Why is Harry Potter so Popular?

[Jarrod]

With all the talk about harry potter as of late I've been feeling the urge to read the books (which i resisted earlier on). Many people I know have read them, and have all seemed to enjoy them (and this comes from mostly the 20-60 crowd).

And *that* is why Harry Potter is taking off. Much like the Da Vinci Whatevers, actually...

The books are a fun read, they're geared towards kids, and they're accessible. The media has been pushing the books, getting the word out. Sure, the first hit was a "fad" as much as _anything_ that gets widely recognized is a "fad". Word of mouth (including the many mouths of the media) has been doing the rest.

As for the movies: first one was good. Second one, with the Star Wars Trench Run of Quidditch, was an eh. I also wanted Ron to stop whining. Sure, he's scared of spiders, but the _entire movie_ was "beat up on Ron day". The third movie was a _lot_ better.

Did I mention Ron's possibly my favorite character? I have a soft spot for the side-kick... pay sucks, and so do the benefits

 

[Uzumaki]

The HP books have always had really great chacterization. I really think that's partly what made the books popular in the first place. You could see yourself at 11, stuck with evil foster parents, acting like Harry did at the beginning. IMO, Rowling is sort of a blowhard, but she does "get" younger children down really well. (One of my favorite scenes of the books was in PoA, when Snape walks in on Lupin and Harry to give Lupin his anti-werewolf potion. As Lupin drinks, Harry is seized by a crazy urge to knock the cup out of his hands.)

As far as fad/ no fad thing goes, Harry Potter is just a fad. The only reason it's been around this long are because every few years another book come out to rekindle the interest. Had all 7 come out by now, HP would be a distant memory.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I think one thing that has also really helped sustain the popularity of this series is that it was touted as being for Young Adults, and the first books really were. They were pretty simple and straightforward so they were accessible to the YA readers. At the same time they weren't dumbed down or made bubblegum silly or happy which I think appealed to both the YA and adult readers. As the series has progressed, the books have become a little more complex in the writing (and certainly longer), thereby maintaining its appeal to kids who started reading the series when it first came out. If it had not done done that, as some of the kids grew older they may have started abandoning the series as "kids stuff" and thereby reduced the "coolness" factor of the series.

 

[Vocenoctum]

With all the talk about harry potter as of late I've been feeling the urge to read the books (which i resisted earlier on). Many people I know have read them, and have all seemed to enjoy them (and this comes from mostly the 20-60 crowd).

I also had several people that kept telling me I should read them. I'd seen the movies, liked 1 a lot, 2 & 3 were good enough, but I certainly wasn't spending $7ish on the books to see how they were.
So, finally, a friend told me I had to read them, and gave me book 1, I read it liked it, and he lent me the entire series (one book at a time). I think they're fun books and worth reading. The first book and movie are nearly identical, but Movies 2&3 leave out a lot IMO. Especially Movie 2 with Ginny, she's almost absent from the movie, but contributes to a lot of fun scene's in the book. (Dwarf's dressed as cupids, delivering valentines!)

 

[mojo1701]

I also had several people that kept telling me I should read them. I'd seen the movies, liked 1 a lot, 2 & 3 were good enough, but I certainly wasn't spending $7ish on the books to see how they were.
So, finally, a friend told me I had to read them, and gave me book 1, I read it liked it, and he lent me the entire series (one book at a time). I think they're fun books and worth reading. The first book and movie are nearly identical, but Movies 2&3 leave out a lot IMO. Especially Movie 2 with Ginny, she's almost absent from the movie, but contributes to a lot of fun scene's in the book. (Dwarf's dressed as cupids, delivering valentines!)

Same here, kinda. I borrowed the series (so far) from my brother, about 2-3 weeks ago (minus the first one, since I read that during march break last year), and have surpassed him (he's still on the second half of GoF).

 

[shilsen]

Shakespeare was not considered "Shakespeare" in his time. He was the blockbuster summer-movie director of his time. He was the guy who wrote the popcorn flicks with kickass fights and sweet love stories and thrilling suspense and a little Falstaff kidding around for comic relief.

Quibble - Shakespeare was both the blockbuster summer-movie diector of his time and regarded as a great literary talent. An example of the latter perception is in the eulogies by his compatriots, esp. Ben Jonson's famous one which describes him as a timeless writer, which were printed in the First Folio, which came out 7 yrs after Shakespeare's death. In the Renaissance and a long time afterwards, the aim was to achieve both 'dulce and utile' (roughly, pleasure and instruction) through one's writing, a la Horace. Where that (unfortunately, in my opinion) changed is roughly around the early 20th century.

So I'm setting aside the question of "Is Harry Potter great literature" as wildly irrelevant, since I'm not going back to take more Comp Lit anytime real soon. One hundred years from now, it might be taught, or it might not. It's certainly as good as some stuff that I had to read in grad-level courses, but whether it gets taught is more a function of what the universities want to focus on at that point than the merits of the books themselves.

I agree completely.

 

[Chain Lightning]

Yep. There's simply no saying why it's popular. It's not the first book with this concept by far. It's not the first young adult book with engaging characters and magic and fantasy, etc. This happened to catch on and, amazingly, stay around as long as it has. Fads usually die within a couple-three years, but this has proved amazingly resiliant.

I don't think the reason why its a success is all that much a mystery or all that hard to see. It has all the elements that make for great escapism fantasy.

If you're in school (or were in school) you know how boring it is. Its every kid's fantasy to have their school experience be an adventure rather than a chore. Its one of the same reasons why Naruto works. Its a school for Ninjas. Harry Potter has Hogwarts, a school for Wizards and Witches. It takes a part of a mundane every day life experience and turns it into something cool.

