Written by:
Katie Peoples
Photographer:
None
» Order
this Issue of Curve:
17#10
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is totally gay.
And I’m not talking about the recent announcement from creator J.K. Rowling that Professor Dumbledore is gay, I mean the whole theme behind the Harry Potter books is one familiar to many in the LGBT community: abandonment, the meaning of home, the search for love and acceptance, and the fight against oppressive forces.
Harry Potter, as most of us know, is a boy who finds out—after living with a horrible family that treats him as a second-class citizen—that he is, in fact, a wizard, and must be sent to wizardry school where he belongs.
In The Order of the Phoenix, we find Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) in his fifth year at Hogwards, mourning the death of his friend, Cedric Diggory who was killed by Harry’s nemesis, Lord Voldermort (Ralph Fiennes).
While the first four films were a bit more light-hearted, the fifth one is when Harry has his mental breakdown coming to terms with who he is. It is this year of his life he feels more alone than ever.
Harry spends most of the film confused about his place in wizard society, he deals with an overbearing Professor Umbridge (Imelda Staunton)—whose rules and regulations, not to mention bigotry, bear an uncanny resemblance to the religious right—and is shunned in the media as a phony attention-seaker. He gets mad, cries and picks fights with his classmates a lot.
But here is the moral of the story, as summed up by the delightful oddball, Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch): It is much easier to defeat someone if they believe they are all alone. In other words, as long as we have the support of loved ones, nothing can stop us.
With that in mind, and with the prodding of his two misfit friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), Harry finds his place as a leader among his schoolmates, teaching them how to defend themselves against the dark arts when no one else will, and forming Dumbledore’s Army—a direct protest to Umbridge’s control over the school.
This film also features the death of another one of Harry’s beloved companions. His godfather Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) is killed during a fantastically executed, full-on wand battle, which ends in a dual between Voldemort and Dumbledore (Michael Gambon).
Cinematically, the film is stunning. The effects and sets are jaw-dropping, and for once, this Harry Potter movie comes in under three hours. It does, lack a bit of the magical visuals previous movies are soaked in (no Quidditch games here), but that’s what makes Order of the Phoenix stand out—this is an adaption of the books that works well as a movie. Instead of cramming as much detail from the books into the film as possible, director David Yates (who is also directing the sixth film, The Half-Blood Prince), gets straight to the heart of the story—Harry must accept himself for who he is and he must accept that people love him.
To get your own copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, email assistanteditor@curvemag.com and tell us who you think J.K. Rowling should out as a lesbian and why. But hurry, supplies arevery limited.
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