FAQF -- The Universal Appeal of Harry Potter

[prefectmarcus at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 23569

Well, I started this thread so I probably should add something to it. 
 :)

I have mused on the question, "Why is Harry Potter so popular?", for 
some time.  There are some that say it is only popular because it is 
well marketed.  Yes, there is little doubt that it IS well marketed, 
but so are many other things in our world.  How does this explain 
their popularity in places around the world where marketing is very 
primitive or even non-existent?  

The books are well-written.  So what?  Being well written does not 
save a literary work from being trash. It certainly doesn't explain 
its popularity.

I believe it simply comes down to story telling.  Joanne Kathleen 
Rowling is a master storyteller.  She is like a master chef planning a 
meal.  She carefully plots out every detail.  The various courses flow 
smoothly from one to another.  Each is a feast for the eye and a 
symphony for the palate.  When we are through we leave the table 
completely satisfied, hoping to return soon again.

Flow, now that is a good word.  Notice how well her work flows?  It 
doesn't get caught up in literary ebbies.  It doesn't suddenly stop in 
midstream to deal with something that has nothing to do with the 
story.

These ebbies can take many forms.  Gratuitous violence and passionate 
love screens are popular ones.  Excessive use of flowery language is 
another.  So is preaching and moralizing. 

The journey down her story stream goes from pleasant pools to fast 
flowing exciting rapids and back again, never allowing the reader to 
get bored.  There are no waterfalls.  Rowling certainly likes to 
spring big surprises, but the reader isn't left with a sense of going 
over a cliff.    

Rowling never takes the easy way out.  The characters are not solely 
good, bad, evil, or righteous.  They all, with the sole exception of 
Voldemort, are combinations of shades of meanings and actions.  How to 
explain the transition of Severus Snape?  Snape began the series as 
simply a mean, nasty guy that nobody could figure out why Dumbledore 
kept on.  By the end of book four, he is revealed as a man with strong 
character, who deserves our respect.  Yet nothing has changed.  He 
hasn't changed.  Only our perception has changed.

Neville Longbottom is another.  Through most of the books he is a 
somewhat comic figure.  Many people questioned why he was in 
Griffindor house.  But by the end book four, he is shown to have a 
great deal of courage and fortitude.  

To return to the meal analogy, Rowling doesn't pile all of the food on 
your plate all at once.  This is no Thanksgiving dinner.  She 
gradually serves up her delights one at a time so that each morsel can 
be dwelt over and savoured.  She slower but surely draws back the 
curtain on her world, showing us piece after exquisitely crafted 
piece, sometimes not letting us realize their individual worth until 
after they are all presented.

She is an artist, pure and simple.

So why are they popular?  I have no answer.

Marcus.