Potterhead Problems

Alan Rickman: a life in pictures

The beloved actor, best known for roles on stage and in films such as Die Hard and the Harry Potter franchise, has died at age 69. We look back over his career in photographs.

RIP Alan Rickman

February 21 1946 - January 14 2016

Eerie Harry Potter concept art brings the darkness back to the series

These somber illustrations, while visually stunning, also capture the most important part of the Harry Potter saga. While the movies certainly attempted to grasp the darkness of the stories, many scenes and details were lightened, presumably to retain a PG-13 rating for younger audiences. But these sketches bring back the sinister, macabre imagery of the books, and in doing so, highlight the best part of the series — forcing readers to grapple with serious, real-world moral and political issues in the context of the fantastic.

We’ve walked with Harry, Ron and Hermione, through a world that we thought was great but slowly revealed itself to be the opposite. We unpeeled the layers of corruption within the government, we saw cruelty against minorities grow in the past decades, and had media attack us and had teachers tell us that we ‘must not tell lies’. We got angry and frustrated and, like Harry, Ron and Hermione, had to think of a way to fight back. And them winning? That would have been enough to give us hope and leave us satisfied.

But instead. There was skip scene. And suddenly they were all over 30 and happy with their 2.5 children.

And the Millennials were left flailing in the dust.

Because while we recognised and empathised with everything up to that point. But seeing the Golden Trio financially stable and content and married? That was not something our generation could recognise. Because we have no idea if we’re ever going to be able to reach that stage. Not with the world we’re living in right now.

Having Harry, Ron and Hermione stare off into the distance after the battle and wonder about what the future might be would have stuck with us. Hell, have them move into a shitty flat together and try and sort out their lives would have. Have them with screaming nightmares and failed relationships and trying to get jobs in a society that’s falling apart would have. Have them still trying to fix things in that society would have. Because we known Voldemort was just a symptom of the disease of prejudice the Wizarding World.

But don’t push us off with an ‘all was well’. In a world about magic, JK Rowling finally broke our suspension of disbelief by having them all hit middle-class and middle-age contentment and expecting a fanbase of teenagers to accept it.