There is something suspiciously excessive about the fuss over Harry Potter. Serpentine queues! Blockbuster sales! And children spouting inanities such as how much they have awaited this “literary masterpiece”! Certainly the books are charming and their world delightfully evocative but are we truly so devoid of talent that just one and only one book can slake the thirst of the world and all its children? Or is it the hype machine that has worked its cynical magic upon an unsuspecting or perhaps a somewhat willing populace? The rags-to-riches story of an impecunious single mother spinning tales in a cafe, the news of the spectacular success of the previous books, the making of the movies, the scouting for actors, the speculation about Harry’s love-life, the little tidbits that have emerged from time to time about writer’s block and characters dying.did it all build up a myth so huge that like the latest toy gizmo — every child must have it? But children do not read today, we are told and if the hype makes them read it is not such bad thing. Or is it? In the first place, why is it assumed that it is such a terrible thing for children not to read? Times change and who would have the inclination for books with all the seductive new interactive media around? The CD Roms, the net, the games! If the reading habit among the young is truly on the decline then, at least, it has been replaced by new ways of sourcing information. New ways that are probably more accessible, fun and, contrary to critics, imaginative. Books may have once been a fount of inspiration, but their diminished popularity has not harmed creativity. This much is clear from the burst of self expression all around us — in commercials, in music, in fashion and even in graffiti. We live, in fact, in a world of information and sensory overload. The problem is not with too little but too much. Perhaps this is why the Harry Potter books, to give them their due, created a stir in the first place. Because in this world of flickering images they introduced a full-bodied experience. They told a story, in an unhurried way, from beginning to end filled with the moral ambiguity and sensuous imagery children are accustomed to in their daily experience. If the magic attracted the kids then for adults the most unusual thing about the Potter series was vulnerability of the “good” characters: You assumed the righteous must win but you could never be sure in a Rowling book exactly how they would and, sometimes, even if they would. Which is why the hype is dangerous both for the much treasured reading habit — despite the new media there is something to be said for it — and for Harry Potter. There are many reasons why. One, the stupendous build up given to one book or series conveys a grossly and disturbingly distorted sense of literary history and merits. Two, turning the launch of a new book into a global event, and Harry Potter and his friends into cute merchandise, robs them of their very power to entrance. Seen what happens to the latest movie releases? We see clips, promos, interviews, behind the scenes, comments, reviews — so much so that there is little point or mystery left in the movie itself. Or take the old movies one gets to see on television channels or on DVD. You can choose to see the parts you like, as often as you like, you can skip what you dislike, pause for commercials and so on. An imaginative experience then becomes an addictive one. And fetishism takes over. You can have fan clubs around the actors, sell all manner of spin offs and seriously analyse the content from various perspectives. But what of the original power to move? Look at what is happening to the creator of the little boy with a zigzag mark on his forehead right now. Look at her being badgered with personal questions about the money she makes and how she feels about it and when she’s not answering those she’s being asked to analyse her characters’ motivations, reveal their future (Will Harry fall in love? Who’s gonna die?), tell us, c’mon, tell us, how it will all end? We are sacrificing that incomparable feeling of anticipation one gets reading the opening lines of a new book or in that moment of darkness before the screen lights up or characters begin to speak on a stage. We are forgetting what happens to greedy people who want too much. It is a sad, sad story.
