When the first Harry Potter book was released in the U.K. under the title Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997, no one could have predicted that this one book would start a phenomenon that would span over 17 years. 7 books and 8 films later and the enthusiasm hasn’t dimmed. Warner Brothers just premiered the new HP spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, 3 more movies in the wizarding world. There is a section of Universal Studios in Florida called “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” which provides visitors with an opportunity to experience the magical world in which the books are set. There was even a museum exhibit which traveled the country and gave visitors the opportunity to see the real costumes, props, and portions of the set. This rabid fandom can be confounding to some. It’s a series of children’s books and it has captured the imaginations of not only children but adults as well. People who were children when the books were released still hold on to their love of Harry Potter as strongly as they did when they first interacted with the magical world of Harry Potter; it’s a deep-rooted connection. Why is the world obsessed with all things Harry Potter? What makes this particular character, world, and series so enduring?
It may seem silly or insignificant to care about a cultural phenomenon like Harry Potter when there are very legitimate concerns and problems happening all over the world and indeed right in our own backyards; however, the connection that many people have with Harry Potter is significant in some way. If it wasn’t significant and if it didn’t strike some deep chord with people across the world, it would have faded away into pop culture obscurity along with the many other fads that have come and gone since 1997. This series and fantasy world is beloved for a reason and, therefore, it deserves some examination to determine its importance and the reason for its resonance.
J.K. Rowling’s story is also significant. She was a single mother living on welfare in England when she began writing Harry Potter (Dunn). She was a first-time author who took her inspiration from the events in her own life and her own experiences. Her mother died while she was writing the first book, and that reflected in her protagonist, Harry Potter, the orphaned boy wizard (Dunn). As a result of Rowling’s loss, all of the Harry Potter stories are very concerned with death: Harry is orphaned as an infant; someone dies in nearly every book and movie; the main antagonist, Voldemort, is obsessed with eternal life — staving off the grip of death. There are the Dementors, the guards of the wizarding prison, Azkaban, who have the power to suck souls until you are physically alive but spiritually dead. Harry’s mentor dies (Rowling Sorcerer, Chamber, Azkaban, Goblet, Order, Half-Blood, and Deathly Hallows). The books highlight the one inevitability for all men, death. This theme can go a long way to explaining the attraction to Harry Potter — everyone fears or does not understand death. One might not fear their own death, but without a doubt, everyone fears the death of at least one person they love.
This connection to human experience lies at the heart of Harry Potter. Harry doesn’t fear death himself, he fears the death of those he cares about. As a result, he becomes relatable to the audience, creating a deep connection in which a story mirrors the real life concerns that many people of all ages have. Luckily, there’s magic to lighten the mood.
Another important factor in Harry Potter is the magic itself–the possibility of magic and the existence of a world, layered in our own world, that holds the possibility of wonder and enchantment. This taps into the desire to “do what the hero does…”(Seger 387). As a child, most people have wished that there was some alternate reality to the boring existence that is life. We wish that we could have adventures, escape, perform amazing feats. Harry Potter provided this to children and adults alike. This is an important quality that Harry Potter has, escapism. Since 1997, the country has experienced a severe downturn in the economy, terrorist attacks, and wars in multiple countries. The generation that experienced Harry Potter first hand, the Millennials, found themselves with high levels of student debt and fewer job prospects after graduation in comparison to generations prior (Porter). Having a world that provided easy access to an alternate universe connected to this one, but different, provided people with the ability to peer into a place that had similar problems, but they had much more enchanting means of solving many of those problems.
It’s not only escapism; magic also provides the tale’s staying power because it takes the Harry Potter story “out-of-time” so to speak. There are cars, sometimes, usually magical and not “muggle”, but there is no mention of computers or technology. Because the characters are attending a traditional magic school, they are expected to use traditional tools, quills, ink and parchment for example. The technology in the book comes from the magical artifacts themselves — the elder wand, the invisibility cloak — which does not put a direct “timestamp” on the events occurring in the book, keeping them fresh for future generations and in future rereadings.
Outside of the magical elements, the fact of the matter is, J.K. Rowling taps into the very human desire to connect by providing us with a complex mythic structure. As Linda Seger argues in “Creating the Myth”, the most successful films (and now I’m elaborating) books, and TV shows, “deal with the basic journey we take in life” (387). Even though Harry Potter is set in a magical universe, his story is recognizable. It is a story of love, loss, friendship, discovery, and growth. One mythic structure tapped into in the Harry Potter series is that of the “hero myth.” Seger details the structure of said myth as follows:
In most hero stories, the hero is introduced in ordinary surroundings, doing mundane things. Generally, the hero begins as a non-hero; innocent, young, simple, or humble…Something new enters the hero’s life. it’s a catalyst that sets the story into motion…Whatever form it takes, it’s a new ingredient that pushes the hero into an extraordinary adventure…In any journey the hero usually receives help, and the help often comes from unusual sources…The hero is now ready to move into the special world where he or she will change from the ordinary into the extraordinary…Now begin all the tests and obstacles necessary to overcome the enemy…At some point in the story, the hero often hits rock bottom… He often has a “death experience,” leading to a type of rebirth… (Seger 388 – 390).
