Arguello

Daniela Arguello
Mrs. Amy Cicchino
ENC 2135
8 February 2016
The Wizarding life of a fan
Harry Potter is among one of the most well known book series. The series has
accomplished creating an entire theme park dedicated to their books and created one of
the biggest fandoms as opposed to other famous book series such as Twilight or Hunger
Games. As I started getting closer and closer to the last pages of the seventh book, I
wanted to read slower because I knew what was coming. I would be done with the book
series and have nothing to do with my life. After reading the Harry Potter series, a
sudden panic attack started developing in the inner core of my heart wondering, What
will I do with my life now? However, I did not fret because the entire Harry Potter
franchise has multiple ways for fans to stay interacted with the series. There are multiple
genres that the franchise has to communicate with the fandom. Some examples of genres
are theme parks built with exact replicas from the Harry Potter movies, an online
database where you can interact with other Harry Potter fans and stay posted on
upcoming news, eight movies portraying each book, and you can also purchase apparel
with all things Harry Potter. All of these are genres of communication that are meant to
help fans stay interactive after reading the series. A genre is a compositions kind,
category, or sort. Genres give us a way to categorize or describe types of composition
(Brazieller and Kleinfold 5). The franchise fails to keep the fandom constantly excited
about the series because there not continuous new events to be excited for.

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Genres of communication have the ability to work together to create stronger

genres. The audience of these genres are Harry Potter fans. The genres that are used by
the franchise are very much intertwined and connected. The movies are based off the
books and the theme park is based off the movies. The theme park in Universal Studios
and the eight major movie productions are examples of monumental genres because they
have substantial ways to communicate with fans. A theme park could draw fans from all
over the world, flocking to Universal to experience the new park. An audience is in
thought and action, is so engaged that it becomes mediator of change. (Bitzer 4) For
example, the audience of the book series may have loved the books but not the movies.
The entire Harry Potter audience also comes with sub-audiences. Some people from the
audience loved the movies and not the books. Some did not like the movies and loved the
books. Some hated the movies and books but not the theme park. All these fall under as
the category as Harry Potter audiences.
Having an entire park dedicated to the Harry Potter series is one of the biggest
ways for fans to interact with the book series. After reading the series, a lot of people are
sucked into the world of Harry Potter and wish it were real. Universal Studios made that
possible by creating an almost exact replica of some of the places in the movies. They
even serve well-known food and drinks from the books and movies like butter beer and
Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. This drink is often brought up through out the books so
it was a must to have it in the park. The designer of the theme park could not build Harry
Potter World without the Hogwarts Express. This was an opportunity to include a ride in
the Harry Potter world. The Hogwarts express ride is an amazing way to show fans some
of the scenes from the movies and take them through a time machine of the entire series.

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In Diagon Alley, there is Olivanders wand shop, which looks exactly how it was in the
movie, cluttered and dark with stacks and stacks of wands. It is hard to miss Weasleys
Wizard Wheezes, which sells cool candies and toys that were in the books and movies.
Universal even included Hagrids motorcycle sidecar and also built Gringotts bank with a
huge dragon that breathes an enormous flame of fire every couple of minutes. Now fans
can physically be present in a Harry Potter world as opposed to imagining it in their head.
Harry Potter World is a monumental genre of communication because of its immense
impact on the fans and the way it connects them to the franchise. The theme park
communicates to the reader by turning their imaginary vision of Harry Potter world to a
real-life physical place that anybody can go too. The individual places such as Gringotts
and Diagon alley are affordances of having this theme park.
However, there are some constraints of having a Harry Potter theme park. Many
fans from all over the world were thrilled when they found out there were going to be
movies about the Harry Potter series. When the movies came out some people were
disappointed when some details from the books were not in the movies. Since Harry
Potter World is based off the movies those people would be disappointed in the theme
park. Also, many people might have envisioned Harry Potter World differently and
expected something more, and those people would be let down
The eight Harry Potter movies as a whole made 7.7 billion dollars, in which seven
of the eight movies were in the top 50 grossing movies ever. These movies are another
example of monumental genres of communication because they had a mass impact on the
connection between Harry Potter and the fans, letting them visualize and create a more
emotional bond with the characters. (She said to explain what mass impact means but I

