November 29, 2005
Rowling v. Lucas
For the first time, I actually waited long enough between entries to overshoot the archiving on the pizzle, meaning the site was completely blank for awhile. Bad form. Excuses? None. Ironically, I spent more time this summer on the site when I was working long, long hours. I guess when you have less to complain about, you essentially have less to say. Or maybe I was actually too engrossed in the world for once to comment on it. It's been a sobering fall for sure. There was the Biblical hurricane season in the Gulf, and the catastrophic earthquake in Kashmir (100 times as deadly as the Hurricane, but of course received 1/100 the attention in America).
On a personal level, I reached a whole new peak of fantasy sports (and real-life sports) obsession which has sucked alot of free time out of the shedool. I crossed two lines never crossed before by playing a season of fantasy baseball (even though I don't even like baseball that much) and playing for money (after the entry fees and payouts I've netted $-10 so far, not too shabby). Also, the 'Horns are for real this year and the Cowboys are back fighting for a division title. But my hope for the winter is to renew the pizzle and unleash all that has built up in my head over the past four months.
****
We left off last time with a blurb about the sixth Harry Potter book and my attempt to do a compare/contrast with Star Wars. This past week the fourth Harry Potter movie premiered and after waiting an hour in line opening night to watch it, I figured this would a good a time as any to share the results.
First, let me say that I really enjoyed the latest movie . Although it did seem rushed at times, cramming alot of story into two and a half hours, I actually welcomed the different spin and creative liberties that comes with adapting a 700-page book. Director Mike Newell can throw out all the spells and gadgets and creatures that are introduced and focus on the main plot points, the characters and their emotions. Newell's credits include Four Weddings and a Funeral and Donnie Brasco and he brings elements of both to Goblet, creating a movie that's funny at all the right moments, dark when it needs to be, but always exciting, visually incredible and most importantly very human. Harry's world is growing much darker, but there's no reason why he can't also have some fun along the way.
****
So with a fourth movie in the can and the penultimate book in the works, how do the life and times of Harry Potter stack up against The Greatest Story Ever Told AKA Star Wars? Let's start with the similarities that make both these tales great.
Brave New World
The best part of any fantasy epic is being able to enter a world that is completely different than the one we currently inhabit. George Lucas' galaxy far, far away and JK Rowling's parallel magical universe are both worlds with an infinite number of possibilities to explore and stories to tell. Every detail is thought out and imagined; every character is fully drawn within his world. I think we've all at some point imagined what our lives would be like without the constraints we normally live with. What if I could jump on a ship and hyperspace my way to another planet? What if I could wave my wand and move the remote towards me without getting up? Transforming our everyday world into flights of fancy is what lures us in, and nurtures the uniquely human need to escape our present time and place.
(The Internet makes it exponentially easier to get immersed in your favorite fantasy worlds. For example, there are tons of sites that modify the familiar personality test questions, the What Kind of Care Bear Would You Be type stuff, into different Sorting Hat engines. Two sites put me in Ravenclaw, the third in Gryffindor. Maybe I can make a new house, GryffinClaw.)
Good and Evil
But what fun is another world if we have the same problems and ambiguities that we have in the real one? We need a world where wrong is wrong and right is right. Luke must stay loyal to the rebels and defeat the emporer. Harry must prevent Lord Voldemort from once again terrorizing the world. They must save innocent lives and boldly sacrifice their own. In a way, it is easier for clear cut roles to exist in a made-up world. In reality, we're much less likely to see our dilemmas from the same point of view. There are two, or three, or four sides to the story. But there's no time for all that when the fate of galaxy rests in our hands. Good has to win and justice must be upheld. The moral choices in our fantasy worlds may not be easy, but they are always clear.
Other Odds and Ends
Harry Potter and Star Wars (along with most other epics throughout history) share elements of the Father-Son, Chosen-One mythology. Whether it's to redeem his sins, or to avenge his death, they are plenty of daddy issues to go around. There's also plenty of talk about prophecy and fate in both stories, bringing into question the age-old issue of how much control over the universe do we have and vice versa. In terms of story structure, both Harry Potter and Star Wars get better as they get darker. It's never really interesting unless something menacing is about to happen. But there is a point in both stories where momentum is lost. Episodes 1 and 2 of Star Wars functioned mainly to fill-in the backstory of what everyone already knew was going to happen. Book 6 of the Harry Potter series in the same way halted the momentum of Books 4 and 5 (with Voldemort returning and the battle lines being drawn) and focused on Voldemort's history and setting up the grand finale. I'll end with some attempted character equations:
Harry = Luke
Han = Ron
Hermione = Leia
Voldemort = Darth Vader+The Emporer
Dumbledore = Yoda (maybe old Obi-Wan)
Sirius = Young Obi-Wan
Hagrid = Chewbacca
Try your own! It's fun when the football games on TV are blowouts and you have nothing to do.
****
(Incoming: Stock Intro sentence for Compare/Contrast essay learned in sixth grade) AS MUCH AS HARRY POTTER AND STAR WARS ARE ALIKE, THEY ARE ALSO VERY DIFFERENT (can never go wrong with that one, very versatile).
UK vs. USA
Both franchises are undoubtedly global in popularity, but I think the country of origin brings about some key differences. Despite the prominent involvement of British actors, at heart Star Wars is a swashbuckling shoot-out, the Wild West in outer space. For example, Obi-Wan fights to preserve democracy and the republic, Han flies the Millenium Falcon in to save the day, and the rebels defeat the empire with a collaborative effort, with Luke ultimately facing Vader on his own. All of these things are very recognizable as parts of how Americans view their ideal selves. We want to uphold freedom, ride in on our white horses to help anyone in distress, and while we applaud teamwork we will always confirm the power of the individual (think Hoosiers , where Coach Dale preaches the total team game, but in the end Jimmy gets the last shot). I can't speak for how "British" Harry Potter is, because well, I'm not British, but none of these traits are as strongly seen in Potter as they are in Star Wars. Potter's world is more insular, existing in parallel with our own real, or "Muggle", world. His battles, so far, seem more personal and there are no overt political tones to the fight between good and evil in his world.
Closer to home
The magical world existing in parallel to ours is one reason why I think Rowling's fantasy is a bit more approachable and recognizable. This point will certainly be debated, but making Harry enter the Wizarding world from the Muggle point of view, allows the reader/viewer to discover things alongside our hero. We are as shocked and delighted as Harry by all the magic that exists . Another way HP is a more viable fantasy, especially for kids, is that we can, year by year, watch Harry grow up and deal with typical teenage issues like girls and homework (the Buffy effect). We are allowed more personal insight into the characters' lives, and can identify with them more, because their adventures happen while they are at school. In Star Wars, there are signs of daily life, but it is mostly backdrop to the events of the story. Also, because Lucas told the story backwards it was difficult for new fans to involve themselves in a world already familiar to most people. Without a step-by-step story progession, and with a pre-existing world (the galaxy far, far away) there was a little more work required by the audience to reap the full rewards. But is it worth it?
To Be Continued...