UPMBD For Short

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Rewatching the Harry Potter movies, not in anticipation of the new one, but rather because I need a Rifftrax fix and really don’t feel like watching Eragon or The Matrix, well, ever again.* And I gotta admit, I can see why I abandoned it six books and four movies in. Underneath all that whimsy, I can’t escape the way the series boils down to a perfect example of the genre I call “Unlikable People Making Bad Decisions.”

Actually, some of my favorite movies are in that genre. Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity, and I suppose you could put Alien in that category as well, though I rather like most of the characters in those movies, up to and including Private William “GAME OVER MAN” Hudson. But the thing is, it’s because you’re not required to like the characters to enjoy the movie. In Harry Potter, you are supposed to like at least some of the characters, and that’s where I’m tapped out. (The same problem keeps me from enjoying the Unlikable People Making Bad Decisions shows my sister and mom enjoy, such as Private Practice and Desperate Housewives.) Characters determined to make the worst possible decision at any given moment, who are so exceedingly touchy that essentially the taunt of “Your mom!” induces any of them to homicidal rampages, are not characters I can really like.

Add to that the completely arbitrary nature of the magical world, and the way EVERY SINGLE TEACHER seems to be actively trying to get their students killed,*** and I find myself wondering what I did see in the Harry Potter stories.

I am enjoying the riffing of them, though. Especially since Mike, Kevin, and Bill have made a running joke of the reckless endangerment wizards and witches seem to put their children into at all times. But alas, I have run out of Harry Potter riffs for now, and will have to turn elsewhere for my mockery.

Hmm. I wonder if Michael Sheen makes an appearance as Count Fabulous in Eclipse …


*Actually, I got back on the Rifftrax kick while letting my current bout of Alien obsession run its course. I’d exhausted the number of times I could watch Alien and Aliens, then watch them again with audio commentaries,** without feeling just a little repetitive. Plus, anyone doing John Hurt impressions makes me giggle. (“I remember … doing something stupid … then something else stupid …”)

**I have long suspected that commentaries are designed for the obsessive nerd who doesn’t want to feel like they’ve had the damn movie on a constant loop for a week. It’s totally different this time! There are people talking about the movie!

***Except for Snape. The only one whose loyalties you’re supposed to question is the only one who’d shove himself between a werewolf and three children he can’t stand. Snape, like Raistlin, is a character I love in a franchise I really don’t like. Yeah, yeah, have at me, internet.

Comments

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Actually, it defined my adolescence somewhat, too, since I read it just before it got REALLY big 'round these parts. I liked the first few well enough, but I got really, really sick of everyone going nuts over it.

What did it for me wasn't so much how the series started as how it failed to really progress--the characters weren't so much uninteresting to me as downright obnoxious, and they never get past the obnoxious part. The ones I liked were the side characters, really. But mostly my problem is the same one I have with sitcoms: the overwhelming urge to scream "THAT IS A BAD IDEA!", "LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES!", or "COMMUNICATE, YOU IDIOTS!" at the characters. ETA: And the magic system got weirder and more unwieldy as it went along.

And that's not even getting into the fact that half the time Harry winds up making things WORSE because of that. I would be willing to accept that as a cool literary device in a "best-laid plans of mice and men" sort of way, except he rarely laid his plans very well in the first place.

In conclusion, if you want kids learning magic, I recommend Tiffany Aching, Circle of Magic, or even Diane Duane's barely coherent but bizarrely awesome Young Wizards instead.

[mis-creation.livejournal.com]

Yeah, everything I heard about post-GoF books didn't make me want to read them. And everyone I know keeps trying to convince me I should. I keep coming back with CoM and say, "It's really good! And more interesting! And more thought-out world-building! And a better magic system!"

That reminds me! I've been meaning to re-read the Young Wizards (I stopped at the one where Kit went away because they fought, or something. I have abandonment issues and didn't want to read about it).

I got the weirdest looks from my writing group when I tried to express my frustration with willy-nilly magic systems. Most of them seemed to think the whole point was that it was willy-nilly, and I kept trying to tell them that it should have rules and a system and logic. They all thought I was nuts...

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I liked the attempt to make "Loony" Luna Lovegood sound crazy in later books. After five years of accepting any old bullshit people about gillyweed or garden gnomes, why dismiss her belief in nargles?

I need to reread Young Wizards, too. I have to admit, their magic system is nuts, but I like it for its crazy scenarios and also the way wizards use jargon. And it still seems a little more like there ARE rules, at least ...

[westrider.livejournal.com]

I also need to re-read those Diane Duane books again. I remember really liking the first three at least, when I was a kid. I also remember that it did seem like there was some sort of system to the magic, even if it was never made even remotely clear to the reader.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

The friend who was feeding me the Young Wizards series can't find the next book, but I have JUST DISCOVERED THEY ARE KINDLE-D!!!!!

I wasn't *planning* on buying any more books, e- or otherwise, but this is something I cannot resist....

My problems with the HP universe are pretty much the same as yours--there is no character growth (and the ones who have potential for growth get killed off), the magic system is stupid and clunky, the main characters are obnoxious and annoying, and at times phenomenally stupid. I read them because her *writing* is reasonably good, even if her characters and world-building suck, and now that I have read them I have no urge to re-read them.

That's actually the most telling--if I want to re-read the story or not. If not, well...