Harry Potter a "phenomenon ... gone with the proverbial wind"?

[Nicolas King]

Article.
In his article, Patrick C. Fleming (visiting assistant professor at Rollins College) suggests that Harry Potter was a fad with its time - that it reached a generation but that people have largely moved on and that the next generation of college students, etc. see it as nothing more than children's lit. - and are largely apathetic regarding its commentary on societal issues (religious commentary, etc.), or in the way society interact with it (J.K.R's defending her copyright against accusations of copyright infringement is one example he uses).

I'd encourage you to read through the article, then share your thoughts about what he's saying here.

I can see his point, Harry Potter was an insanely large thing across multiple age groups and has (quickly, I'd say) faded back into having a cult following (hello, HNZ!) and its continuing audience is likely to just be children. That's even where things like Pottermore seem to be geared toward - not the masses and the cult fandom, but kids reading the books for the first time (which is why many of us are not huge Pottermore fans, I'd suggest ).

Do you think Harry Potter has a life in academia, in adult thought, consideration, and life? Can it survive as literature and continue to influence society? Or was that just a temporary boom and any life it has going forward is in influencing children as they discover it, and nothing more?
Is Fleming's assertion that "But once, Harry Potter was something special, something that could connect childhood reading to adult critical thinking. That time has passed." true - or a rush to judgment?

 

[Kiara Tine]

I honestly believe that what he is saying - in a lot of ways - is indeed both likely and true. The masses of fans has definitely diminished in the last five years alone and its really on children now that will read such a book. But in saying that, said children then become adults and the ensuing cycle returns again. Harry Potter is part of the age old struggle between good and evils and I don't think anything could take away from that for even a second. However, even if I don't want to believe it, the once valued story, seems to have slipped through the cracks of literature and now no-one really knows what to do with it at all.
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[Alyssa Chevalier]

Almost every fandom has it's cycle, it would seem. It has points where it's really popular, and then it begins to die down. Sooner or later even Harry Potter would reach the point where it begins to die down. Especially now that all the movies and books are finished, there isn't anything there to fuel the excitement for it. I can really really see his point with "The Harry Potter Generation" having moved on and future generations finding it to be something intended for children. A lot of the younger students that I've met in some of my classes don't really seem to care for Harry Potter. Personally I feel like even though it probably was intended for a younger audience, that it could be aimed at adults too with some of the things that go in within the book. (War, Racism, etc).

Personally I feel like Harry Potter will be one of those things that will always stay with me, but I can't help but worry that the Harry Potter fandom will continue to die. Sometimes fads come back, but you never really know.
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[Nicolas King]

Almost every fandom has it's cycle

I think that's a bad generalization, though.
Not every fandom gets so big it gets a theme park, for example. Or makes university curriculum within a decade of being published.
There are also plenty of examples with things getting bigger over time. LOTR springs to mind.
Star Wars has a pretty sprawling empire, itself, too.
His examples really bring to light how big Harry Potter is/was. Used in group therapy. Became a central talking point for adults who didn't grow up with Harry Potter concerned (or, otherwise, interested in) what it brought to the discussion in their field of study.

So was all of that - the adult applications outside of people who read it as children - just boom and bust? Or is there still value? Will it grow with time?

I think, with things like Star Wars, LOTR, even like Doctor Who, what makes them popular today is how popular they were 'classically' (when they were originally done), and the fact that they can be done again in new media or redone in the same media, or re-licensed for other people to add to the universe. How many books can be made by a plethora of authors for one universe. Star Wars novels number in the hundreds. Doctor Who got a new adventure series to engage people in another way.

I think, over time, creative control becomes decentralized and the universe is opened up to let a lot more happen.

Another solid example is how stable (and even increasingly popular) superhero things have been - comics, radio programs, then movies and tv shows. New media, coupled with creative freedom, brings new life to a franchise (this would likely be my thesis for this post).

So - is there hope for a new media and more open Harry Potter universe in the future that will let the fandom maintain itself and gain new life?

Then, to the 'adult' side of things - what made Harry Potter worth talking about five years ago that has so drastically diminished today? Has all philosophy in it been exhausted? Was it not very valuable in terms of literature, after all?

 

[Minoas Stratis]

So - is there hope for a new media and more open Harry Potter universe in the future that will let the fandom maintain itself and gain new life?

I think this is the key point to concentrate if they wish to make Harry Potter like LOTR or other franchises that Nick mentioned right above.

The franchise hasn't evolved enough to captivate more people and only focused on the story of a single underage boy. Doctor Who, LOTR, Star Wars e.t.c. expand in a whole bigger universe which in some cases is rediculously detailed (LOTR ). I believe that if J.K. Rowling decides to expand Harry Potter universe, have some side stories in the same universe of other characters, maybe of some more mature characters, it could possibly bring the impact that other franchises have brought and stayed in timeliness for many years up until now.

Speaking from my point of view, I was finding the books a lot of times childish although I was that little child back then when I started the first one, wanting to lose myself in the harry potter universe. I didn't really like the protagonists but the universe J.K.Rowling had created, had really captivated me and that was the reason I continued reading the rest of the series. I found myself really excited when Harry and co. left finally Hogwarts for a more wide adventure outside the limits of the school. Perhaps a similar story around the word of Harry Potter universe with new more mature and interesting characters, would do the trick and build a more solid fan base than children that do grew up after years and forget it.

HNZ is a good instance of what I'm saying. We are not here exactly because of the books and the storyline they are offering. We're here for the universe the books left behind. They should invest on this universe if they want it to be timeless.

 

[Albertus Vermeulen]

I think it's one of those things that, while it might not have the popularity it did, it's still going to have a place in modern literary canon, in a sense. I don't mean that in the sense that they're works of literary genius, but rather they hold an important place in the hearts of this generation. I mean, they are the books that got a lot of children to enjoy reading.

I know that if I ever have children, I'll read the Harry Potter books with them, and I don't doubt that a lot of people of my generation will probably do the same.

Sure, its extreme popularity may have run its course, but I think it's still popular enough to hold its own for quite some time.

I don't really want to see more of an expanded universe of Harry Potter though, to be quite honest. I think the books are fine as they are and I feel like trying to draw it out any more would be diminishing the value. (I'm a hipster like that, I've never been a huge fan of the movies in all honesty).

 

[Estrella Drage]

As Camilla said, I still plan on reading the books to my children if I ever have them. They are still valuable literature. I still see adults reading them, so I wouldn't consider them just for kids. And if you consider the darker, more adult content of the last books (5-7), I would not be comfortable saying they are just children's lit.

I don't think the prof is wrong in saying that it was just a fad. There just aren't as many die-hard fans anymore. I definitely don't consider myself one, like I would have in middle or high school. Sadly, I can't connect with my HNZ characters anymore, only the community itself. Some fads come back, though, and I'm sure HP will come back full circle.