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AIBU?

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Original poster

to not understand why adults find harry potter so good?

162 replies

Mindexplode · 17/08/2015 11:28

I never really got into harry potter but people told me I was missing out so I have watched all 7 films in the name of research

I still can't understand why it made it so big when there are better fantasy films and books aimed at the children and teenager market?

I certainly don't understand the attraction to adults, I found them very dull and formulaic

if you are a fan - what is it I'm not getting? if you compare them to narnia, or his dark materials, or hitchhikers guide or Asimov then there is no comparison. I much prefer Pratchett or Iain m banks or gainman

am I the wrong age - I was about 18 when the first book came out

OP posts:
SnapesCapes · 17/08/2015 11:32

Did you read the books before watching the films? The films are great in their own right, the books are far, far better.

Horses for courses though; I like the Narnia books, and TP is brilliant, DS1 (9) can't get along with TP at all.

Dfg15 · 17/08/2015 11:32

Possibly because everyone has different tastes in everything. It's not compulsory to like things just because others do

Lj8893 · 17/08/2015 11:33

I bloody love HP, but agree the books are so much better and I probably wouldn't think as much of the films if I hadn't read the books first.

3littlefrogs · 17/08/2015 11:34

They made my DC sit down and read quietly for hours. They all read the books at about the right ages. The books are better than the films, but the films are very entertaining IMO.

BerylStreep · 17/08/2015 11:34

I agree that the books are much better. I loved all the books.

Original poster
Mindexplode · 17/08/2015 11:35

dfg15 try telling that to the people I meet in RL who seem astonished that I don't rate HP and I'm depriving my dc by not reading it to them Shock.

OP posts:
cardibach · 17/08/2015 11:35

I have a great affection for HP for 2 reasons. First, I read the early books aloud to DD then read and discussed the later ones as she got old enough. We watched the films together, and the whole saga is part of our shared history. Secondly, I'm an English teacher and to see children - particularly boys - so excited about the publication of a book that they would buy it in the first da, read it immediately and then discuss it unprompted was wonderful. Are there better examples of young persons literature? Of course. Are there better fantasy novels? Obviously. HP holds a particular place in the minds of many though because it caught the imagination. Hard to say why, but I don't really care!
It is a bit more clever than you are giving credit for, though. And the books are (as always) better than the films.

Gatehouse77 · 17/08/2015 11:35

The books are better! And, like most things in life, horses for courses.

Most people I know love Les Miserables - I have seen the play and film and still don't get it. Fell asleep during both...

Methe · 17/08/2015 11:36

If you've only watched the films and not read the books then yanbu. The films are alright but the books are fantastic. I've got the audio books in my car and they've kept is occupied during 3k holiday drives this year and 2 hrs a day commute to work. They're bloody brilliant!

FungusTheBogeymam · 17/08/2015 11:38

Does it matter what other people enjoy reading/watching? Read what you like, let other people read what they like, and leave your judgy pants in the wardrobe.

Rhine · 17/08/2015 11:38

The books are brilliantly well written IMO. The films were never as good, but they were never going to be because they couldn't fit everything from the books into them. Some of the casitng was off as well, they either got it brilliantly spot on with the likes of Julie Walters as Mrs Weesley and Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid or really screwed up. Kenneth Brannagh as Gieldroy Lockhart? Shouldn't been Hugh Grant or Rupert Everett. Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, should have been Johnny Depp.

TurnOffTheTv · 17/08/2015 11:38

For me it was sharing it with my children through my 20's and 30's. I'd never really read anything like it before, and the excitement of a new book or film release was just fab.

Original poster
Mindexplode · 17/08/2015 11:38

anything that gets children reading is good and if my dc want to read them then that's OK, I'm just not planning on ever visiting harry potter world at Watford

OP posts:
Original poster
Mindexplode · 17/08/2015 11:38

anything that gets children reading is good and if my dc want to read them then that's OK, I'm just not planning on ever visiting harry potter world at Watford

OP posts:
3littlefrogs · 17/08/2015 11:40

I agree about Les Mis. Completely over rated IMO.

