So, you haven’t read the Harry Potter series?
Don’t worry, *throws cloak of um, invisibility is it? over us* me either.
Ever since J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter book and her rags-to-riches story were published in 1997, the series has been credited with increasing readership, encouraging witchcraft, and most clickbait-y, defining a generation.
Given the strong reactions listed above, Harry Potter has obviously grown far larger than a just a protagonist in a book series. There are the eight movies which shot Daniel Radcliff, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson to stardom, a themed website called Pottermore, a new award-winning Broadway play, a Hogwarts ride at Universal Studios, and countless items of merchandise.
A popular parody musical can also be found on YouTube, and hundreds of college students play in the US Quidditch League every year.
Needless to say, Harry Potter had a profound impact on many. But there is a small percentage of the population (bonus points if you’re also part of the non-GoT, Marvel clubs) that doesn’t give a flying snitch about Harry Potter.
I am part of that population (And the others, but who’s counting?)
Most of the time, this is met with horror. Twenty-year-olds to forty-year-olds screech, “How have you never READ THE BOOKS?” Woah, woah, woah, easy there, Hedwig. Sometimes I take it a bit further and say I’ve never seen all of the movies either (except the fourth one, about thirty times—long story). Is there a spell that makes people speechless? I think I’ve discovered one.
I did not escape the Harry Potter generation totally unscathed. I eagerly read the first four books as a kid, but a bad case of “readers block” hasn’t made me finish the series, despite its general universality, ten years later.
Simply put, fantasy is not my genre. The hype and hoopla are not for me.
Sure, there’s something endearing about little girls looking up to the book-smart Hermione, and comparing Hogwarts Houses with all your friends, but after over twenty years, now it seems like a giant commercializing money grab. More books and films besides the originals? New details that seem just to be added to be relevant in modern times? Part of what makes a series, a band, a cultural phenomenon iconic is that all good things must come to an end…and Harry Potter may not just be the Boy Who Lived, but The Boy Who Lived Forever.
So never fear non-Potter fans, you’re not alone. For the rest of ya, well, we all have our things.
I just won’t be in line for the next Fantastic Beasts film.