It’s a scary time for Harry Potter lovers. Like die-hard fans in the days before the big game, we wait in nervous anticipation for the newest and final entry in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We long for the July 21st release date to arrive, but find ourselves in fear of the unknown outcome. Conversations, arguments and even betting fill the blogosphere, attempting to predict what may be, though it is completely out of our control. These discussions offer the illusion that we are somehow participating in the end, rather than just waiting for it, but they also help mask the biggest fear of all. Not that the book ends in tragedy, but the fear that we may be utterly disappointed, Phantom Menace style. For six books Rowling has managed to keep the magic going. In our hearts of heart we pray, “Please Lord may she not crap out on the seventh.”
I find myself in a difficult place with Harry Potter. As a librarian, particularly as one responsible for buying the stuff one finds on the shelves, I have an ingrained skepticism of The Phenomenon: books that rocket into the stratosphere of popularity, boosted less by quality than by marketing juggernauts. And Harry Potter is a marketing juggernaut. It’s become a carefully crafted cash cow with every kind of officially licensed swag to go with. When it finally goes on sale it will be available at every grocery store, gas station, and Costco™. If you are inclined to be suspicious of anything with a billion dollar marketing budget, than Harry Potter is custom made to make you cranky.
But, as a reader, I love Harry Potter. I have loved the books ever since I opened one up ten years ago and first read about The Dursleys of number four Privet Drive in a town called Little Whinging, and their nephew, one Harry Potter, who was required to sleep in the closet under the stairs, along with the spiders. I’ve followed his tumultuous path to adulthood and, as with any kid who grows up before ones eyes, I’ve become invested in the outcome. I’d like to see him grow to adulthood and find a satisfying career, possibly as an auror, or even the future headmaster of Hogwarts. I’d like to see his friends Ron and Hermione get sorted, have a few frizzy red-headed children over whom they argue constantly.
There are those that fume at the popularity of Harry Potter among adults, insisting that it is a sign of the infantilization of culture or the decline in educational standards or merely a harbinger of the end times. I prefer to think that the story’s popularity among people of all ages harkens back to a time where tales were told to amaze an audience, regardless of age or station. Dickens was not imagining an audience of nine year olds when he wrote Oliver Twist, originally published as a serial in the daily newspaper. Mark Twain was not thinking of generations of fifth graders searching for test answers when he wrote Huck Finn. Neither Kipling nor Stevenson sat down to write “kids books,” and literature is a better place for their results.
Article comments
1 - Diane Kristine
Nice article - almost evokes a nostalgia for something that hasn't quite ended yet, and I've felt that about other things in my life. I haven't kept up with Harry Potter after devouring the first few books and couple of movies, but one thing I admired about it is that while it's a marketing juggernaut now, it started as largely a word of mouth phenomenon. It's long since lost that, but there was something like pure joy of discovery fueling the initial success rather than crass commercialism.
2 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net , which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States, and to Boston.com. Nice work!
3 - Bonnie
Lovely piece, Kati. It mirrors almost completely my initial reluctance about Potter and subsequent adoration, my disappointment in the film and most of all the incredible stew of feelings about the end of the series. Thanks!
4 - kirsten
Funny. This latest film was my favourite by far.
It may be because I read the book years ago, and so didn't have annoying comparisons blocking my enjoyment of the film. It may be because the acting of the three leads has improved immensely. It may be because the subject matter was darker, more political, and the movie reflected that in its cinematography -- the magic in this film was grounded in the prosaic (and was, therefore, all the more threatening and/or powerful), rather than cutesy flourishes, as was so often the case in the earlier films.
I know it had its problems, and I definitely don't begrudge people their opinions or disappointment.
But I, for one, liked the film. So much so that I will probably go and see it a second time.
(Great piece here, by the way. I will be looking forward to reading your review of the final book.)
5 - Jessica Smelser
Oh I will be in line with other Potter freaks waiting for the stoke of midnight too. I'm so upset it's over, and yet happy all the same. It will be good to finally know the ending, and if J.K. Rowling is as good in this book as she has been for the last, I don't we'll be disappointed.