Harry Potter, I think, is Gen Y's most shared pop culture experience. It's a substantial claim, but if anything, is insufficient, since the franchise clearly appeals to people both older and younger.
Younger.
That's how I felt last night, sitting at the front of a line in a movie theater, hunched over a sudoku puzzle. Hours had passed, with hours still to go.
I thought about a lot of things in that time, passed judgment on innumerable outfits, and remembered that I really do hate sudoku, and that I probably should have brought a book.
And so I set the puzzle aside, half scribbled, and drew parallels in my mind instead.
I hated the idea that I might like coffee, growing up. I hated that idea that you had to like it, that it was an affection born of inevitability. I hated Harry Potter too, for similar reasons. I hated that everyone read it, that everyone had to read it. I had my own tastes, dammit, and didn't need to submit to groupthink on that level.
My abstinence didn't last. Everyone else was jumping off the bridge, and I'd be dammed if I didn't make myself a lemming.
I asked myself the question anyone over the age of 16 certainly did: "Am I too old for this?" Followed shortly by: "Is that kid dressed as Snape, using an all black Puma track suit?"
I decided no, I'm not, and oh my god, yes he is.
Finally, it occurred to me that I am a wizard.
Seriously.
I turn beans in to grounds in to a potent potion, a stimulant for the body and mind. I use a wand to change the texture of milk, and sometimes, make it triple in volume.
I wondered how awfully nerdy this would all sound to anyone but me.
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