The Potterization Of Modern Life

[Serge]

This is a thread I kept meaning to start but have never got around to, but being roused to ire by seeing Robert Hardy being the latest great actor to be reduced in death to 'Harry Potter Actor...' over other, more substantial roles, here it is.

I mean....what the fuck is the fascination with this shit? I've read the first four books, they're...alright. Fair enough, nobody can tell when something's going to take off, and I don't begrudge J.K. Rowling her success, but when did so many people lose their minds and decide that we're living in PotterWorld?

Working in a bookshop, I can tell you that there is a fucking ton of spin-off merchandise, largely based on the films, to be sure, but still, at root, all tied back to those original books. The 'Fantastic Beasts' film, a spin-off from Potter, had no less than fourteen tie-in books associated with it.

There's a reasonable claim to be made that the Harry Potter books have been instrumental in keeping bookshops going (James Daunt certainly believes that), but it seems that this has come at a detriment to most other books - it doesn't matter how many people I tell that, say, 'Work Like Any Other' by Virginia Reeves is a great book, it's still not going to sell as many copies as a Harry Potter Postcard Colouring Book.

Because Harry Potter fans are crazy. They might already have a dozen different editions of 'Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone', but they're going to have to buy the new editions that come in the 'house colours'. How many people are going to spring for both the hardback and paperback editions? How many people are going to buy all eight? They make record collectors look like amateurs.

And it's only going to get worse. About 90% of the people asking for jobs at the bookshop I work in are girls aged between 16-25, and when you ask them what they like to read, they immediately say, 'Harry Potter', not realising that it takes absolutely no skill whatsoever to sell a Harry Potter book. It's the equivalent of going for a job in a record shop and saying your favourite band is The Beatles. These girls will ask you, with a straight face, 'what house do you belong to?' as if it's fucking real.

And.....as I say, it's spread to the point where whenever a venerated actor dies, if they had a role in the movies, no matter how small, no matter how many other bigger and more meaningful roles they played, their deaths are announced as 'Harry Potter Actor....'

Which is where I came in. Harry fucking Potter.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Look at the Twin Peaks thread. Look at the Doctor Who thread.

All adults.

At least these are children.

[poo]

Gary Potter

[Old Gold Tooth]

At the time it bizarrely heartened me to think that a whole new generation of Potter lovin' kids were correctly sad when Alan Rickman died, when otherwise they might have just stared at me and gone "Who?"

So that's a good consequence.

[BlodwynPig]

This is a thread I kept meaning to start but have never got around to, but being roused to ire by seeing Robert Hardy being the latest great actor to be reduced in death to 'Harry Potter Actor...' over other, more substantial roles, here it is.

I mean....what the fuck is the fascination with this shit? I've read the first four books, they're...alright. Fair enough, nobody can tell when something's going to take off, and I don't begrudge J.K. Rowling her success, but when did so many people lose their minds and decide that we're living in PotterWorld?

Working in a bookshop, I can tell you that there is a fucking ton of spin-off merchandise, largely based on the films, to be sure, but still, at root, all tied back to those original books. The 'Fantastic Beasts' film, a spin-off from Potter, had no less than fourteen tie-in books associated with it.

There's a reasonable claim to be made that the Harry Potter books have been instrumental in keeping bookshops going (James Daunt certainly believes that), but it seems that this has come at a detriment to most other books - it doesn't matter how many people I tell that, say, 'Work Like Any Other' by Virginia Reeves is a great book, it's still not going to sell as many copies as a Harry Potter Postcard Colouring Book.

Because Harry Potter fans are crazy. They might already have a dozen different editions of 'Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone', but they're going to have to buy the new editions that come in the 'house colours'. How many people are going to spring for both the hardback and paperback editions? How many people are going to buy all eight? They make record collectors look like amateurs.

And it's only going to get worse. About 90% of the people asking for jobs at the bookshop I work in are girls aged between 16-25, and when you ask them what they like to read, they immediately say, 'Harry Potter', not realising that it takes absolutely no skill whatsoever to sell a Harry Potter book. It's the equivalent of going for a job in a record shop and saying your favourite band is The Beatles. These girls will ask you, with a straight face, 'what house do you belong to?' as if it's fucking real.

