Seeing Hogwarts is the greatest Harry Potter moment

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According to the show I just caught the second half of on ITV1 (sources say it's being re-run on Saturday - HELL-O DVR!), the greatest moment from the Harry Potter films is ... none other than the first glimpse of Hogwarts. (Second and third being character deaths, #3 from HP7:1, and #2 from HP6 - you know the ones I mean. Of the two, I preferred #3, because of the words that are spoken just before, because they make what happens next even more sad.)

Do you remember the first time you saw Hogwarts on screen?


For the first film, I went to see it at the cinema with my mother, who has read and enjoyed the books too. I remember sitting there in the darkness, and then Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry came into view, and I was completely blown away. How magnificent it looked, perched up on that cliffside! It was so incredibly BIG! In fact, my comment at the time was that it was just like I had imagined it, only much bigger and with a vastly better 3D rendering. It was AMAZING.


Sure, it doesn't help to be in love with it simply because I'd love to have gone to Hogwarts in real life and it has a most beautiful and delightful, proper castle-looking architecture ... roleplaying all over it means that I have a much deeper appreciation for it. Hogwarts isn't just some building on screen or in a book; Hogwarts, in a way, is like a home. I love it.


How much do I want to go to the Harry Potter park at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, on a scale from one to ten? A freaking gazillion. And do you think it's because of the rides? Stuff the rides, I don't give a crap about those. I want to go simply to be able to see it in real life, and walk around Hogsmeade. What a dream come true.

To the people who designed Hogwarts for the films, not to mention the location scouts who found all those great filming locations for it - I freakin' love you.

All of the above screenshots are courtesy of myself, akshully. *ahem*

(Leffe, if you read this and wonder why the hell there aren't loads of pictures of the Quidditch pitch, I promise to write you a whole post, complete with a slideshow, about it at some point! :))

Comments

  1. Nat at RA FanBlog28 July 2011 at 06:57

    My youngest sister was sad when she turned 11 and an owl didn't show up with her invitation to attend Hogwarts. :)

    So if you had attended Hogwarts (ohmygosh, we're such nerds!) which House do you think you'd have been sorted into? I think I would have been in Ravenclaw (not that I'm overly intelligent, but I am creative and witty) or Hufflepuff (since they take pretty much anyone) but probably not Slytherin (not cunning) or Gryffindor (not very brave... I'll admit, I am a weenie.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Traxy28 July 2011 at 10:23

    Aww, that's cute. :) I would've already graduated from Hogwarts by the time I started reading the books so I never had that. Good/bad? Undecided.

    Nerdery is good! And I'm afraid I'd just go even MORE nerdy here and say you're simplifying things a little. :P Ravenclaws are defined by their yearning for learning, so to speak, not by being witty or reading a lot. Hufflepuffs are often neglected as "the ones that don't fit anywhere else" but that's also not true. There's so much more to them than that, as with "Gryffindors are brave", and "Slytherins are evil" is just plain wrong. Why did McGonagall banish them to the dungeons? That's so ... House-ist! In the book, most of them decide to leave, but some stay and fight. Ahhh I should just make a post about the Houses, shouldn't I? ;)

    *ahem*

    I might be just and dreadfully loyal, but I give up WAY too easily to be a Hufflepuff. I'm not ambitious enough to be a Slytherin, and I'm certainly not a daredevil like the Gryffindors. No, I'd be a Ravenclaw. Not from a "lookit me, I'm such a cleverclogs" point but from the fact that I love to learn things and find out more about just about everything. Give me an encyclopaedia and I'm happily occupied for hours, if not days. If there's something that grabs my interest, I won't rest until I've learned loads about it. Which is problematic in a way, because it means I'm a "Jack of all trades, master of none" - I know a lot of things and can do a lot of things okay or well, but I never feel there's something I really EXCEL at. :/ I also have a short attention span at times. Hmm. Maybe that's why I never enjoyed learning to play the piano. I just wanted to learn HOW to do it, but couldn't be bothered to practice (which a Hufflepuff would have).

    Ravenclaws also have a tendency for being know-it-alls from time to time. That's not glaringly obvious, is it? *cough* ;)

    Good gods, I've gone off on a nerd rant here haven't I? So sorry!

    ReplyDelete
  3. VaBookworm8729 July 2011 at 14:30

    Ha! A gathering of Ravenclaws! I'd be Ravenclaw too... I'm a career student. I graduated 2 years ago and I still take classes every semester just because I can't imagine not being in school and learning something lol

    Loads of people were complaining about the line time for the Forbidden Journey ride at Wizarding World, but I couldn't imagine having gone through that line any faster! Personally, I wish we could have gone a bit slower so I could have spent more time in Hogwarts :) I plan to go back, but I think I'll wait until they open the new section.

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  4. Traxy31 July 2011 at 00:31

    VABookworm87: Nerd rants ftw. ;) Oohhh so you've actually BEEN there! (...Did you blog about that some time last year? *some vague memory tickling back of mind*) So much easier to go if you're on that side of the pond.

    On a related (side)note, yesterday, I ordered an A2 size canvas print of the first glimpse of Hogwarts - the one above in the dark with the boats. <3

    ReplyDelete

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