I was a huge Potterhead back in the day (well…I still am, just not as obsessed). I know the books are great and all, I know how addictive her writing style is, that she can create such vivid and engaging characters and places, and the stories keep you hungry for more…but IMO that still does not completely explain the insane hype that generated. I don’t think there has ever been this level of mania and craze for a book — a children’s/YA book for that matter. So I am wondering, what are some of the factor that led to the hype? I’ve heard things like the rise in Internet (and internet fandom), JKR’s rags-to-riches story, etc all contributed. So for those who have been there, what was the mania like at that point, and what factors (aside from the quality of the books themselves) that lead to it?
by Connor_lover
25 Comments
When books, movies, music, etc. reach a certain point of popularity, they will become even more popular as more people will read/watch/listen in order to be able to discuss it with their friends. It was pretty hard to avoid HP back in the day. It was a whole vocabulary. Would you have wanted to be the only kid in your class who *hadn’t* read it? Of course not.
I don’t know, but I have never liked it. I remember in 9th grade in 1997 one of my friends had the first book, and I could not understand why she was reading a kids book. Then other people started to talk about it. I was reading Catcher in the Rye and learning about the Cuban Revolution, so reverting to a story about wizards in a school was not something that drew me in.
I remember a big part of the original books’ appeal being JK Rowling’s life story
My mom loved hearing how a single mother wrote this book in her free time and made it big against all odds. I don’t know how much of this was true and how much was good PR but this story of Rowling’s dedication and hustle was repeated a lot when the book first came out, and I think it hooked a lot of parents (like my mom) and convinced them to buy the books for their dorky kids (like me).
Kind of ironic now that JK’s so disliked/controversial
My 3rd grade teacher read it to us. I don’t remember what it was like for everyone else, but I immediately became obsessed with HP.
In 3rd-ish grade one of my classmates said “My mom won’t let me read Harry Potter because it’s witchcraft!”
And my kid-self thought “…wait that’s the point though? It’s a story book. So the story is witchcraft. The book ITSSELF isn’t witchcraft and it doesn’t teach you witchcraft does it??”
So I checked it out from the library and wham-bam-thank-you-maam I loved the books.
The first Harry Potter book got a *ton* of media coverage. A lot of it had to do with the surprise that literature was still capable of getting young people excited about reading. The Internet was relatively new, at that point, and cable TV was still a really big deal.
For me it was the world building. The thought of a secret magical world that exists along side with ours in modern time sounded amazing.
The books also came out when I was around the same age as the characters, going to school, worrying about exams, holidays, crushes, etc. As the books were released it felt like I was growing up along with the characters as well. The books really helped me get through times and the releases gave me something to look forward to.
I’m very introverted and usually avoid people, but during the book and movie releases, I felt quite connected to people however brief that was. I think it’s the same for most fandoms.
I think it was the idea of being a school you actually wanted to go to, rather than the boring place you were actually trapped in while reading it.
One factor to consider is the state of the YA genre c. 2000. Nowadays, kids ages 13-17 have TONS of books they can read that are targeted to their demographic, especially in the fantasy and paranormal category. But when *Harry Potter* was popular, young adult wasn’t established as it is now. In short, there were fewer options.
All I can say is I saw the author on Oprah (2010) and the book sounded interesting so I purchased it and started to read it to my sons (7 and 12). My 12 year old never really read with out being prompted until we started to read this book before bed. He became impatient and started to read the book on his own and then read every other book as soon as I could get them for him.
These are just really great books that people feel connected to, but I agree with others that having access to others online who were excited about the books probably had a major impact on the depth and longevity of the fandom. People need to feel connected to others and sharing a love for the books and movies connected people.
Kind of a theory I’ve been workshopping, but in my opinion one of the reasons no subsequent YA series has managed to replicate Pottermania is that Harry Potter itself led to a fracturing of the market. That, combined with some of its most popular successors/competitors failing to have competent movie adaptations (cough Percy Jackson cough) led to it being such a singular pop culture moment.