The reader can relate to the characters and their environment because we've been there...or in the case of kids, they still are there. I've sat in my school class and daydreamed and wished I was in a space academy instead, or a wizard school. Its not like every kid can relate to overly complex feudal politics, elven songs that take up a page and a half, or some complex flow chart of dieties. Now, its stuff I enjoy now as an adult, but even from time to time I get sick of it and want a break and read something straight forward and fun.

This and the added style of consistantly having plot twists and hidden things in EVERY story. And third, that Rowling is a good writer. Maybe not the best or the most original, but she's a good writer and she gets credit for coming up with a great combo.

1. The relatable school to wizard concept
2. The plot twists and character twists format in each book.
3. Good writing.

I really think its that simple.

 

[Numion]

If you're in school (or were in school) you know how boring it is. Its every kid's fantasy to have their school experience be an adventure rather than a chore. Its one of the same reasons why Naruto works. Its a school for Ninjas. Harry Potter has Hogwarts, a school for Wizards and Witches. It takes a part of a mundane every day life experience and turns it into something cool.

I think you made some good perceptions, even if you find them simple

Another one on the same line is that who wouldn't want to be told that they're something special, like Harry was told in book 1? A bit similar to Matrix - thats the ultimate power trip, and it does appeal to people. Harry was taken from the normal world to wizarding world. He's special. Neo is taken from the boring office work to be the one. He's special too.

Or maybe I'm just reaching, Potter and Matrix

 

[Chain Lightning]

I think you made some good perceptions, even if you find them simple

Another one on the same line is that who wouldn't want to be told that they're something special, like Harry was told in book 1? A bit similar to Matrix - thats the ultimate power trip, and it does appeal to people. Harry was taken from the normal world to wizarding world. He's special. Neo is taken from the boring office work to be the one. He's special too.

Or maybe I'm just reaching, Potter and Matrix

Actually, you're right Numion. I totally overlooked that as I was writing my post. That's another fantasy Rowling taps into. The fantasy of actually being special. Not just another face in the crowd.

I mean, you're in school, you have a 2.75 grade point average, you're not popular, you haven't been able to convince a girl you like in math class to go to the dance with you, you're mediocre at sports . . . . .

....then someone shows up and tells you that secretly, you're the reincarnation of Thor. You scoff until he opens this large case and inside is a hammer...you pick it up and ....blammo...


Or you're working in your office doing telemarketing. Rent is a week overdue, your girfriend just left you for your best friend, someone backed up into your car this morning and drove off, and you spilled some ketchup on your best work tie at lunch. You leave at the end of the day and the parking lot is deserted and dark. Suddenly a brilliant shaft of llight hits you from above and teleports you up to an alien space ship. There, aliens tell you that they've been watching 999,999,999 human beings. Out of all those test subjects under their watchful eye, they pick you because you are pure of heart. Thus, they bestow upon you an alien suit of armor and you will now be the defender of Earth in this sector of space.

You're right...its totally an alluring fantasy. Harry Potter hits that part too. As well as the fantasy of being at a cool school.

 

[Wayside]

Quibble - Shakespeare was both the blockbuster summer-movie diector of his time and regarded as a great literary talent. An example of the latter perception is in the eulogies by his compatriots, esp. Ben Jonson's famous one which describes him as a timeless writer, which were printed in the First Folio, which came out 7 yrs after Shakespeare's death. In the Renaissance and a long time afterwards, the aim was to achieve both 'dulce and utile' (roughly, pleasure and instruction) through one's writing, a la Horace. Where that (unfortunately, in my opinion) changed is roughly around the early 20th century.

Beat me to it. It's certainly true that Shakespeare played to all the seats, and that he and the rest of the Elizabethans were very interested in spectacle: they were taking their cues from Seneca, but they didn't know that Seneca wrote closet dramas which were meant to be read and not performed; so they did a lot of things on stage that nobody'd ever done before--very "blockbuster," as taky said. But none of this changes the fact that Shakespeare wanted to be a poet first, is still as famous for the sonnets as for the plays, wrote a not incidental number of justly read verses besides, revolutionized English prosody as much as Donne, and crafted some of the greatest poetry in the English language directly into his plays.

"Great literature" was created roughly around the time that James Joyce wrote Ulysses, the ultimate "I'm smarter than you are, and I'm going to write a book to prove how smart I am, instead of writing a book to entertain you" experience.

I don't follow. Resistance to Ulysses was longlasting--it was censored from print in the U. S. (entire printings were destroyed in England) until the mid 30's for being obscene (it has potty humor! Ulysses certainly appeals to the peanut gallery--but the peanut gallery of fin de siecle Dublin was a decidedly more, I don't want to say more intelligent, but certainly more educated, with a finer sense of irony and wit, than our modern lot). You never would have seen Ulysses in the Times Literary Supplement, let's put it that way.

It was years before more than a handful of people (generally other avante-garde artists) considered it to be Great Literature (one anecdote from a prominent Canadian Joyce scholar has him smuggling the book in from America, since if you wanted to get a look at the University of Toronto's copy you needed letters from a doctor and a priest. This was coming up on 1950). That, and many, many intelligent people the world over do consider Ulysses to be great fun, far greater fun than Harry Potter in fact. Does Harry Potter have his own holiday?

About Great Literature being a recent invention: that's just crap. Besides, the ultimate "I'm smarter than you etc." book is definitely the Wake. Ulysses is not hard to read, that's just a ghost story we tell the undergrads to spook them.