And.....as I say, it's spread to the point where whenever a venerated actor dies, if they had a role in the movies, no matter how small, no matter how many other bigger and more meaningful roles they played, their deaths are announced as 'Harry Potter Actor....'

Which is where I came in. Harry fucking Potter.

Essentially what I was saying in a much more succinct way in the Hwyel Bennet RIP thread (as I didn't want to start a Hardy thread just to make that observation).

[BlodwynPig]

At the time it bizarrely heartened me to think that a whole new generation of Potter lovin' kids were correctly sad when Alan Rickman died, when otherwise they might have just stared at me and gone "Who?"

So that's a good consequence.

Not really. I don't think a new generation were that bovvered by his death...or if they were it would have been for a few hours or a day. Some of the more intrepid youngsters may have downloaded some of his other stuff, but "being in potter" does not exalt ye.

[Twed]

Look at the Twin Peaks thread. Look at the Doctor Who thread.

All adults.

At least these are children.

You need to concentrate less on gauntlet polishing techniques and more on what the thread is about. I don't think Twin Peaks dominates basic social interactions as much as Serge demonstrated Harry Potter does, somehow. You can probably get away with never having to know who Agent Cooper is, but might be considered weird at one point if you couldn't name least two fucking Harry Potter houses.

"Isn't it ridiculous when people like things at all?" is the thread dragon you're trying to slay here, and it's as mythical as your fringe.

On dating sites the Harry Potter stuff is absolutely exhausting. I'd love to see statistics for Harry Potter mentions in profiles.

[Old Gold Tooth]

Not really. I don't think a new generation were that bovvered by his death...or if they were it would have been for a few hours or a day. Some of the more intrepid youngsters may have downloaded some of his other stuff, but "being in potter" does not exalt ye.

If it got just one of them to check out Die Hard, JK's work is done.

[BlodwynPig]

If it got just one of them to check out Die Hard, JK's work is done.

ha ha. Yeh. OOOOORAHHHH. Check out DIE HARD DUDE

[BlodwynPig]

You need to concentrate less on gauntlet polishing techniques and more on what the thread is about. I don't think Twin Peaks dominates basic social interactions as much as Serge demonstrated Die Hard does, somehow. You can probably get away with never having to know who Agent Cooper is, but might be considered weird at one point if you couldn't name least two fucking Die Hard baddies.

"Isn't it ridiculous when people like things at all?" is the thread dragon you're trying to slay here, and it's as mythical as your fringe.

On dating sites the Die Hard stuff is absolutely exhausting. I'd love to see statistics for Die Hard mentions in profiles.

[hewantstolurkatad]

91... fucking hell. What were they thinking of casting a guy who was nearly 80 in a series of films where he could be needed as much as eight or nine years later for something major? Obviously they could just recast, but wouldn't be easier to get a late 60s guy.
Not so sure it really damages their legacy, it's just another thing. I don't think anyone is gonna dismiss an Alan Rickman or whatever as "that guy in kids films", it's pretty bloody clear to everyone involved why serious actors would be in something like Harry Potter and its mutually beneficial.

RE: the doctor who, twin peaks shit. As much as doctor who gets referenced, it isn't anywhere near as ubiquitous as Harry Potter seems to invade people's whole personalities. Twin Peaks (and David Lynch in general) has far too varied of an audience to really pin down as a particular thing.
The rare occasions I have encountered Doctor Who fans who drag it into conversations as broadly as tons of Harry Potter fans seem to on the regular, they've been fucking insufferable.



I do wonder how much the Harry Potter on dating sites thing is just down to most people being passionate about fuck all since they became teenagers. Leaving them stuck with the last thing they liked a lot as a kid.It's not so much that they're big into Harry Potter as they just need something to fill this huge void in their personality.

[Glebe]

I'm LOTR nut, meself. Push off, 'arry!

