You don't need me to explain the sheer impact the Harry Potter franchise has had on the modern world: J.K Rowling's seven-book saga about the Boy Who Lived has now sold over 500 million copies across the world, translated into over 70 languages since its début in 1997, while Part 1 of the final adaptation is already predicted to be the top grossing film of 2010 (quite an impressive position to be in given the releases of the new Toy Story, Twilight and Shrek movies this year also, not to mention Inception). The question I want to ask is...why, and how? At first glance, the tale of a wizard scarred at birth, attempting to live a normal life but ultimately being forced to face his destiny doesn't seem like an original premise, not least one that could stretch seven books (or eight films for that matter). Indeed, at first it seemed that Rowling's Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone might not even be published, until a then-little known publisher named Bloomsbury decided to take a leap of faith- and I bet they're glad they did! Even then, however, reviews were merely positive on the day of release, with The Scotsman claiming it to be "a hugely entertaining thriller" and a writer for the Guardian stating he had "yet to see a child put it down". Perhaps the first sign of hope for the series was in the fast-growing amount of awards it recieved: in 1997 alone, Philosopher's Stone recieved the National Book Award, the Smarties Children Award and a British Book Award. Despite all this, I think one oh-so-common factor of human life was what gave Rowling her break- word of mouth...(Continues tomorrow)
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Wednesday 17 November 2010
Harry Hype: Why? Part One
You don't need me to explain the sheer impact the Harry Potter franchise has had on the modern world: J.K Rowling's seven-book saga about the Boy Who Lived has now sold over 500 million copies across the world, translated into over 70 languages since its début in 1997, while Part 1 of the final adaptation is already predicted to be the top grossing film of 2010 (quite an impressive position to be in given the releases of the new Toy Story, Twilight and Shrek movies this year also, not to mention Inception). The question I want to ask is...why, and how? At first glance, the tale of a wizard scarred at birth, attempting to live a normal life but ultimately being forced to face his destiny doesn't seem like an original premise, not least one that could stretch seven books (or eight films for that matter). Indeed, at first it seemed that Rowling's Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone might not even be published, until a then-little known publisher named Bloomsbury decided to take a leap of faith- and I bet they're glad they did! Even then, however, reviews were merely positive on the day of release, with The Scotsman claiming it to be "a hugely entertaining thriller" and a writer for the Guardian stating he had "yet to see a child put it down". Perhaps the first sign of hope for the series was in the fast-growing amount of awards it recieved: in 1997 alone, Philosopher's Stone recieved the National Book Award, the Smarties Children Award and a British Book Award. Despite all this, I think one oh-so-common factor of human life was what gave Rowling her break- word of mouth...(Continues tomorrow)
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