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

I agree with alot of this.

I like HP alot - it's about escapism for me. I love film and literature and I love the subtexts of HP... about loyalty and integrity and living your life with honour.

I do not 'get' football. or any sports (except for Three day eventing and Dressage) and I find the concept of grown adult humans dressing in football colours and screaming / crying/getting drunk- identifying hard with a team to be totally alien to me. But I see that this is quite common and people all over the world want to identify with a community that speaks to them and that has shared values. That's normal and healthy.

It's no different to loving HP or going to comic con or joining a knitting circle or running group.

Miriam Margolyes is, IMO, a rather unpleasant person who says unpleasant things. This is apparently her USP and she and some people think it's funny. But given a good portion of her current fame has come from appearing in HP films....being bitchy about the very people who enjoy it seems a bit - well- pathetic.

This is what me and my husband say when people say we're weird.
People "dress up" in their football team "houses" (shirt, scarf, hat etc). They only talk to people in "their houses" on match days. And they spend the whole time saying how well "we" did when talking about their team. When they weren't involved in the match at all. They just watched it on the pub TV.
But if a group of Harry Potter fans dressed up in their "houses" and went to the pub they'd be laughed at.

I know a lot of people still into say wars as adults in their 40s or 50s though they are not obsesssive. It was a seminal part of a lot of my generation's upbringing.

I think there is an element of intellectual snobbery about this. The Cambridge educated MM sneering at some of the activity that may be engaged in by people not of her circle.

Would MM have a pop at people going to.George Eliot foundation meet ups or other forms of appreciation of classic authors.

I find her professional contrairian enfant terrible shtick very wearying

I also note that despite her “ooooh im
so brave telling it like it is I give no fucks me” persona she has splinters in her arse when it comes to JKR

fandoms are fun (generally) alright some might take it a bit far but do what? They’re not hurting anyone if they have HP weddings are they. Frankly given how shit everything is, people should take joy where they can.

Maybe there is a bit of jealously here. jK is a billionaire through Harry Potter but from a purist sense it isn't classic literature. We may have snide comments amongst those whose academic credentials night have suggested they could have been authors themselves.

The privately educated MM who read English at Cambridge may feel that JK isn't a literary colossus and wants to signal to the masses we shouldn't regard her as such.

I agree with MM.

For lots of HP fans their admiration and fondness of the books (and films) has gone way beyond the bounds of normality. I also have books that I loved, still love, and that made a huge impression on me. But as I've aged, they have taken their proper place in my life & my affections: they don't override other aspects of my life. And that seems to me to be what lots if these internet-age fans have done - allowed these books to be overly important in their lives to the point of ridiculousness.

So yes - grow up.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things
Very occasionally the Bible has some useful advice 🤣. I think MM may have a point here (regardless of her contrarian approach to just about everything).

She could say the same about grown adults holidaying in Disneyland. Or dressing up as superheroes. Or devoted music fans still going to see their favourite band from their teenage days (me, Suede). Even BlackAdder fans quoting the same lines they remember from school. She could but she won’t. Doesn’t fuel her narrative.
People can be fans of whatever they want, none of her business.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: when I became a teenager, I put away childish things; when I became 40 I realised life was too short to give a fuck, and got them out again. 😃

I don't like sports that much and I also think sports obsessives are dull, but sports are really happening in the real world with real people. You can talk about a man who really has scored a goal or a team that really has lost a match. I don't think it's a good comparison.

I love analysing books and thinking about fictional storylines and I used to chat online about what would happen in the next books when the series wasn't finished.

But there's so much weird extrapolation and theorisation about HP and the characters online now that's barely rooted in the text and people talking about it like these are real people. I get the sense some people use fictional universes to disassociate from reality. Not to mention the inappropriate sexualisation of child characters - that's a whole other side of it.

But obviously for the most part it's essentially harmless, more so than football hooliganism.

Yeah some fan fic is well creepy, especially stuff about films and TV shows where the actors (ie real living people) are elided with the fictional characters they play.

@Esgaroth

My daughter s are doing a lot theorizing and extrapolation studying Macbeth at school. This seems perfectly fine and indeed she has to do it!

I think there is an element of those educated in English literature to diminish HPs influence as they don't think it should be in the Canon of English Literature greats. I think they may have point academically but don't go about it the wrong way.

A lot of men do fetishisize football teams with constant short wearing, posted displaying etc.

Apologies - I'd missed out the next verse 🤣🤣.

I'm a big fan of the Harry Potter books, decided to try to get back into the online fandom side of it a few years back but found it a pretty strange and often toxic place. I still get a lot out of the books, have a bit of merch etc. but the current fandoms not for me thanks.

I do have a degree in English literature (for what it's worth - not much!) and I think the Harry Potter books are a superb example of children's literature. I genuinely think they're brilliant.

I'm meaning stuff that is not really related to the text, as I said, using the characters as stand ins and imagining them doing things and saying things that are just completely off. It's hard to explain if you haven't seen it. I know how literary analysis works and that's not what I'm talking about.

I think the Harry Potter books are well imagined and very inventive but JKR is not a particularly good writer. That is very exposed in the Strike books.

I've never understood the sneering at people for liking things. Who is the decider as to what is 'acceptable'? I'd rather poke my eyes out than watch an episode of Coronation Street/Hollyoaks/River City but some people watch it religiously and seem very invested in it. Football leaves me cold but I know people who have named their children after players/managers and end every social media post with some sort of football motto. As a pp mentioned, plenty of adults write drabbles and fan fics about ya books for fun. Plenty of adults read 'children's books' for the escapism.

In a shit world, it's a bit of harmless escapism. Eh.

Frank Skinner seemed to be in agreement with MM on Absolute radio just now, and whoever's with him (I've got it on for the music and not paying much attention to the chat) said Robbie Coltrane was not keen on HP autograph hunters.

Yet Robbie Coltrane happily signed up to attend comic cons where he would get paid to sign autographs.
(The pushy ones that would hound people in normal life are different and I agree whatever fandom. Actors should not be bothered for autographs when out at dinner etc or shopping)

I think the actors are in a difficult position. The Comic Con type events are a very good earner but equally some of the fans seem a bit obsessive and I expect that can be very annoying.

exactly this
Both HP (and any other 'fandoms') and sports followers spend money on collecting merch related to their interest
they identify and feel a sense of community with others who follow their team/fandom
they wear specific clothes identifying them as a supporter of that team/fandom
they explore 'what ifs' and alternative versions of the source material - fantasy football leagues, and 'what if we signed x' = fanfic equivalent
In terms of imagination I'm sure most football fans have fantasised about playing for their team/scoring the winning goal for England at least once

The only difference is there doesn't seem to be an correspondence between a new HP film/book release and domestic violence/fighting as there is when a football team wins/loses.

In primary school I always found the most immature children were the ones that went around sneering and calling other kids "childish" instead of just getting on with their lives and enjoying themselves.