too obsessed?

so as most people know, the new harry potter movie is due to come out into theaters on July 15th, and i am almost 3 days away from seeing the midnight premiere at my local movie theater. now, this is a normal routine for me, but every two years, as the fateful day gets closer, my deep obsession for harry potter starts to emerge from where i've hidden it away. i mean sure, i'll have my moments here and there, when i hear a question being asked about the movie, or someone challenging harry potter by saying twilight is better (but you don't want me to even remotely begin with that debate, i am in no mood). but for the most part, i give off the demeanor of just being a normal girl who enjoys the movies. most of my friends, if they aren't close enough or even interested enough to find out, probably don't even know the extent of my infatuation with this series of books and movies, let alone the main actor himself. but you can bet that as soon as the new movie is emerging around the corner, the "harry potter fever" begins, if you will.

but where am i going with this, you ask? well, i've been getting a lot of the same comment recently. "charlotte, you are just TOO obsessed with harry potter." and i'd like to explore that statement; am i or am i not really TOO obsessed with harry potter?

first i'd like to draw the line of my obsession, for anyone reading this who is unclear. i do not dress up like a wizard and go to conventions. i do not paint a lightning shape scar on my head when going to harry potter related events. and for the love of all that is pure and holy in the world, i do NOT carry a wand around with me at all times, pointing it at people i don't like and shouting "avada kedavra", or something of that sort. that is weird and unnatural. i am a fan of the books, the movies, and the actors; i do however have a life and don't believe myself to be a magically gifted witch that hogwarts just happened to misplace my letter when i was 11.

perhaps i should explain how this all started?

you might be surprised to find that when the first harry potter movie came out, i had not read the book, i wasn't even aware of the books, and i had no desire to see the movie. but my best friend had a birthday party at Muvico to see that movie, and i went purely out of our friendship. i don't know where she is to this day, but i would really like to find her and thank her for forcing me to go see it. it turned out to be one of the best things i ever did.

after seeing the magical masterpiece that was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, i was fascinated with it. i forced my mother to take me to buy the first book and breezed through it in what was about a week (keep in mind, i was about 9 or 10 when this happened, so my speed reading skills have greatly improved. i can knock the 5th book out, the longest one in the series, in a matter of 1 and a half days, but that's besides the point.) i became even more enthralled with the series when i discovered the books were even better than the movies. i then proceeded to read the rest of the books that were available to me, anxiously waiting for the next movie to come out. i went and saw the 2nd movie on opening day and was once again completely in love with anything and everything about it. excitedly i awaited the third movie, and that's when it all happened.

now, i know that a crush on daniel radcliffe (harry potter, for all you dimwits out there who honestly don't know) isn't the most common thing for an american teenage girl to have, but i've never been very normal and this comes with my taste of guys too. we all know that in the third movie, harry certainly grew a bit, his voice was deeper, and he got a nice new haircut. well, as soon as he stepped on to that screen, my love for harry potter intensified more then ever imaginable. i was now a complete crazed fan with the daniel radcliffe love affair to match. don't get me wrong, i would have kept seeing this movies no matter if harry was handsome or not, but it certainly does add a certain enjoyment to seeing a film when you can't help but smile and suck in your breath every time you see the lead on-screen.

for the past years, i've gone to the midnight premieres of the new movies, and also the midnight releases of the new books. yes, i did cry when dumbledore died in the 6th book, i did cry when sirius died in the 5th, and i did cry when i finally finished the 7th book, because i realized it was all over. i'm not a very emotional girl, but this has always been an exception. over the years of repeatedly devouring these books, purely because i don't find much else interesting to read anymore because i'm adapt to j.k. rowling's superior writing style, i have come to gain a wider harry potter knowledge then i'm sure any of the actors in the actual movie even have, and they're actually DOING IT.

to be frank, i really don't find it geeky that i know and understand fully everything that goes on in this series. when you know as much as i do about these books and movies, it makes watching/reading them all the more enjoyable. i'm sorry that most people my age find it weird that i know what i know about this series, or that i'm so infatuated with the lead. i'm quite proud of how absorbed i am in these books, because they are good enough to warrent such an absorbtion. if i was this way with the twilight series, for instance, i would understand why an obsession would be strange. to be honest, i'd rather never read another harry potter book again than every become one of those twilight obsessed girls who are in love with a static fictional vampire with no personality. stephenie myer can't write. yes, i did just say it, and i don't care who it upsets. she tried to copy rowling's idea of a series for teens and failed miserabley. myer wishes she could hand j.k. rowling the pen with which she writes abstract ideas about harry potter. the harry potter series is a completely different level of writing, and i'm just appreciating how well done it really is.

so to answer the question i started out with, am i or am i not too obsessed with harry potter? no, i don't think i am. if enjoying a series of books so much that i insist on understanding them to a great depth and reading them repeatedly is a crime, then sue me. sorry i'm not your typical teenager who wants to waste my days away at the beach during the day and mizner during the night as i feel my lexile dropping and my vocabulary becoming more elementary. that just doesn't really appeal to me.

so really, if people like to categorize me as "obsessed with harry potter", i'll take the title glady. i don't find it insulting. i mean honestly, who cares if i know just exactly how many staircases there are in hogwarts castle? which is 142, in case anyone was wondering...

and no, i did not just google that.