Harry Potter saga follows this path very closely.
Harry is an ordinary hero, he lives under the stairs in his aunt and uncle’s house. His life is unremarkable if not plainly unpleasant. However, strange things start happening to him, like talking to a snake at the zoo. Then spontaneously magic letters addressed to him start bombarding his aunt and uncle’s home, but his aunt and uncle seem to be determined to keep Harry from reading the letters. The letters become overwhelming, an air-assault on the Dursley’s home prevents Harry from missing out on his destiny. Eventually, the family absconds to the country to hide. However, a man shows up, Hagrid, and hands Harry the letter personally to ensure he gets it. Harry has been accepted to a school for witches and wizards. His life will never be the same. Then, he begins school and discovers he is “the boy who lived”, a mythic figure in the world of witches and wizards. Suddenly he’s an extraordinary character who unwittingly “performed” some great service for the magical world at large many years ago. As the books progress, Harry is thrust into many battles with the man who killed his parents and tried to kill him, giving him the name “the boy who lived.” Harry ultimately prevails in each story, but every challenge brings higher stakes for the hero. The final book opens with Harry leaving school because he’s afraid he will bring death to those he loves because his enemy, Voldemort, is determined to kill Harry– and anyone who comes between him and Harry–consequences be damned. He goes through an epic journey, ultimately realizing that the only way he can finally kill Voldemort is to “die.” He dies at the hands of Voldemort but is revived. Voldemort is dead (Rowling Sorcerer, Chamber, Azkaban, Goblet, Order, Half-Blood, and Deathly Hallows).
The reader is dragged along through Harry’s ups and downs as he changes from average boy under the stairs to a magical legend. He learns more about how his parents die, he grapples with the death of friendship and the process of becoming an adult. He loses a godparent and a father figure. The reader feels as though Harry’s epic journey is their epic journey. The books have the scale of an average person’s life.
Harry as hero providing some of the cultural clout, Voldemort as Shadow Figure plays into the mythic nature of Harry Potter as well…(Seger 393). Voldemort is Harry’s foil throughout the series. He is in opposition to him before the reader is even aware of it. He represents everything that Harry is not. Harry is selfless and loving. Voldemort is selfish and hard-hearted. Harry has friendship and loyalty. Voldemort is friendless and loyal to no one. This dichotomy is an easily recognizable one that provides a balance to the story itself and attracts the reader to Harry Potter even more.
Harry Potter taps into popular and common cultural paradigms by providing the outlaw hero with the official hero. Throughout the seven books of Harry Potter, Harry plays the outlaw hero. There are many official heros that balance this, but Harry is the hero at center stage. Robert B. Ray points out, “The outlaw hero’s distrust of civilization…constituted a stock motif in American mythology” (380). Harry is an outlaw hero in some ways. Harry regularly goes around the rules and regulations of the school he is attending and the adults who are in charge of him because he feels that people do not understand what is best, or what’s at stake. He does not trust adults and those in charge to understand the gravity of the situation. This also plays into Harry’s distrust of politics and the law. Frequently he is visited by the Minister of Magic, equivalent to the magical president. The Minister of Magic asks him to not get into trouble, to not use his magic outside of school; he reprimands Harry for alerting people that Voldemort has returned and tries to compel him to taking a political approach to the situation (Rowling Deathly). Harry rejects this. As Ray points out “[The Outlaw Hero’s] hostility toward political solutions manifested itself further in an ambivalence about the law. The outlaw mythology portrayed the law, the sum of society’s standards, as a collective, impersonal ideology imposed on the individual from without. Thus, the law represented the very thing this mythology sought to avoid” (381). This ultimate culmination of avoidance of the law is realized when Harry abandons school to seek out Voldemort. He feels constrained by the rules of the institution in which he is forced to work; therefore, he rejects this institution both as a way to protect those he loves and as a way to circumventing what he sees as a needless intervention (Rowling Deathly).
Ultimately what Harry Potter provides is a message of tolerance. All are accepted in his world. All belong, all matter. This message of tolerance for children approaching this book at times when they feel awkward is powerful. I was 13, gangly, awkward, and nerdy when the first Harry Potter came out. I remember feeling connected with Harry as he discovered his place of belonging. I was a book nerd, I still am, bu this series helped me to discover what was beyond this temporary moment in time. That’s a feeling that is hard to replicate and hard to forget. So ultimately, though it’s relatable and powerful themes, the magical escapism it provides, the timelessness, the connection to deep mythic patterns and archetypes, it reaches children in a way that is hard to erase throughout the years. Harry Potter is an important cultural phenomenon because ultimately, it teaches belonging and compassion — two things sorely needed in modern society
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