Are we having fun?

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 80553

Last week on the "Thoughts on OOP" thread, there was some discussion 
about the tug of war between JKR and her readers, as we try to tease 
out information and she tries to withhold it.  When some said that 
this made the whole thing more fun, I remembered an exchange 
in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", as the visitors to the 
factory get more and more enmeshed as they try to find their way 
through the factory.  "What is this, Wonka?  Some kind of 
funhouse?"  "Why?  Having fun?"  Are WE having fun anymore?  
Speaking for myself, I have to say no.  For me, the fun died on June 
21, when OotP was released.  And so much of the discussion of that 
book, and speculation of what it will lead to, make me think that 
very few readers are having fun anymore.  Instead, I read worries 
and foreboding about how much horror Harry is going to have to 
endure until we finally make it to the end of book 7.  Nobody seems 
to expect anything but anguish and pain, with maybe a happy ending, 
but very possibly just a merciful release to look forward to.  

It's interesting that when the HP books first became popular among 
kids and adults, a big point in their favour was that they were so 
much fun to read.  Kids wanted to read again, because it was so 
enjoyable; adults became receptive to a children's book because the 
high spirits and wit were so irresistible.  Now the situation is 
reversed; now life is so serious and tragic, it's irresponsible not 
to expose children to its bitterness.  Now fun is something we have 
to realize is just a little temporary gilding, which should be cast 
aside as soon as possible, and was never very important anyway.  I 
haven't given up on Harry Potter, but I think Rowling is starting to 
take the loyalty of her readers for granted.  I'm not sure I'll be 
following her to the end of this road, since it seems to have taken 
a few turns and is now going in a direction I wouldn't have chosen 
if it had been clear to me from the start.

Wanda