Harry Potter & Star Wars.

For your education and edification, our old friend King Heifer - occasional contributor-to and commenter-on this blog - has provided us a with an interesting and – I think you will agree – startling analysis of the similarities between The Harry Potter series and the Star Wars series. In doing so, he touches on something bigger and almost primal. The question becomes: are these archetypal elements? Are they integral to all stories of all heroes? Are these elements fundamental to the sorts of stories that move us? Are there lessons here? Do these things represent some profound roadmap on how to navigate life? Or does the commonality of these elements represent some secret history of how civilization has learned to survive and thrive and succeed? Or is there more to it? Is J.K. Rowling just a thieving-stealing-thiefy-pants?

*** Editor’s Note: There are some hints of spoilers mixed in below. ***




I really liked this last Harry Potter movie. In particular, Voldemort is a really excellent villain in it. All of that said, there is an awful lot of borrowing from Star Wars in the whole set of movies (and books). Now I know that Star Wars didn't invent a lot of the story pieces (George Lucas having read Joseph Campbell's books about mythology), but, in both series:

(1) there's the chosen one who learns from the master who dies, but then helps the chosen one from the great beyond (Luke, Obi-Wan & Yoda; Harry & Dumbledore);

(2) there's the guy you think is bad the whole time, but turns out to save the chosen one at the end (Darth Vader, Snape);

(3) the chosen one is accompanied by a male and a female friend who have a tense relationship that turns romantic (Han & Leia, Ron & Hermione);

(4) the chosen one is frequently accompanied and assisted by a small friend who is alternately comic relief and heroic (R2D2; Dobby);

(5) the chosen one's parents are dead;

(6) the chosen one's mentor frequently lies to the chosen one;

(7) the chosen one was raised by a grumpy uncle; and

(8) at the end, the chosen one destroys the super-power thing, rather than keeping it (no, wait, that's a Lord of the Rings ripoff).

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Everything I Have to Say about Harry Potter.

Everything I Have to Say about Harry Potter
by james bezerra


Now that Harry Potter is ending
children everywhere can go back to not reading!

Did you know that the college I attended
offered a class in Mister Potter?
The English snob in me was a little offended,
but the egalitarian in me said, “The more the merrier!”

Did you know a Dumbledore is a kind of bee?
That was totally news to me!
I thought it meant: rip off of Obi-Wan Kenobi!

Did Alan Rickman
turn out to be a bad guy?
I have never trusted him,
you know why?
DIE HARD, that’s why.

I am uncomfortable when grown men
talk about a “hot” Emma Watson.

Ralph Fiennes is great as Lord Voldemort,
but what if, to play the part,
they had actually gotten Dick Cheney?!
How great would that be?!

Hey, remember those vibrating brooms
they had to stop selling?
Because girls were running off to their rooms?
Wow, that was uncomfortable and embarrassing!

And remember how strange it was for all of us
when Daniel Radcliffe bared his ass in the play Equus?

But I guess the biggest question
is whether Harry finally won
the war against evil
and made the world safe for us all.
(I bet he did!)

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