RIP Robbie Coltrane

Ya know, it's weird. My geekery has traditionally been focused primarily on the things I grew up with. I've been told that I watched my first Star Trek episode the day my parents brought me home from the hospital. I was six when my mom took me to see the original theatrical screening of Return of the Jedi. I remember watching the original Battlestar Galactica when is was the new thing and that's why I got into the reboot. (And, all of my hatred of reboots aside the BSG reboot was better than the original.) I watched and collected GI Joe and Transformers. I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, read the comics and played the Tabletop Role Play Game by Palladium Books. Ditto Robotech.  I was into Green Lantern  when the only way to see him on screen were the old Super Friends/Justice League cartoons. Dungeons and Dragons and all of the related novels took up an amazing portion of my high school years. I've talked about my old school connection with Battletech here before. When I list my fannish favorites, those are the things I'll always list first.

Of course, I've learned to learn other things along the way. I'm a huge fan of Big Bang Theory and I absolutely love all things Babylon 5. The Walking Dead was an obsession until Rick left in a helicopter (yes, I get Andrew Lincoln's reasons for leaving. They're valid and I'm not hating. It's still not the same show.) If you don't know I love Declan Finn as an author and his Saint Tommy: NYPD series most of all this must be your first stop by the blog. Welcome.  The Honor Harrington Series is a huge part of my life. I'm part of the fan club and have met some very close friends through it, good people all. But...

For the most part the stuff I came to later lags behind as far as being one of my favorites. The problem isn't the newer product, it's me. When I first started reading the Honorverse I was already in my twenties. I wasn't as jaded as I am at forty-five, but I wasn't the wide-eyed youth I'd been at eight, either. I had hardened and the new stuff couldn't embed itself into me the way it could have when I was younger and softer.

The one exception is Harry Potter. J.K Rowling created a world so vibrant, so beautiful, so horrible and so scarred (true Harry Potter fans will get this) that it shines as well as the things I read in my youth. This is despite the fact that I was introduced to the HP franchise by my ex-wife who I don't exactly like much anymore.  And one of the greatest characters of the franchise has always been (and always will be) Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts. 

Hagrid was the warm and loving friend. The guy who will always do his best for his friends, come hell or high water. He didn't have the best impulse control, and his tongue may have wagged just a bit too freely,c but he always meant well and there really isn't anyone in the entire HP universe who would have been more loyal or loved more fiercely. I mean, seriously, who goes out to a giant camp to rescue their brother, who beats them up when they leave? Hagrid was the salt of the Earth and a guy whose example very few people would live up to. I'm still a bit miffed that Harry didn't give one of his sons the name Hagrid, but I suppose I should get over myself.

I probably need to stop here and explain something: I'm an American and I consume mainly American movies and television. That's not to denigrate any other country and their products. it's just a product of where and when I was raised. So when I started catching news of the HP movies and who was acting in them, I kind of just shrugged. I didn't know much about any of the actors or actresses because I hadn't seen them before. I guess I just don't watch enough of the Beeb. Also, I haven't been a fan since day one. By the time I picked up my first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had already been released, the first movie was out and the second was only a week away. Fortunately for me, there was a local movie theater that ran older movies at a huge discount and I was able to see the first two movies on the big screen a week apart. I was blown away.  Yes, the books were better but WOW did those movies work. They came as close as any book to movie translation I had seen previously and only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has come closer since, but that took two movies.

And a huge, huge, HUUUUUGE part of that was Robbie Coltrane in the part of Hagrid. When in your life have you seen a better translation of a character? Part of it, admittedly, was the make-up. That part of the crew deserves a standing ovation, but it was a whole lot more than just looks. I mean it. If you're a fan of both the books and the movies (and you should be because both are awesome) I dare you to re-read the series and NOT hear Hagrid saying "I shouldn't have said that," in Robbie's voice. Go ahead, I'll wait.

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YOU FAILED!!!!!