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thought I did. These movies came with multiple conventions. Some conventions of
movies are characters, plots, visual, sound/effects, and the goal to earn money. The last
convention, to earn money, was especially prevalent in the Harry Potter films that used
an extremely high budget; they needed to make sure these movies were a huge hit.
Transforming the books into a visual media affects the audience differently because it
allows them to see all the characters and hear all the conversations and actions. The
movies create a different experience than the books or theme parks because you get to see
the actual characters.
Genres, such as movies, have multiple affordances and constraints. Some
affordances in movies are the fact that they bring the books to life. Due to the use of real
life people as the characters, it brings out a more emotional reaction from the audience
because they can visually and personally become attached to the characters. Some
constraints of movies are that they cannot show what the characters are thinking. An
example would be a quote from the book, But he wished he hadnt said anything so one
gets to see what the character is thinking. Movies cannot show what characters are
thinking only what they say out loud in dialogue (Rowling 26). Another constraint would
be the constricted time span of normal length movies. Since the books were an extreme
hit, people thought the movies would be exactly how the books were written. However, it
is nearly impossible to make a movie with all the details and characters in the books. If
the Harry Potter movies tried to include every detail from the books, the movies would
most likely last for hours. Many parts of the books must be paraphrased. Details and
scenes that were not crucial to the main plot of the movie must also be cut out so that the
directors could refrain from having a four hour long movie. Although it is common that

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movies are not exact representations of books, the Harry Potter films were as close as
they could get. An example of some minimal details that the director cut out would be in
the first book, Neville Longbottom gets detention with Harry, Hermione, and Draco.
While in the first movie, only Harry, Hermione, and Draco get detention. This is a
minimal detail that was changed from the books to the movies but it does not affect the
main plot in any way. The Harry Potter fans that have high expectations for the park and
movies create a constraint on the directors and park architects. The directors have to try
to please everyone by including as much of the books as they can and keeping the movies
true to the books. The same goes for the park architects who have to create Diagon Alley
into an exact replica compared to the movie.
A mundane genre of communication is social media. Social media is a mundane
genre because it has a smaller audience due to the fact that not everyone has twitter.
Some affordances of social media is that fans can continue being interactive by following
J.K. Rowling on Twitter. She is constantly tweeting about up coming new books and
movies. She even tweets things about the Harry Potter series that may or may not be true.
For example, she tweeted the snake that Harry Potter released from the zoo is Nagini
although the movies show other wise. There were also rumors about the character Ronald
Weasly, he was supposedly Dumbledore traveling in a time machine but she tweeted
about it saying it was not true. She also has a new movie coming out about one of her
books written in 2001 called Fantastic beasts and where to find them. J.K. Rowling is
still an active writer, so many people who are fans of her work are excited to read the new
books and watch the new movies.

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The genres of communication are failing to keep the fandom constantly excited
about Harry Potter. The following ideas are ways that could solve this problem by
keeping them continuously thrilled. Genres need to constantly shift and change in an
effective fandom because when a franchise comes out with constantly new events and
things having to do with Harry Potter would create constant excitement from fans waiting
to see what is coming next. The Harry Potter franchise has almost hundreds of ways to
stay connected and interact after reading the series and watching the movies.
The franchise should create some new and exciting ways for the fandom to get excited
about the series again. The franchise could create an annual Harry Potter convention at
the park in Universal where people go dressed up and drink butter beer. They could also
have screenings of the movie and give out candies from the World of Harry Potter. Harry
Potter World could possibly add a new ride that is more interactive. This would solve the
problem of the loss of interest fans develop throughout the years, leading them to revive
their excitement. Every year fans around the world could look forward to something and
become excited about it. With new, advanced technologies developing everyday, they
should be able to create a ride that is much more interactive where the person riding it
can actually become a wizard to some extent. Again, this would solve the problem of the
loss of excitement because nothing relatively new has been produced in the last couple
years. These are some ideas for genres of communication between the franchise and fans.
One thing that would throw the entire Harry Potter fandom over the moon is if
J.K. Rowling came out with a sequel about the lives of all the characters and what they
are up to now. Anything she writes about the lives of the characters after Harry Potter
would most definitely be a hit. This would also be a way to get the new generation

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excited about these books. If J.K. Rowling were to write sequels to the Harry Potter
books then it would most likely lead to new Harry Potter movies, again creating a
worldwide phenomenon of Harry Potter fans. However, there is a small chance that J.K.
Rowling would write a continuum of the series. The Harry Potter franchise does have
multiple ways to keep fans interacted with the series but fails to keep them constantly
excited for new events to come out. Hopefully, in the near future, the Harry Potter
franchise comes out with new rides and conventions to keep fans eternally excited about
the series. These new ideas connect to genres of communication because they would
increase the excitement of fans and most likely cause them to become even bigger fans of
Harry Potter.

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Works cited
Bitzer, Lloyd. The Rhetorical Situation. Vol. 1. Philosophy and Rhetoric. 1968. 1-14.
Print.
Braziller, Amy and Kleinfeld, Elizabeth. The Bedford Book of Genres Bedford/St.
Martins. 2014. Print.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers stone. New York: Scholastic Press. 1997.
Print.