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Original poster

Why did Harry Potter become so popular?

373 replies

KindergartenKop · 16/10/2021 21:38

I'm not a huge fan personally, but I think they're quite well written. I'm not sure they deserve all the hype though. So why did they become so popular?

OP posts:
Pumperthepumper · 17/10/2021 15:43

@Pythonista

I think it's just a little sad that grown adults adore children's books, that's all.
What would you recommend instead?
ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 17/10/2021 15:44

@Pythonista

I think it's just a little sad that grown adults adore children's books, that's all.
That's really sad Sad

I love lots of kids books, one of the great thing about my home is being able to buy them without judgement. I'll happily read any Judy Blume, or The Little White Horse, or the E Nesbit books or the Vampire Academy series Blush

Books are for everyone people should read what they like without fretting about whether it's technically a children book or whether the prose is up to scratch.

TheUndeadLovelinessOfDemons · 17/10/2021 15:45

*She’s even more annoyed that i didnt let her audition for the films

Even though SHE WASNT EVEN BORN THEN….apparently the appalling timing is my fault*

Of course it is! Grin

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Children's books Films
DaisyDozyDee · 17/10/2021 15:46

I think the timing of publication relative to the rise of the internet played a role. It was one of the first books where large numbers of readers could share their experience of the books in that way.

I think now the cult status of it makes it more appealing to each new generation of readers. In York, there are 4 or 5 shops on one street dedicated to Harry Potter merchandise. There’s never been another children’s book promoted on that kind of scale.

The books are enjoyable (although I think some of the later ones could have benefited from tighter editing), but they aren’t necessarily better than a lot of other children’s books written (then or since) - certainly not as much better as the huge gap in popularity and profits would suggest.

merryhouse · 17/10/2021 15:47

I'm still snorting over the poster who thinks Malory Towers is so much better written than HP. (I adored MT, btw - used to play it when I was 6 - but I've read it and StC as an adult, and I Have Views.)

Incidentally, the Worst Witch books are by no means the only prior magical school series. Even Bunty had one. And before schools became the normal way of education you had stories about children being apprenticed to magic practitioners. HP is just another in a wide-ranging genre, within which WW intersects with Mrs Pepperpot and Pippi Longstocking while Earthsea intersects with HDM and Noughts and Crosses.

Pythonista · 17/10/2021 15:49

Read what you want, but I don't get why people are so proud of being adult fans. I am members of several fandoms but I would feel weird about joining one involving a children's franchise

Pumperthepumper · 17/10/2021 15:51

@Pythonista

Read what you want, but I don't get why people are so proud of being adult fans. I am members of several fandoms but I would feel weird about joining one involving a children's franchise
Really, even one you grew up with? You don’t have a fondness for the stuff you enjoyed when you were little?
Pythonista · 17/10/2021 15:54

Maybe it's because I'm clearly older than most of you. I didn't grow up with it. I get that if you grew up with it or your children were into it, there is a certain amount of nostalgia. But without that, I think it's pretty sad.

NeonTetras · 17/10/2021 15:56

I didn't grow up with it.

So you're younger than most of us then?

Pythonista · 17/10/2021 15:57

What are you talking about.

It didn't come out until I was an adult. Therefore I didn't grow up with it.

NeonTetras · 17/10/2021 15:58

Also older doesn't mean wiser, some of your posts show you are very narrow-minded and immature. Even at my age (46) I am surprised at the lack of any veracity or argument that HP haters have.

DaisyDozyDee · 17/10/2021 15:58

@merryhouse

I'm still snorting over the poster who thinks Malory Towers is so much better written than HP. (I adored MT, btw - used to play it when I was 6 - but I've read it and StC as an adult, and I Have Views.)

Incidentally, the Worst Witch books are by no means the only prior magical school series. Even Bunty had one. And before schools became the normal way of education you had stories about children being apprenticed to magic practitioners. HP is just another in a wide-ranging genre, within which WW intersects with Mrs Pepperpot and Pippi Longstocking while Earthsea intersects with HDM and Noughts and Crosses.

I reread a Malory Towers book recently and I was shocked at quite how bad it was and more so by how consistently mean all the characters are. They’re all so deeply unpleasant.
Pythonista · 17/10/2021 16:01

@NeonTetras

Also older doesn't mean wiser, some of your posts show you are very narrow-minded and immature. Even at my age (46) I am surprised at the lack of any veracity or argument that HP haters have.
Given I was nearly 30 when the first book was released, then no, I'm not going to start reading it at that age.

