Image courtesy of The Hindu
In case you haven’t heard, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is out. I have two ardent fans at home and so we are among the those who helped create this news story – ‘Harry Potter’ opening day is most profitable in Hollywood history, crushes box office records. It was a great movie and a lot of emotional impact was from knowing that this was it – the end of an era! It has been a long a beautiful journey with the books from 1997 and the movies from 2001. Think about it – that is over a decade with Harry, Ron, Hermione and a varied cast of character who have come to seem very, very real. I am the-book-is-better-than-the-movie kind of gal but with these movies, there has been a sense of extending the experience. So while the last book came out in 2007, there was comfort in knowing that there are movies yet to come. Now it is all over!
But is it really? Fans, who love the books and movies, are keeping it alive on the Internet. While fans have always been motivated to keep things going, fan fiction, Facebook pages and individual websites have created spaces that make it a collective and collaborative activity to keep books and movies alive. And, Harry Potter is probably the winner if it comes to the number of pages dedicated to this story across the web. The creativity of fans promises to keep the Harry Potter phenomenon going for many more years to come. There are extensions of original story lines, great art works offering interesting perspectives on key plot moments, reframing of J.K.Rowling’s characters and reworkings of plot lines – there is potential for endless re-engagements with Harry Potter. Social media and the Interweb has made it easier for Harry Potter fans to find like-minded folks passionate about this wizarding world! At this point, I am glad to have this extended immersion in the world of Harry Potter. It makes it that much easier to cope with life after HP72.
The Boy Who Lived will continue to live on!
Stringing Words Together 