The day before yesterday was Harry Potter's birthday as well as JK Rowling's, who in my opinion is not a transphobic, but has an opinion that isn't popular with the masses, and that's fine. I support her rights and freedom to express her thoughts and opinions, whether I truly agree with her on that is irrelevant and will not stand in the way of respecting the woman for who she is. I also support the LGBTQ community.
Okay, so now that is out of the way, I want to honor both the author and her famous character. While Harry Potter has so much to give in its themes and morals that help its readers to become better people each day, the one thing I want to focus on most is what makes Harry Potter a classic. I covered this in an academic paper, but I will not go into too deeply here and just touch the surface with this. Now, we can truly go deeper in the comments section if you'd like.
I am not saying that I won't talk about the morals and themes. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Usually what makes a story a classic is their timeless themes and morals. Key word "timeless", meaning these messages are ones that humanity has never gotten never tired of hearing and must continue to hear them. I know saying this sounds odd. True, none of us want to hear the same lecture over and over again, whether it is from our parents, teachers, or even the local priest or guru. Yet, the way non-didactic stories do this is where we learn them in an entertaining and an emotional way.
Didactic means when a story's primary purpose is to teach. Harry Potter, Star Wars, and many other great stories' primary purpose is to entertain; the lesson is a delicious bonus that makes the story all the more memorable and loved. Trust me didactic stories can't do this very well, at least none that I'm aware of.
Harry Potter deals with timeless universal themes like death, love, discrimination, friendship, teaching, and much more. It has taught countless readers that death is inevitable, but the only way to truly conquer it is through love, and it isn't about love bringing the person we lost back, but rather honoring the people we loved in life through how we live. "It is our choices, Harry, that show us who we truly are, far more than our abilities" (Rowling, 1998, 333). Dumbledore's words ring true in the actions of the other characters in all seven books and in the real-world people.
However, it isn't enough to have these powerful themes written across the pages. It is also essential to have the entertaining stuff like magic wands, dragons, playing Quidditch, sneaking through Hogwarts at night, and having butterbeer and banter with friends. These moments make lessons all the moral powerful and meaningful.
On top of this, they have things that are things we associate with the story and want to have like butterbeer, chocolate frogs, house scarves, and character wands. A perfect breeding ground for merchandizing and creating recipes.
Another big aspect, are characters we can connect with and relate to. Characters have to be laired and complex, not black and white. Snape, Draco, Harry, Ron, and Hermione prove this alongside a number of other characters. It is why we love them, because they're flawed, making them more human and relatable.
Combine all this, you have a story that is worthy to be remembered, reread, rewatched, and have posted on all our mugs, shirts, and walls. Years ago, after the last Harry Potter film was released, people wondered would this series become a classic. It was probably too early to tell, but at the time when I wrote the paper, I knew it would become so. I knew this simply for these many reasons. It has been proven through a Broadway production, theme park, Harry Potter stores slowly opening around the world, Fantastic Beasts films, and now a TV series. The stories are filled with rich world-building we wish we could live in, colorful characters that we can connect with, and themes that help us navigate the real world. This is why, today, it has been proven that has becomes a classic. And it always will be one. Always.
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