Harry Potter and the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder [Spoiler
Dec 17, 2015 21:14:39 GMT
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Post by Harbinger on Dec 17, 2015 21:14:39 GMT
The thing I HATE about the end of Harry Potter is that Rowling is all "lol and they lived happily ever after."
'Cause, y'know, it's not like Harry has endured seventeen years of hell or anything. There wasn't a war and so many deaths. What's essentially a nation of people didn't endure over two decades of terror. An entire school wasn't held at ransom and forced to do devilish things.
Nope. None of this happened. Everyone lives HAPPILY. EVER. AFTER.
And us readers? Those that literally grew up with Harry? We have to live happily ever after. Even though we saw the pain of loss and want. The fear of the slinking unknown. The terror of being followed. The knowledge that danger is closer to home than we thought. The unfolding tyranny. The growing corruption.
The death of one of our favorite characters.
The true life of several of our least favorite characters, which only brought them closer to our hearts.
But we live HAPPILY. EVER. AFTER.
Because Rowling thinks "that's the bravest ending." That her characters ignore everything that happened and went on to be one big, giant, happy family.
-Ron and Ginny: Pfft, who was that Fred guy, anyway? Oh well, one of us ought to make a kid it name it after him.
-Neville: Well, I still don't have sane parents, I was bullied horribly, but hey, I managed to chop off a snake's head when she tried to eat someone. Please excuse me while I water these daffodils.
-Hermione: I just got thrown into a world I never knew about and was hated in. Peace, yo.
-Draco: What do you mean, puppet? I did nothing wrong and was happy the entire time.
-Not even going to get started on Harry.
I don't think any of us need to be reminded of what happens to people after a war. We've seen it enough over the past several decades.
So let's briefly focus on a writer who also wrote about kids who were forced into war. Applegate's Animorphs series. You know what happens in the end? One kid returns to "normal," because some are able to reconcile with their actions. One kid moves on to fame, because his life has always been about presenting a happy front, no matter how fake.
One kid abandons society all together, because he has nothing else left for him.
The last kid falls into such a deep depression that the others attempt (and fail) an intervention. He doesn't truly recover from his PTSD. He never throws off the yoke he carries because so many deaths were at his hands, because of his orders.
Applegate got so much hatemail because of this. Because one kid didn't survive the war. But you know what? Applegate's books, however aged, however campy, are so much more real than the science fiction it's supposed to be.
Rowling didn't understand that. Or chose to ignore it.
And that is why I hate the ending of Harry Potter.
*removes soapbox*
'Cause, y'know, it's not like Harry has endured seventeen years of hell or anything. There wasn't a war and so many deaths. What's essentially a nation of people didn't endure over two decades of terror. An entire school wasn't held at ransom and forced to do devilish things.
Nope. None of this happened. Everyone lives HAPPILY. EVER. AFTER.
And us readers? Those that literally grew up with Harry? We have to live happily ever after. Even though we saw the pain of loss and want. The fear of the slinking unknown. The terror of being followed. The knowledge that danger is closer to home than we thought. The unfolding tyranny. The growing corruption.
The death of one of our favorite characters.
The true life of several of our least favorite characters, which only brought them closer to our hearts.
But we live HAPPILY. EVER. AFTER.
Because Rowling thinks "that's the bravest ending." That her characters ignore everything that happened and went on to be one big, giant, happy family.
-Ron and Ginny: Pfft, who was that Fred guy, anyway? Oh well, one of us ought to make a kid it name it after him.
-Neville: Well, I still don't have sane parents, I was bullied horribly, but hey, I managed to chop off a snake's head when she tried to eat someone. Please excuse me while I water these daffodils.
-Hermione: I just got thrown into a world I never knew about and was hated in. Peace, yo.
-Draco: What do you mean, puppet? I did nothing wrong and was happy the entire time.
-Not even going to get started on Harry.
I don't think any of us need to be reminded of what happens to people after a war. We've seen it enough over the past several decades.
So let's briefly focus on a writer who also wrote about kids who were forced into war. Applegate's Animorphs series. You know what happens in the end? One kid returns to "normal," because some are able to reconcile with their actions. One kid moves on to fame, because his life has always been about presenting a happy front, no matter how fake.
One kid abandons society all together, because he has nothing else left for him.
The last kid falls into such a deep depression that the others attempt (and fail) an intervention. He doesn't truly recover from his PTSD. He never throws off the yoke he carries because so many deaths were at his hands, because of his orders.
Applegate got so much hatemail because of this. Because one kid didn't survive the war. But you know what? Applegate's books, however aged, however campy, are so much more real than the science fiction it's supposed to be.
Rowling didn't understand that. Or chose to ignore it.
And that is why I hate the ending of Harry Potter.
*removes soapbox*
