You can check out the official site and watch the trailer for it here:
http://www.wearewizards-themovie.com/
But yeah...I finally got around to ordering my copy about two months ago (I bought the super cool holiday pack with the DVD, t-shirt, movie poster, pin and sticker, which is totally bomb :)), and I just finished watching it tonight, and it's freaking fantastic. It's really interesting hearing some of the people who have been involved in the aforementioned big fandom stuff talk about it and hear how they all started out as just regular fans and decided to start up little "fan stuff," and then have it explode. They interview Paul and Joe DeGeorge from Harry and the Potters, Draco and Malfoys, the chick who started The Leaky Cauldron, and others who were involved in these things, and it's actually really interesting to see how they've gone from doing stuff from the basements and backyards to being known on a national or even world-wide level. It's crazy!!
My favorite parts were definitely the ones where Brad Neely talks. I'm not sure if you're familiar with him either, but the guy is my freaking hero. He essentially did a narration to the entire first HP film called Wizard People, Dear Reader (which you can watch on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u981JhkK46o) which is absolutely freaking HILARIOUS. I first watched it all about a year ago, and I've watched it many times since then and laugh every time. Seriously, you NEED to watch that.
But anyway, on this DVD, he talks about that and makes a bunch of new, improv stories about Harry, and they're just as funny - if not more funny - than the ones he did for Wizard People. For example: Harry Potter flying around with his wand, just lookin' for some chumpass to stick his head at. “I'm so pissed, that this world is like it is. No one is nice, and everybody wants money. I've got enough money to not care about money. What the fuck? Look at this pile of gold that just came out of nowhere.” FREAKING. GENIUS.
I also really enjoyed the interviews with Harry and the Potters. Paul DeGeorge is absolutely freaking adorable, and I love him to death. I also loved how he just sat in the back and laughed half of the time while Joe sat and talked and just spouted out ridiculous stuff. It was high quality.
One other part that I thought was funny, though not for the same reasons, was when the one chick who started the Daily Prophet site thing was talking about Dan Rad in Equus, and was talking about how WB is using double standards, because they get all pissy about people writing or talking about HP slash or whatever and yet, here’s the star of the freaking movie completely starkers in a play. And while I understand that, I still thought it was a bit silly. I mean, after all, she was starting a fansite containing copyrighted material and got in trouble, and people are writing fanfiction or doing fanart or making fanvids about copyrighted characters that find themselves in, err, “questionable positions and circumstances.” All Dan Rad is doing is acting in a freaking play which, as an actor, is his right to do. WB doesn’t own him, and he’s not committing copyright infringement, so why on Earth should WB hold him to the same standards? Don’t get me wrong; I’m an avid Snarry fan and I think it’s dumb that WB can get pissed and tell me that I’m using their characters in a way that they don’t like and could potentially sue me for that, but really…to compare what she and others were doing to what Dan Rad is doing seems a bit ridiculous.
I also really liked it when she said, "I would love to know how many girls are seeing to see that play just because Harry Potter's naked in it,” because, quite frankly, that’s the only reason I was interested in it. …Okay, so it wasn’t so much the “Harry Potter naked” part as it was the “Dan Rad naked” part, but still…it’s essentially the same thing, innit? :)
The one thing in the film that really pissed me off was (cue rant) that woman Caryl Matrisciana. She’s one of those “HARRY POTTER IS THE DEVIL!” people, and for some reason unbeknownst to me, they thought it’d be a good idea to put her in this movie and let her share her opinions as to how Harry Potter was essentially going to bring about the freaking apocalypse because it was teaching kids about magic and planting the idea that the occult was a good thing and that they’re all going to be able to learn about and practice magic in a comfortable environment and we’re going to have this giant cult of little Harry Potter Satanist’s or something. I don’t know, I sort of started to tune out whenever she spoke because she was really pissing me off and bringing down my mood.
I hate people like this who follow this ridiculous bullshit that Harry Potter is a bad series that’s trying to get children to become Wiccan and take part in the occult. I mean, really, how many little kids read Harry Potter and then suddenly start drawing pentagrams and shit on the ground in an attempt to summon demons? I’m guessing next to none, if any. I hate this ridiculous stereotype, because it simply is not true. If anything, Harry Potter further pushes and advocates for very common and popular Christian beliefs. There’s the whole battle of good vs. evil (in which good eventually triumphs), the importance of friendship and family, a gigantic play on how big and important love is, the struggle to stay on the light side and maintain good morals and values, how to stand up for yourself and your friends and what you believe in, that immortality, though something devoutly wished, is in the end, a very un-human thing and not something one should seek, etc. Not to mention there’s hundreds of religious and biblical references, allusions, and parallels that can be found in the books.
