{"id":5437,"date":"2011-07-15T14:42:24","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T18:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=5437"},"modified":"2013-02-05T11:13:06","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T15:13:06","slug":"university-community-remembers-the-magic-of-harry-potter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2011\/07\/university-community-remembers-the-magic-of-harry-potter\/","title":{"rendered":"University community remembers the magic of Harry Potter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Muggles around the world will flood theatres today to see the final Harry Potter film, <em>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two<\/em>. As the Potter saga comes to close, UTC students, faculty, and staff take a look back on the life of the Boy Who Lived and the story that has bewitched their lives.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Dr. Abbie Ventura, Assistant Professor of English, has used the Potter series as a case study in her undergraduate and graduate children\u2019s literature classes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe series represents a lot of what\u2019s going on in children\u2019s literature right now in terms of both its literary merit and marketing. It\u2019s raised the bar on what a good book should be,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAuthor J.K. Rowling\u2019s success story has become the model that publishing houses and Hollywood studios look for. They want a quality book that bridges age demographics and can sell really well,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n<p>Though many are trying to emulate Rowling\u2019s success, Ventura cautions that it won\u2019t be easy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRowling was very conscientious. She\u2019s not just a great author, she\u2019s a great businesswoman. Instead of copyrighting her books, she trademarked them. Trademarking protects her work. That means she is in control. She gets to say which products are created and she gets the profits,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>According to Ventura, people are also trying to recreate Rowling\u2019s success too quickly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHollywood is aware that children\u2019s lit is selling right now. Film studios are gobbling up the rights to young adults books two weeks after they hit the market. It doesn\u2019t give these books enough time to get a loyal following on their own,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPublishing houses need to wait and see if people like the story for the story. Not for the lunchboxes, backpacks, and t-shirts,\u201d she advised. \u201cWith Harry Potter, the first film came out two years after the first book was published. We were able to appreciate the story first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Ventura, the appeal of the books rests with the classic underdog story Rowling uses throughout the series.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re all rooting for Harry. He\u2019s on the classic hero\u2019s quest that begins with special birth, continues with education with a mentor, trials and tribulations, a literal or figurative death, and finally a rebirth. The books blend humor, reality, and fantasy incredibly well. I think his story will amuse and delight children for generations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Roger Brown, UTC Chancellor, echoed Ventura\u2019s statements.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth my wife, Carolyn Thompson and I were avid readers of the Harry Potter books, and we have seen all of the movies, too. The attraction of the books is to watch the characters grow up and change as the challenges of life get ever more difficult and dangerous as we all experience in real life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the books will be classics because Rowling does not try to solve all of the life dilemmas for the characters. \u00a0Sometimes bad things happen to good people, but life goes on because we are essentially a species with faith and optimism,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<p>The current generation of UTC students have grown up with the series, following Potter\u2019s journey from the cupboard under the stairs to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to final showdown with arch-nemesis, Lord Voldemort, for more than a decade.<\/p>\n<p>Nyssa Hunt, a junior, began reading the books in elementary school. \u201cI like the books because there\u2019s so much detail that draws the reader into Harry\u2019s world and story. When I first started reading them, I couldn\u2019t put them down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Rachel Brosius, another junior who has read the series multiple times, agrees. \u201cThe narrative is so intricate. Something that you think is insignificant in one book plays a huge part in another book later on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Andrew Clark, a UTC senior, became hooked on the series after reading the first book in an elementary school class. \u201cI liked learning about Potter\u2019s world and culture as a child. It was a nice escape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jill Pennyman, a graduate student who became interested in the series in high school, likes the universality of the books. \u201cWhat\u2019s great about Harry Potter is though the books are set in a fantasy world, there\u2019s a character or a situation that anyone can relate to. We\u2019ve all been bullied, dealt with the death of a loved one, and gone through ups and downs of adolescence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Though many are excited about seeing the epic conclusion to the series in theatres, students are also experiencing bittersweet emotions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know I\u2019m going to cry. I\u2019ve always had a new Harry Potter movie to look forward to, and now that\u2019s gone,\u201d Brosius said, who plans to attend a midnight showing for the film, just like she has done for the previous ones.<\/p>\n<p>Hunt also plans to attend midnight showing in Chattanooga, but not before feasting on some well-known treats from the series.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy family and I are making butterbeer [a drink mentioned in the books] and chicken wings for dinner. Then we\u2019re dressing up in old graduation robes and sweater vests with wands we bought at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, Florida, this summer. We\u2019re going to be so nerdy, but I don\u2019t care. I\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unlike most fans, Pennyman does not have plans to see the last movie. \u201cI\u2019m too sad that it\u2019s ending. If I don\u2019t see it right away, I can postpone it for a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fans are also split on whether or not they would like to see the series continue in the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe epilogue in the last book wrapped things up for me,\u201d Pennyman said. \u201cBesides, with Voldemort gone, what would she write about?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brosius agrees, \u201cRowling set out to only write seven books. She already knew how the series would end when she was writing the first book. I feel like continuing would be more for the money than for the story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other students are eager to read more about Potter and his adventures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would be okay with more books as long as she doesn\u2019t stretch it out too much, like the <em>Shrek<\/em> series. She\u2019ll need to end it eventually,\u201d Hunt said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRowling could write about a new set of Hogwarts students, like <em>Saved by the Bell<\/em> did. It could be <em>Harry Potter: The New Class<\/em>,\u201d Clark joked.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Muggles around the world will flood theatres today to see the final Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two. As the Potter saga comes to close, UTC students, faculty, and staff take a look back on the life of the Boy Who Lived and the story that has bewitched their lives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><span><a class=\"more-link button text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2011\/07\/university-community-remembers-the-magic-of-harry-potter\/\">Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7712,661],"tags":[6805],"class_list":{"0":"post-5437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-faculty-and-staff","7":"category-students","8":"tag-harry-potter","9":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>University community remembers the magic of Harry Potter | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Muggles around the world will flood theatres today to see the final Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two. As the Potter saga\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"University community remembers the magic of Harry Potter | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Muggles around the world will flood theatres today to see the final Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two. 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