Granted, it's not your fault. It's Robbie Coltrane's fault. He played that part so well that he ruined our ability to picture Hagrid as being other than the way Robbie played him. Well done, Robbie.  And you said it best, didn't you?<"The legacy of the movies is that my children's generation will show [the films] to their children," the clean-shaven actor said. "So you could be watching in 50 years time, easy. I'll not be here, sadly, but Hagrid will. Yes."

He has, sadly, been proven correct. Given how close that interview came to the end of his life, I'm forced to wonder if he knew something that we didn't. Then again, if he did, it wasn't really our business. That much having been said, I'm convinced that he'll also be proven correct in fifty years time. I mean that. Shakespeare's plays sold out the Globe Theater in his time and Dickens had more than one novel that was serialized in magazines before being bound and sold as a book. J.K Rowling's work is just as good and will stand the test of time. I'm calling it right now. 

And when I'm sitting on a couch somewhere in the future with one of my grandchildren (should God and my daughters be willing to provide me with them) we'll have Harry Potter on the television just like I had with their mothers. We'll be laughing at Hagrid when he goofs something up, we'll be crying when Norbert has to leae for the Dragon Sanctuary. We'll shake our heads at the injustice of it all when Hagrid is carrying Harry's body back to Hogwarts. 

And all through it, the work of Robbie Coltrane will shine through.  I don't want to know how much time he spent learning his craft. It was obviously too much to comprehend. I don't need to know how much time he spent rehearsing the part. That was obviously a large number too. I don't need to know what he was paid or what his benefits were. None of that matters to me. Here is what I do know:

As long as someone is watching the Harry Potter movies, as long as someone is reading the books and picturing the characters the way they looked on screen, as long as one group of Potterheads exists on the internet, until the last copy of the last existing Harry Potter crumbles into dust, the legacy of not just J.K. Rowling but EVERY ACTOR in the series lives on. Robbie Coltrane will be with us as long as we remember him. So will Alan Rickman and all the rest. So, may your body and soul rest in peace, Rubeu... err...

Robbie Coltrane. Lay down your woes and gaze upon what comes after this life. But know that you're not gone from our lives, nor will you be forgotten. You will live on in the lives and memories of generations not yet born until some English Literature student curses the series for its impenetrable language the way modern students curse Shakespearean actors. Fly high, my friend. I'll see you when I get there and a whole bunch of times between now and then on film.

Some Harry Potter related products are available for purchase at the following links. If you click the links and purchase literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Thoughts on the Twenty Year Anniversary of Harry Potter

Long, long ago (circa 2002) in a galaxy far, far away (better known as Clinton Township, Michigan) I received a book for Christmas. It was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling. (Yeah. I'm an American. We're not smart enough to know what a Philosopher's Stone is.) It was a book I had sworn to never read. I mean, it was kid stuff, right? What adult was going to read it? There was only one problem: I was dating my ex-wife at the time and she loved it. She wanted me to read it so she gave it to me. I wasn't working at the time so I couldn't tell her I was too busy, so I read it.

I loved it. I had stayed over at her place one night and started reading it the next day while she was at work. By the time she got home that night I was halfway through Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I was hooked. It was that good. At the time, only books one through four were out. I read them all in a matter of days. I saw the first movie at the second run movie theater that only charged a dollar fifty that weekend. I saw the second movie a week later and paid full price. I attended the release parties for the next three novels sans children. I got a few weird looks but I got all three books on release night so it was worth it.

I have since read every HP book at least twice and watched the movies with my kids more time than I would care to count.  I'm actually pretty upset with myself that I didn't read these sooner. When I split with the ex one of the things I made sure to take were the HP books. I could live without that woman but I needed those books.  Yeah,  they're that good.

I've heard a lot of literati types hate on the Harry Potter series. Apparently the fact that the books are popular means that they're not true literature. You know what? Fuck that attitude. I mean that.

Rowling's works have popularized an entire genre of fiction. Before Harry Potter,  Young Adult fiction was a joke.  Now it's one of the fastest growing areas in all of publishing and every YA author that gets published owes a debt to Mrs.  Rowling.  She wrote the works that opened the way.

