Harry Potter and the Goblet of Oedipal Resolution

Just spent the morning seeing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Good flick. Really enjoyable, a teeny bit scary, not much suspense, but still delightful to see these really good kids growing up both physically, emotionally and morally. I truly admire Hermione Granger for her brains, ambition, and self-awareness minus self-consciousness (and think Emma Watson is gorgeous...I hope she is a role model for little girls everywhere). I don't see what the chicks see in Ron Weasley, although I am partial to his red hair, and Harry is, well, a heartthrob in the making.

But all of that, plus the lush outdoor shots and the grandly, darkly medieval indoor shots, along with the basic triumph of good over evil (for the most part, with a realistic triumph of evil in individual battles thrown in here and there), is the obvious draw. What is also pretty cool about this particular episode in the Harry Potter oevre is a delightful reminder of adolescent angst and some not-so-pleasant acting out of adolescent wish-fulfillment.

The most obvious case in point is.....




SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





the death of Cedric Diggery. Cedric is the handsome, roguish 17-year old who is Harry's rival in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Cedric seems to do everything just exactly the right way, from the first moment we meet him, billowing gracefully down from the sky, several feet away from where Harry and his clan of Weasleys and Hermione fall to the ground in a chaotic heap. Cedric is the Hogwarts favorite to win the Tri-Wizard Cup but is decent enough not to encourage the other students to wear the badges that read "Potter Sucks" or something like that.

Perhaps most significantly, Cedric is Harry's perceived romantic rival. Cho seems to be interested in Harry, but since she and Harry are no more than 14 years old, they haven't quite figured out what it all means. All they know is a vague sense of "wanting" - not sexual really, just more wanting like one wants to possess something in an innocent way. Harry doesn't marshal the guts or the inspiration to ask Cho to the Hogwarts equivalent of the "high school dance" until Cedric has already done so, and it is with sincere regret that she says no to Harry when he final does ask.

The thing is, Cedric is only an IMAGINED rival for Cho's affections. She is not much interested in Cedric at all, it seems. Cedric is also not exactly a true rival with regard to Tri-Wizard Tournament, either, because we all know that Harry's powers are such that he MUST win. And if that is not enough to convince us, then we also suspect that some dark magic is paving the way toward's Harry's ultimate triumph in the Tournament, just as some dark magic got him into the Tournament in the first place.

And yet Cedric is ultimately vanquished. Literally, he dies at the end of the movie...murdered by Voldemort, the not-quite-human-force-of-evil that murdered Harry's parents and unwittingly bestowed upon Harry his uncommonly strong powers of magic. And so, Harry gets to see his rival made redundant, while Harry need not feel the guilt of having done the deed himself.

Not that Harry is happy about Cedric's death. Instead, he is filled with guilt and remorse. Could it be that a magical wish that Cedric be "out of the way" have happened to come true?

Like any Oedipal drama, real or fictionalized, in the end, the coveted prize over which the rivalry broke out will turn out not to be the ultimate prize either. There is no "Tri-Wizard Cup" ceremony marking Harry's win, due to the tragic turn of events. And Cho will turn out not be Harry's true love, although she WILL provide some diversion for a time. Ultimately, Potter will end up with the lovely redhaired girl called Ginny....but that is for another movie.

YC