I personally chalk it up to a right time, right place thing. If it came out now? People would pick it up, but I don’t think it would have the hype. If it came out earlier? Eh. I honestly don’t remember people really getting into it until after the second book came out, and the “mania” didn’t really start until the fourth. It was fun, but I wasn’t a Potterhead like my siblings.
The internet was in its infancy then, and so was the video game industry as we’ve come to know it. Smartphones gained popularity in the late aughts/early teens. HP was one of the last fantasy series to come out before the internet boom, and since so much of the early internet was connecting with other people, we sought people we had things in common with. And well, everyone had read Harry Potter. So we gravitated toward other Potterheads.
Also, to be fair, both *Twilight* and *The Hunger Games* both had their own phenomena. I didn’t read either of them and I simply could not fucking get away from them, which really gave me a feel for the people who simply could not get away from *Harry Potter*.
Also: Humans like categories. HP had School Houses. *Twilight* had werewolves vs “good” vampires vs “evil” vampires. THG had the twelve districts. Put categories people can sort themselves into and you’ve already won part of a battle you had no idea you had.
I was there, standing in line with my tween children at best at midnight waiting for the last few books. When we got it home grandpa read it to the kids over the course of several weeks (they could read themselves but then the fights would have been endless and spoilers, omg). And I would read it after they were in bed, usually finishing in a few days.
I agree, I’ve never seen anything like it as a kid or parent, and I don’t think we ever will again. The internet has caused our culture to fragment and just like no one at the office talks about that amazing sitcom episode the next day there won’t be such a publishing phenomenon again in my opinion.
Why? I think it was legitimately driven by the kids and the awesome story and how that story grew up with the kids. The first couple of books were popular but not that popular. It built up over the years. JKR was not only a reliable writer publishing on schedule, but her world was so intricate, it was like the most delicious candy. The midnight book sales were pure marketing and pure genius. I think the last three got that treatment? But it was authentic, it wasn’t fake or PR feelings. The kids and their parents loved the books.
I can’t think of a single parallel with any other children’s book. Maybe Roald Dahl comes closest as I think hard.
My wife and I were talking about this the other day. We were already out of college and married when the books were released, but we loved them just as much as everyone else.
People have already mentioned most of the stuff we brought up the other day, but one thing my wife pointed out that she really likes about it is that in the Wizarding World, men and women are equal and nobody thinks twice about it. Women are in positions of power at equal rates as men, and are portrayed (both the heroes and villains) as being just as talented or deadly as the men.
Honestly, the biggest contributing factor was probably the fact that Universal and AOL were both owned by Warner Bros.
AOL was where internet fandoms took root, so flooding it with marketing for the first Harry Potter movie got a lot of people who were already there specifically to talk about their favorite books curious. The book had a good deal of buzz before the movie premiered, but it was nothing compared to the juggernaut it would become after movie’s success, and that success was fueled in large part by WB taking advantage of the new digital market.
It’s also just the perfect fantasy for a kid. He goes from being poor and neglected to suddenly being rich, important, and respected. It’s not a coincidence that Harry’s first intro to the wizarding world is a shopping spree.
I’ve had this same question for a long time and put some thought into it.
Everything you mentioned of course, addicting writing, vivid places, good characters – but the big two for me are (imho) that it’s ‘believable fantasy’ and that she aged it up so well.
Unlike some other notable fantasy, Lord of the Rings, Redwall, Wheel of Time, etc – Harry Potter was set in our world, just hidden out of view. I think kids could much more easily believe that Hogwarts could be out there somewhere, that they could get a letter one day and go to magic school. For all the fantasy elements, it has some realism that feels truly authentic, which is why I think they pull off Harry Potter World in Universal so well too.. it feels magical but also like you’re really there.
Then, where kids normally grow out of a series, or are too young for it originally, HP captured them young and the books aged up in maturity to adulthood.. and many were doing at a similar age of Harry, Ron and Hermione, making them even more relatable. The grow-up aspect of them made them appealing to all age groups, which I think was the final piece needed to make it such a huge phenomenon.
