The ongoing fandom for Harry Potter.

[oriondruid@btinternet.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 192456

Hi All.

The huge and active fandom for the Harry Potter series of books and films, unlike many other 'cultural phemomena' and 'crazes' in popular culture continues to be strong and flourishing despite the fact that author has completed her labours in creating this hugely popular series. and also, of course, the very popular series of films based sometimes slightly loosely (and in the case of DH2 very loosely) on JKR's books have reached the end of their 'franchise and no more will be made.

Nonetheless HP fandom remains very strong and flourishing, this message board in itself being proof of this fact. So why do we still care enough to show so much interest?

Well I think several factors are in play in the HP fandom that 'keep the ball rolling'. Firstly the unique nature of the Harry Potter story, which unlike most series written for children was intended to 'mature' with it's readership as the tale unfolded into it's complex and multi-layered form, which therefore let it appeal not just to children but to adults too. 

Indeed I'm sure many adults must have first been introduced to Harry's story via their children's enthusiasm, perhaps joining the associated phenomena of the 'midnight openings' of bookstores for each new release and taking their kids to them, meeting other fans and joining the fun events associated with these book launches. Many other parents must have got 'hooked' whilst ostensibly reading the books as bedtime stories for their kids.

Hence here in Britain it became quite common to see people sat on the train, bus or tube (underground railway) reading the books as they commuted. As a nod to this phenomena there were even 'adult versions' of the books sold, with more 'grown up' looking dust jacket pictures which fooled no-one. :o)

Why do I consider the fact that adults feature strongly amongst Harry Potter fans to contribute to the fandom's ongoing enthusiasm? Well of course we tend to have a longer 'attention span' anyway and also adults possibly see the greater depths in the stories meaning that on discussion boards such as this we have much to talk about. Whereas most young kids simply read the stories for what they superficially are, bloody good adventure stories with incredible magical events.

Of course amongst teenagers who had not been introduced to Harry Potter tales whilst still children they are sometimes considered 'not cool', but many kids did grow up familiar with the stories and continued to like the books and films as they got older. In any case for the teenage girls who didn't like Harry Potter their tastes in angst and romance were well catered for by the Twighlight series of books and films. ;o) 

For the rest of us we have also got an alternative now that the 'franchise is over, but like many Harry Potter fans I have added this to my internal 'favourites list' and certainly not dropped my enthusiasm for Harry Potter. This new love of course being Suzanne Collins' brilliant creation The Hunger Games and it's associated films.

Another phenomena which helps sustain the HP fandom are the huge number of fan fiction writers who continue unabated to write very large numbers of Harry Potter based stories and post them on several websites dedicated to giving such writing a place to be read. The numbers of fan works shows not only how popular the Potter stories still are, but also how loved the characters created by JKR are with people, who love them enough to write new adventures and relationships for them to experience.:o)

Fan works can vary in quality hugely, from awful efforts with terrible grammar and painfully bad narrative content, right up to utterly brilliant efforts, by writers who really understand how to write good fiction. Indeed I'd say at their best some write stories fully up to professional standards. As to my own efforts in this field, well, let's just say I'm middling, my grammar is OK for the most part, I feel fully capable of devising good and original plot lines, but I am aware how weak I am in writing dialogue. However, I'm getting better at it all the time (I hope), and I am pleased to say that I get mainly positive reviews for my efforts. :o)

The main fan fiction website upon which huge numbers of Harry Potter fan works can be read as well as tales from other genres such as Twilight, The Hunger Games and many other fandoms is, I'm sure, well known to most members here. If not feel free to PM me and I'll give you the web address and that of other similar sites with good content.

The Harry Potter fandom also still has great resources online, which help sustain interest, such as many high quality websites devoted to the subject, like Pottermore (the official site), The Leaky Cauldron, The Harry Potter Lexicon (a magnificent resource) and the Wiki, also Mugglenet plus many others.

Do I see this enthusiasm dying out any time soon? No, it may reduce slowly over time but always new generations will fall in love with Jo's magnificent creation. Plus among existing fans the interest is too widespread and deeply held to simply cease to exist like other short term crazes do. Plus, of course, if dearest Jo eventually decides later on a to return to writing tales set in her Wizarding World, (such as a prequel James/Lily Marauders era set of tales or perhaps 'next generation' stories), then of course Planetary Dominance will once again be fully re-established and we'll all be back to 'business as usual'. :o)

Many Blessings All.
John, (Oriondruid).