Introduction
The Harry Potter book series by British author J.K. Rowling has sold more than four hundred and fifty million copies, making it a worldwide literary sensation. Then came a successful film franchise that has made over $10 billion globally. In addition to the novels and movies, Harry Potter has grown into a billion-dollar business that includes merchandising, theme parks, and more. This essay aims to examine the part that contemporary technology played in the production, dissemination, and reception of Harry Potter because it was released around the same time as the internet boom and was primarily targeted at tech-savvy millennials. The essay’s purpose is to shed light on the unique literary and commercial phenomenon known as Harry Potter and how technology had a role in its creation.
The majority of the series comprises seven novels released between 1997 and 2008, while the Millennial age was developing and becoming more accustomed to media, communication, and technology. Due to the internet boom, the western world was on the verge of a technological revolution during this time. In 2016, Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany co-authored an eighth book published as a play. With these exceptions, Rowling has contributed to the core seven novels with six additional volumes. Harry Potter owes a lot to technology, previously unavailable to books and authors, in its production, dissemination, and reception. The study seeks to examine this function of technology in creating the singular, international literary and commercial phenomenon known as Harry Potter.
How It Came to Be
The book “Harry Potter and the Wizarding World” by J.K. Rowling has the official global internet platform Pottermore. The website, which J.K. Rowling and Sony originally debuted on July 31, 2011, provided a distinctive interactive reading experience and other virtual Wizarding World events employing movement images. Users might gather magical things they could swap or give to other members online, such as a Gold Galleon or a potion component made accessible during the reading.
Individuals engaged in group learning in a common area of human endeavor build communities of practice. As Harry Potter discovers he is a wizard, his life is completely changed. Harry’s interactions with Dumbledore or his pals are one of the concepts recognized as trademarks of a dialogic classroom.
Users would also be allocated to one of the four Hogwarts houses depending on how they answered a series of questions. In the virtual Diagon Alley, they may buy wands, wizard robes, or a pet from the magical zoo. Users may also make potions, practice-casting spells, or de-gnome the garden to gain points that will help their House win the House Cup. The website supports several languages, including Chinese, English, French, and Spanish.
The Role of Technology
Harry Potter, the Deathly Hallows, directed by David Yates, written by Steve Kloves, and produced by David Heyman, David Barron, and J. K. Rowling, is a successful cross-media using technology. As it grew, the fan base expanded into the beautiful realm of transmedia storytelling. Fans may access the Harry Potter universe through various mediums, including books, video games, websites, and digital movies. The way individuals read books has changed as a result of technology.
Nowadays, individuals prefer listening to long texts on their phones, tablets, Kindles, or computers rather than reading them. Online purchases of eBooks and audiobooks may be made in a couple of minutes. Online book ordering and online library access are options for those who would rather avoid the inconvenience of visiting a shop. Additionally, customers can test a free sample of an ebook or audiobook at their convenience and practically instantly.
Every time a new Harry Potter book is released at midnight, there are lines of children waiting outside bookstores to get their hands on a copy. However, the publishers also cater to those who have different tastes. Therefore, the books are sold online and in eBook and audiobook formats. Rowling’s most recent creation, a collection of three companion volumes to the main series, was only accessible as eBooks on Pottermore. These books comprised stories Rowling had previously published on Pottermore, the official Harry Potter website.
The Harry Potter series, which consisted of eight films, frequently pushed the limits of special effects technology. When it came to filming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, technology had progressed enough to make the process more efficient and enable considerably more realistic flying scenes (Annu Sabu Palathinga). Feathers were one of the most prominent obstacles animators at the time had to overcome, and the filmmakers of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ran across them. In order to allow the additional crew options or simply to make things easier, more and more physical effects were replaced with digital ones as the series went on.
What Makes It a Phenomenon
Harry Potter became a literary sensation because so many children were reading the books amid an incredible number of measures to discourage them from doing so. The popularity of the Harry Potter universe is related to the emergence of Convergence Culture. Convergence Culture, for those unfamiliar with this school of thought, refers to how media users comprehend and utilize new media and information. As the Harry Potter world best illustrates, convergence culture is all about the methods through which material is shared across media and the usage of new technology to interact with traditional media (Maulana). Media convergence generally refers to blending contemporary and traditional media into a single content.
