Anna Lang
Dr. Powers
ENGL 281
8 April 2017
“Truth Is Stranger Than Magic: The Marketing of Harry Potter”
I found that this particular article was actually really insightful to how we as Americans love to market and profit from various pop culture. Whether it is the big, greedy corporation of Walt Disney, or Universal Studios building an entire Harry Potter World, one thing is for sure that corporations have noticed: there is money to be made in expanding a whole fictional universe.
Take this into consideration. According to an article from Forbes.com, the box office hit movie “Avatar” raked in $2.7 billion US dollars close to eight years ago. It is one of the most highest grossing films in American culture. It won several Oscars, thanks to the award winning director James Cameron. And yet, up until very recently, ‘Avatar” has left no pop culture footprint. Compared to the Harry Potter films, where there’s a theme park, fanfiction, games, clothes, “wizarding classes,” conferences, and more. But up until the last few months, the most impact that ‘Avatar’ had in our culture, was the knowledge that there were to be additional movies to come out in the future. Whether the cooperation (aka Disney), saw the financial benefit of creating a sequel for the film, or saw the additional benefit of building a theme park in Disney World (which will be opening in early May) isn’t known for sure at this point. But, based upon the facts and figures that Anne Galligan gave readers from her article about Harry Potter I think it is safe to say that ‘Avatar’ may be trying to get to the same level of popularity and marketing ability as the British book series, possibly trying to implement to same marketing tackets.
We can also take a look at the literary phenomena series The Hunger Games. This three book series created a dystopian universe where children are hunted and killed by other children to maintain order in society, as well as to provide entertainment for that society. Other than creating a three book into a four movie series, the Hunger Games franchise has been the launchpad for clothing, accessories, and now, a brand new museum in Louisville, Kentucky. Some scholars have tried to make parallels between Harry Potter and the Hunger Games, often claiming that the Hunger Games is the next Harry Potter, citing similarities between the remarkable, successful marketing of both franchises. Like Harry Potter, the Hunger Games was able to capture the attention of millions of children and teens, whether it be through reading the books, watching the movies, or (most importantly to the franchises) buy the merchandise. Anne Galligan raised interesting viewpoints of how Harry Potter was able to shape America’s culture, and arguably, the Hunger Games accomplished the same goals of having a lasting impact over our culture. I wonder if it is detrimental to arguably exploit these adolescent books to be mass marketed to the entire world. Does the book serie itself lose something when factors for the stories are marketed to to public, or does it add something special to an entire country, or multiple cultures, with its popularity?