarts is an alluring mix of the modern and the mediaeval. The curriculum may be light years from the HSC but the themes of bullying, racism and adolescent angst are universal. It doesn't matter whether you study biology or how to plant a mandrake, it mirrors the reality of anyone, anywhere, who has had to force themselves out of bed to class.

''I would have loved to have gone to Hogwarts,'' says Thomas Croft, who was six when his mum started reading the novels to him and his brother. Now 16, he laughs when he says: ''I thought it was real. I thought that when I was 12 my letter of invitation would arrive by owl, too.''

For Crombie, now 20, Potter filled a hole on a more practical level. When it hit the shelves in June 1997, there was, she felt, a dearth of books for kids that dealt with meaty issues; grief, desire, rage, jealousy, the stuff that makes us human. She was ''not much of a reader'' before Harry, because ''books were more about teaching you how to read''.

''Harry Potter dealt with a lot of things that other children's books didn't. It answered a lot of questions I had in my mind, which I didn't know I had. There was so much about protecting kids from emotions and keeping things censored. We had nothing.''

When J.K. Rowling sat down to write in a flat in Edinburgh, she tapped into the global mindset. Harry may be a wizard but he is an endearingly normal hero, enduring the same romantic insecurities, friendship pressures and anger issues that any child or adolescent would. At the core of his being is the loneliness of being orphaned, of being abused by the Dursleys and of being misunderstood by all but a handful of folk, most of whom seem to die. ''It is definitely a book about death,'' Shelley says. Rowling began writing six months before her own mother died of multiple sclerosis. ''Everything deepened and darkened,'' she said in James Runcie's TV documentary, J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life. ''It seeped into every part of the book.''

She went on to describe her father, from whom she is estranged, as ''frightening''. In her books, there is no shortage of father figures: Dumbledore, Sirius, Hagrid surround the boy wizard with idealised versions of what he never had. But they weren't there just for Harry: ''Dumbledore was a big role model in my life,'' says Shelley, whose parents are divorced. ''In a way he was a perfect dad and a mentor. I was actually going through my books the other day and I could still see the little tear marks on the page when he died. It was very hard because here was this great father figure and then suddenly he was gone.''

Crombie, who runs the fan group ''Melbourne Muggles'', went into a ''deep grief'' when Dumbledore died in the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

''I went to school on Monday after reading it [the book] all weekend and I was five minutes late for class and the teacher said, 'You're late Erica,' and I burst into tears and she said 'Oh, you've been reading Harry Potter.' I cried for so long. They [the characters] felt very real. I learnt a lot from them and felt attached to them.''

While death stalks the pages, love underpins the story, centring on how a dead mother's love offers protection against the most evil of evils.

The ultimate fantasy of maternal love sustains Harry time and again when he is caught in the grip of Lord Voldemort and his ilk and sees him through to the bitter end.

For Shelley, Croft and Vanheusden, the books took off for them when they were on the brink of adolescence; an age at which they were starting to form their own opinions and imagining life outside the family. And they felt the pain of Harry's abandonment, even if they weren't orphans. Christian Peris, 19, a supermarket worker, was sucked into Potterdom when he was grounded as a teenager. ''The only place I was allowed to go was the library and I started to read it.

I was immediately drawn in because Harry was living in a cupboard under the stairs and I was more or less confined to my room. I felt very close to him.''

Shelley says: ''I didn't have the best childhood. I guess I could identify with Harry wanting to get away to this magical place where anything was possible. My parents divorced at a young age and they always fought, so it could be quite hard at home, especially having to go from one parent to another. I felt that isolation big-time … I longed for what Harry wanted … the perfect family with two parents who loved him.''

Vanheusden, 20, whose Melbourne home is adorned with posters, went through a similar experience. ''When I was 12, my parents separated and I had two younger sisters. I felt I had to be there for them all the time and not focus on how I was feeling. I had to get away from it all. Reading Harry Potter was about focusing on me for a change and not everybody else.

I felt very alone. I couldn't go to anyone. I had to be there for my sisters, but there was no one really there for me, so these books were a form of escape.''

The books also served as a moral compass. When The Philosopher's Stone came out, it caused an outcry among religious groups because of its use of magic. But the story, spun out over seven volumes, revealed itself to be an intensely moral fable with the tenets of Christianity at its core; namely good triumphing over evil, life and love winning out over death and justice meted out to those who deserve it.

Says Crombie: ''It does have huge effects on the decisions I make in life. I'll base a decision I make on what happens in the book. For instance,

I dropped out of school when I was 17. I didn't have much motivation, but I've gone back to do my VCE [Victorian Certificate of Education] now and the main reason I chose to do it is because I want to do social work. What I learnt in Harry Potter is that if you don't have motivation to do something for yourself, you should do it for the greater good. That's Harry's whole life.''

