Kiggins conjures Harry celebration

The magical and muggle worlds may seem radically different, but they share the same deathless problems: rotten racism and good old greed.

Everything that happens to Harry Potter and his noble pals is driven by what’s essentially Nazi ideology: the supremacy of purely magical blood, the hatred of anyone mixed or “inferior” — plus one supremely bad guy’s murderous quest for eternal life. At everyone else’s expense, of course.

It’s pretty heavy-duty stuff for children’s literature. And yet, the seven Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling, and the films that followed, have proved wildly popular among a whole generation of young people (and their parents). This year is the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first book, which takes place when the orphaned Harry is a timid 11-year-old and his grotesque stepparents are doing their darndest to make sure he never discovers the truth about himself and his race: He’s a wizard.

But magic inevitably finds its way to Harry, who finds his way to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and enters the magical world — where rising crisis eventually explodes into all-out war. (It’s always seemed to this reader that the whole story arc echoes the windup to World War II.) One of the many beauties of this multipart saga is the way it grew up right along with its characters — becoming as dark, difficult and complex as the real world.

Films and wands

According to the data Rowling provides, Harry Potter’s 37th birthday will be July 31, 2017. The Kiggins Theatre will celebrate that important date with a screening of all eight films, back to back, starting at 1 p.m. on July 29.

The screening schedule follows, but please note that no individual movie tickets will be sold. Your options are a $40 “Dumbledore’s Army” pass, which gets you general admission all weekend long plus a Peter Pettigrew popcorn, a regular-sized Butterbeer, a Marauder’s Map and a poster; or, a $65 “Order of the Phoenix” pass, which adds reserved seating plus a Mrs. Weasley Bacon Sandwich, a limited-edition Three Broomsticks Butterbeer pint glass and a free refill.

Special activities before and between the film screenings will include a Hunt for the Deathly Hallows, a Magical Photo Booth, Professor Trelawney’s Popcorn Predictions, Dobby’s Dance Party — and appearances by Death Eaters and by the Boy Who Lived himself.

(We hear that Dave’s Killer Magic Shop, up the block at 1707 Main, has imported a gross of magic wands from Ollivander’s, too.)

Debatable

The quality of the film saga is just as debatable as any other books-into-movies franchise, of course, with many Potter purists resenting all the lost details and nuances — while their parents might find the whole thing precious and plodding.

Either way, it’s pretty much impossible now to picture anyone other than Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as Harry, Hermione and Ron — plus Maggie Smith as the lovably tough Professor McGonagall and Ralph Fiennes as the frighteningly noseless Lord Voldemort.

Just remember some of the final words of the impossibly wise Dumbledore: “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”