8 years ago, I watched the 1998 Coen brothers classic, “The Big Lebowski,” for the first time. I was 12 years late to the game, but I didn’t even realize it until after watching the film. Whereas the day before I had only loosely even been aware of the film’s existence, suddenly, The Big Lebowski was all around me. It was in conversations at the bar. It was in pillow talk with strangers. It was in TV shows, articles and even other movies.
I have a tendency to tune out what I don’t understand. Which got me thinking, how many green toenail and shomer Shabbos-related bowling references had been flying over my head for 12 solid years?
As far as Harry Potter is concerned, I’ve spent 20 years willfully excluded myself from it all. Even still, when I decided to open myself up to these books and films, I did not expect to begin recognizing references to Harry Potter every day of the week.
The references! the references! So many references. For example:
- The character on my favorite show hooking up with a guy who calls her vagina “The Sorting Hat.”
- A dork on the subway wearing a yellow and maroon scarf.
- “Hufflepuff” as invective.
- Friends pictured pushing a cart against a wall on their London vacation. (That was months ago and at the time, I scratched my head and thought, “whatever floats your boat ladies, I’d be at the pub if it was me.”) Now I get it. First stop King’s Cross, then we head to the Leaky Cauldron.
- Guys who got hot in adulthood being called “total Longbottoms.”
- Cho Chang every day in the New York Times crossword puzzle.
The list goes on and on of things I am now grasping for the first time. Sure, I am not there yet, but as I round second base, I am already wondering what awaits me after my Harry Potter home run: More emotionally fulfilling Harry Potter experiences? Increased confidence when my experience is put to the test? Harry Potter in groups? In public? Role-playing?
(Sorry for all that: gross. And then the baseball metaphor piled on? Gross, lazy and incongruous. I promise more regularly scheduled programming next time.)
Harry Potter Virgin 