Last Thursday night at Midnight. My Daughter had to be at the premiere screening of the last Harry Potter movie--ever! We bought tickets for a Deathly Hollows double feature. With them leaving to stand in line around 5pm for a 9pm show, I knew she was devoted to watch this movie.
I have never understood the fascination with the Harry Potter franchise. A boy who attends a wizard academy and fights an evil wizard who has deep roots in the boys very life. It's unique. But not that unique. It's the first time I have ever heard of people waiting in lines and waiting hours to buy a book at midnight. Not a movie. A BOOK!
So a series of movies based on those books would only launch this fandom and popularity into freakin outer space. The movies have made billions. That's a lot of millions. Made its author richer than the royal family of her home nation. Sold more books than Bible. What the Hell!?
Now, I've been to a many midnight movies. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Spider-man 3, Superman Returns and so many others I can't even recall them all. Yet, the one thing that fascinates me most about a Harry Potter movie is the wide range of people that attended this sucker. Star Wars crosses many social demographics; so does Star Trek. Trekkers and Star Woids don't compare though. Harry Potter takes the cake. These Potter Heads (my own description of Harry Potter Fans) are diverse! I had more fun people watching than watching the flick.
There was a couple gay guys sitting next to us, both wearing Harry Potter costumes. If Harry was flaming gay, these guys pulled it off perfectly. The punker chick with body piercings and tats all over her arms. The 40-ish year old Filipino woman wearing her Hogwarts sweater and scarf, reading a worn copy of Chamber of Secrets. The smoking hot twenty-something blond with her jock boyfriend. The middle-age mother of three waving a toy wand that lit up at the end. The cowboy with dirty boots and the shield-like belt buckle. Skinny people. Fat people. Young and old. Hispanic. Black. Asian. And Muggles. They all know Harry Potter. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude!
Harry Potter brings them all together...