J.K. Rowling is literally the mist influential English language author of the last century. Only Tolkien comes close and for the same reason.  Tolkien revitalized the fantasy genre. What separates Rowling from Tolkien is that Rowling popularized a genre that had never been big where Tolkien brought back an old genre.

She did it not by kissing liberal ass with message fiction but by telling an awesome story with awesome characters. Rowling's characters are quirky and strange but they are believable in their actions and motivations. The conflicts escalate continuously. Every time Harry and friends win their enemy gets tougher. It's not till the end of the final book that a final victory occurs.

Let's talk about some compelling characters:

Harry Potter: He's an orphan. He's been, at the very least, mentally and emotionally abused by the Dursleys. He has to feel at least partially responsible for the deaths of his parents, who lost their lives defending him but he never gives up. Harry fights against a force that is bigger than him. No one would be able to blame him if he decided to pack it in and go home but he doesn't.

Looked at another way, he is the chosen one. He could easily let that go to his head and turn in to an arrogant snob but he doesn't. He's smart enough to know he needs help and brave enough to get the job done.

Hermione Granger: Raised by Muggles and starting off in a world like nothing she's ever seen before, Hermione thrives. Her amazing intellect and drive to excel push her toward greatness. Without Hermione, Harry fails. It's that simple. She even saves the day while petrified. But there's more to Hermione than just that.

Hermione is everything I teach my daughters to be. She is also a lot like my girlfriend. She is strong, proud, smart, tough and brave. I spend as much time rooting for Hermione as I do Harry. Plus she starts off the series as a nerd and that's something I can identify with. Oh and her drive to free the house elves amazes me. No one else even cared.

I'm intentionally omitting Ron as I see him as a cross between Samwise Gamgee and Carrot Top with a little bit of that fat kid from that one episode of Little House on the Prairie thrown in. He's a necessary character but not one of my favorites.

Speaking of Weasleys though, how about Molly? I love that Rowling cast her not just as the helpless housewife but as the mama bear. Molly is sweet as sugar until you endanger her family and then LOOK OUT. Her worst fear is something happening to her family as we see when she faces down a boggart. All this and she still manages to keep her whacky husband moving forward.

Even Tom Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort, is a compelling character. He's a man who was mistreated as a child and now hates everybody like those who hurt him. He's mad for the power he needs to get back at them. No one likes this guy but his motivations make sense even if his methods are too extreme. He's sick and twisted yet we can see how he ended up that way. And despite all of that, Rowling makes us hate him enough that his death is a crowning achievement. I could go on for days.

It's also obvious to anyone that pays attention that Rowling has done her research. Almost all of the monsters come straight from mythology. The parallels between Nazi Germany and some of the actions taken by the Death Eaters are legion. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Triwizard Tournament was somehow inspired by the Labors of Hercules.

All of this adds up to one of the most amazing stories ever told. Rowling amazes me with what she managed to pack into those books. There are ups and downs. Nothing is ever quite what it seems. The books start off fairly laid back but by Deathly Hallows they're dark as all get out. No one and nothing is safe, even if we wish they were. It's a crazy world but it's entertaining. How entertaining you ask?

Rowling's books have sold hundred of millions of copies. She is considered to be the world's first billionaire author. All this because she created a story about a boy and his friends and refused to give up on it or herself. She submitted book one dozens of times before it was accepted and maybe that's
the biggest lesson of Harry Potter: The odds may be against you, but you should never give up. J.K. Rowling didn't. Harry Potter didn't. You shouldn't either and neither shall I.

Some Harry Potter related products are listed below:

RIP Alan Rickman

(BEWARE: Spoilers abound.)

I became a Harry Potter fan because I was forced to. I mean that literally. I, unlike many Potter fans, was an adult when the first book came to the United States in 1998. I was twenty-one at the time. I don't remember precisely when I first heard about the Potter phenomenon, but to me it was for kids. I couldn't get why all of these adults were reading this kids book. I was never going to do it. Then, I met this new girl (that I later married and eventually divorced) and she loved it... and there was still no way. She had a degree in Elementary Education and a collection of Captain Underpants books as well. I was now CONVINCED that this was kids stuff. Then a funny thing happened.

