By: Kyle Xu

casting spells, even flying around on a broomstick. But author J.K. Rowling was the only one to establish a world of magic that paralleled our dreams–one that would last for decades.

During the late 1997s, J.K. Rowling sent a Harry Potter book to film producer David Heyman in London, who liked the book so much that he was already envisioning Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as a movie–and a movie it would be.

Harry Potter is about a boy named Harry who lives with his abusive aunt and uncle, before receiving a magical invitation to go to Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry that both his parents attended. On the train ride there, Harry Potter finds out that he is famous for surviving an attack from the most evil wizard there is–Lord Voldemort. While Voldemort killed his parents, he wasn’t able to kill Harry Potter, setting the stage for a smooth plot that would drive the storyline.

Near the end of the book, Harry Potter survives another run-in with Lord Voldemort, earning points for bravery and leading the Gryffindor House to the House Cup. The movie received high reviews and was expected to have a series–just like Rowling’s book.

In fact, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone made 1.024 billion dollars in the box office, compared to only 125 million dollars of expenses. The movie, over the next few years, earned many awards along with its actors. After the first movie, many others came, earning Oscar nominations and BAFTA awards.

But all history aside, let’s talk about what Harry Potter does for the audience.

In the movie, Harry goes from living in the cupboard under the stairs in his aunt and uncle’s home to living in a dormitory in Hogwarts and being respected by almost the entire wizarding community. Sometimes, when you are experiencing dark times, it’s important to always have hope like Harry did–and one day you’ll find yourself at Hogwarts.

Furthermore, the idea of magic goes to show that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. After all, it takes difficulty to master a spell, which also shows that everything takes hard work–even superhuman and far-fetched actions.

Overall, Harry Potter is a wonderful, long-standing, and well-crafted movie that teaches the audience many things, and is definitely a must-watch to any film enthusiasts or just normal people out there!

Image Credit by Mikhail Nilov