Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Harry Potter and the Quest for Happiness

Lately I’ve been preoccupied by the Harry Potter films which we (=bf and me) borrowed from my ma-in-law (my bf’s mom, obviously). I never watched the films before, because the world and the thus forthcoming stories have never really been of interest to me; I’d rather see films closer to what’s possible. I must admit I’ve been doing some research on the storyline after having seen the sixth film “the Half-Blood Prince”. The cliff-hanger left me dangling and wondering about Professor Snape, and I needed confirmation Snape is not on the opposite side of Dumbledore. That said, I really don’t care about Harry, so I completely surpassed his presence and moved on to his mother Lily since that is where the story actually started. I must admit I only know that because of the little research I’ve done to who and what Professor Severes Snape is.

The promise I made about replying about Happiness is still in the back of my head, but neglected cause of the entrance of Snape into my brains (I really need to practise me some Occlumency. I can’t believe I actually used that word). I’m writing this entrance, because Snape’s entrance threw me back to thinking of how people achieve happiness. I think no spoilers are needed when I say Snape’s childhood where somewhat rotten and so were his student years. The fact his deep love for Lily isn’t answered doesn’t help either. I didn’t read the books, so I’m basing my thoughts on the film; Snape seems far from happy. Was that because he was too busy performing his duties, or was that because he had to miss the presence of Lily?

Obviously, happiness is not high on his agenda since he’s got other things to do, like sort of babysitting Harry. He mgiht not even be capable of being happy; he doesn’t seem to be the person for it.
On the other hand, Harry might be. He’s obviously not as dark as Snape, even though he has a boat load of things to tend to, like getting ready to battle Voldemort. Still, he does find the time to search for his happiness, or contentment, or whatever is required to achieve some level of happiness.

I don’t have my theories all worked out yet; I will get back to this subject. However, the above does help me a little in phrasing my answer. Before I get back to write a proper piece about Happiness, I’m going to reread the comments so I won’t shoot aimlessly and fail miserably.

4 comments:

Hannah said...

Because of his awful childhood, I don't think Snape was ever truly happy, except when he was with Lily. Unfortunately, the peer pressure among the Slytherins of the time was such that he eventually aligned with them politically, leading him to call Lily a Mudblood and lost her friendship forever. After he was responsible for her death by telling Lord Voldemort about the prophecy, I think he was too ruled by guilt to ever be truly happy.

You see a flashback in Deathly Hallows (book 7) where Dumbledore asks Snape if he is helping Harry for Harry's sake.. Snape casts his Patronus, which is revealed to be a Doe (that was Lily's Patronus when she was alive), indicating that he is ONLY helping because of his lost love for Lily. Dumbledore asks, "Still, after all this time?" and Snape replies, "Always."

He never loves again, never finds anything worth being happy for. I think his entire existence boils down to a double-agent-hell justified by the continuing love and guilt.. He basically had a miserable life.. Poor family life, friends who were death eaters, the only real friend married his enemy and then he accidentally got her killed.. and then he spies for the good side and ends up mistrusted by everyone.

I don't know what my point was.
I love Harry Potter.

Wiwik said...

Hahaha, Hannah! I was already wondering since you were pretty much doing the extended version of what I said.

My point still has to be made. I just wanted to let Stephanie know I didn't forget about her and my promise to her. A point which is going to have to prove my initial point made by me and commented on by Stephanie. I still think I have ground to build my theory on. Snape and Harry are going to be the objects of study.

Thanks for tuning in. I'm only just catching up, and seriously wondering if I should borrow the 7th book from my mom-in-law.

If you don't mind, I now return to watching the Half Blood Prince.;D

Hannah said...

If you like the movies even a little bit, read all the books. They make my life so much happier than it would be without them.

Wiwik said...

To be honest, after watching the Order of the Phoenix(?) I was so depressed I almost didn't watch the HBP, but since I set out to finish watching all movies I watched it anyway. Only after watching the HBP I started doing research, cause I could not have Snape being opposite Dumbledore, as I said in my blog.

In short, the first two movies didn't do much for me; I even forgot what happened there. Scrap, I'm not even sure which ones were the third and fourth. I only remember liking Lupin and being depressed he resigned. Then the one with Umbridge came and I hardly made it through that one. I remember actually retreating to the kitchen to make energy bars instead of watching the movie.

Okay, that was not in short. Now really in short: I forgot about movies 1-4. 5 annoyed the hell out of me and left me incredibly depressed. 6 made me dive deeper into the history of Snape and said research is finished.

And one other thing I can remember is me thinking: "Fer fff...sakes, Harry!!!"

In the movies Harry annoys me a lot, and I'm afraid that is what he will do in the books as well. I laid down many books because the character was annoying me.

However, since Snape seems to have taken possession of my mind I have now to explore every facet of his life and love. Therefore, this evening, I will ask my ma-in-law if I can borrow the 7th book so I can read the Potter series in true Anja-fashion; backwards and mixed up.

What's more interesting to me is how far I wil get. I suspect I give up somewhere shortly after Snape dying.

Now excuse me, I'm going to learn me some Occlumency and try to get rid of some weird thoughts.