Release Year: 2005

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy

Director: Mike Newell

Writer: Steve Kloves

Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint

Welcome to the halfway point in the Harry Potter franchise, fellow Muggles. Welcome to the movie that let you know that there are Slavic and French wizards, that clued you in the fact that Moaning Myrtle isn't as innocent as she seems, that showed you that the Wizarding World loves tabloid news just as much as we do…and established the central hypocrisy at Hogwarts: students need signed permission slips for a trip to Hogsmeade, but need no permission slips in order to participate in a tournament that can literally kill you.

In other words, welcome to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Harry Potter's halfway through his saga, and is facing down the duel threats of hormones and Voldemort.

This film came out in November 2005, just in time for the holiday movie going season—which was a pretty smart move by those producers at Warner Bros/Heyday Films/Patalex IV Productions Limited, if you ask us. And you can't argue with the results: Goblet was total magic at the box office, raking in close to $300 million. (Source)

But even though this film was cleverly released in time for parents-and-kids-holiday-cinema-time, this isn't a kid's movie. The wizards-in-training are all getting older, and the subject matter is getting more adult. Harry has to struggle with some seriously nasty stuff in this film, and the film is definitely leaning into darker themes.

You thought the Dementors that we met in the last film were bad? Child's play, Shmoopers. Things are about to get so much more terrifying, because when the movie opens, we see Voldemort conspiring with some other Big Bads (including Peter Pettigrew, the dude who betrayed Harry's parents) to get to Harry.

He seems to be gaining strength and making plans, which spells bad news for, well, everyone else. Sure, Voldemort and his cohort of creepers have managed to cause havoc throughout the series, but this is different—because it looks like he's headed for a comeback.

So, consider yourself warned: this isn't the Harry Potter you remember from the Sorcerer's Stone. He's growing up fast…and so is the evil that's out to get him.

The Past Isn't Dead…

The Wizarding World is facing down some seriously nefarious evil. But here's the thing: it's not new evil. A hideous creature hasn't suddenly materialized from the bottom of the Black Lake to eat Hogwarts. No shiny-new magical robot army is descending from the mountains of Scotland.

No; this evil is old. It's been seen before, it's been vanquished before…and it's still coming back. Voldemort and his followers seem to be gaining power once again, and so is their disgusting ideology.

Lord V's hangers-on are all about purity in the wizarding world. They hate Muggles, and they hate wizards who have one Muggle parent and one wizard parent. If your historical parallel alarm isn't going off right now, it definitely should be—because this is a shout-out to the ideology of racist movements such as Nazism and the KKK. (Those masked Death Eater dudes marching at the beginning of the film, terrorizing the attendees at the Quidditch World Cup? Totally KKK-esque.)

But the historical parallels don't stop there. Much as the U.S. fought to try to banish these evil ideologies from the world—think of the Civil War, think of WWII—the wizards engaged in an intense war against Voldemort and his lot right around the time Harry was born.

They hoped that He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named and his followers were permanently out of business after Voldemort's run in with baby Harry. But throughout Goblet of Fire, we see that racism and bigotry in the Wizarding World isn't just alive and well, it's gaining steam. And then, of course, Voldemort himself comes back to full power at the end of this film.

…It Isn't Even Past.

And that's where the historical parallels end, right? Bigotry might have had a comeback in the Potterverse, but it's dead as disco in our world, right? We're safe from that hideousness…right?

Wrong.

It's safe to say that most of us would like to leave racism and white supremacy in the rearview mirror…but apparently not everyone feels that way. Membership in the Klan and other white supremacist groups has been rising. In fact, the number of hate groups in the U.S.A. increased by a whopping 54% between 2000 and 2008. (Source)

Definitely seems like a big step back, right? Sure, we all knew racism still existed, but it should be losing momentum, not gaining it. Like the wizards in Goblet, we're left scratching our heads wondering how on earth that could be the case after everything we've been through.

So, these terrifying times for the Harry Potter crowd actually kind of echo our own. But good news: Harry & Co. provide us with examples of the kinds of empathy, goodness, strength, kindness, and friendship that can help us all rise above in world that's still battling some very old evils.

Here's hoping we can follow their example.