A Love Letter to Potter
I didn’t get a chance to post anything on Monday, the 20th Anniversary of Harry Potter, but a belated post is better than no post! Hard to believe that the Harry Potter series is almost as old as me. What a time to be alive!
Now, for a little history lesson for those who’ve been living under a rock: On June 26, 1997, J.K. Rowling published Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the U.K. by Bloomsbury Press. The book was also published in the U.S. on September 1, 1998 (so we’ll just have to celebrate again next year!!) as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (because the publisher didn’t think dumb American kids would associate a philosopher with magic).
My own introduction to Harry Potter happened when I was nine and in the third grade. Before that, I didn’t really have a huge interest in reading and I wasn’t that great at it. One of my only vivid memories from elementary school, however, is me standing in the Schneider Elementary School library in North Aurora, Illinois, reading the back of the first Harry Potter book and figuring I might as well see if I like it, because I hadn’t seen any of the movies at that point, either.
I was in third grade in 2005/2006 when I first started reading them, and it was only two years later that the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published on July 21st, 2007 (10 years ago, yikes!) and sold 11 million copies in the first 24 hours. I was one of those 11 million copies, actually, since I stood in line for the midnight release at Borders (rest in peace, Borders) with my mom, anxiously waiting for hours to grasp in my hands the finale of the greatest love of my life. (My melodramaticism is justified, as this is one of the only things I’m obsessed with in life. By the way, that summer was the summer I would’ve gotten my Hogwarts letter. Just sayin’.)
But anyway, the time between 2005 (when I first started reading the books) and 2010 (when the last movie came out in theaters) was filled with midnight book releases, midnight movie premieres, Harry Potter festivals, Harry Potter museum production tours, Quidditch games, Hogwarts letters I crafted and sent to my friends on their eleventh birthdays, Pottermore site launches, merchandise-buying, podcasts, and Harry Potter World visits (twice).
Most millennials have had a similar Harry Potter fandom experience, I’m sure. My love is not unique and I’m one of hundreds of millions of kids and adults who love it, too. Since I originally read the books as a kid, I was immune to the stuffy, scholarly criticism of its lack of literary merit, so I don’t give a shit about how “stylistically ordinary” it is. Harry Potter is not the be-all-end-all of course, and I’ve read many better books since, but the series made me love to read. I don’t know if I’d be an English major today without Harry Potter, because those books were the gateway to many others.
It’s a truth among writers that once you’ve written what you’ve written and let it go to the world, it’s no longer yours. J.K. Rowling has gone against that, however, giving us more of a world than we ever could’ve imagined. It’s not the movie premieres and Harry Potter theme parks that made me love the series; it’s the lessons I’ve learned from it.
Twenty years later, Harry Potter still relevant today, since it tackles issues of xenophobia, authoritarianism, classism, groupthink, and many others. Author and peace activist Maajid Nawaz has even coined the term “The Voldemort Effect.” In the book series, wizards refuse to even utter Voldemort’s name, instead referring to him as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. “Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself,” Hermione reminds her classmates in the books as it becomes increasingly apparent that they’re only becoming more vulnerable. The Voldemort Effect in our society, as Nawaz explains, refers to a similar inability to discuss Islam, Islamophobia, and other religious and sectarian issues. Not naming extremism for what it is hinders our ability to do anything about it. Just like the wizards fear Voldemort’s return, we turn on each other, become guarded, and start to view people and the world in us-versus-them.
But on a brighter note, Harry Potter is ultimately a story of how love and friendship triumph over evil and isolation, and I do believe that the books contributed to the optimism and hope that I’m surrounded by every day in my post-9/11 generation. Although Harry Potter is a “children’s book,” it deals with lots of suffering and dark themes but chooses to combat that pain with compassion, friendship, and love. Many critics claim that children can’t possibly “grasp the content” in the books (and may lead them to Satan), but dealing with loss and isolation in the context of a magical children’s book is probably the best way to deal with those emotions.
Is anyone else getting nostalgic? It’s hard to believe that 20 years later, Harry Potter is still inspiring kids and adults all around the world. “No story lives unless someone wants to listen,” J.K. Rowling reminded us years ago. “The stories we love best do live in us forever. So whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”
