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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:
Pythonista · 17/10/2021 16:33

Rather be weird that sad Grin

ThePoisonousMushroom · 17/10/2021 16:33

Like I said, each to their own!

ClumpingBambooIsALie · 17/10/2021 16:34

Don't most of us grow out of calling people "sad" for liking things we don't by about, oh, seventeen or so?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Children's books Films
Pythonista · 17/10/2021 16:34

@ClumpingBambooIsALie

Don't most of us grow out of calling people "sad" for liking things we don't by about, oh, seventeen or so?
Indeed. As opposed to 'really fucking weird' apparently Grin
Taytocrisps · 17/10/2021 16:35

It just shows a lack of imagination.

Because you didn't take to the books, you can't possibly imagine why other people like them.

Pythonista · 17/10/2021 16:35

And you can't imagine why other people might think it's shit.

Notonthestairs · 17/10/2021 16:38

You read one chapter. I'm not sure you are the most informed critic!

RampantIvy · 17/10/2021 16:39

What books and films do you like @Pythonista?

Pythonista · 17/10/2021 16:41

@RampantIvy

What books and films do you like *@Pythonista*?
Ah yes. So I list stuff I like and everyone will be 'that's shit'. And if it's actual literature, it's 'oh you are lying'

Nice try.

Pumperthepumper · 17/10/2021 16:41

@Pythonista

You should engage more with popular culture, it’s bizarre you didn’t know about it until season five

I didn't say that.

I was aware of it before that but by the time I decided to find out if I liked it, season 5 was out on DVD.

I then caught up with it by halfway through season 6.

So you waited five years to try something you thought you’d enjoy?

That’s again, completely bizarre. Why on earth would you resist for that long?

ClumpingBambooIsALie · 17/10/2021 16:42

Well, yes. "Sad" was teen/tween slang used mainly the generation just above mine, but hung on into my generation and has presumably been replaced by some other word in later generations. It's meant to imply that the speaker is far more cool and/or mature than whoever they're talking about, which is in itself an immature attitude. Adults don't generally refer to people as "sad"; it reflects an adolescent attitude to the world. "Really fucking weird", on the other hand, is a pretty widely-applicable description, though one I'd probably reserve for things like not being able to get off unless you're dressed up as a sexy horse.

I'm not an adult Harry Potter fan, just someone who enjoyed it as a kid and thought this would be an interesting conversation. I do think that being a really avid Harry Potter enthusiast as an adult is a bit unusual, but what harm does it do?

Hemingwayscats · 17/10/2021 16:43

Easy to read, not difficult to follow, kids (and some adults) like magic so popular genre and the films helped a lot.

Pythonista · 17/10/2021 16:44

Because it wasn't the thing uppermost in my mind for all that time. I don't have to justify my choices and I don't get why people are being so defensive. You like HP? Crack on. But the faux shock that others don't is hilarious

Pythonista · 17/10/2021 16:46

@ClumpingBambooIsALie

Well, yes. "Sad" was teen/tween slang used mainly the generation just above mine, but hung on into my generation and has presumably been replaced by some other word in later generations. It's meant to imply that the speaker is far more cool and/or mature than whoever they're talking about, which is in itself an immature attitude. Adults don't generally refer to people as "sad"; it reflects an adolescent attitude to the world. "Really fucking weird", on the other hand, is a pretty widely-applicable description, though one I'd probably reserve for things like not being able to get off unless you're dressed up as a sexy horse.

I'm not an adult Harry Potter fan, just someone who enjoyed it as a kid and thought this would be an interesting conversation. I do think that being a really avid Harry Potter enthusiast as an adult is a bit unusual, but what harm does it do?

That's a very long post about the use of one word Grin

Okay - fucking sad - better?

JaninaDuszejko · 17/10/2021 16:49

I was an adult when they came out but didn't yet have children. I was about 30 when I read them, the hype was getting bigger and the film rights to the first four films had just been sold. I thought the first two were competent children's books with excellent world building and engaging characters but POA blew me away, I don't remember reading any children's series as a child that had the same level of complexity in the story arc across the series. The other books were bought on publication day and read very quickly and then key passages reread and reread.