[BlodwynPig]

If it got just one of them to check out Die Hard, JK's work is done.

https://youtu.be/YwRdaeYp8eg?t=223

[small minded cretin]

This is a thread I kept meaning to start but have never got around to, but being roused to ire by seeing Robert Hardy being the latest great actor to be reduced in death to 'Harry Potter Actor...' over other, more substantial roles, here it is.

I mean....what the fuck is the fascination with this shit? I've read the first four books, they're...alright. Fair enough, nobody can tell when something's going to take off, and I don't begrudge J.K. Rowling her success, but when did so many people lose their minds and decide that we're living in PotterWorld?

Working in a bookshop, I can tell you that there is a fucking ton of spin-off merchandise, largely based on the films, to be sure, but still, at root, all tied back to those original books. The 'Fantastic Beasts' film, a spin-off from Potter, had no less than fourteen tie-in books associated with it.

There's a reasonable claim to be made that the Harry Potter books have been instrumental in keeping bookshops going (James Daunt certainly believes that), but it seems that this has come at a detriment to most other books - it doesn't matter how many people I tell that, say, 'Work Like Any Other' by Virginia Reeves is a great book, it's still not going to sell as many copies as a Harry Potter Postcard Colouring Book.

Because Harry Potter fans are crazy. They might already have a dozen different editions of 'Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone', but they're going to have to buy the new editions that come in the 'house colours'. How many people are going to spring for both the hardback and paperback editions? How many people are going to buy all eight? They make record collectors look like amateurs.

And it's only going to get worse. About 90% of the people asking for jobs at the bookshop I work in are girls aged between 16-25, and when you ask them what they like to read, they immediately say, 'Harry Potter', not realising that it takes absolutely no skill whatsoever to sell a Harry Potter book. It's the equivalent of going for a job in a record shop and saying your favourite band is The Beatles. These girls will ask you, with a straight face, 'what house do you belong to?' as if it's fucking real.

And.....as I say, it's spread to the point where whenever a venerated actor dies, if they had a role in the movies, no matter how small, no matter how many other bigger and more meaningful roles they played, their deaths are announced as 'Harry Potter Actor....'

Which is where I came in. Harry fucking Potter.

Filthy mudblood











None of those annoying little fucking cunts can act either.

[Consignia]

In fairness, if you were listening Radio 5 this afternoon, you'd think the only thing he'd ever done was All Creature's Great and Small. I had to check I wasn't listening to Radio 4, but then Tony Livesy bellowed some shit down my speakers, and I knew he'd never be allowed to work on Radio 4.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

"Isn't it ridiculous when people like things at all?" is the thread dragon you're trying to slay here

No it isn't. Please do drop by and fail at comprehension and guesswork another time though.

[Twed]

I can't, there's a balsa wood slab in front of your door with "DRAWBRIDGE" scrawled on it in Tippex.

[thenoise]

I'll take Harry Potter over the Star Wars twats, who have blighted my entire life been around for ages.

Trek > Wars, and Narnia > Potter.

[gilbertharding]

I am too busy hoping for A Dance to the Music of Time to happen to care about Pottermania.

[Consignia]

Oh, I misread the title as "The Polarisation of Modern Life", and thought that Harry Potter was being as an example of people gravitating a single populist point of reference.

To be honest, I've never really noticed Harry Potter writ large. Never actually engaged with any of the material, but it's influence has never really permeated into my periphery either.

[newbridge]

Harry Potter is ultimately a very good series of mass-appeal books (I'm not suggesting it has great technical merit, but it is clearly well executed and, to me at least, entertaining), which became a phenomenon for a variety of reasons, chiefly being that (1) it is good, (2) it has cross-appeal between children and adults/parents; (3) marketing. Once it became a phenomenon, it became something a huge number of people have read. Given that, for a variety of other reasons, fewer and fewer people actually read anymore, it became the sole thing (of merit) a huge number of people have read. Reading is, inherently, a great recreational activity, but for many of the aforementioned people they associate it solely with Harry Potter.

Hence Serge's bookstore experience and the ubiquity of Harry Potter as the only book series people on dating sites can come up with to list as their favorite books.

