Harry Potter and the Highly Controversial Dance Scene

Before you even *think* it — yes — I am an adult who thinks a story about wizards and witches is one of the greatest ever penned.

Get over it. Harry Potter is the GOAT.

Now …

My favorite scene from the entire series is a simple (but highly controversial) one. If you know HP, you’ll remember it instantly.

It’s the dance scene between Harry and Hermione in the tent, towards the end of the saga.

When the movie first came out, viewers were completely polarized by this 2-minute take. And they remain so to this very day, according to the comments section of that YouTube video.

Most of the “angry” comments talk about why they hate that Harry and Hermione didn’t end up together romantically.

But these folks are missing the point of this scene entirely.

In fact, there’s a storytelling masterclass presented in just this one 2-minute scene.

The following comment from that YouTube video — however grammatically incorrect — sums it up perfectly:

“... somehow, Harry, the boy whose destined to save the wizarding world and his best friend who sacrificed everything to help him (even going as far as wiping her from her parents' memories), found the strength to laugh and to love in the middle of a dark forest, even if just for a few moments.

Their smiles brought me back to their first years when their biggest worry was about evil teachers. To make this scene even sweeter, I heard that one of the producers was going through a divorce while filming and this song got him through it,

so for all of you that say this scene was unnecessary and only fed into the [Hermione] ship, I just want to let you know that the meaning behind this scene is much more than that.”

See … this scene perfectly highlights what fantastic storytelling is all about.

It’s not about the adventure or the drama or even the villain.

It’s about the humanity of the characters in the context of the journey.

Because at the end of the day, we’re all just humans trying to survive, right?

(Side note: Aussie copywriter Daniel Throssell talks about this idea at length in his Email Copywriting Compendium, which contains the best tips I've ever found for email storytelling. Hi, Dan!)

The dance scene is just Harry and Hermione craving a moment of happiness amongst their difficult and treacherous journey.

It’s all emotion. It's all human. And it’s instantly relatable.

Especially when you consider that the song they used in the scene was helping one of the producers get through a painful divorce.

Thus, the story and struggles of the characters become real. And we connect with that over anything else.

It's the key.

And if you can work that humanity and emotional response into your copy and your stories, it can be … magic.

For more magical copywriting tricks, sign up for my daily emails here.

David Patrick

P.S. — Me rewatching that scene: I’m not crying, you’re crying.