Pastamancer · 17/08/2015 11:40

As always the books are much better than the films. I am not a fan of fantasy but enjoy HP. Narnia, LOTR, Hitchhikers are all extremely boring to me and yet I read all the HP books in one sitting.

Methe · 17/08/2015 11:41

Johnny Depp is AmericAn isn't he? I thought jKr dictated that it was to be only English actors.. Or British rather.

overthemill · 17/08/2015 11:42

I agree it's for children. Not very advanced readers at that. However, anything that gets reluctant readers to read be they children or adults is fine by me. But I do find the British obsession with Harry Potter and jk Rowling slightly odd. Well done to her for writing a book which made her fortune but we do have other brilliant writers!

FuzzyWizard · 17/08/2015 11:42

The books are definitely better. Love them! It's not compulsory to like them. I am however a bit Hmm at people who haven't read them discouraging children from reading them based on having watched the movies or better still having watched trailers for the films.

These threads always remind me of this video though. It's hilarious, brilliant and sums up perfectly how I feel about many books. Warning- very sweary! m.youtube.com/watch?v=1CLCOvZOh1o

Greythorne · 17/08/2015 11:42

They are children's books.

I love children's books from when I was a child. I have in my time reread Chalet School books and love reading classics from my own childhood to my DC, including The Phoenix and The Carpet, Ballet Shoes.

But I was an adult when HP was first published. I read the first one when it was hailed as a publishing phenomenon to see what the fuss was about and I just did not get it. Felt like a cross between Mallory Towers and The Worst Witch. Totally derivative, plot predictable and the writing very basic.

Fine by me. It's a kids book. I will go back to Scott Fitzgerarld and Rose Tremain and Jane Austen and DH Lawrence.

Sparklingbrook · 17/08/2015 11:42

I have never read a HP book or seen any of the films. Blush Doesn't seem like my kind of thing.

BerylStreep · 17/08/2015 11:42

YY to the audio books. DS, 8, is currently listening to them all on audio, whilst DD, 10 is reading them.

We enjoy discussing the parallels with real life - for example how Voldemort and his preoccupation of pure bloods is what happened in Nazi Germany.

I loved Harry Potter World. We're planning to go back.

Rhine · 17/08/2015 11:45

She did Methe, however Johnny Depp is one of very few Americans who can do a convincing British accent. When I read the books before the films came out I always envisioned Siruius as looking like Johnny Depp.

Emma Watson is another one. Terrible actress and looks nothing like Hermione's description, who is supposed to be quite plain and have very frizzy/bushy hair!

jellypi3 · 17/08/2015 11:46

Because everyone had their own personal thoughts and feelings? Just because YOU don't like something doesn't mean everyone else's opinion is wrong.

I grew up reading HP and watching the films (the first book came out when I was seven and I read them ever since). I still find them very enjoyable and enthralling books (even though I've read them all circa 6 or 7 times) but that doesn't mean to say everyone has the same feeling.

Catswiththumbs · 17/08/2015 11:46

Probably the adults you are talking about grew up with Harry Potter like me

I don't think they are dull or formulaic in the slightest.
They inspired to me to keep reading through my teen years and I still read for pleasure now. Surely that's a positive in anyone's eyes. The films are good, but not the same as the books, very enjoyable though.

The story's aren't just about the magic, the other themes are strong too. You can understand as much as you want into the story, which is what makes them such a success. I have reread dozens of times and always come across something different. That is the proof of a good story.

Those other books you mentioned, sound like a list you think you ought to like. Things don't have to be complicated or "the classics" to be enjoyed.
It's like when kids behave "very grown up" it makes them sound immature. Taste, and admitting to like what you like (even if it is tacky or young or whatever) is personal and the greatest indicator of maturity IME. stops reading into the post too much