[Brundle-Fly]

RE: Robert Hardy - Harry Potter actor dies

I thought that a bit lame too. However, if that's his touchstone in 2017, so be it.  Doesn't matter.  It's all bollocks.  I grew up in the seventies believing all that defined Orson Welles was his portly appearances on Domecq Sherry adverts.  I realised only a bit later there was a little bit more than that.

Jarvis Cocker will be forever known as the man who mooned Micahel Jackson. Andrew Sachs will be indelibly linked with his grand-daughter's sex life and the collapse of the BBC, Carl Orff's majestic - O Fortuna ~ Carmina Burana? Forever associated with that parade of cunts from The X Factor.

Not worth worrying about. In fact, it might set off some synapses for them 'mainstream folk' to investigate Robert Hardy's other turns?

[Avril Lavigne]

About 90% of the people asking for jobs at the bookshop I work in are girls aged between 16-25, and when you ask them what they like to read, they immediately say, 'Harry Potter', not realising that it takes absolutely no skill whatsoever to sell a Harry Potter book. It's the equivalent of going for a job in a record shop and saying your favourite band is The Beatles. These girls will ask you, with a straight face, 'what house do you belong to?' as if it's fucking real.

Is there actually a job available at your bookshop, and where is it? I'd love to work in a bookshop. I've never read Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones or anything of that sort. Currently I'm reading the autobiographies of Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders and Damien Echols who was put on death row for 18 years based on only circumstantial evidence.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I don't like Harry Potter, but I will admit that it's pretty arbitrary on my part. If I'd have been born some years later, it would probably occupy the space in my brain that Star Wars does. What baffles me is the people my age who are into it, who would have been in their mid teens when the first book was published. The first time I heard of the series was at university, when a load of my friends went nuts about the imminent release of the latest book.

[pancreas]

I am too busy hoping for A Dance to the Music of Time to happen to care about Pottermania.

But it did, didn't it? In paint, book and televised series.

[Dr Rock]

Equally baffled. I always hated reading or watching anything to do with kids and schools. And her cod-Dickensian naming of the characters sets my teeth on edge (she does that right? Can't remember for sure now). It's all shit.

JK Rowling was very well promoted to begin with though - remember all the stuff about writing the book in her local internet cafe or whatever. The original press focused on that, and that's how she reached a wider audience. Publishing likes the public to have an image of the author that they find interesting and like, and initial marketing often focuses on this.

The movies are shit boring, with shit acting and they're all the same.

[BlodwynPig]

Its a bog standard cafe in Edinburgh...and probably the only place I've been associated with Potter that was not teeming with tourists or tat.

I've seen the first part of the last film and that's it, not read a word. Without having to read the entire volumes can someone here argue the case FOR the potter books...without using the words "appealing to adults and children", "a new mythos for the 21st Century", "just good wholesome fun", "Ulysses for the pre-, post and everyone in-between-millennials."

[Delete Delete Delete]

Isn't it just a generational thing, give them 10, 15 years and they'll be moaning about the Superhero fans, like ways that generation will be moaning about the next generation. At least they got something to be passionate about, but soon they will feel as out dated and old as my generation is s starting to feel now.

[Kelvin]

I don't think there's anything baffling about the popularity of the books/films, at all. Just from the four film I've seen, they very obviously have all the components of your Dickens, your Star Wars, and your Lord of The Rings; big, colourful worlds that feel fleshed out; broad, archtypical characters, but with enough personality to make them stand out from more generic storytelling; a sense of wonder and memorable set pieces; and a simplistic, but distinctive morality. All the hallmarks of other popular culture tentpoles.       

The obvious flaws in the writing, story-telling, and in the films, acting, are compensated for by the above average world building; and those worlds are compelling, not because they're the most nuanced, but because they mix simplicity with wonder, from the small scale, to the large. Just as the original Star Wars films are elevated beyond their scripts, Dickens beyond his plotting, and Lord of the Ring beyond their density, the appeal of Harry Potter is surely memorable characters doing interesting things, entertainingly.   

[Urinal Cake]

Have you seen people play Quidditch? It's fucking stupid.