Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 2

Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 2

The film that Harry Potter fans have been waiting for - and dreading - is approaching fast.
On July 15, the final instalment in the Harry Potter series will be released, bringing an end to the action-packed saga that has gripped the world for over 15 years since J.K. Rowling's first novel was released.
A sneak peek at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has been released, with a teaser trailer and the film's stars talking about what we can expect from the climactic film.
Scroll down to watch the video

The first Deathly Hallows film broke an incredible five box office records in the UK when it was released in November.
It took in £18.3 million on its opening weekend in the UK and $125 million at the US box office. To date it has taken an estimated £404 million worldwide.
The final film will the see the much-anticipated battle between Harry Potter and his nemesis Lord Voldermort.
In the featurette, Daniel Radcliffe says: 'Something's got to give. Harry is aware that the floodgates are open and that he is going to have to be the one that deals with Voldermort.

'The reason they're on this journey is much bigger than any one of them. It has to come to a head at some point,' he says.
'This is it, really. This is the end of the line,' Rupert Grint, who plays Harry sidekick Ron Weasley, adds.
After spending months searching the country for Voldermort's horcruxes - the source of his power and immortality - in order to defeat, Harry and his friends will eventually return to Hogwarts for the final showdown.
The first Deathly Hallows ended with Harry, Hermione and Ron on a mission to find these objects, and becoming increasingly frustrated with their lack of progress.

While the last film was described as a something of a road trip film, concentrating on the complex emotions and relationships of Harry and his best friends, the final chapter will be all action.
'It ties up every single loose end of the whole saga. The scale of this one feels enormous,' Emma Watson promises. 'Your heart is going to race.'
In between quests for hidden horcruxes and duals with Lord Voldermort, Harry finds time for a little romance.

The newly-released clip shows a lingering kiss between Harry and his love interest Ginny Weasley.
Fans of the book are also looking forward to the highly anticipated embrace between Hermione and Ron.
Rupert Grint spoke about kissing his co-star, recently announced as the new face of Lancome, during promotion work for the last instalment.
'It was actually okay, he said. 'It was just the anticipation. Neither of us were looking forward to it.

'I’ve seen her grow up and known her since she was nine. It just doesn’t feel right.'
Emma has had to get hot and heavy with moth her leading men, after kissing Radcliffe for a scene in Deathly Hallows: Part 1 in which Ron imagines his best friends betraying him.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is released in the UK on July 15.

Source : Dailymail

The Lessons of Harry Potter -- a reprised posting for a new movie

This Friday (November 19, 2010) Harry Potter again returns to the big screen with Part One of the film version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Over the years these books have attracted millions of readers, both young and old, and the films have drawn in myriads more, but even as they have been among the most popular books and movies of the last two decades, they have had their share of controversy.  For the most part the criticism has come from Christians who dislike the fact that wizards and witches are the heroes of these tomes (never mind that the same can be said about the C.S. Lewis Narnia series).   Some of this is addressed in several pieces at David Crumm's blog Read the Spirit.

I probably won't be there opening night -- hate the crowds -- I shall see it soon enough.  But, in the interest of stimulating the conversation I am reposting a column I wrote for the Lompoc Record in 2005 (and subsequently reposted at other intervals) about the lessons the series offers us, about such things as morality, courage, and the like.

This column appeared as part of my Faith in the Public Square series that appeared at the Lompoc Record each Sunday for nearly four years. 

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Harry Potter offers important lessons

Earlier Published column ---

Faith in the Public Square
Lompoc Record/Santa Maria Times
November 20, 2005

Harry Potter hits the big screen once again this weekend, and I'm looking forward to the big event. I may be a 47-year-old pastor with a Ph.D. in theology, but I have been intrigued with Harry's story since I first read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” to my then 8-year-old son.

Praised by teachers, community leaders, and even some religious leaders, the series has not been without its critics. Critics from the Christian community charge the books with glorifying the occult, witchcraft and paganism.

Although the heroes may be wizards and witches, witchcraft is not the point of the books, nor is it their main attraction. They are attractive because they are imaginatively written, and they strike young and old alike with a sense of empowerment and moral courage. Instead of leading children into Satanism, the books offer important lessons about courage, loyalty, determination, and even death.

Harry Potter follows in the footsteps of other beloved fantasy stories, including C.S. Lewis' beloved “Chronicles of Narnia”  and the “Wizard of Oz.”In many ways, Harry Potter may find its strongest parallels in the “Star Wars” movies. As with “Star Wars,” the intent of Harry Potter is not religious, but spiritual lessons are inherent in both series.

