Harry Potter- It Isn't Just For Kids!

[The Bookwyrm]

I will say it, and I will say it simply. I am a series fangirl. I love it. I simply cannot get enough of it, to the extent that I own a wand from Alivans, I have Quidditch goggles, am working on making Quidditch robes, and frequently sit in pubs with university friends heatedly debating the series over a pitcher of cheap beer.

While my fellow Honours students are working on very sophistocated topics for their thesis this year, including Jeckle and Hide, Frankenstein and other beloved classics, I have proven myself and dork and chosen to wet my feet in the academic pool with Harry Potter and Narnia). A children's series.

Or is it?

What is it about the series that makes it so ageless? It's as bound to captivate a 5 year old as it is a 55 year old. It contains all of the classic elements of fantasy literature, but it also carries all of the difficulties of growing up, which the characters actually do, rather than simply ageing or remaining timeless.

So how did the Potter bug first bite you?

For anyone interested (warning! shameless plug!) I'm trying to get a discussion guild up off the ground about the series, and would dearly love to have members. If you feel so inclined, please come check it out. Otherwise, just chatter here. wink  

[Teviri]

I'll be honest, I wasn't into the series at all. All of my friends were, of course, huge fans that owned every piece of Harry Potter stuff they could get their hands on. And I usually lucked out that if I had any kind of interest, they would talk about it endlessly and easy any curiousity I had. Until the sixth book. Then their mouths were sealed. All I could hear for a month was "did you read this? Did you read that?" until I because VERY interested. And instead of filling me in, they said "Oh, well you should read it." And I've been hooked ever since.  

[The Bookwyrm]

I actually refused to read any of it for a very long time; I had people telling me constantly how awesome it was, and round about when Goblet of Fire was released, my grandmother had wanted to buy me that book. But I had refused, thinking that it was just a bunch of kiddie books. I finally relented in grade 12; I got a boxed set of the first three books at my mother's urging, and I was instantly hooked. I got Goblet of Fire for Christmas, and wouldn't look at any of my other gifts until I had sat down and read it, since it was the only think I had asked for. Since then, my obsession has grown. ^^  

[Doressa]

I didn't think that they would be my kind of books at all, so I didn't bother with them. It was only when my exboyfriend started raving about them, and I wanted to be able to have some clue what he was talking about thata I started, I read the first three so quickly, and couldn't believe how much I was itching for the fourth to be released! I've been an addict ever since! Having said that, I don't collect any of the various paraphenalia that floats about, the books are enough for me. Now, everytime a book is released, I make myself read all the books before it again first, and then move onto the new one. It just makes the experience last longer!  

[NessaChan]

Hee hee, I started reading when the second book came out and I've been in that line at midnight for every release since! xD Yes, I'm a little obsessed, when I signed on and saw a Harry Potter thread, I was elated. biggrin

I'm planning a few HP costumes to fill the void until the next book, but those are a secret for a while at least.  

[torshi]

i work with several guys older than me who love it. i tried to read it, but it wasn't something i could get in to. but yay reading rocks lol.  

[Seeress]

Oh dear, Harry Potter is one of those hot spots that pokes me with all the firey pitchforks of HELL. Probably because I'm a diehard Lord of the Rings fan and all the comparisons between the two book series make me froth at the mouth. sweatdrop

Actually, I was fairly indifferent to the series for quite a while. I read the first book right before the first movie came out, because I try to never see a movie without reading the novel first. I was... unimpressed. It wasn't bad, I just don't think it was worth the hype it was getting and nothing about it convinced me that I needed to read the rest. While I enjoyed the concept, the writing itself was dull, the characterizations boring and the plot pretty standard fantasy fare. The "Young Wizards" series did a much better job with a similar theme, but for some reason you don't see people going crazy over those books.

Then, I got stuck in Barnes & Noble on the day that the fifth book was released. That alone was enough to turn my indifference into a hate of which belongs to the ages. I barely was able to pick up my man (who works there), get out of the building, to my car and out of the parking lot without (intentionally or unintentionally) killing about a MILLION SCREAMING HARRY POTTER FANS.

So yeah, needless to say, not a fan. xd And, uh, I'm not sure they're really appropriate for an honors senior thesis, since I didn't really find any deep, timeless themes... at least in the first one. But then, your teachers may be far more lenient than mine were. If I were to try to do similar with a fantasy book, even Lord of the Rings, or a sci-fi, even Asimov, my teachers would have thrown a screaming fit. gonk  

[The Bookwyrm]

Seeress

So yeah, needless to say, not a fan. xd And, uh, I'm not sure they're really appropriate for an honors senior thesis, since I didn't really find any deep, timeless themes... at least in the first one. But then, your teachers may be far more lenient than mine were. If I were to try to do similar with a fantasy book, even Lord of the Rings, or a sci-fi, even Asimov, my teachers would have thrown a screaming fit. gonk

You'd be surprised, if you can get past the first book. It's definately not a prime example of what the series becomes, and it is atypical fantasy. It picks up momentum after book three and becomes more complicated. Comparing HP and LOTR, however is like comparing apples and oranges; they belong in the same genre and I've read and enjoyed both, but they're definately not on the same level.

As for it not being appropriate material for an honours thesis, it depends on what you're doing with it. It's popular culture, and while it may be, on the surface, lacking the complexitied of other similar novels, you can simply deal with it as a part of pop culture. There is, however, deep meaning and there are timeless themes in the series; I want to do my PhD in children's lit, so I'm doing a comparative study. But meaning and themes are to be found in any body of literature provided a person is willing to look for them.

And maybe my professors are more lenient. We've had honours' students in the past write on books like the Lord of the Rings trilogy; we have courses on sci fi and fantasy at our university, as is pretty standard for most universities who are dealing with modern lit.