Maybe it is a kind of nostalgia, that desire to lose yourself in the world of a book like you do as a child. That is how we hook children into reading, with great stories. But adult readers are capable of reading comfort novels whether that's children's novels, chick lit, comic novels or crime fiction (the evidence is clear in the What We're Reading boards) as well literary fiction. The distinction is a modern one anyway (does Dickens write page turners, great works of literature or both?).

There are different skills in great writing: beautiful prose, believable characters, exciting plot and world building. JK Rowling may not write the beautiful prose that is fashionable for literary fiction but her world building is fabulous. There are writers for whom the opposite is true but I don't think they are better writers.

wombatspoopcubes · 17/10/2021 16:55

The books were low key before the movie.

No they weren't. They were huuuuge before the movie. I was already an adult when they came out and by the third book a lot of adults in my country (not UK) were reading them. Also, less merchandise and marketing here at the beginning. I think it's because you really get swept into the story. The storytelling is magnificent.

I don't like the movies very much. The acting is below par by some actors.

AleynEivlys · 17/10/2021 17:02

My late grandfather read the Harry Potter books as they came out, the last one being published just as he turned 90. He was born in 1917, grew up with classics, and absolutely loved Harry Potter. He was a retired high court judge and a very sensible, intelligent man, yet he gave no thought to the fact that he was reading a children's series, because he thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.

There was nothing 'sad' about him. What is sad, however, is that he died before the conclusion of the films because he bloody loved those too.

An aged body isn't always congruous with an aged mind. And good thing too, because my grandfather was cool as fuck.

RampantIvy · 17/10/2021 17:03

Ah yes. So I list stuff I like and everyone will be 'that's shit'.

Grin
ThePoisonousMushroom · 17/10/2021 17:08

Indeed. As opposed to 'really fucking weird' apparently grin

As we’ve already established, I’m a lot younger than you (I was a child when I read Harry Potter), so I can get away with juvenile insults Grin

Pumperthepumper · 17/10/2021 17:09

@Pythonista

Because it wasn't the thing uppermost in my mind for all that time. I don't have to justify my choices and I don't get why people are being so defensive. You like HP? Crack on. But the faux shock that others don't is hilarious
It’s not the shock you don’t like Harry Potter - I’m not a massive fan either. It’s the sneering at others who do, then this oddness you have of resisting things you like the look of. It’s a weird sort of penance.
callingon · 17/10/2021 17:28

I downloaded them all on audiobook for nostalgia reasons a couple of years ago - listened to them all and was drawn in again like I was 12. As an adult I recognised that the plotting is fantastic across the series and doesn’t feel contrived. Things like the Mrs Figg reveal and characters like Aragog who crop up with really crucial plot functions (aka the felix felices) and Rita Skeeter (the interveiw, the Dumbledore biography) demonstrate some kind of Master criminal Level of plotting. For me that’s why the 6th and 7th are my least favourite, because quite a lot of stuff just ‘happens’ without the same standard of careful ground work.

Order of the Phoenix is my fave because of the world building: I would also happily read a book entirely about them cleaning the house at Grimauld Place.

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 17/10/2021 17:38

@CareerConcerns1999

Because they got picked up and turned into a movie. The books were low key before the movie. Movie one dropped and boom suddenly everyone wanted to read the books.

There was a long long gap between book 4 and 5, and then subsequent ones. This also creates a hype.

I don't think this is true. I was in my early 20s when they first came out, and by the second book everyone was reading them. On the train, on the bus, on the tube, in the office...I remember being really baffled by the number of adults suddenly reading a kids' books.
youvegottenminuteslynn · 17/10/2021 17:39

@Pythonista

I think it's just a little sad that grown adults adore children's books, that's all.
I can't imagine finding it sad that someone enjoys something completely harmless that brings them joy.

You didn't read the books and didn't watch the films but have a surprisingly strong opinion on other people enjoying doing so.

You'd definitely be sorted straight into Slytherin with that attitude Grin

RampantIvy · 17/10/2021 17:44

It’s the sneering at others who do,

This ^^ in a nutshell.
I don't sneer at people who like watching rugby or who like reading Terry Pratchett (DH does both Grin). Neither of them are to my taste, that's all.

youvegottenminuteslynn · 17/10/2021 17:45

"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?"

Actually no. I resisted watching GoT for years but got into it, read the books etc, and that was fairly popular.

You resisted it... why actively resists it? Just because it was popular? Such a strange way to approach things.