To not understand the appeal of Harry Potter...?!

[Scaramoose]

This is lighthearted btw...

I am off to Florida with DH and DS (6) in a few weeks and we have watched the first Harry Potter film and also been looking at the Harry Potter stuff at Universal.

The film bored me to absolute tears. The characters seemed two dimensional and wooden, the story dragged and the names for things, eg Muggles, just irritated. I shared this view with my sister who couldn't believe I didn't like it as she thinks it is 'absolutely brilliant' and 'incredibly clever.'

DS will love it, as he did love most of the film (I say 'most' as it's so long) and I wouldn't want him to know what I really think but I really, honesty, don't get it! The pretend platform at Kings Cross and the queue outside the HP shop in York also flummoxed me as it's obviously such a big deal for so many people! Im amazed something that seems so dull has done so incredibly well (and from what I have heard about JK Rowling she is very level headed about it, which is lovely.)

Am I the only one...?!!

I know they appealed to children who didn't normally read

And 21 year olds who went through a book a week and was reading at an adult level at 7....

I also have an English Literature degree...I studied Harry Potter as part of this.
They absolutely stand up to literary scrutiny. The plots are superb and actually quite complex.
Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean they didn’t have great storylines. Probably why they are so loved and adored, and have been studied at degree level by so many.

'kin ell really Mary? I am astounded. Ah well , degree courses aren't what they were are they?

Books and films have given many enjoyment and encouraged reading, provided employment for many UK actors and film technicians, made JK Rowling rich (good for her!), helped with tourism and paid a lot of tax to help the UK economy.

That's because films 1+2 are for 10-12 year olds.

I still consider Harry Potter to just be one extra long Mary Sue tbh.

I lost interest around Book 5 and film 4. There were too many holes, like why couldn’t they use the Time Turner to prevent Voldemort’s birth? Why was such powerful magic used just to help Hermione get more OWLS?! And James Potter was a revolting bully to Snape - why would Lily like him? Also Alan Rickman was way too old (much as I loved him as an actor) - wasn’t Snape the same age as Harry’s parents?
Happy to be enlightened!

You won't get the love of it from the films alone. It's all about the books.

I've read one Harry Potter, the first, and remember being vaguely disappointed is it dawned on me that it was a children's book. (I had know that in advance, but it wasn't until he was on the train going to school and vast number of sweets were being handed around that a light-bulb went on, and I realised that the things that might excite the target audience wouldn't necessarily work for me.)

OP is (like me) unreasonable for ever expecting to enjoy a (film of) a children's book.

We live in strange times, where some adults admit to enjoying Harry Potter and Disney theme parks without a trace of self-consciousness.

Firesuit
Why should we be self-conscious..?

I think this whole thread summarises why they're so popular.

We're so worried about kids books being educational, having good role models, being inclusive, etc etc etc. And adult books! We talk about their literary value, literary prize winners, themes, character development.

HP books are just unabashedly fun. A magical world that a downtrodden boy is thrust into and belongs! Castles, magic, dragons, Quidditch! It's reading for the sake of being carried away on an adventure, rather than analysing. Not that there's anything wrong with intellectual, critical reading - but it's nice to enjoy a break

Why in the world would I be self-conscious. Should I suddenly lose my sense of fun and imagination when I hit a certain age?

We live in strange times, where some adults admit to enjoying Harry Potter and Disney theme parks without a trace of self-consciousness.

Why should they be self-conscious? We live in a time where people are encouraged to be individuals. If you want to like Harry Potter and Disney you do your thing.

I've also stayed in Disney World 8 times, including for my honeymoon, and only once with children. It lets me suspend belief and escape the bullshit real world that we live in. Which is also incidentally what Harry Potter does for many. Walt built the parks for families to enjoy together after finding it sad that his daughters could go on fairground rides and enjoy themselves but adults couldn't.

Unihorn - I’ve done WDW 13 times now, as a child, a teen and an adult (including on Honeymoon too with ex-DH).
I believe it’s the number 1 Honeymoon Destination so obviously has a huge and varied wide appeal to all sorts of people.
Not sure why I’d feel ‘self conscious’ what a bizarre thing to say.

I also have an English Lit Degree, I am 37. The whole point of a literature degree is that one day you could be reading Chaucer, the next american turn of the centuary and literature from modern culture and learning to understand and enjoy them all. I love any and all styles of writing and books. I quite like reading prose or epic poems but for a break its nice to reread Harry Potter and just enjoy reading for the sake of it. If you didn't learn to enjoy all styles of literature then don't blame your degree. Its ok to not like the books or films, but to say its because you have a literature degree and the rest of us are plebs who couldn't possibly read anything else is false.

I have 2 daughters, 1 who struggles to read but tries very hard and another for who reading is as easy(and important) as breathing, both love HP and its lovely to see them both have something in common when they are so different.

Why should we be self-conscious..?

I'm not saying you should, just observing that there was a time when far more people would have been. (If you really can't imagine why, then just imagine something a little more unusual: there's no reason you shouldn't play with a doll in public in the same way a five-year-old girl might, assuming for some reason you enjoy that, but adults observing you are going to think you a bit odd, and you, knowing that, you might feel compelled to play only in private.)

(That comparison isn't meant to be an insult, playing with dolls would obviously be a lot more unusual the enjoying Harry Potter. I have watched most of the movies myself, when they were on TV, with misplaced optimism that I might enjoy them.)

" The whole point of a literature degree is that one day you could be reading Chaucer, the next american turn of the centuary and literature from modern culture and learning to understand and enjoy them all. "

I wouldn't say that 'learning to understand and enjoy' random low quality texts was the "whole point" of a literature degree tbh.

Firesuit But many adults were children when Harry Potter was unfolding. It might have been targeted at children initially (the later books were not targeted exclusively at children), but a lot of the adults who enjoy it now were children themselves when it was at its peak in popularity.

Read the books. In my controversial opinion, the books got worse and the films got better. I felt that the later books needed a firmer editorial hand.

What do we know about Luna Lovegood? nothing.
What do we know about the Weasleys? they have red hair.

Maybe if you read all 7 books, you might find out some more?

OP is (like me) unreasonable for ever expecting to enjoy a (film of) a children's book.

Really? I love The Neverending Story film

" Maybe if you read all 7 books, you might find out some more? "

life is too short tbh. I stopped reading them when my children BEGGED me to stop.

Besides you shouldn't have to plough through 7 thick volumes for a bit of believable characterisation.

But of course you wouldn't know anything about the characterterisation of Luna Lovegood if you only read the first 2 books - she isn't even in those ones!

Gosh the snobbery of looking down your nose at adults who enjoy Disney and Harry Potter makes me giggle. Get some bloody magic in your lives and lighten up!