What I Learned at Midnight

I went to my first ever midnight movie last night, and we all know what it was. I'm not a huge movie person in general, so I've never felt it was necessary to go see one at midnight before. But I absolutely love Harry Potter and well, if there was ever a movie to see at midnight... this was it.

I expected the costumes and the crowds and the general craziness, but I still think I underestimated it all. I didn't expect the theater to clap for seriously every preview, for example. I didn't expect to be one of the last people to find their seats... an hour and a half before the movie began. (This post is free of movie spoilers by the way, in case you were worried!)

From pastemagazine.com

Here's the part of the story where I sidetrack for a moment (bear with me). When the first Harry Potter movies came out, I didn't go and see them in the theater. There were still books left, so the movies didn't interest me in the least. But eventually I saw each one, and after the seventh book came out and I had savored it, I began to anticipate the movies because, well, it was all that was "new" that was still left for Harry Potter. The movies meant this thing that had accompanied me and so many others through their childhoods wasn't quite over yet.

So I was at the movie last night, and at one of the funny lines the whole theater laughed. But they laughed too long, and I missed the next line. I don't like to miss things (unless it's a movie I've seen before, or don't like, in which case I talk through the whole thing. Hypocritical, I know...) so I was annoyed by this. And as the movie went on, cheers would erupt, and then at the next little victory the cheers would be louder. Then even louder at the next one. And my friend that I went with was sobbing beside me so much my chair shook.

And even though there was the unmistakable pressure behind my eyes of building tears, they never fell. Everyone else around me was so present, they were distracting. They made the moment one I had to share, so I didn't have enough time to process anything for myself. I didn't have the chance to decide that this particular moment was one worth shouting about. Everyone else decided it for me.

And that is one of the reasons I will always love the Harry Potter books (and any book, really) more than the movie. Even the best movie that could ever be made. Because when I read, I'm isolated in this world that feels like it has been created solely for me. I get to decide if there was something 200 pages back I need to confirm now that I know something new. I get to decide that this moment is so troubling and heartbreaking I can't help but cry. I get to dwell on a line that strikes me and find a post-it note to mark it with so I can write it down later. It is my world, and no one else's world in that same book will be quite the same.

One of my favorite lines from all of Harry Potter is Dumbledore telling Harry, "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" Books, when we read them, feel like they are entirely in our heads. But in our heads they are so alive, so tangible, that the characters can become embedded in us. Their plights become our plights. Their joy, our joy. And too often that--that realness--I do not experience when I see things on a screen.

So Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II was very well done, and very moving, and I strongly suggest everyone go and see it. But I won't be going back to the movies at midnight any time soon. In fact, I'll probably spend many more wonderful hours trapped in a book before I see whatever movie I'm going to see next, and that's precisely how I prefer it.

Also, I know I've been very absent from this blog as of late. There was this whole matter of graduating from college and moving 900 miles, then moving across town a few days later, then starting my job -- all in the span of a week. So I've been a little out of sorts, but things are calming down now, and I shall try to post more regularly. Thanks for sticking with me!  

Mean Girls, Realism, and Young Adult Books

It took me years to watch Mean Girls, and let's just say it wasn't instant love or anything. So how I ended up watching some of Mean Girls 2... I have no idea. I'm going to blame it on the lack of baseball at the moment.

Even so, my mind somehow related the movie to writing. There was a scene where a girl got food splattered all over her, and everyone in the cafeteria pointed at her and laughed. Literally. Pointing fingers and many over-exaggerated chuckles and all.

The thing is, there was a two-week period in my junior year when the same friend of mine got hit by food at three different lunches. We weren't the "losers" or anything (my high school was surprisingly diverse and well-mannered). I'm 99% sure the food wasn't even aimed at our table, unless as a joke. And it always happened right at the end of lunch, so there was a lot of mayhem with everyone leaving and we couldn't figure out where it came from. One time it was a barbecue sauce type substance, one time it was some sort of jello that had something inside of it. We all used our thinking caps (AP students that we were), tracked down a spare shirt in one of our gym or dance lockers, and got her changed and to class relatively on time. (In fact, after she was late for the third time, our crazy Calculus teacher joked she should start wearing a raincoat to lunch.)

I am still convinced that the three occurrences in such a short time period and the fact that it always hit the same person even though we were in different seats was a mere coincidence. Frankly, we thought it was hilarious. And my whole point is, no one else really even noticed what happened, much less pointed and laughed.

I think high school is a very important period of life (no matter how desperate I was to move on to college), and that's a large part of why I write contemporary young adult. So many things that happen in high school are amplified in our minds, becoming the most important or disastrous or embarrassing thing that has ever happened. EVER. And that's what makes it so interesting.

High school is a terrifying time all on its own. But for some reason, movies like to amplify this. They make the universal cliques more distinct, the embarrassing moments ten times longer and more ridiculous, the teachers crazier, and on and on. The stories that are told about high school are important, but I believe they can be told realistically, too.

I think there's a quote saying something to effect that fiction has to be more realistic than real life, because it has to be believable. That makes perfect sense. And I think this is something that young adult books are better at than movies. I also think the importance of this shouldn't be overlooked. When something is the right amount of realistic, it's relatable. And, at least for me, when I can relate in even the smallest way, that's when something I read has the most effect.

So, digging into all the crazy and twisted things that assuredly happen in high school and how they affect people, I'm all for. But over-exaggerating events to the point they're hard to watch? Please, for the love of books, leave it to the movies.

Note: I am speaking specifically about contemporary/realistic books - not fantasy or sci-fi or the like, which each work in their own ways with their non-realistic elements :)