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Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone": Adventure and a three-headed dog
Photo: ddp images / ddp
When I first saw Harry Potter do the magic, I was ten years old.
So young enough to swing a kebab skewer in front of the mirror and practice "Alohomora" or "Wingardium Leviosa".
After all, my letter could still come from Hogwarts and I wanted to be prepared.
(Spoiler: It never came. You must have forgotten me.) But I was old enough not to be scared of centaurs, trolls or Fluffy, the three-headed, teeth-baring dog.
When Papa and I left the cinema almost exactly 20 years ago, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone had opened up a new world, a magical, exciting, and lighter one.
Problems resolved themselves
A world in which you don't have a stomach ache before physical education or have to blackmail the recorder into sad, crooked notes.
In JK Rowling's parallel universe, all you had to do was swing a piece of wood with a phoenix feather in it, and some problems would take care of themselves. Unbelievable!
Elisa von Hof
(Born 1991) is an editor in the cultural department.
There was only one short period in her life that she cared about Harry Potter: when she fell passionately in love with vampire Edward from "Twilight".
It didn't last.
Since then, she has continued to hope for her Hogwarts letter.
The nasty bully on the bus, for example, would be quickly silenced, thanks to a little saying, a few pus adorned his face. And the national youth games would certainly never take place again if you didn't have to run the 100 meters fast, you could just fly! The uses for witchcraft seemed endless to me. From then on I read all the volumes several times and watched all the films several times.
Meanwhile, I can think of nastier things than pus pimples, and I'm not waiting so desperately for the letter from Hogwarts either.
Nevertheless, I watch "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" again every winter.
And I'm not alone in that.
Daniel Radcliffe, leading actor in the "Harry Potter" films, said a few days ago that his friends were still watching the films.
But not just in the run-up to Christmas, but always "when you have a hangover and are really dissatisfied with yourself".
Why?
"It transports you to a place of warmth and comfort."
Nostalgia like a warm blanket
I understand that.
John Williams' theme song sounds and Professor Dumbledore (Richard Harris), the loyal gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) and Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith) put the small, lightning-scarred baby on the doorstep of the Dursleys in Privet Drive, lies down Nostalgia like a warm blanket around my shoulders.
I'm ten again, I want the biggest serving of popcorn, even though I can't make it.
And the world is no less cruel, but at least it is clearly divisible into good and bad.
Besides, I already know what's going to happen.
In contrast to this present, nothing can frighten me.
"Harry Potter" is my "bet that ..?"
Of course, reality cannot be completely switched off with "comfort watching", that is, watching well-known films that are well-known. And that doesn't just mean the debates over JK Rowling's alleged transhumanity. If you look at "Harry Potter" with adult eyes, you will discover anti-Semitic caricatures in the banker goblins of the wizard's bank Gringotts. One will be surprised that children with patched capes and hand-knitted sweaters are teased for classical reasons even in a magical world. You get annoyed because only lazy, stupid or clumsy characters are shown as fat. Or about the fact that heroism is still linked to daring and unconditional altruism. And of course one wonders if there is really still a white, male,heterosexual redeemer figure must exist.
But that's okay. Contradictions like these are tolerable. Because "Harry Potter" didn't just bring a lot of magic into our childhood. With the character Hermione, girls finally had a role model who liked to read, learn, speak their minds and stand up for themselves, who forgot their comb, but never did their homework. The Weasley family, with many children and integrity, will have dispelled one or two prejudices about large families. Severely neglected by his aunt and uncle, Harry may have shown children from less intact families that one can find a home in friendships. And that loyalty, a sense of justice and an understanding of the perspective of others are not mutually exclusive.
Anyone who has followed Harry's career in the next few parts will have seen that even a pale, thin, small, bespectacled boy with an unsightly scar can become a high-flyer.
That brave men cry too.
That love sometimes means letting go of the other.
And that a life of two square meters under a dusty staircase doesn't have to stay there forever.
Anyone who takes a close look at "Harry Potter" after 20 years will not find everything great.
But many things are correct.
And maybe my letter from Hogwarts will come after all.
