Harry Potter and the Order of the Well Deserved Hype

Can you feel it? There’s a certain electricity in the air. Adults and children seem to have a certain spring in their step whenever they pass a book store or a multiplex. Are people looking forward to reading the novel adaptation of Transformers after they’ve seen it in the theaters? Not likely. Are people reading up on Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne books before this August’s Bourne Ultimatum hits the screens? Nope. What’s going on is that Potter fever is about to hit big time. It started a couple of weeks back for me when I bought the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix game for my Wii and became more involved in a video game then I have in years as I waved my “wand” and cast spells all over Hogwarts. Now I’m about to enter the second stage as the 5th Potter film hits screens tomorrow and you’ve guessed it, I already have my tickets (check back Thursday for a Quick Review). For me the Potter films are part of what prevented me from reading the books in the first place. I saw the first one and was so turned off by Chris Columbus’ train wreck of a film that I figured the source material could be no good. Of course I broke down eventually and read the books, and while I still think the 1st and 2nd films are an insult to JK Rowling, the 3rd and 4th were quite wonderful and I can’t wait to see the Ministry of Magic and Dolores Umbridge take center stage in the 5th. Then of course there is the big day, July 21st and the release of the 7th and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. I preordered my copy at Borders back in February and while I don’t plan on lining up at midnight to pick mine up I must say the offers of free posters, magic wands, and cookies sure makes it sound appealing. Thus we find the true magic of Harry Potter…somehow his story never feels forced or over hyped. Obviously Harry’s story appeals across generations and while we’ve seen that before, I’ve never seen it done without the hype turning one side away. Star Wars, Pirates, even Spiderman all have taken their fare share of consumer backlash over the past few years in large part to the consumer being oversaturated with hype. Somehow Harry doesn’t and I think a large part of that is that we know its coming to an end. Rowling has been clear that the 7th book would be her last even before Potter-mania hit with such ferocity. The movies likewise will have a similar end and the fact that the entire cast is committed to making all 7 books come to life on screen adds a bit of sincerity to an otherwise fake business. The other big factor is that Harry comes off with a sense that it’s above mass marketing. You can walk into any Target, toy store, or book store and find hundreds of licensed items based on either the movies or books but for whatever reason when people talk of the Harry Potter property its always with a sense that its above marketing itself crassly and that it does so cleverly. While that may be somewhat true in regards to the cleverness there is no doubt that Warner Brothers, JK Rowling, and Scholastic are all out to make a buck but I must admit even the video game just seemed like a natural outgrowth rather then an attempt to cash in on the property. Right now I’m rereading the 6th book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, to prepare for the release of the 7th book and I’m gripped with a similar excitement I felt when both as an adult when Stephen King’s final Dark Tower book was published and as a child when I went to read the last Lord of the Rings book. In short Harry captures both the child and the adult in me and does so in a way that harkens back to a less commercial time…now go buy your Harry Potter lunch boxes!