BBC article about Harry Potter fans

[Hedgehogsaremything]

Harry Potter: Is Miriam Margolyes right that adult fans should 'grow up'? www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68552815

A series of books that apparently wrote itself. #WhereIsJo

Same author:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67484645

She did get told off for using the "wrong" pronoun at the start of the article.

The author is an idiot.

She's right. I have noticed that there is often an immaturity about die hard HP fans. It's one thing to have enjoyed a work of literature as a child and continue to enjoy it as an adult but for some HP fans it seems to act as a life guide.

Can't see that it's a big problem. Before Harry Potter there were (and still are) plenty of adults who regarded Winnie the Pooh as the fount of all wisdom and relaxed by writing Chalet School fan fiction. It's perfectly possible to combine HP fandom with a normal functional adult life.

(My FB news feed may or may not be full of Calvin and Hobbes.)

Harry Potter fans should grow up but it's fine for her to copy the calendar girls? Bit hypocritical of her.
Just to make clear, I have absolutely no problem with her doing the photos (except that it's a bit boring these days, I mean who hasn't done a saucy calendar by now?) it's the arrogance of her assumption that she gets to decide what is age appropriate and who needs to grow up.

Why is liking HP any different to the myriad of other things out there (notwithstanding how anyone feels about JK)? Friends, star wars, star trek, lilo and stitch, Winnie the Pooh, black cats, burd watching, reading a book etc etc.?

I think the thing that's irritating for Miriam Margolyes is that she's done lots of interesting stuff over many years but the thing that most people know her for is quite a small part in HP. I can imagine that would be annoying!

As someone who doesn’t seem to realise she gets rolled out to be controversial and laughed at (rather than with) I can’t give any credence to her opinions.

Her faux innocence/ignorance is just insulting and, IMO, makes her look ridiculous.

She's totally right.

The adult fans who still identify themselves by their houses, or go to the Harry Potter world with the capes and wands. It's bizarre.

I wonderif Daniel Radcliffe and the other two will feel the need to apologise for her and suggest she goes educate herself.

Oh pish. I'm perfectly well grown up. I also have Harry Potter bedsheets.

Given the vast sums of money and investment that HP generated for the UK film industry (and will probably do so again when the new HBO TV series goes into production), the industry that MM is a part of, it seems very strange to say that people should get over it. If it was "just for kids" HBO wouldn't be giving it a higher production budget than House of the Dragon.

Well, I will never not roll my eyes when people talk about which Hogwarts house they are in. And yes I think many adults who are part of 'fandoms' (which is different to liking something) are not well adjusted.

But I grew up with the Harry Potter series, still love reading them to my kids and by myself, I do still get a lot out of them.

That feels like the quintessence of a non-FWR, non-Dworkin way to think about other women. ETA: I can't think of the male equivalent because it's not quite Meldrew or is it?

Feminism is a political practice of fighting male supremacy on behalf of women as a class, including all the women you don't like, including all the women you don't want to be around, including all the women who use to be your best friends whom you don't want anything to do with any more. It doesn't matter who the individual women are.

I admire MM's ability to stir headlines in her 80s. It keeps her in the public eye, and it seems there's a preference for women at the ends of the Mary Berry—Catherine Tate's Grandma. (I can't think of a decent spectrum. I was thinking about the fabulous Angela Rippon at one end whom I still can't quite grasp can perform a high kick and split.)

I think people who go on about farting, ‘creaming their knickers’, and giving tramps handjobs, all in order to shock need to grow up, too.

Wearing a Gryffindor scarf seems kind of harmless in comparison.

If these are people who have grown up with a social community then it's not so odd. It's about being part of that community and relating to each other by internal language. It becomes not about Harry Potter but about real world relationships which are closed to outsiders. It's about a sense of belonging. Which I think, to a point, is fine really given we live in an era where local communities have broken down. As long as it isn't to the total exclusion to the rest of the world and it's something you can put aside when appropriate to do so.

It is no different to any other fandom really. Sci-fi and fantasy are full of them. And many adults indulge in it and you would never know as the rest of the time they do function as fully grown adults with professional jobs (going to lots of conventions and buying all the crap is not a cheap past time so they often need half decent jobs to do it!)

I think it shows an incredible narrow mindedness on the part of Miriam. But then she is like this on a number of issues. If she doesn't agree / like she decides it rather than trying to understand it. She's really nasty with her prejudices too.

I don't like her manner at all.

I mean adult Harry Potter people are a bit odd, but essentially harmless.

You aspire to be close minded, controversial and rather prejudiced to maintain your public profile and career by dumping on others?

Hmm.

If you want to.

Personally I don't think it's a pleasant trait in either men or women. It's just a narcissistic attempt to stay relevant.

While I'm not a Harry Potter fan myself I go to a lot of comic cons and am part of that community so come across a lot of people in fandoms generally.
I think what people need to realise is that a lot of people who are in these fandoms are neurodiverse. I am autistic as is my husband. We are both functioning adults who have jobs and own our own house. However every few months we will dress up and go to a comic con or similar. We both struggle socially and before both being diagnosed as adults just thought we were weird. But when going to comic cons we don't feel weird anymore. We have friends who are like us.
So while I don't mind that people might roll their eyes at us dressing up (pretty used to it these days) I think I am perfectly well adjusted. I just like different things to some other people. I can't understand how anyone would find watching football interesting. But I guess they enjoy putting on a team shirt and watching a match with their friends. And I enjoy putting on a costume and taking photos and seeing my friends.

Given JKs well documented GC views and MM being an avowed lesbian who may have some sympathy to the teams cause (I admit I don't know MMs views on this topic....bit of conjecture) then won't MM want to dis HP a bit?

Does she mention fucking in the article as well?
She tends to think swearing and talking about lesbian sex makes her funny.

It's no different from an adult being obsessed with anything else. You wouldn't see a newspaper article saying that obsessive Manchester United fans should 'grow up'.

Not a HP fan personally, but I'm too old for it to have been part of my childhood - there are plenty of books/films/TV that were part of my childhood that I still enjoy and if there were communities attached to them, I would join in.

@Flocke that is interesting. I am neuro typical and have always struggled to understand "fandoms" as I tend to like things in the moment and then move on. I read the Harry Potter books when they first came out in my early 20s, I found them mildly interesting - mainly for the use of existing myth and fairy story tropes, I also enjoyed the Latin puns, but I don't want or need to know everything about the "universe" of a book or a TV series as it quickly bores me.

I hate the trend for long TV series and spin off as I cannot be bothered to commit to something for years, I want new stories.

Quite impressive to write a long article about a book series without mentioning the author. And I see the BBC's usual stellar standards - it's TVNZ, not TZNZ.

I also don't see any difference between adult fans of HP and adult fans of sports teams.

Yeah, I don't really understand sports fandom either. I enjoy an interesting or exciting match or competition but can't really get on board with the obsession with one particular team.