“Star Wars” and Harry Potter raise the question of good and evil, posing for us both the attractions and the dangers of evil, while helping us see that life is full of complex choices that are not always black and white. Harry Potter, like Luke Skywalker, is a hero who battles evil and makes choices that are at times ambiguous and even unsavory. He disobeys his elders, challenges authority, fudges the truth at times, and yet he is the hope of his community, the chosen one.Though it appeared that Darth Vader was to be the chosen one, he was lulled into evil and was redeemed by his son who resists the temptation of evil. Harry Potter also must resist the lure of evil so that he can save his own community from evil's threat.

Harry Potter is a risk taker and a questioner. He is wise beyond his years and takes a life-path that would be difficult for ones much older than he. Still, he consistently makes the right choices, and, like Luke, he goes in the company of friends who remain loyal to him, and he to them.Then there is the wise and sometimes distant figure of Dumbledore, who like Obi Wan, watches over Harry. Dumbledore gives Harry room to grow, to choose, and even to fail, but the hope of the community lies in Harry's hands and so Dumbledore is there to guide him.

There is another theme that runs through the series.Harry is marked, even protected, by the sacrificial love of his mother who had died at the hands of his nemesis Lord Voldemort. A scar on his forehead forever stands as a reminder of his mother's love that turned away the evil designs of Voldemort and continues to protect him as he matures.

Though I cannot read my own theology into Ms. Rowling's words and images, her description of an act of love does remind me of something I read in my Scriptures about one whose death serves as a sign of divine love for humanity. Even as Harry acts in response to his mother's love, I, too, seek to act in response to this expression of love given from a Roman imperial cross.

Harry Potter is not for everyone. The books become darker and more intense as the series and Harry mature, with death, disappointment, and loneliness looming larger in the later volumes. Parents of younger children may want to read and discuss the books with their children, but if you choose to read (or watch the movie), take note of the message of courage, of loyalty, of persistence, and of love that mark these books as a worthy read for people of all ages.

Dr. Bob Cornwall is Pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Lompoc.

November 20, 2005

My Neopagan Pen Pal

I thought that interfaith dialogue had its limits—until I started talking with a Wiccan.

For many, paganism generally and Wicca in particular are synonymous with the occult, even Satanism. The presence of Wiccans at the groundbreaking for an interfaith chapel at a Disciples of Christ-related university brought streams of protests and a flurry of questions from the faithful. People asked/demanded: Why were they present?

This was the same sort of worry that led some Christians to raise concerns about the Harry Potter books and movies. They denounced the series because they feared that exposing children to magic—as if Disney movies hadn’t already done that a generation earlier—might lead them into witchcraft. The concern was that Harry made witchcraft look too good.

While Neopaganism and Wicca have exploded onto the religious scene in recent years—bookstores have shelves of books on these new-old religions—their popularity seems to derive not from an embrace of evil but from their noninstitutionalized character. They’re also popular for an emphasis on communing with nature, in a time when we face the prospects of global warming, overpopulation, urban sprawl and pollution. (Critics of environmentalism have thus equated that movement with the occult.)

I had never seriously considered engaging in conversation with a Neopagan or Wiccan until I wrote about Harry Potter in the local paper and received e-mails from Wiccans and Neopagans who thanked me for offering kind words about Harry Potter. My article was posted on Wiccan sites, where respondents expressed surprise that a Christian pastor could have an open mind and compassionate spirit toward Wiccans. Many said they've experienced persecution and discrimination from Christians. They feel that their religion has been mischaracterized.

In series of e-mails with a Neopagan, I got to know a man who is married, has adult children, a job and endeavors to live in peace with his neighbors. I think he’s fairly representative—although he admitted that, like anything else, Neopaganism has its oddballs.

One e-mail from my pen pal raised the issue of the Veteran’s Administration’s refusal to allow Wiccans to use the pentacle on VA-sponsored memorials. (The VA doesn’t recognize Wicca as a religion.) I don't understand why we would allow someone to die serving his country but not recognize his or her religious affiliation.

Of course, people of other religions experience similar discrimination. In Tennessee the candidate for lieutenant governor has suggested that Muslims don’t deserve to be covered by the constitutional provisions of religious freedom, because in his mind, Islam isn’t a religion.

Those of us who are members of the religious majority have a responsibility to speak up for those whose religious identities are mischaracterized and smeared. If we had a few more conversations with those who are different from us, life would be better for all of us.

