The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Introduction
Today, there have been countless technological advancements that have impacted the way discussions take place. The Internet has become the most popular medium for people to easily discuss and analyze various forms of texts through sources such as blogs and forums. Although there are still book clubs and face-to-face discussions, many audiences are turning to online communities to share their ideas and opinions. In our English class, “Literature in a Wired World,” we have discussed technology, and how our world has changed the way individuals interact with one another. We have also re-defined the words text and literature to include not only traditional forms of literature, such as “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but also new electronic literature, video games, albums, reality TV, art, etc. The shift to online discussions has switched the role of the audience. They actually get to interpret, create, and share their own versions and opinions on literature. To an extent, these communities remove control from the author. Previously, a reader might have to mail a letter to the author or go to a book signing in order to have any connection or questions asked, but now through fan websites and social media the audience is able to connect and interact with their readers. Traditionally, the author had a solitary act of writing and invented a story from scratch with a sense of “purpose” in their mind. A text was a physical object, or a “commodity,” and the reader was an individual solitarily reading and interpreting the text. Today, authors can coordinate with one another to be creator or creators of a product, such as Wikipedia. A text might be a book, but it might be a form of mediation such as text on a kindle, and the reader is now a consumer.

For our final projects in this course, we are asked to analyze a medium that falls under the definition of a text. For my project, although I did not have to choose a book series, I am analyzing the Harry Potter fan communities because of their extensive online presence and relevance. The seven-book Harry Potter series is very popular in the United States, United Kingdom, and across the world. Due to its huge popularity, there is a massive online presence. In this Wiki site, I will cover new forms of Harry Potter remediation created by fans, such as "A Very Potter Musical." I will also show how the fans have come together to create knowledge communites that were previously designed for guessing what might happen in the upcoming book, but are now used to fill in gaps and inform readers on details the average reader wouldn't pick up on on sites such as Mugglenet.com. Finally, I will cover the Potter lifestyle changes that fans have adopted based on the book series.



During the course of the semester, this class has covered many different articles and novels to discuss themesrelevant to emerging technology and the shift we are experiencing. The themes of the course that apply to my project the most are remediation and the idea of forbidden knowledge. Technology is continuously improving and evolving and there are both negative and positive opinions on this this subject. One example of a negative viewpoint is "The Reading at Risk Report " which argues that electronic media foster shorter attention spans and accelerated gratification. The argument implies that reading a book requires active attention and engagement, but electronic media such as television, video games, and the internet require no more than passive participation. Nicholas Carr, who wrote "Is Google Making Us Stupid ," also said "what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation." On the other hand, a positive viewpoint of remediation is "A Computer Ate My Book ," by Douglas Rushkoff who argued that, "just when it appears that a new medium is going to replace its predecessor, we figure out the true value of the older," proving that we tend to gain appreciation for the older medium once it's gone, such as Facebook before Timeline was implemented. The second theme that helped with this project was the idea of knowledge within bounds. Examples of this theme were found in readings such as Frankenstein, Paradise Lost, the Promethean myths, and Spoiling Survivor. The idea is that there is a difference between acceptable knowledge and forbidden knowledge. In the myth, Prometheus takes knowledge from the heavens and gives it to the human's when he wasn't supposed to. We saw this idea in Harry Potter with spoiler communities, but now see the knowledge communities coming together to inform willing readers to obtain more information that they might have missed on their own.

