Transforming Harry: The Adaptation of Harry Potter in the Transmedia Age

Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Series

by John Alberti (Editor), Andrew Howe (Contributor), Cassandra Bausman (Contributor)

Transforming The Adaptation of Harry Potter in the Transmedia Age is an edited volume of eight essays that look at how the cinematic versions of the seven Harry Potter novels represent an unprecedented cultural event in the history of cinematic adaptation. The movie version of the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , premiered in 2001, in between publication of the fourth and fifth books of this global literary phenomenon. As a result, the production and reception of both novel and movie series became intertwined with one another, creating a fanbase who accessed the series first through the books, first through the movies, and in various other combinations. John Alberti and P. Andrew Miller have gathered scholars to explore and examine the cultural, political, aesthetic, and pedagogical dimensions of this pop culture phenomenon and how it has changed the reception of both the films and books.

Divided into two sections, the volume addresses both the fidelity of adaptation and the transmedia adaptations that have evolved around the creation of the books and movies. In her essay, Vera Cuntz-Leng draws on feminist film theory to explore the gaze politics and male objectification operating in the Harry Potter movies. Cassandra Bausman contends that screenwriter Steve Klove's revision of the end of the film version of Deathly Hallows, Part II offers a more politically and ethically satisfying conclusion to the Harry Potter saga than the ending of the Rowling novel. Michelle Markey Butler's " Harry Potter and the Surprising Venue of Literary Critiques" argues that the fan-generated memes work as a kind of popular literary analysis in three particular the roles of female characters, the comparative analysis of books and films, and the comparative analysis of the Harry Potter series with other works of fantasy.

While the primary focus of the collection is an academic audience, it will appeal to a broad range of readers. Within the academic community, Transforming Harry will be of interest to scholars and teachers in a number of disciplines, including film and media studies and English. Beyond the classroom, the Harry Potter series clearly enjoys a large and devoted global fan community, and this collection will be of interest to serious fans.

Genres: Nonfiction, Harry Potter, Audiobook

212 pages, ebook

Published May 7, 2018

About the author

John Alberti is professor of English and chair of the English department at Northern Kentucky University, and he has published widely in the areas of cinema studies, writing studies, and popular culture. He is editor of Leaving Springfield: The Simpsons and the Possibility of Oppositional Culture, and the author of several titles including Screen Ages: A Survey of American Cinema, Masculinity in the Contemporary Romantic Comedy: Gender as Genre, and The Killing.

Reviews

[libraryofjonna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

most of the essays did their job and were interesting enough to not bore you but didn’t really manage to capture me beyond that. chapter 2 “”elder” and wiser” was absolutely brilliant though! I spent about 2 hours completely immersing myself in it because I found it so interesting.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

While my review may be slightly biased since I helped write the seventh chapter, I’m really basing this rating on the other six chapters.

This collection of essays on Harry Potter are truly fantastic. Each one explores and expands on the phenomenon of the series as it - and it’s fans - grew up with the internet, developing media forms, and the film adaptations. All of these had a profound effect on the fandom and how fans interpreted and interacted with the series and each other. The book is split into two parts. Part one discusses the focus of Harry Potter in pop culture, the rejection of power in the filmic representation of the destruction of the Elder wand, and how the films challenged the basic subject/object concept of gaze politics. Part two explores the various forms of adaptation and critique of the series including the film franchise, fan websites, theme parks, spinoffs, and fan work such as memes, GIFs, and fanfiction. The final chapter of this section analyzes how fans participate with and make memories within these digital and physical spaces.

“Harry Potter has become a definitive text in the transmedia age, and it continues to serve as a focal point for discussions, debates, and theorizing about what we mean by reception and adaptation. Books and movies, “the page” and on “the screen,” in the end describe not only two particular modes of textual reception; they challenge us to ask what isn’t a screen in the age of digital reproduction.”

[Gianella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the essays were more catching than the others. Chapters 4 and 5 were quite interesting, Chapter 2 started ok but it quickly derailed into something that honestly was so out of thought.
In the end, the essays were essaying. It's an ok book.

[Kayla · Rating 1 out of 5]

One essay (on the Elder Wand in both the books and movies) was interesting (although unnecessarily long), and the rest of the book was a waste of time. I skimmed large chunks.

[Megan ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was alright but the essays on fan culture were very overly explained and outdated. the only fanfic they mentioned was my immortal!! that's outrageous.

[Arjun]

Bookmark...
October 17
In terms of visual imagery
Storytel
Chapter 1
-16.21

[Téa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5⭐ some of the papers were really intriguing and interesting but some kept repeating themselves like they needed to up the word count and seemed to drone on