When Rowling typed the last words of Deathly Hallows in November 2006, she ended a chapter in the lives of millions of fans. No one could have predicted how the chronicles of Harry, more than 17 years in the making, would become embedded in the psyche of millions of children. The books have been printed in

65 languages, with the first four setting records as the fastest selling in history. Deathly Hallows sold 11 million copies on its first day.

And then there are the films. Shortly after we meet, Peris is off to London, to carve out a space in Trafalgar Square as close as he can to the red carpet for the premiere of Deathly Hallows Part 2 . He says, somewhat dramatically, that he will kill himself if he doesn't catch a glimpse of Rowling. And then what? ''I don't know how I will feel,'' he admits. ''I remember crying through the last chapter of the book, so I don't know [how] I'm to cope in the movie.''

None of the fans are ready for it to end. Crombie says: ''Harry has been the biggest effect on my life. He has been with me since I was nine and I can't really remember much of life before.''

Says Vanheusden: ''I will probably be very much in denial. No, this is not happening … I am not ready for this to be over … Even though the film is over, Harry will be very much alive within me. He will never die off; he will always be part of my existence.''


Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/enterta ... z1QKhaVIJ6

[loCAtek]

In that case, it'll probably start a religion, 'eh?

Really. As a social experiment, let's see how many 'Church of Potter' cults pop up?

[thestoat]

When The Philosopher's Stone came out, it caused an outcry among religious groups because of its use of magic

What a bunch of fucking twats

[Gob]

It's been interesting watching our daughter grow up with Harry Potter.

Do we ever grow out of the books of our childhood? I haven't read "The Lord of the Rings" in years now, but may one day return to it.

[SisterMaryFellatio]

I love Harry.....and I think its sad it has to end.


I trade in my books at second hand stores, the only books I have ever kept are the Harry Potter ones so I can read them to Pud!


There are around 20 of us at work who are huge Harry fans and so we always organise a night at the movies to watch the latest release and then a few sherries after. I opened my big gob and said for the last movie i would go dressed as Bellatrix Lestrange!




Looks like I might have to do it as some of them have memories longer than elephants!

[Gob]

Oh my fucking god, Hellena Bonham Carter Gothed up. I may have to go lie down for a short while...

[Crackpot]

I thought you sere on hiatus from "gentlemanly activities"

[Gob]

A man can find a way when needs must...

[The Hen]

Do your walking stick exercises instead of your wanking stick exercises. Even if they look similar.

Take your Arnica and your pain pills too.

Get the cold pack out of the freezer and start freezing your shoulder.

Don't make me come home and get all angry over your sorry arse!

[thestoat]

Do we ever grow out of the books of our childhood?

I was 34 when I read the first one (living in Sydney as it happens) - and have now read all of them twice. Wonderful books. Sure the language may be simple, but the way the story is told is just magical.

(So am I not the only one with a thing for Ms Carter then? She lives about 5 miles from me - next door to her husband)

[SisterMaryFellatio]

Stoat - I didnt read Harry til I was 30...and only because a friend came over from the UK who was 40 and a big hairy arsed biker wanted to go to Movie World to get a Harry Potter t shirt. This caused hours of piss taking.

He had the last laugh tho, on leaving he said to me go get the first book read it and tell me you didn't enjoy it.

A few weeks later I had a day off and was headed to the beach with nothing to read, so i stopped at a book shop and picked up the first book. I sat on the beach and devoured it in 4 hours and picked up the second on the way home.

Since that day I have and always will be a big fan, they are well written and take you to a magical land where I would love to visit and for the first time in the history of movies they have stayed true to the books and the locations and sets are exactly as i imagined while reading. The casting was fab and I for one am very sorry Harry had to come to an end!

[thestoat]

Couldn't agree more

[Sean]

*Spoiler*
Doesn't Harry die horribly in a woodchipper at the end of this one?

Personally I found the books to be unrealistic and completely unbelievable.
Not the wizards and magic and shit, I'm okay with all that...

But a ginger with two mates? Yeah right...

[thestoat]

Apparently they are close to a cure for ginger ...

[Gob]

(So am I not the only one with a thing for Ms Carter then?

I'd eat chips out of her knickers mate!

[thestoat]

They do exist ...

[SisterMaryFellatio]

They do exist ...

I am one of them!!

[Guinevere]

Love, love, love Harry Potter! I've read every book, multiple times, and seen all the movies. I'm bummed that I'm going to be traveling on the weekend the last movie opens, so I won't be there opening day.

But the best part is sharing the books with my boys. I gave the older the first book for Christmas and he has since poured through that one and the second, and the movies, and adored them! We're waiting to start the third until his best friend catches up with us -- I cannot wait!!

[thestoat]

I am one of them!!

Celtic blood - nice

[BoSoxGal]

The last Potter book I read was #4. I really enjoyed them and would like to go back & start over again sometime and complete the series. Lately I've been reading far too much work-related non-fiction, which is interesting but drab.