Remediation
The Harry Potter books have been remediated many times. They have transformed from novels, to feature-films, fan videos, memes, video games, parodies on television shows like SNL, and more. This is an example of remediation because in each medium, there are similarities betwen them, but none of them are exactly the same. The book focuses on telling a story, the game elaborates on visuals and mini games, and the movies consister character choice, script, and graphics, but for the most part, the purpose is to tell the story. The most prominent remediation has probably been from books into movies, but the amount of fan created remediations is quite fascinating. One group of fans decided to make a musical remediation parody in 2009 called, "A Very Potter Musical." This twenty-three act musical, lasting two hours and forty-six minutes, was created by fans at the University of Michigan and each act has over 1 million views on YouTube. In 2010 the same group made a sequel called, "A Very Potter Sequel." The video premiered on YouTube July 22, 2010, and within two days had gotten over 160,000 views, making the StarKid Productions page the most viewed of the day. This parody was comical and widely popular by fans and the so called "haters" as well. The creators of this musical actively engaged both the novels and the films by keeping similar storylines, but they change up what actually happens and make the story their own through adaptations. Also, they do not just focus on one film or novel, they incorporate many into their variation. For example, in the real story, Harry does compete in a tri-wizard tournament where he has to defeat a dragon, but in the musical the story is adapted by  Harry summoning his guitar and serenading the dragon into submission, allowing him to move on to the next round of the competition.

Another popular parody is Potter Puppet Pals.com. The parody was created by Neil, Cicierega, Emmy Cicierega, and Alora Lansillotta Garrett. The characters are the same as the originals, but their attitudes and characteristics contrast completely with the characters from the book. Sometimes, an aspect of the book is blown out of proportion during the series. One example is Harry's relatioship with Ginny Weasley. In the book, Harry is very shy and the relationship between the two are extremely innocent. While the creators of the puppet pals videos engage the text by staying along the same storyline, they are much more crude and Harry's character is very forward with his intentions to "woo" her. After Ginny cuts her hair, he is no longer able to distinguish the difference between her and his best friend Ron and out of confusion and disappointment, he attempts to kill himself with the Avada Kadavra spell. The creators are also engaging the text by incorporating this spell into their remediation. Again, these creators use both their own visions and ideas to create an adaptation of the originals to make it their own.

The 8-bit Harry Potter interactive game, called "Harry Potter and the Summer Spectre" is another interesting form of remediation that caters to those who miss original Ninte ndo games and enjoy choose your own adventure type games. Doctor Octoroc created this i nteracti ve game on Yo uTube and allows the user to control the wizarding world's most famous kid by making a decision at the end of each video as to what happens next. The Sta tion’s dispersed the installments around multiple YouTube channels in order to dissuade the user from skipping right to the end. The plot of this game involves the three main characters, Harry, Hermione, and Ron trying to solve yet another problem at Hogwarts, which happens to occur during summer school where Harry is supposed to be catching up with schoolwork that he flunked because he was too busy defeating dementors and death eaters during the regular school year. Ron is there because he is "dumb" and Hermione just wants to take more classes. The characters are true to form and engage the text in this variation, but the storyline is new and original. I enjoyed this variation very much, but I wish that I was actually able to play the game instead of just watching videos and choosing which video to go to next. It would be much more "interactive" in that way and more engaging for me as a literary form.

Knowledge Communities
One of the most adventagous aspects of wikis and forums is the information that a group of people can gather collectively to solve problems or talk about anything in general related to film, a novel, artwork, video games, etc. As far as Harry Potter goes, there are many different knowledge communities dedicated to informing others about the series as well as solving plot details of the novels such as, "Who Do You Think is the Strongest Weasley?" As far as the most valuable knowledge communities, one of the most impressive is a fan site called the Leaky Cauldron. Author of the books, J.K. Rowling, has called Leaky, "my favorite fan site" and a "wonderfully well-designed mine of accurate information on all things Harry Potter" that "attracts a lot of knowledgeable and entertaining debate."

Another knowledgeable community formed on a Wikia Page. It has over 10,170 pages on the wiki site and allows fans to connect to the books, movies, characters, or community. The site has an incredible amount of information. For example, on the main page of the site, a fan could choose to find information about the third book, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," choose the chapter, and find a full plot summary explaning about the contents. A simple click of a button can help a confused reader understand something or a Hermione fan learn about the character. The site even has an active user list and candidates fordeletion under their Community Portal to make sure that information stays correct. Another valuable site is the Harry Potter Wikipedia Page that is similar to any other Wikipedia page in the sense that a user can simply scroll through the contents to get a broad summary of the series, and then click links within the page to get further in-depth information.



What's interesting and different about the Wikia site is that users can come together to create a page where users come to gather details such as differences between a certain novel and its film. The intention is not to spoil the series for anyone, but instead to provide insight and knowledge for readers or viewers trying to learn more about Harry Potter, but does warn the viewers on the main page that the wiki reveals plot details about the series and to "Read at your own risk!" Unlike spoiler sites that try to reveal plot details before the novel or film comes out, instead this group posts what happens after the publisher or film is released and then disects it and places it on the Wikia. Similar to how producer Mark Burnette of Survivor used to try to confuse spoilers of the show that used the site, Survivor Sucks ,Rowling recounts on her website that she occasionally visits the site Mugglenet.com ,and sometimes reads the comments left by visitors, while never commenting herself. The author stated that she visited the site's chat room and was snubbed when she anonymously joined in a conversation about Harry Potter theories .

Lifestyle
It isn't news that when fans become so attached to a book or film series they become a little bit obsessed. We first saw this trend with Star Trek, "Trekkies" and today it is highly common to see Harry Potter fans dressing up as their favorite characters for movie and book premiers or playing Quidditch on the quad at nearby college campus. Harry Potter is a great example of a text that inspired the audience so much that they wanted to live out the lives of their favorite characters. In order to become a proper HP fan, there are even sites that give step-by-step directions. This Wiki site gives a 12-step how-to guide to become a proper fan along with tips and warnings. Some of the steps include being a strong supporter of the book by carrying a book in your bag at all times or maybe even a magazine with HP info inside. Another step is to act like a character from the series. Some female fans tend to choose to act like Hermione Granger by being "bookish" "clever" and "brave." Tips include being a strong supporter and always keeping your confidence. It also mentions to not be insulted if anyone smugly says, "You like Harry Potter?" Warnings from the site include to "not annoy people" if they aren't interested in the series, and also to not be an "annoying know-it-all" since correcting people never seems to get much accomplished.



Quidditch is another huge factor in people engaging the Harry Potter lifestyle. It is a fictional sport created by author Rowling, but the sport has been adapted and <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19px;">called "Muggle Quidditch" (which implies humans playing the sport) since around 2003. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19px;">In the United States, teams from more than 300 colleges and high schools are affiliated with the International Quidditch Association<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19px;"> and play in tournaments. <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19px;">In most cases, the players are extreme HP fans and are adopting a piece of the lifestyle of their favorite characters. "The International Quidditch Association, Inc, is a magical nonprofit dedicated to promoting the sport of Quidditch and inspiring young people to lead physically active and socially engaged lives. " This group tries to create, connect, and enhance their community as a whole. Their teams are encouraged to give back to their communities by holding local read-a-thons, teaching Quidditch to elementary school students, and coming up with ideas for fundraisers that benefit their local charities. They also want to be health advocates and show the benefits the sports has as social and physical activity. Playing Quidditch is an outlet for fans to play the same sport their favorite characters played and to be a part of the magical world that they love so much. It has also been a great way to stay in shape and through the adaptation of the game, many others who were not originally fans of the series have been sucked into the world and became fans after joining the teams.

A less popular Harry Potter lifestyle, but a lifestyle all the same is speaking in Parseltongue, which is the language of serpents and those who can converse with them. In the series, Harry can speak in "Parselmouth," which is normally hereditary and is a very uncommon skill. In most cases, the speakers are descendents from Salazar Slytherin, but Harry was an exception. In order for fans to become more like Harry and enact his lifestyle, Warnerbros put out the website Parseltongue translator in order for fans to learn the complex and uncommon language. I tested out the website to try to learn a phrase and typed out, "I was to speak in Parseltongue like my favorite character Harry." My final product sounded like this.. Although the books and films have come to an end, the Harry Potter lifestyle is still prevalent in today's society and shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

Links and Resources
The Reading at Risk Report

Is Google Making Us Stupid

A Computer Ate My Book

A Very Potter Musical."

Potter Puppet Pals.com. "Muggle Quidditch"Wiki site

Mugglenet.com

Survivor Sucks

Harry Potter Wikipedia Page

Wikia Page

Leaky Cauldron

Doctor Octoroc

Parseltongue translator