July 20, 2007
Occlumency Training Cannot Prevent Harry Potter Mania
The day has finally arrived -- the official release of J.K. Rowling's final installment in her Harry Potter book series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is scheduled for midnight tonight (unless of course you received one of those magical early copies that have been floating around). For all you D.C. area Potter nerds out there (and as we already know, there are a whole lot of you) looking to celebrate tonight, here's some area events worth considering.
- The Borders in Silver Spring has a rather massive party set up for tonight -- including closing down Ellsworth Drive and turning it into a Diagon Alley, with other businesses participating as well -- McGinty's will become The Leaky Cauldron, Ben & Jerry's will transform into Florean Fortescue's, and so on. Whole Foods will also be having a 2 hour event in front of the store where people can brew their own butterbeer and build a wand from chocolate. Live music, magicians, and face painters will be on hand, and of course a costume contest inside the Borders. Everything kicks off at 9:30 p.m.
- The Arlington/Courthouse and Old Town Alexandria branches of Olsson's Books are hosting parties featuring costume contests, refreshments and prizes at midnight gatherings for people picking up their pre-orders, starting at 9 p.m.
- Old Town is going all out for the book release, with street festival up and down King Street. Merchants will transform themselves into magical sweetshops, a care of magical creatures shop, and a Gringott’s Bank. Marauder’s Maps will be available at Goldworks and also be handed out up and down King Street at the start of the evening, or download a map from children's bookstore A Likely Story. 8 p.m. to midnight
- Politics and Prose will have a magician, jugglers, a costume contest, and Bertie Bott’s beans (selected flavors only) on hand from 10 p.m. to midnight, plus Potter trivia questions.
- Barnes & Noble stores throughout the area are holding in-store scavenger hunts, raffles, and jelly bean competitions. Check with your local branch for details.
- Books-A-Million in Dupont Circle will host a midnight party with costumes, a trivia contests, and wand making lessons.
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This is freaking ridiculous. And why have the official release at midnight for something that is oriented toward the younger crowd. A costume party for kids at midnight?? This is messed up.
This is geared towards the dateless D&D crowd.
Krisa and Guest #2- why the hate? Are you sad that you're just Muggles? Anything that gets kids so excited about reading is A-OK in my book.
I agree with #3. My brother's 1968 copy of Playboy containing excerpts from Gore Vidal's Myra Breckenridge instilled me with a lifelong love of reading and transgender lunatics.
This is freaking ridiculous.
Does that enormous stick lodged in your rectum win you respect and promotions among your friends and colleagues? Or do you just enjoy it?
This is geared towards the dateless D&D crowd.
Damn, that's cold.
I thought this was kind of an interesting article on the Potter phenom. But here's a guy from last Sunday's Outlook who is hating pretty viciously.
You're right, because puking on your pizza at 1 a.m. in Adams Morgan is SO MUCH COOLER. Whatever.
Rallying an entire community together to promote literacy and imagination (albeit a pretense for thinly veiled commercialism, but what isn't nowadays?)...when is this a bad thing?
So the only alternative to endorsing copyright infringement is to vomit pizza at 1am in Adams Morgan? Sign me up!
Whatever indeed.
The thing that bigs me about Harry Potter is that I don't think it's that good, even for what it is. Of course it's no Steinbeck or Twain, or whatever, but even for a fantasy novel, it seems weak. It seems like watered-down Roald Dahl, mixed with knocked-off Piers Anthony.
Of course, I haven't actually read them. So I could be wrong. But from what I've read about them, and what I've seen on the screen, it seems like they're not as good as they could have been, even without becoming more "sophisticated".
I think they're actually not that bad, as writing goes. They're not Octavia Butler, of course, or even Connie Willis, but for what they are, heck, they're entertaining and hard to put down. What else do people want in a contemporary mass market novel? Spiritual enlightenment?
--Everett
Reid - How can you make a judgement on how good the HP books are if you haven't even read them? The books are much richer and more detailed than the movies.
Ev - What makes you think anyone here has any idea who Octavia Butler is?
Best comments ever. Especially 5 and 8.
One thing to have different tastes but hating on kids for reading kids books? Thats low. Hating on adults who still enjoy things for kids? Also low.
And making comments about the Harry Potter books not being good enough, then admitting you havenever read them, thats the lowest form of low.
Yeah they really aren't that good--they have only spurned something like a bajillion kids to read books upwards of 600 pages. They must suck.
You know what else sucked: Star Wars--watered down Kurosawa with archetypical Manichean influences.
Who the f*** are you to judge what is "sophisticated" enough to cross the realm from childrens fiction to adult.
As an example perhaps the best book ever is still: "Examination of soporific, minimalist statements pertaining to positive nightime lunar determinations in children" Better known as Good Night Moon.
Seriously, Reid, why even try to express an opinion on something you know nothing about? If you had read the book, and think its not that good, OK. I can totally accept that. Jesus.
/This is geared towards the dateless D&D crowd/
I wouldn't go so far as to say that. I guarantee you if you happen to be in Clarendon tonight and go by the Barnes & Noble you will see a huge mix of different people, including a good number of attractive coeds who are shunning getting drunk tonight in order to get the book, along with families, older people, etc. etc. Bookstores will be the place to be tonight.
How about hating on adults who hate on adults who still enjoy things for kids? Also low?