I also find it funny that these people seem to think that all of the magic and sorcery and mythical creatures and stuff in Harry Potter are obviously a push for the occult, but yet, find books like C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia or J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy okay. So, what, because these guys were openly Christian and whatnot their books are automatically okay? How is it that Harry Potter gets shafted when these books don’t? Narnia has magic and mythical creatures and witches and truly evil villains, and LotR not only has all of that, but it’s arguably more violent and the characters more gruesome and all that. But still, these people only seem to have a problem with Harry Potter. Don’t get me wrong, I love C. S. Lewis and I’m a Tolkien fan as well, but why is it okay that these people are allowed to talk about this stuff in their stories and Rowling is not? It makes absolutely no sense!!
The other thing that really irritates me about this is that these people have never read the books or seen the movies, and yet, they make assumptions about them and think they’re right, when the only evidence they have is word-of-mouth or speculation. They’ve come up with all of these complex explanations as to why Harry Potter is, for all intents and purposes, the work of the devil, and yet, none of it is based on anything in Harry Potter, because none of them have even cracked open one of the books! That would be like me saying that Caryl Matrisciana is a Satanist, without ever taking the time to read her website or articles or books or talk to her or whatever, and just basing it off of a picture that I saw of her and somebody remarking to me that she has written books related to the occult. It’s a completely ridiculous statement to make on my part, since she is really a Christian (though even that seems a bit speculative, considering the woman seems highly intolerant or anything but her own thoughts and beliefs and is ready to condemn half the world as Satanists for reading Harry Potter (or Twilight, which seems to be her new beef)), and it’s as equally ridiculous for her and others to state that Harry Potter is meant to draw children into the occult when it obviously is not and especially when none of them have read/seen it. It’s simply mind boggling!
Whoever the hell thinks that Harry Potter is trying to push the occult and Satanism is simply ridiculous. I have an aunt who feels somewhat the same and used to preach to me about how awful she thought it was and how I was dabbling in witchcraft by reading it. However, I realized that when I argued with her about it, my arguments weren’t any better than hers or anyone else’s who believes in any of that garbage, because my thoughts were also one-sided, not researched, and quite biased. Therefore, I took it upon myself to read up on both sides of the argument. For a year or two, I spent my time reading many internet articles and published books, watching videos and interviews, and listening to various people preach about the issues, all from both sides of the argument, and all giving detailed reasons as to why Harry Potter was or was not Satanic or presenting ideas that would lead young people down the road to Satanism or the occult. And with all the research I did, you know what I came up with?
The same thing that I had been preaching all along: at it’s core, Harry Potter IS NOT a Satanist’s bible, it does not encourage children to dabble in witchcraft and become practiced members of the occult, it does not teach poor moral values, and does not corrupt children. If anything, Harry Potter is actually something that Christians can enjoy, considering it teaches good moral values, the difference between right and wrong, illustrates the battle between good vs. evil, and other things that I’ve already mentioned above in this article. Not to mention the fact that it has gotten many children who previously did not like books to read, something that can be appreciated by all people, Christian or not. You can still call me biased since I was a fan before I decided to make myself informed, but really…I think I’ve still got a better handle on it than all of these other people, considering I’ve actually read the books, and researched the argument from both sides, basing my opinion on all of that, instead of just what other people have said or what I’ve heard.
(End of rant.) (…I think I may have just written the next “Rants On Everything Pissing Me Off at the Moment. :DD)
So anywhoozle…in conclusion, We Are Wizards was a pretty great documentary, minus Caryl Matrisciana, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to be awesome. That being said…I’m done. I wrote more about how I truly dislike her than I did about the DVD itself, but…whatever. I don‘t care. Also, expect my next “Rants” blog to pretty much be the last six paragraphs of this post. Word.
Love grows in me like a tumor,
parasites bent on devouring its host.
I'm developing my sense of humor,
till I can laugh at my heart between your teeth,
till I can laugh at my face beneath your feet.
-Fuck Was I, Jenny Owen Youngs
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