Harry Potter and the Obsessive Fan

For a long time now, I have been stuck in this (inevitable) place between childhood and adulthood. I mean, I'm in college - I go to class, study, write papers, work when I come home, and the rest of the time I wax nostalgic about Disney movies and my old treehouse. It's only fitting I should try and salvage some of these memories when I am reading. For this reason, most of the books on my bookshelf reflect these feelings - The Chronicles of Narnia, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, the Thoroughbred series (alright, that's just my obsession with horses.)

I didn't start reading Harry Potter till I was 17 years old. Shamefully, I watched the first three movies before I bothered to pick up the books. Now, I chalk it up to the whole "I'm a pretentious, emo, self-centered high schooler who has more important things on my mind." Yet somehow, I watched all 3 movies. I don't know.

After seeing Prisoner of Azkaban in theater, I started thinking about how J.K. Rowling could create such a world. As an aspiring writer and someone who views herself as "imaginative," I am still to this day completely astounded by her ability to create so compelling a story. I mean, how does one person dream up a world that detailed? And symbolic? How many creative bones does she have in her body (and more importantly, where can I get some?)

The rest is pretty much history. I was 17, still didn't have my license (ugh), and I found myself stuck at home one long weekend when my mom went away to visit my grandmother and left me in charge of my dad, my dog, and my sisters. I borrowed my sister's five HP books, and read them all, straight, in 3 days. I literally slept about 5 hours during those 3 days. I could not get over how completely engaging they were (and still are.) I thought the movies were creative - now I truly saw right through the thin layers of thrills the movies provide and saw the deeper, and much more emotional and creative, story.

After closing the fifth book, shaking like a leaf and crying slightly, I almost immediately went on the Internet. I found a whole world there - people discussing theories, canon, ships, fan fiction... oh so much. I came at the perfect time too - it was the summer of 2004 and I was reeling in my new-found obsession while the HP world was just getting stronger. The title to the 6th book was announced, Jo started giving the fandom more and more clues... and I got completely and totally hooked.

One thing that I think the Harry Potter series has accomplished to this point (10 days before the final book's release) is the sheer interest it has created. Not just all that smarmy crap about Jo changing literacy and getting a whole new generation of kids to read (which she has done!), but in the whole literary world as a whole. In theorizing and talking about what they think will happen, is Snape good or evil, will Harry live or die, what the prophecy really means, etc., etc., Jo Rowling has given a new name to literacy. The same kids who would have once made fun of Shakespeare for being "Old English" and "too hard to understand" and their English class essays "completely bullshit" are now (hopefully consciously) deconstructing a literary phenomenon.

In addition to giving me an entirely new world to fantasize and dream about, Jo has inspired me in more ways than one. While I refuse to write anything this summer until I have read Deathly Hallows, much of my inspiration is due to her. A large part of my decision to become an English major also lies in the fact that her books made me realize even more that this is what I love doing. I love reading, and deconstructing, and trying to get inside the author's head through the characters and events they create. Harry Potter is a perfect example of this.

Now, only 10 days before Deathly Hallows will be released, it is going to come to an end. I hope (pleaaaasseee Jo!!!) that we will have a Harry Potter Encyclopedia, or a Hogwarts, a History before long, but the fact is that the world will be over. Jo will wrap up Harry's story completely. She isn't a hack writer who comes along and thrills the world for her 15 minutes of fame with some over-blown dreck that seems to be so prevalent of authors these days (coughDanBrowncough.) She has managed to create an effective story about a boy with a scar - focusing on real emotions and typical teenage feelings while making a story about the triumph of good over evil. And oh yeah, they're all witches and wizards.

So thank you, Jo. You have given me something to be obsessed with that I can actually admit proudly to the world. I know I'll be crying when July 21st comes, but the ride has been completely and totally worth it.