Oh, come on. Even a former surly curmudgeon like me has been charmed by the HP books and movies. Why would anyone harsh the mellow from something so positive?
For all the folks going off about 'encouraging literacy' and whatnot for the kiddies, step back a bit:
Is a midnight book-release party that actually includes alcoholic libations even _geared_ for kids? This is commercialism, plain and simple.
Now, there's nothing wrong with commercialism, and if a bunch of folks want to go out and entertain themselves waiting in line with other like-minded souls to spend $25, more power to 'em. But seriously, stop trying to cloak your Harry Potter reading fetish in the garb of conquering childhood illiteracy. If you're that magnanimous, why not go donate your time to a library?
Things I am now officially sick of:
a) Harry Potter book release hype,
b) Harry Potter anti-hype backlash,
c) the phrase "anything that gets kids to read must be good,"
d) criticisms of books made by people who haven't read them,
e) comparisons of authors to other authors they don't resemble in any conceivable way (seriously, Piers Anthony?!),
f) people who gush over Harry Potter but show no interest in reading similar fiction that is sometimes even better,
g) people griping about which aspects of the Harry Potter phenomenon they are now sick of.
Well, if you're going to buy these books, at least have the decency to print out and cover them with something a little less juvenile.
If ever there was proof of the pretentiousness of this town, this is a pretty good example.
I made it clear that I didn't read the books. I was making a statement based upon reading reviews of the books, and by my experiences watching the movies. I think that's enough of a basis to say that "it seems" that they're not as good as they could be. And I didn't complain about them being unsophisticated. I just said that it seems like they could've been better without trying to be more sophisticated. Jesus you people are touchy, as if none of you has ever said a movie blows without ever actually watching it.
I think it's great that kids get excited about reading this, but I can't help but think that the aggregate interest in reading has remained constant and that the only thing that's changed is that more people are reading the exact same thing.
DCWhee, I'm pretty sure the "butterbeer" is non-alcoholic.
I think Harry Potter drives solo to hogwarts.
f) people who gush over Harry Potter but show no interest in reading similar fiction that is sometimes even better,
Nate raises an interesting point. It's great that everyone is singing "Kumbaya" and have a cultural moment around the Harry Potter books 'cause the kids have put down their game controllers long enough to read a book, but what happens next? Will the Harry Potter series be an on-ramp to a lifelong love of reading for an appreciable percentage of these kids?
One of the great parts of my childhood and adolescence were the books I read. I mean you couldn't help but feel like a little less of a misanthropic freak after reading Catcher in the Rye. I just hope that librarians take this opportunity to introduce their young charges to some old classics and take the time to find the new ones that are currently being written.
I also think Harry Potter's dat is really Hitler.
I fail to see how a whimsical book of fantasy (or an event revolving around said book's release) which kids and adults are excited to read can be seen as a bad thing. If you think it is, then perhaps you need to check yourself. And i'm not even a reader of the Harry Potter series. Get a grip, people.
I love it when someone in the comment thread says to "get a grip." I think it's my favorite DCist comment. Well, next to the "gentrifying is great" comments, anyway.
Hillrat -- I was hoping if people didn't know her, they might try Google? But yeah, good point.
It really sucks that she's not around anymore.
Also, how many of you jumping all over my comments have no problem dismissing stuff like the Left Behind series despite never having read them and despite the fact that they're ridiculously popular amongst children and adults?
Get a grip, people.
It's DC. By definition, no one has a grip. Shrill, disagreeable bitchery is the closest thing we have to a regional culture.
Ass/Stick interaction aside, my revulsion is somewhat based on the sentiment in [27]. Mainly because I don't think this will get kids to put down the video game remote any longer than it takes to read the book in a single sitting. This is more junk food for the brain, and adults jumping on the bandwagon just shows how starved we are as a society for cultural meaning. I guess I should be happy that all the hooplah is about a book rather than a tv show or a movie star, but at the end of the day there probably isn't much difference. The Harry Potter hype is a self-perpetuating circle jerk, and there is much better literature out there if people would pull their heads out of their asses and stop reading only the things that Entertainment Weekly tells them are quality literature. Do people genuinely enjoy it? Absolutely, and I can appreciate that. But the hype is enough already... sheesh.
monkeyrotica you're making me laugh.
This is more junk food for the brain
I disagree. It's pop culture, but it's not low-quality pop culture, and there is a difference. Unless you're the type of person who has contempt for anything that doesn't have obvious and immediate academic value. HP is quality middlebrow entertainment on par with, say, The Wizard of Oz, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's not going to elevate the literary discourse among twelve-year-olds, but it's not going to hasten the decay of civilization, either.
#35 - When I first read your comment, I thought "HP" was referring to "Lovecraft." I'm thinking a literary crossover is called for here. Harry Potter could do with a big dose of Elder Gods tentacle porn and unleashed Victorian sexual mania. And maybe now that the series is over, we can delve into a little necrophilia and scat while we're at it. Seemed to work for Conan Doyle.
This stuff is so overHYPED, fine if the tykes wanna read the small-type 800 page fantasy books till they go blind (personally I think Roald Dahl is better, like the person said above) but dontcha see, these types of events are organized by stores & corporations to make big bucks off parents?! Not to encourage reading in general!
HYPE HYPE HYPE...