And if you have to resort to personal attacks, I'm really not fussed about your opinion.

Taytocrisps · 17/10/2021 16:02

@Pythonista

Maybe it's because I'm clearly older than most of you. I didn't grow up with it. I get that if you grew up with it or your children were into it, there is a certain amount of nostalgia. But without that, I think it's pretty sad.
I didn't grow up with the Harry Potter books either but I thoroughly enjoyed them as an adult. I think it's sad that you missed out on that experience. Being forced to watch the films for work isn't the same thing at all.
ThePoisonousMushroom · 17/10/2021 16:02

@Pythonista

I think it's just a little sad that grown adults adore children's books, that's all.
Does that still stand if we ‘adore’ them because we read them as kids? I also ‘adore’ loads of other books I read as a child/teen. The Railway Children, Little Women etc. Is that sad too?
Pythonista · 17/10/2021 16:03

I refer you to my previous comment:

Maybe it's because I'm clearly older than most of you. I didn't grow up with it. I get that if you grew up with it or your children were into it, there is a certain amount of nostalgia. But without that, I think it's pretty sad.

ThePoisonousMushroom · 17/10/2021 16:03

And I still adore the Malory Towers books, even though reading them now I realise they weren’t great!

HowardNoir · 17/10/2021 16:03

@NeonTetras Gaslight, Girlboss, Gatekeep xo

ThePoisonousMushroom · 17/10/2021 16:04

Having said that, there are loads of books I read to my toddler that I love, that I never read as a child.

PartyStory · 17/10/2021 16:05

If you like a book, read it. If you don’t like it, don’t read it.

Regarding the adult fans however, consider that many of the ones heavily into the fandom will likely read a lot of fanfiction which is not child oriented. There used to be whole websites devoted to adult themed Harry Potter fanfiction.

senua · 17/10/2021 16:05

I haven't RTFT so sorry if I'm repeating.
The books sold well because they appealed to boys. She purposely chose the pen-name "J K Rowling" because she knew that boys wouldn't read books written by a "Joanne". whereas girls would read books written by anyone.
The popularity grew through word of mouth, from child to child, and adults latched on to it - they were ecstatic that boys were actually reading books for once! She also positioned herself as 'wholesome', like M&S or the National Trust. The books were a bit middle-class and aspirational. In the early days she made a point of not tying in to plastic tat (that didn't last!)
JRK also cleverly let everyone know that there was a whole series in her head, that it was all plotted out in advance so of course everyone was agog every year for the next instalment. Dickens, in his day, did the similar story-by-instalments trick.

Pumperthepumper · 17/10/2021 16:07

@NeonTetras

Also older doesn't mean wiser, some of your posts show you are very narrow-minded and immature. Even at my age (46) I am surprised at the lack of any veracity or argument that HP haters have.
I think there’s a certain type of person who just enjoys sneering at popular things though, like ‘I’ve never even HEARD of a Kardashian, I’m so above all that’.
RampantIvy · 17/10/2021 16:07

@Pythonista are you always this negative, dismissive and supercilious about anything that is incredibly popular? Do you look down your nose at other populist music/books/films?

I appreciate that it might not appeal to you, but to dismiss it as "shit" and "only for kids" just makes you sound rather snobby and unpleasant. I dislike films with violence, and hated Pulp Fiction, but I don't dismiss it as shit. It just isn't my kind of thing.

I read my first Harry Potter book in 2001 sitting next to a cot when in hospital for several weeks while my 6 month old baby was very ill. It got me through that time, and I avidly read all the subsequent books and enjoyed every one.

I also enjoyed reading His Dark Materials, then when DD was old enough reading Enid Blyton, the Narnia books, Lemony Snicket, plus loads of other books to her. I got as much out of them when reading to her as I did when I first read them many years previously.

I even enjoyed re-reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books, which I first read as a child, after a big discussion on mumsnet.

Pythonista · 17/10/2021 16:08

I'm sorry if not watching reality shit makes me a bad person...

ThePoisonousMushroom · 17/10/2021 16:09

It’s absolutely fine if people hate the books, but I think it’s weird that someone has such an opinion on them when they’ve not even read them! That’s pretty sad, I think.

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