A Huge Harry Potter Fan Looks For Something Different
by ParentCo.
August 03, 2016
I remember the first time Harry Potter almost died, in a graveyard surrounded by a ring of Death Eaters. I remember when he almost died again, in
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, after failing to defend himself against Voldemort’s killing curse. And I remember when Harry Potter truly died—at least figuratively...
Already,
Cursed Child is big—Potter big...Yet despite having enjoyed some 15,000 pages of Potter books and 20 hours of Potter movies, I myself have no intention of reading
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, parts I or II.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m sure the latest addition to the Potter oeuvre is fine; perhaps it’s even great. But there’s something about current cultural trends that suggests an unwillingness—on consumers’ part? On media executives’ part?—to move on.
Listen, I know it can be scary to let go. Admitting that you’ll never read another Harry Potter book is like accepting the end of a relationship.
But for all the great things Rowling did for reading—and I would argue she did a lot—her most important contribution has been to change the stigma around young adult fiction... There are more books, of greater variety...Which means there’s no better time to try something different.
ParentCo.
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