I lost my job less than two weeks before Christmas. I had no money saved. I was screwed. My only activities involved searching for a job, reading and sleep. Nicole got me a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for Christmas. I still wasn't going to read it, but I liked this chick. She bought me this book for Christmas and I wasn't working, so I didn't have an excuse. I figured I'd try to gut my way through the first ten pages and call it a day. I mean, she can't be mad if I at least TRIED, right? Then another funny thing happened.

I loved that book. I was sitting at her house one day while she was at work when I read it. When she got home from that work I was about halfway through Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I had taken it off of her bookshelf. I was also really hungry because I had forgotten to eat lunch. I'm a three-hundred pound man. That just doesn't happen. By the weekend I had read all the way through book four. That was as far as the series went at the time. I saw the first movie that weekend (at a second run discount theater) as well and the second one the following weekend. I was hooked.

Harry Potter is, of course, a work of fantasy. Fantasy does not work without a good villain. There has to be something to fight against to move the plot. The ultimate villain is Voldemort, but in the first few books - really until the death of Cedric Diggory - the more immediate villain is Snape. He hates Potter with a passion. Snape wants to fail Harry not because of his classwork but out of sheer Jealousy. Snape is an evil prick. If you don't want to slap Snape in his arrogant, overbearing face at least once you're not a Potter fan. I found out about Snape's good guy status much later, just like the rest of you but I'll never truly LIKE the character in the way I like Harry, Ron or Hermione. Respect, sure. Pity, yes. Hell, I'd trust him at my back in a battle, but I wouldn't want to have a beer with the guy, ever. I'd end up freaking out at the guy and walking out.

The movies cemented that opinion for me. Snape was an evil bastard. There was no two ways about it. Alan Rickman didn't just play that character. When the lights were on and the camera was rolling, Rickman WAS Snape. Seriously. How many of you out there can read those books and not HEAR Snape being a cocky, condescending, smarmy asshole in Rickman's voice. There may have been better actors from a technical standpoint as relates to some aspect of the craft that I have no clue about. I have never seen an actor so completely become a character though. I don't know if another actor anywhere in the world could have sold me so completely on Snape's face turn. This was the guy who had performed the Unbreakable Vow charm on Draco and killed Dumbledore. Somehow though, some way he got me through it as he sat on the floor dying and remembering his long-lost unrequited love. In like thirty seconds Rickman, through Snape changed my entire perspective on a character I had been following for years at that point. Rowling's writing hadn't managed that in the book. Rickman's performance did.

And today, I woke up on my day off and found out that we had lost Alan Rickman overnight. I posted a quick Facebook status about it and had planned to go on about my day. I've got stuff to get done, right? I mean I've got groceries to get, an apartment to clean and a head to shave. I haven't eaten yet today. We've lost countless famous people over the years and many who have had more influence over than Alan Rickman. Right? I mean, I just realized that Alan Rickman is one of my favorite actors but he's just an actor. Right? Well...

Not only am I a blogger, I am also an as yet unpublished writer of fiction. I have some well defined and measure goals and some that are quite subjective. One of the subjective goals is to one day write a character like Severus Snape. A character who can act like a villain for an entire series and then turn on a dime at the end and make the reader re-evaluate everything they know about him. A character that a member of the audience may have hated for years and then consider in an entirely new light at the end. Snape is one of the greatest characters I've ever read. Period. Dot. END OF SENTENCE.

And yet, it's not Rowling's words on a page that I remember when I think of Snape. I mean, she clearly deserves a ton credit for conceiving and writing the character. For me though, it was Rickman's voice, his facial expressions and his skill that really makes this character for me. When (if) I manage to hit that milestone and reach that goal it won't be Rowling I'll be thinking of and comparing myself to. It will be the performance of Rickman. He did it right.

So rest in peace Alan Rickman. Be assured that your fans will never forget you. I will never forget you. You will live on through your legacy of only God knows how many characters, most of which had nothing to do with Harry Potter. Yet, at the end of the day, you'll always be Snape to me. He was your greatest and meant the most to so many. Farewell and Godspeed.

Some Harry Potter titles are available at the links below: