Friday, April 25, 2014

Rambling about H-H-Harry Potter

I don't really feel like I can say a whole lot about Harry Potter that I didn't already say in the super awesome secret class discussion Lloyd, Andrew and I had before class. I think it was probably more fun for Lloyd since he has read it before while Andrew and I are newbs. But I think Andrew is more of a newb than I am because I know a LOT of what happens in the series. I just didn't have to read that information.

So, we were basically rappin' to all the magical inconsistencies of Harry Potter. Like Prof. Bins is a ghost so how do they pay him? Are all of Ollivander's wands 7 Galleons? Why is Hagrid so amazing? Why isn't the ground of a quidditch pitch enchanted to be soft or bouncy so people don't die on impact of falling? Are there deaf wizards, and if so why doesn't everyone get to that stage of magic? Why verbalize anything? WHAT ARE THESE PROFESSORS DOING?!

I think the fact that we took time before class to talk about these things speaks to two things. One is how the world of Harry Potter is crafted to allow these questions. Two, this is fan behavior to the max and how cool is it that we can spend time thinking about these things.

I think that the universe of Harry Potter works so well because magic.


And that is a serious reason. There is friggin' magic and people love the idea of magic. But I feel like it's because of the way J.K. Rowling crafted the story to be just enough magic. There is just enough background magic to make us question what else magic can do. We can imagine things in more depth, like what it's like for a professor to be a ghost. The information is supplied in passing almost but we as readers can pick that up and run with it.

 The other thing is that it is a different world existing in the world we currently reside in. While I'm still tetchy about the muggle-wizard divide it does allow for us to pretend that it is real. That there is magic but that it's hiding at the edge of our vision. It's more involving this way because if J.K. Rowling had created a whole new universe then the reader would have no place in the story. Rowling includes the reader in the world like background radiation, which is more than others writers can say.

So, in conclusion that is why I don't need to read the books. No, seriously. Hear me out. I love the universe of Harry Potter and I am super grateful it was written. Now, I get to read about characters I actually care about navigate the universe of Harry Potter and I don't have to listen to Ron and Harry's problems. I don't really care for them as characters. Now, Hagrid's character is the BEST!


He is a big burly man who is incredibly sensitive and honest to a fault. He carries around a pink umbrella and is a loyal friend. HE LOVES ANIMALS AND HE IS MY BOO! Seriously, if you want me to read your book or story just put a character like Hagrid in it and I'll all up in there. I just want him to be happy and safe and raise little baby Chocobos!



Can't you see it?! Can't you see Hagrid being followed around by little chickens and then letting them roost on his house because he doesn't mind and then when they're big they still follow him around the grounds of Hogwarts but now they're helpful!  SO CUTE!

See, give me a Hagrid. Hagrid and Magic and I am yours 5ever.
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4 comments:

  1. UnknownApril 25, 2014 at 11:56 AM

    This is exactly what makes the fan community so awesome, One could hope that JK planned it all out this way but personally I don't have that much faith in people. FanFiction is so awesome especially in the case of Harry Potter, because it's so rich in introductory lore and allows for so much development.
    One of my favorite fics delves deeply into the hows and whys of magic. It posites that magic was caused by radiation from a meteor rock that fell to earth millenia ago. The rock and the radiation, became so much apart of the still moving and forming earth that ley lines, underground currents of mystical power, formed and spread across the earth. The radiation began to subtly change the population, gifting a percentage with magic. People with magic gathered together and started breeding to select for it, logical thing to do but humanity continued to move and develop and take over the earth. Due to deforesting, transplantation of minerals, soils and other things from the earth around the globe, magic spread and suddenly Muggleborns existed, children without magical relatives but who held the magic in them.
    All in all, the story was fantastic because the author thought to ask why some people had magic and others don't and then proceeded to answer his own question.
    Fans are a powerful force in modern society, more powerful than they know.

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    Replies
    1. Iris K. FoxxApril 25, 2014 at 1:01 PM

      See, you say you don't have faith in people and then you talk up fans. I agree, I don't think JK knew any of this would happen with the world she created. I think that the day fans realize that they can produce some bangin' things is the day we will get some amazing shows and novels.

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    2. UnknownApril 25, 2014 at 4:57 PM

      People are stupid, a person at least has common sense and a fan is a voracious reader/writer/editor and overall genius when it comes to the exploration and adaptation of their fandom. Once they get into groups they become idiots.

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  2. Shane GreenwellMay 1, 2014 at 6:47 PM

    Iris, you're like my favorite person ever now. You probably don't even realize that picture of Chocobos is a screenshot from Final Fantasy XI, my first MMO and a major part of my teen years. NOSTALGIA AND FEELS. It's even a screenshot from the "YOU CAN RAISE YOUR OWN CHOCOBO" content patch.

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