I’m a little late on posting this, but PotterCast #211 went up last week.
It’s got a new Pundits segment on Christmas in the Harry Potter series. Enjoy!
PotterCast #211
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I so so SO enjoyed this segment – I’ll have to listen to it again to get the details square!
Isn’t it wonderful how no matter how many times you read the text, there’s always something new to find! The mark of a genius at work.
I wondered what you thought about the nadir of Harry’s journey – the moment of him negating Dumbledore’s love in Deathly Hallows, while sitting powerless with a broken wand, being a parallel of the Biblical moment when Christ hangs on the cross (powerless) and says, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”
All power to your boffin arms,
Pottershrink, South Africa
I am so glad to have a way to tell you all how literally thrilling I have found your discussions! (Yes, I am a word nerd.) I have always felt that HP was great literature as well as a great story (I think of it as one long book) but have never met anyone who gets what I’m talking about. And now Potter Pundits have given my feelings validation! Thank you!
Please tell me that you have something planned for Infinitus next year. If I could choose one thing I’d like to see in the programming it would be you three and anyone else brilliant and fascinating you know to add to the panel. I would be beside myself with excitement. It makes me want to go back to college just thinking about the idea of taking a class focusing on themes in HP. Did I mention I’m a nerd?
Heather, Thanks so much for your kind words! Always good to “meet” other nerds. Yes, we’re most definitely planning something for Infinitus.
Pottershrink, thanks for your kind words and interesting thoughts! I think it’s safe to say that Harry did feel quite abandoned by Dumbledore in that moment, though I’d probably hesitate to link it to Christ’s cry on calvary, only because at that point, we’re in the Christmas part of the story.
Which doesn’t at all negate the force of Harry’s feeling of being forsaken. But the parallels to Calvary are found, of course, in chapter 34 and following, and the picture there is really only one of a Christus victor model of atonement, whereby the Christ exhausts the power of evil and renders it impotent (i.e., Voldemort can no longer cast effective spells on those for whom Harry died). If she’s deliberately drawing on anything out of Christian theology, it’s that. Literarily speaking, see parallels between Aslan’s walk with Lucy and Susan to Harry’s with Mom, Dad, Sirius, and Remus.
(For a full treatment of Harry’s death and its parallels with Christian theology, I write about this at length in chapter 6 of Harry Potter and Imagination.)
My comment is about Episode 213. I loved your treatment of Luna as an ethereal character in these stories, when too often she is seen as merely (though very good) comic relief. Fantasy literature is filled with female characters who represent the incarnated moon goddess. (One of my favorites is Robin McKinley’s Deerskin.)
You skirted around it several times, but I don’t recall any of the pundits coming right and out and using the word “goddess” or “priestess,” though I think especially the latter may apply. In the scene where Luna presides over Dobby’s funeral, she essentially gives Dobby his last rights, though she really didn’t know him. There is no other character who had the vision to handle that event with such calm. Her juxtaposition to Hermione through that section is stark–Hermione is wounded, emotional and shaken after a few hours at the manner (torture will do that do a person), but Luna, despite having been imprisoned for months, is essentially the same as before. Needing no growth of her own, she facilitates it for other characters. Brilliant discussion.
And while I’m making a too-long comment I would like to point out that MY favorite Luna moment is when Harry finds the painting on her ceiling. He is low and discouraged, his heroes have all deserted him, and he has begun to feel the futility of his quest. Yet Luna, even in her absence, is once again a pure, uninhibited, all-seeing ray of light. This is one of the few instances that we see a circle of tight friendship extend beyond the trio, and Luna places Neville into equal orbit with Harry around herself. Again, Luna sees clearly where others cannot, and reminds us that Neville has yet to play a part in this grand drama.
You guys are awesome. Keep up the good work.
I think potter pundits is wonderful. Pundits provides exactly what I got involved in the fandom to find. Please explore all your thoughts and topics. You have listeners, and please make it easy for us to keep track of the links to your discussion.