Sayonara Snape and Starman

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

They say that when you grow up you leave your childhood behind. You leave your footie pajamas, your old toys, and maybe even your favorite movies like the “Harry Potter” series and “Labyrinth”.  Some people are sentimentalists and/or diehard fans and will stay true to fandoms they loved as a child. “Harry Potter” and “Labyrinth” are no exceptions; so when two iconic roles from those films (or any other film) die, it breaks our heart to know that that person made what we treasure so dearly from our pasts.

Alan Rickman and David Bowie departed this past week at the age of 69, both suffering from cancer.  Their deaths have sparked outrage throughout the world and broken the hearts of many, including mine.

To be frank with you, I’m still in disbelief that we lost two wondrous people. Both these men shaped my childhood in ways that I still fondly remember. David Bowie’s voice was one of the first things I remember hearing, especially “Space Oddity” and his introduction to the animation, “The Snowman”.  Afterwards, Bowie took me into the depths of “Labyrinth” where not only my love for Jim Henson’s craft bloomed, but I also heard more than just his message to Major Tom. There I heard his expansive vocal range and to this day, “As the World Falls Down” still wins my heart every time I hear it. His other songs are catchy and captivating, causing me to listen to them without end.

Alan Rickman appeared a few years later as the tall, brooding Snape who claimed he could brew fame, bottle glory, and even put a stopper in death. I always believed him to be a serious, no –nonsense actor, but when I heard about his lighthearted interaction with a young Rupert Grint, my mind was completely changed. Apparently Rupert was crafting an unattractive picture of Snape/Alan Rickman while he stood behind him. When Rupert was done, Alan asked to see the picture and had Rupert sign it so that Alan could keep it. He said it was one of his most treasured mementos from the “Harry Potter” series.

When I also learned that he needed to understand the character in order to play them, it revealed to me just how truly devoted of an actor and man he was. He was given secretive information regarding Severus Snape by no other than JK Rowling herself and throughout the movies he allowed the character to be hard-hearted, but also grow into someone we adore.

To his day, despite their deaths, we adore these men. We love the crazy, colorful antics of Ziggy Stardust only to be followed by the charming allure of the Thin White Duke.  We admire the secretive, yet dark and foreboding nature of Professor Snape. Both men left irreplaceable marks on this world with Bowie inventing glam rock, different personas that we still remember him as, and producing music that will never be forgotten. Rickman forever labeled himself as ‘Severus Snape’ to an entire generation while learning about characters to understand them better like Judge Turpin, Marvin, Metatron, and Alexander Dane.

So raise your wands and blast “Starman” because David Bowie and Alan Rickman are up there in the sky. They’d like to come and see us again, but they’d blow our minds. Until we meet with them, let’s remember them for who they were and how they stayed with us from childhood to adulthood.

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So tell me, what are your favorite characters portrayed by David Bowie and Alan Rickman?