Reposted from Theolog, the Christian Century blog, for which I am a frequent contributor

Muggles, Mudbloods, and Bigotry -- the Lessons of Harry Potter for Today

I've been on a role, as someone recently pointed out, being that I've been writing about anti-Islamic bigotry.  Now not all opposition to the building of the mosque in New York is an expression of bigotry, but there is a definite component to the debate that is full-blown bigotry.  Some of this, of course, is simply politics.  Just as Communists made for a good straw man during the cold war (though socialists seem to be making a comeback), now immigrants and Muslims seem to be a good target.  Several years ago I wrote a column for the Lompoc Record on this topic, using as my example the conversation about muggles and mudbloods that is present in the Harry Potter books and films (this is fresh in my mind because I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on TV last night!). 

As you prepare to read this piece from 2007, I want to add in a quotation shared with me by my good friend and fellow pastor Glen Miles.  It's a quote from George Bush -- from 2002.  I've not been a big fan of the former president, but on this topic he is right on target.

"America rejects bigotry. We reject every act of hatred against people of Arab background or Muslim faith America values and welcomes peaceful people of all faiths -- Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and many others. Every faith is practiced and protected here, because we are one country. Every immigrant can be fully and equally American because we're one country. Race and color should not divide us, because America is one country."

President George W. Bush Promotes Compassionate Conservatism
Parkside Hall, San Jose, California
April 30, 2002

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Faith in the Public Square
Lompoc Record
August 19, 2007

No one likes to think of themselves as bigots, but unfortunately bigotry remains a present challenge to our society. Discussions of immigration policy, national security, even marriage often contain veiled and not so veiled statements about “them.” “Them” is code for those we deem undesirable; those who would steal our jobs, pollute our culture, waste our tax payer dollars, or undermine our morality. Yes, bigotry remains a problem in our day.

I happen to be a big Harry Potter fan, having just finished reading “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” and as I read I couldn't help but hear the book's author speaking to this very issue that plagues our world today. Supposedly this is a series of children's books, but they are much more, for many adults have found not just hours of enjoyment, but deep meaning in this increasingly mature series of books. The books offer insight into such virtues as friendship, loyalty, being true to one's self, and the importance of standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.

J.K. Rowling seems to have understood the old adage that truth must be caught rather than taught, and therefore it's quite possible to read these books, especially the final volume, as a protest against the rising tide of bigotry in our world today.

In the case of Harry Potter's world, the bigotry comes from the wizarding world's “Purebloods,” and it's directed against “Muggles” (non-wizards) and “Muggle-borns” or “Mudbloods,” as radical “Purebloods” love to call them. “Mud-bloods” are wizards like Hermione Granger and Harry's mother, Lily, who're without any apparent “wizarding” ancestry. Their “powers” are therefore seen as somehow illegitimate - even stolen.

This bigotry among wizards might be traced to the fact that they must live in the shadows, something many resent. But it's also born of a sense of superiority, and as we all know - “might makes right.” Their desire to keep things pure leads some radicalized “Purebloods” to engage in a policy of oppression and even murder. And those “purebloods” who sympathize with these “lower beings” are seen as traitors - “blood-traitors” - who must be marginalized for their love of “Muggles” and “Mudbloods.” But even our heroes must learn something about bigotry, and it's the “Muggle-born” Hermione Granger who is their teacher. She helps her friends see other non-human beings - like the house-elves who are essentially slaves - as having dignity and honor in their own right.

If any of this sounds familiar, it should for this morality-play sheds light on our own histories and experiences. A fanatical concern for racial purity stood at the heart of the Nazi's Aryan ideology, but they're not alone in history. Consider our own American legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and the Trail of Tears, just to give a few examples.

Yes, this isn't just a series of fantasy stories meant for children (indeed this is a series of books that has matured with the original readers of the series). It is a word of wisdom that we can learn from as we deal with a world that's becoming increasingly diverse and yet increasingly intolerant. Indeed, it can be said that bigotry is on the rise everywhere in the world today. Here in America the traditional recipients of bigotry - African-Americans, Roman Catholics, Asians, and Jews - have been joined by Latinos, gays, Muslims, and immigrants of all stripes, but especially those who hail from Mexico and Central America.

It seems that we regularly read and hear laments about the threats to American security and culture from those who are different. Despite the fact - with the possible exception of Native Americans - that there is no such thing as a truly “blue-blooded American” - we all stem from immigrant stock - some believe themselves to be more American than others.

But such bigotry is never right and is often a pretext to discrimination and to violence. It is, in fact, repugnant to what's right and honorable and decent, and contrary to the teachings of my own faith tradition. Which is why, of course, we should heed Harry's message and stand up for what is right!

Dr. Bob Cornwall is pastor of First Christian Church of Lompoc.  He blogs at http://pastorobobcornwall.blogspot.com.



August 19, 2007