Like others have said, I’ve seen better writing, better magic systems, better characters, across other books.. but I can still always go back and easily drop into the world of HP and Hogwarts.. it’s always been a mental break, cozy getaway. Just my humble opinion, but hope this perspective helps.
Sorry.. but I don’t think JKR’s rag to riches story made one fucking difference to kids picking up the books.
I genuinely think it was the books themselves, the topic, setting, characters, writing quality, world building, etc.
It just hit the mark.
I think another part of it was that the first four books were released in four years, with the movies starting to come out shortly after. In all there were seven books released in 10 years and 8 films in 10 years with a few years of overlapping new books and movies being released. It was a huge hype train that kept picking up momentum.
For me, it was an escape from a difficult childhood/homelife. My best friend and I went to the midnight release of The Deathly Hallows and we stayed up all night for the next 2 nights reading it, calling eachother to ask “did you get to chapter 33 yet?!” And “I’m sobbing! Did you get to THE part yet?!” It was just an exilerating rollercoster of emotions that so many people were on at the same time.
The first book came out when I was in middle school. Like 11 years old. The same age as Harry Potter when he found out he was a wizard. I am a girl, though. Middle school was a bad time for me. The fact that JK Rowling created a whole nother world and you could actually visualize it was great. I loved getting lost in the story. I read a lot when I was in middle school. Also, the fact that it was British. I love the British.
Harry Potter was my introduction to urban fantasy, a kid the same age as me when I started reading before all of the prescribed novels were dry, sad, or trying to teach a preachy lesson. It was a breath of fresh air, reading was fun again. My siblings never read them, but today they don’t read as a hobby either. It’s an amazing thing JKR hit.
The culture around consuming entertainment was different back then. Release dates were huge, marked events for movies, books, and videogames. People would camp out in front of stores to make sure they got their content asap.* For lack of a better phrase, the hype train looked different back then.
Combine that with an environment of increased interconnectedness as the internet and social media continued to grow, and it fostered a zeitgeist around sources of entertainment at the time.
This alongside the impressionable nature of the target audience of the work made it easy for an entire generation of kids to geek out over Harry Potter. You saw it in plenty of other material, but HP was the biggest.
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**That’s not to say that people don’t still do this, just that it was much more commonplace.*
I glorified teachers and made the idea of going to school and learning whimsical. One of the biggest things an author can do is get their book in schools, and Harry Potter was loved by teachers and students.
Timing and good marketing. Harry Potter is written for success. It’s the most generic possible fantasy you can imagine but it’s full of clever little gimmicks that hook people.
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* A special class of people. Everyone thinks muggles are lame because everyone already dislikes people. Every reader loves to imagine that they could… not be a muggle.
* A magical school completely full of little titbits of wonder. The kind of place you wish you could visit because there’s a magical marvel around every corner.
* Lots of ways to pick sides. What house are you? What kind of wizardry would you specialize in? What teachers are your favorite? Who would you like to be friends with?
* Lots of ways to be competitive. Merits and demerits for your house. Quidditch games. Magical challenges. Classes and grades.
* Lots of ways to imagine customizing yourself. What kind of wand, what kind of familiar?
The whole thing is like a video game that encourages people to imagine themselves as a character alongside the protagonists. Like a character creator you could immerse yourself in the book by picturing what kind of Hogwarts student you’d be.
And that’s what most of the exploitation of the novel is based on. From sorting hat quizzes to buying scarves and wands. It’s all pushing the narrative that you could be a student at Hogwart.
Creatively, the novels are derivative and bland. But the way they’re written allows people to attach a lot of their own meaning. Timing wise they were published when video games and the internet was only just on the rise so there was relatively little competition from other media.
All in all, it’s going to be nearly impossible to replicate the effect again in book form. Other media are just far more popular and suited for the whole ‘place yourself in the role of…” type thing.
The masses were directly prepped for Pottermania after the runaway success of the award winning blockbuster show The Worst Witch. It’s almost plagiarism tbh