I find the movies helped smooth over HP's flaws when it comes to pop culture's memory.
If I may, I feel the movies are largely downplayed in this discussion of "Was Potter ever good?" or "How did anyone fall in love with such problematic stories?"
To start with, Warner Bros. As an American studio was able to bring the stories to life both for the UK and USA with all their marketing prowess at the time. Of course, marketing is all well and good but if it doesn't appeal to a solid audience, it's destined to fizzle out.
Many who’d (maybe) heard of the books but never bothered (mostly adults) found the films to be, well, enchanting on their own. And while books fans have certainly had their gripes (they say calmly), the actors, the music and visual effects artists brought Rowling’s stories to life in a a way elevated what they already liked.
You think of Daniel as Harry, Emma as Hermoine and Rupert as Ron. They’re that iconic as the characters. Things like the fatphobia and SPEW were cut out or at least trimmed down so movie-first fans wouldn’t be keen to scratch their heads as much.
Things like the action and magic were played up as reading it was one thing, seeing it before your very eyes was another. I bring it up because when it comes to Rowling and Harry Potter, we're only ever talking about books with her questionable proses as well as certain descriptions that, well, tell on her essentially.
This was inspired by James Woodall's "What Does Harry Potter Mean Now?" video which I highly recommend. I feel like it's important to keep this conversation going and to especially keep it as nuanced as James and others does here.
Especially in terms of why Harry Potter caught on to begin with and especially with marginalized people. We should ask why did we like it just as much as why we should move on because looking at our past helps us with the future we want.
