Comments on: Scooby Dobby Doo

by: MilkTray

Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:46:23 +0000

Harry Potter is popular as it gives children and adults alike a chance to taste power over their environment without having to undertake any of the real work required for genuine achievement.

by: margaret

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 22:34:53 +0000

i’m 29. They’re fun, heart-wrenching (i cried for a good 5 minutes finishing this last book) and they’re realistic in an unrealistic world. There is enough modern-world connect in the books to make the hero realistic, but enough imaginary-world to make it readable. (as in book 5 — the whole Umbridge fiasco, with surveillence and corrupt governments — makes it palatable to read this stuff that’s actually going on in our real life without having to resort to some dry ‘factual’ books — i mean you CAN and should, but it isn’t something people like to do, you know? well, most people…).

They’re also emotionally engaging, where so many children’s and adults books are definitely not, again, to most people. The last book that made me feel like this was when I was 5. Long time ago.

And also, a lot of people do have emotional connections with the book and their lives. Mine revolves around losing my grandfather, who was essentially my father in many respects — the first book had come out a few months after he died and i immediately saw him in the character of dumbledore.

I’m sure everybody has their own stories about why they love it so much. I’m not sure the media is entirely responsible for why it has become so popular.

by: buddahspider

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 04:51:50 +0000

I’m almost 22 and i love those books plainly for their entertaining qualities. However i think it appeals so strongly to children and people because of a lack of magic in their lives. Life isn’t any easier than it was 100 or 1000000 years ago the only differance is that now people are more aware of the state of the world. Don’t think the children don’t know.
Besides i think it’s better for children to get excited about a book than a playstation game.

by: Trevor

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 22:32:49 +0000

I dunno about marketing. All the evidence I see is that the Harry Potter craze is very word of mouth. Or at least its seeds were. The first burst of marketing came from the “Harry Potter is evil” whackos, and then later with the movies.

I would have to disagree on the Scooby Doo analogy. Scooby and company literally feel like cardboard cutouts, and the plot feels the same every week. HP characters have much more depth and realism, an advancing plot, and grow with time. The story has an attention to detail and richness of the environment that isn’t tedious. In short, her stories aren’t *boring* like most everything out there.

A lot of kids probably find a lot of written fiction tedious and boring, relaying small bits of information that are irrelevant to the story at hand.

One major flaw I do know is that the first 40 pages or so of the first book are a bit slow, I know several people, including myself, who “didn’t get it” 20 or 30 pages in and just put the book down.

One other aspect I like as well is that damn, the storyline has gotten dark and disturbing in the last 3 books, particularly the end of #4 and #6. The characters grow up and become much less innocent as things progress (and I’m not talking about excessive snogging in Book 6)

JKR is no Tolkien, but it’s a hell of a lot better than Scooby and I’m less likely to switch to the next channel when her work comes on.

by: King Mob

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 03:18:18 +0000

Witchcraft, Jake. The kids, they like the black arts.

Or, it could be that Harry Potter has plugged into a zeitgeist that was just looking for something appropriately escapist, something that had all the classic trappings of broad appeal, action, kids, shiny things, made-up words. For the same reason that Star Wars tapped in to people wanting to get away from the sturm & drang of the 70s, perhaps people now look to Harry Potter as a way of escaping. Can’t hurt that Rowlings keeps the vocabulary below college, and the hero is a lovable white kid.

But my vote’s on the witchcraft.

by: a person

Sun, 17 Jul 2005 23:45:38 +0000

It’s not sad, I think it’s a very important part of it’s appeal for a lot of people. Honestly, I wasn’t as excited about this book as I was about the last. Maybe it was the lack of hype, but I don’t watch TV anymore. Maybe it’s because I’m older now. Probably both.

by: pointfour

Sun, 17 Jul 2005 10:55:42 +0000

I’m 17. I like Harry Potter because of a wish that something similar would happen to me - that somebody would come and take me to another world. Sad, I know.