There’s something about Harry

Unless you are only just visiting this solar system on holiday from your home planet of Alderan, you know that this summer is The Summer of Harry Potter.

The latest film, “Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix,” came out last Wednesday. (Saw it, loved it.) That’s exciting enough for fans, but the real frenzy is about the release of the last book in the series: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows.

As you might have deduced by the count-down banner I’ve had on this blog for several weeks as well as my link to the book on Amazon.com, I am a fan.

I know this may seem odd. In life-experience, let’s just say I’m way outside the target audience for Scholastic Press. I also have no children of my own to inspire me to sympathetic enthusiasm for a fantasy about a boy wizard whose destiny just happens to be to save the world.

Ah, grasshopper. There are many fans like me, a fact that still amazes me. I’ve spent a fair amount of time pondering why grown adults all over the globe should be just as hooked on Harry as their eight-year-olds.

I could opine it has a lot to do with J. K. Rowling’s magical world, the fantastic product of an imagination so rare, as Stephen King said, it should be insured by Lloyds of London. I could suggest it’s due to Rowling’s uncanny ability to capture the idealism, joy and pain inherent in every childhood and coming-of-age. I could insist cynically that it’s all about the marketing - from Legos to lunch boxes, the merchandising machine has simply burned the brand of Harry Potter into our brains.

I think all of that is true. But I believe there is something about Harry that gives him the edge, something about his story that gives it the power to catapult from good story to global phenomenon: a direct line to our collective unconscious. Harry’s is the universal story of good vs. evil, with the classic hero’s quest and Unconditional Love in all its divine faces: wisdom, compassion, loyalty, bravery, truth and friendship. Combine all this primordial goo with the aforementioned creativity, insight, and marketing, and you’ve got a potent psychological speedball.

And now we are all down to our last fix.

It’s clear to even the youngest of fans that Harry might actually die in the final battle. It’s arguable from a literary standpoint that an ultimate sacrifice is the story’s most natural conclusion. But I don’t put a lot of stock in literary tradition; it ain’t like Harry’s been particularly high-brow up until now, and JKR pretty much does whatever she wants to do, traditions be damned.

Personally, I’m betting Harry doesn’t have to die to save the world, though I’m not really sure why I’m so sure. Naturally I don’t want him to die; I like Harry. But I guess I’m also fed to the teeth with the whole sacrificial lamb thing. Martyrdom is melodramatic as a literary device, overused as a plot climax, and misguided as a spiritual cornerstone. Don’t we have enough Christ figures? I hope JKR dreamed up a more creative conclusion to the classic conundrum.

But enough with the speculation, as I’ll find out in a mere three days anyway.

This Friday night, I will be at the Midnight Magic book release party at my local Barnes & Noble, making wizard hats and playing Pin The Tail On The Pettigrew with my nephews.

And Saturday will find me back at Hogwarts, fighting the good fight with Harry and friends.  I don’t intend to stop until I turn the last page.

Will I see you there?

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