Note: This entry was originally a comment in response to a comment left on this post, but I liked it enough to make it a full post.
Ok I’m asking to get my butt kicked…but its just a book. I took the time to see the first Harry Potter movie on DVD just last week and quite frankly I didn’t think it was anything special. I don’t know…I didn’t get the Beatles and I didn’t get Elvis and I don’t get Harry Potter ? All were good, but greatness? I think not.
Commencing butt kicking. ;)
I get the impression from what you said that your sole experience with Harry Potter so far is watching the first movie. If that’s truly the case, than I’m not too surprised that you “don’t get it.” However, to use that one movie (which, as you said, really isn’t anything special) to write off the entire Harry Potter phenomenon as “just a book” seems silly, at the least.
If nothing else, whether or not I had any interest in the series, I’d hardly dismiss a phenomenon which, in the age of Nintendo, the Internet, cell phones, MTV, .mp3s, and all the other electronic instant gratification toys that surround us daily, actually has kids reading. Not just reading, but reading willingly. Enjoying reading. Kids barely into their double digits are lining up to buy an 870-page book, not because it’s on a reading list, or because a teacher or a parent assigned it, but because they want to! Then, once they get their hands on it, they devour the book within days and, once done, turn back to the beginning and start reading all over again to catch any fine details they may have missed the first time.
Other authors have been catching some of the overflow of all of this, too. During the time between Harry Potter novels, kids who have suddenly discovered the joys of reading, of being able to pick up a book and disappear into another world that in many ways is far beyond anything that the ‘net or television or video games can offer them — because so much of it is created within their own imaginations — are returning to the bookstores, and picking up other books. It’s not just Harry Potter that has these kids excited now (though he’s the one that gets all the press). The printed page is suddenly both fashionble and, even above that, fun.
To look at that, to see the effects that these books have had upon todays children, and then — without even picking up the book itself — shrug your shoulders, turn away, and say that it’s “just a book” is to do a great disservice to J.K. Rowling, to the world she’s created, and, most importantly, to the literally millions of people that she and her imagination have inspired to put down the game controller or the mouse, to unplug their headphones, to turn off their cell phone — and to pick up a book.
You may not ever choose to read any of the Harry Potter novels, and that’s fine. I didn’t actually read any until this past year. I’d heard about them, of course, and seen the movie (and walked away from it with about the same impression you have, from the sound of it), but the books were perpetually in my “I should read those someday” list. Then, after talking about the books some with Prairie, she lent me her copies of the first four. I sat down, started reading — and practically didn’t come up for air until I was done with all four. I found out that, for once, something lived up to the hype — I really enjoyed the books!
Whether or not you decide to give them a shot, or — if you do — whether or not you like them, is, of course, entirely up to you. Just don’t go tossing the “just a book” line around until you’ve actually read the book(s) and can judge on more than just the film!