Harry Potter and Convergence Culture

Since the 1997 publication of the first Harry Potter novel, the “Potterverse” has seen the addition of nine feature films (with a tenth premiering in late 2018), the creation of the interactive Pottermore© website, the release of myriad video games, the construction of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, the publication of several companion books (such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), critical essays and analyses, and the 2016 debut of the original stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. This collection of new essays interprets the Wizarding World beyond the books and films through the lens of convergence culture. Contributors explore how online communities tackle Sorting and games like the Quidditch Cup and the Triwizard Tournament, and analyze how Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are changing fandom and the canon alike.

Amanda Firestone is an assistant professor of communication at the University of Tampa. Her research focuses on the heroine’s coming-of-age in Young Adult Literature.
Leisa A. Clark is a professor of arts and humanities, teaching diverse class subjects such as art history, media studies, and film history. She is the author of a variety of books, ranging from fictional comedic space opera to critical edited collections. She lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Edited by Amanda Firestone and Leisa A. Clark
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 223
Bibliographic Info: bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7207-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3253-7
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments xi
Preface (Leisa A. Clark) 1
Wizarding Whirled: An Introduction 7
(Amanda Firestone with Leisa A. Clark)

I. The Great Hall: Fan Spaces and Places
The (Virtual) Race for House Cup Glory: Hogwarts Running Club and the Journey to #SoMuchGood (Amanda Firestone) 23
Fiber Fiction: How Two Different Affinity Spaces Developed into Another Potter World (Gail A. Bondi) 35
Magic Goes Muggle: Inclusiveness in Quidditch as a “Spin-Off” Practice (Alena Brunner) 44
Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter: A Primer in Contemporary Media Concepts (Carissa Ann Baker) 55
It’s Real for (All of) Us: Wizard Rock and the Audience as ­Co-Creator (Anne Collins Smith) 67

II. The Forbidden Forest: Marginalized Outsiders
Inferior Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Shrinking of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws to Fit Gendered Space (Elise Payne) 77
Fitting Him for Leather Trousers: Fanon and the Reclamation of Draco Malfoy and Slytherin House (Kali DeDominicis) 89
“Witches live among us!” The Minorities Battle Prejudice in Fantastic Beasts (Valerie Estelle Frankel) 101
Fantastic ­Non-Wizard Entities and How to Other Them: Representations of the Other in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Haley Herfurth and Clair McLafferty) 114
Harry Potter and the Cursed Closet: Queerbaiting, Slash Shipping and The Cursed Child (Emily E. Roach) 125

III. The Professors’ Lounge: Creating Cultural Connection
Gaining the ­Grown-Up Perspective in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Tara Moore) 139
The Cloak of Many Canons: Establishing ­Cross-Contextual Canonicity After Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Katelynn E. Carver) 152
Of Memes and Muggles: Harry Potter, Facebook and the 2016 ­Presidential Campaign in the United States (Björn Sundmark) 163
Who Tells Me Where I Ought to Be? The Sorting Community ­Hogwarts Is Home and Pottermore (Jonathan A. Rose) 175
Muggles and Magic in America: Cultural Appropriation, Authorial Intent and Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Leisa A. Clark) 386

Epilogue: A Note of Caution Amid a Chorus of Praise for the ­Ever-Expanding Potterverse (Mary F. Pharr) 199
About the Contributors 207
Index 211

• “An interesting look at ‘Millennial’ culture, and an enjoyable case study of the powers of the Internet.”— Against the Grain