Due to the development of new technologies, every mass media eventually combines to form a single medium. Therefore, one should consider the museum as one piece, expression, or statement, similar to a book that only reveals one aspect or tale of the experience it seeks to provide in its actual structure (Marcos-Arteaga). Unfortunately, the mistake that continues to be made at this time, which is the cause of the decline in the use of virtual tours observed around mid-March, is the complete translation of the physical into the virtual (Ryan). As opposed to rethinking the museum idea into the virtual and other platforms as part of a new museum world.
The Dynamic Between Society and the Media
The Harry Potter books altered the way children’s books are published commercially. It gave a whole generation of individuals the notion that people could engage with the popular culture that they loved, write about it and with it, create music and art about it, and create a company around it (Gruszynski Sanseverino). This contextual study examines the representation of the news media in the Harry Potter children’s book series and how it may affect young readers.
Although the novels are praised for their capacity to entertain and captivate readers, the series’ disparaging portrayal of journalism has the potential to significantly affect young people’s views of the news media and the function of journalism in general. Throughout the novels, children are exposed to yellow journalism regulated by the Ministry of Magic, which oversees the Wizarding realm (Maulana). The Daily Prophet, the official newspaper managed by the government, is the primary news source in the wizarding world. In addition, the Quibbler, a tabloid publication, is frequently referenced in the series.
Indoctrination is a simple strategy for fostering media literacy. Media organizations spend millions on psychographic and demographic data to undermine most immunization methods. Students can mold their present media knowledge frameworks using their earlier experience with Harry Potter. Have students evaluate their propensity for consumerism using clips from the movie, Harry Potter-themed advertising, or relevant news articles.
Using Harry Potter, teachers might inspire pupils to consider indirect media effects on others (Chairina et al.). Students provided instances when their peers acquired opinions about Harry Potter based on technological Media messaging without knowing about the actual incident, for example, book and film. The next step is for students to categorize whether these factors are linked to the media event directly or indirectly.
Because so many children are familiar with Harry Potter books, teachers may help them become more sensitive to media schemas. Students can determine the chapter’s thematic structure by telling the chapter’s moral or intended moral. Teachers can collaborate with students to lower the amount of mindless media consumption among them. Students learn how to improve their media reading abilities and that media influences significantly more pervasively cloud their thinking when they passively consume media.
Media consumers who are engaged in critical reading contest plots, settings, and external media messages regarding these characters. Teachers must abandon traditional immunization or academic literacy tactics. Indeed, both social and technical behaviors are at the foundation of literacy (Chairina et al.). The Information Age has dramatically increased the complexity of reading and writing. Academic literacy should be fine because teachers include media literacy exercises in their courses.
Conclusion
More than 450 million copies of the Harry Potter books have been sold. The majority of its intended audience was the tech-savvy millennial generation, and it was published around the same time as the internet boom. As a result, a billion-dollar industry has developed around the series, which now encompasses merchandise, theme parks, and other things.
The Pottermore website is J.K. Rowling’s recognized global online platform. Users could collect magical items they can later exchange with or donate to other users online (Alkestrand, “Harry Potter and the Curse of Aetonormativity: Age-Related Cognitive Scripts and a Disruption of “the Harry Potter Literary Schema” in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”). Chinese, English, French, and Spanish were among the languages that the website supported. Examining how technology played a role in Harry Potter’s development is the study’s goal.
Modern visual effects technology is mainly responsible for the Harry Potter franchise’s success. These works revived interest in the fantasy subgenre and made it acceptable for adults to read young and children’s books. In Harry Potter, the interplay between society and the Media is that people began reading again and excitedly expected new works by Rowling (Annu Sabu Palathingal). As a result, the Harry Potter franchise has gained popularity worldwide, and the novels are good and have a loyal fan base.
Works Cited
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