Skip to main content

The Wizarding Phenomenon of Harry Potter


Over the past 20 or so years, Harry Potter has become a household name. Everybody knows the story of the Boy Who Lived and his enemy He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone unfamiliar with the famous franchise; even those who never read the books or seen the movies has at least heard the name. The global effect of author J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world is phenomenal, but what makes the story of the young wizard so enticing?

Harry Potter took the world by storm not only because of its wonderful cast of characters and in-depth world building, but its opportunity for self-insertion really boosts its fame.

People love labels. It’s a part of why astrology is so popular, why months have birthday gemstones, why MBTI personality types are emphasized. Being able to belong to a group while simultaneously feeling special is something many people strive to find, and finding labels helps people feel defined. If you think about popular YA series, many include groups or factions that the characters must identify with. Percy Jackson and the Olympians has the godly parents and their accompanying cabins. The Hunger Games has districts; Divergent has factions. Harry Potter, however, has the most famous fictional groupings: Hogwarts Houses. Everybody familiar with the series knows their house, and the author even made an official quiz that tells people where they’d be sorted. Merchandise is made by the truckload (and purchased just as fast) so fans can display their allegiance, and Warner Bros. Studios even allows special guests to get sorted by an actual sorting hat.

People take pride in their House, not only because of the aforementioned love of being defined, but because they feel closer to the novel. If they know their Hogwarts House, patronus, and even wand type, they can imagine themselves easily in the Wizarding World as a Hogwarts student. It also lets fans spot each other in public spaces. A nod or smile between two people sporting similar fandom merch always lights a spark of excitement. This camaraderie is a significant part of what propelled Harry Potter’s fame into the stratosphere. Of course, I don’t mean to downplay JK Rowling’s incredible story-telling abilities. The story itself does most of the work. However, the power of the fanbase and the feeling of inclusion cannot be ignored. Harry Potter allows for fans to connect with the story on a personal level, and as a fellow Hufflepuff, I can affirm that Hogwarts Houses hold a special importance among Harry Potter fans.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ocean at the End of the Lane- An Urban Fantasy

The Ocean at the End of the Lane , by Neil Gaiman, is an urban fantasy about a man coming back to his childhood home and remembering a long forgotten otherworldly experience from his childhood. As a seven year old, his life changes for the weirder when an opal miner,  who had been renting out a room in the boy’s house, commits suicide in their family car. The death opens a door for a mischevious cloth-like spirit to start messing with the locals’ lives in twisted ways of giving them what they want. The boy meets the Hempstocks, an immortal family of three who live at the end of the lane, and accompanies the youngest, Lettie Hempstock, on a journey to bound the spirit. However, the spirit latches on to the boy and uses him as its gateway between worlds. Parading as a nanny named Ursula Monkton, the demon torments the boy through herself and his father. It’s up to the boy and the Hempstocks to send the demon away and restore reality. Gaiman’s imagination makes the book take fligh...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Next 50 Years

Ever since the turn of the century, technological advancement has skyrocketed. Even in my own short 19 years of life, I have seen technology go from the simplest cellphone sans touchscreen and chunky computers to face recognition on Iphones and Virtual Reality as an available college major. If we continue at this pace, the next 50 years are sure to be full of giant technological leaps for mankind. I predict that by 2028, holographic imaging will have changed exponentially. Rather than using a touchscreen to communicate, holograms and VR-like screens will be used a la Tony Stark’s tech. We’re about to break the mold of the IPhone already. Google Glass will have been adapted into a more practical form, but no matter what I think it’ll become mainstream. Entertainment will be venturing deep into VR. By 2038, robots will have most likely taken over the workforce, causing a crisis for employment. This will effect the topics of films, books, and social media as people scramble to decide...
Post a Comment
Read more

"And I Awoke And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill"

And I Awoke And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill is a short story about a reporter going to a service port full of spaceships to try and find someone to interview. He finds a drunken, bitter man in uniform and asks him about the aliens around the port. Rather than getting a simple answer, the reporter gets a life story and lesson from the man about the human race’s unhealthy infatuation with aliens, going beyond sexual to just pure obsession. This brought something to light that I had never considered: people’s obsession with aliens may not be reciprocated. Aliens may find humans boring, worthless, or dumb. If we were to discover an alien race, we’d be fascinated with the first lifeforms in space we find. The aliens, though, may’ve mastered space travel and humans may mean nothing to them. This imbalance could lead to a subservient position for the human race, desperate to do anything to not lose this new connection and opportunity. People have always been obsessed with the unk...
Post a Comment
Read more