Extra Blog Option 1: "Draw my Life - Harry Potter" and "Ron's Parents"

1.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yan9wW6FwA0 

One of the videos I chose to write about is “DRAW MY LIFE - Harry Potter.” The “Draw my Life” idea was something a lot of YouTubers did a couple years ago, so some guys decided to take part in this phase and they created a series of videos about the lives of fictional characters. This video is a creative and musical retelling of Harry Potter’s life in a very short 4 minutes. Despite the length, it is a very fun summary of the books and the drawing add a lot quirky visuals that help convey iconic scenes from the books. Though it obviously leaves a lot out, it does deal with some of the more major plot points as well as some minor details, such as the abuse that Harry endured while staying with the Dursley’s or all the various ways that Voldemort tried to regain his power. The main focus of the video is obviously Harry and it’s remains very accurate to his character with the lyrics describing his love for Hogwarts, his mischievous misadventures, and how he lost so many friends. It even mentions how he believed that the friends he lost we much braver than he himself. The chorus lyrics sort of sum up Harry’s life quite well too: “I’m the boy who lived, I’m the boy who lived. And oh what a life it’s been.” It’s simple, but very fitting since Harry had accomplished so much, but he’d also been through a lot of hardships and lost a lot of the people closest to him along the way.

2.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBzpymVj5Po

I didn’t know we’d be watching Potter Puppet Pals in class, but I still wanted to talk about this video as well. The Potter Puppet Pals is known for being a hilarious parody of the series, and this video is know different. All of the puppet characters are zany, exaggerated versions of their literary counterparts, with Ron being of lower intelligence and Harry being a slightly arrogant hothead who often boasts about his fame. This video shows Ron writing a letter to his parents, which of course upsets Harry because he obviously doesn’t have any parents to write to, so he takes his anger out on Ron. This is something we see this quite often in the books, with Harry getting offended or upset whenever someone mentions his parents. He envies everyone else because they have something he doesn’t: a family. Of course, the video is a more playful take on it, though we all know why it’s a touchy subject for Harry. In the video, Harry also mentions how he can afford things and “buy happiness” and how Ron can’t. This brings up one of Ron’s insecurities that he faces in the book, which is his family’s low income that he often feels embarrassed about. Harry then makes Ron sing to him and convinces himself that fame and money is all he needs to be happy. However, at the very end Ron asks Harry if he wants to join his family for the holiday and Harry quick agrees, proving the fact that Harry still desperately wants a family, because that really is one of the only things that could bring him true happiness.