Photo by Ean L. Dacay and Aih Mendoza
It all started with a letter written in emerald ink. On June 29, 1997, J. K. Rowling made her literary debut with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Fourteen years later, millions of fans from all over the world have had to deal with all the emotions tied to the release of the final movie in the Harry Potter franchise.
The release of the second part of Deathly Hallows serves as an end—not just for Harry’s story, but for our love affair with it as well. Just as Harry waited for each fictional summer with the Dursleys to end, so have we waited impatiently for many months until the latest movie’s release.
Growing up Potter
In 2010, EW.com writer Darren Franich went to a midnight screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 expecting to see little children in wizard hats, only to be greeted by the sight of college students in full-on costume—the same ones who were children when Harry Potter first came out.
“Wouldn’t that be kind of strange,” he said in his review. “To be in third grade and read a fun little book about a boy wizard, and then watch that little boy wizard steadily rise to global pop culture domination?”
Perhaps the reason our generation is so invested in Harry Potter is because the series is something we grew up with. Growing up with Harry was a purely magical experience—from our first steps into the Wizarding world via Diagon Alley, to the day we finally saw his triumph over the Dark Lord—every moment was something we shared through the 14 years’ worth of emotional roller coasters Rowling and her imagination took us on.
Age of the geek
Before Harry Potter’s rise to popularity, fantasy was just a subculture—there was a disdain in the way people reacted if you said you liked dragons and wizards. The Lord of the Rings had street cred, but getting into the series required more commitment, what with its many languages and voluminous pages devoted to genealogy. In contrast, Harry Potter was accessible even to an elementary student.
In a way, reading Harry Potter opened our generation’s minds; giants, goblins and mermaids rose from the realm of the subculture to the land of the mainstream. The popularity of Harry Potter opened doors for other young adult and children’s fantasy novels, such as Eragon, the story of a young boy who raises a dragon, or Inkheart, which is about a girl whose father can make fictional characters come to life by reading them from books. Soon enough, different novels and series began to gain fame—or sometimes, even notoriety—and their own steady fan base.
Suddenly, dressing up for conventions, writing fan fiction, dedicating blogs and waiting in line for movie releases and book signings became something not only Trekkies or Neil Gaiman fans did—Pottermania gripped the Muggle world and nobody was ashamed.
No story can be great without closure.
– Stephen King on the end of the Potter series
Of rock songs and theme parks
Not only did Harry achieve literary domination; he also managed to penetrate realms beyond the books (the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando, anyone?). Of course, the fact that we grew up with technology helps—if Harry, Ron and Hermione had wands, we had the internet.
There’s this thing called Wizard Rock, for example. It’s a sub-genre of rock music dedicated solely to songs (or, wsongs) about Rowling’s magnum opus. One wrock pioneer was Harry and the Potters, whose formation in 2002 signaled the do-it-yourself aesthetic of many Potter fans.
It is this DIY appeal that has led fans to expressing their Potter fandom in very creative ways beyond the usual fan fiction, conventions, and YouTube videos (though you should check out “Potter Puppet Pals”).
Team Starkid’s A Very Potter Musical, starring Darren Criss, took Hogwarts into the world of theater. Yearly fan-run Muggle Quidditch tournaments such as Nimbus 2003 and Infinitus 2010 brought the magical sport to life. Actual college courses are being taught in Yale and Georgetown about our favorite wizard and his quest to defeat You-Know-Who.
The intense passion of Potter fans made Rowling take notice. As if to hammer nails into the coffin of naysaying Muggles calling Potter a one hit-wonder, she announced on June 23 the launch of Pottermore.com, an interactive website that takes users on their own Hogwarts adventure. Users can choose to be sorted into houses (Gryffindor being the number one choice), upload their fan art and discover information about the series which Rowling says she’s been “hoarding all these years.”
Bittersweet ending
But for most Harry Potter fans, the end of the film franchise is a bittersweet moment. Many consider it to be the “official” end of their childhood; others, meanwhile, take a more positive stance. “It’s kind of difficult to grasp the idea that there won’t be new ones,” says junior Bea Sigua. “[But] I can still reread and re-watch the movies and tell my younger nieces, nephews and hopefully my kids about it.”
In his article “Goodbye, Harry,” novelist and Potter fan Stephen King perfectly summed up fans’ feelings on the matter. “There are always more good stories, and now and then there are great stories,” he wrote. “They come along if you wait for them. And here’s something I believe in my heart: No story can be great without closure.”
Indeed, closure is exactly what the series needs. Just as Harry and company have left Hogwarts (try listening to John Williams’ “Leaving Hogwarts” without bawling) for a bigger and better world, so have their fans.
We may find new stories, but Jo needn’t worry—true Potter fans will make sure its magic lives on. Gone, but never forgotten, indeed.
