While reading this article by Jenkins, I am reminded of Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 where books were burned in an effort to suppress the birth of dangerous ideas. Religious institutions that wished to ban the Harry Potter books were working towards the same kind of censorship created by the firemen in Fahrenheit 451. Then the extinguishing of ideas stems from Warner Bros working to stop the appropriation of Harry Potter. Obviously, even with both sides working to reach their goals, fans will continue to find ways around such restrictions. If you tell a child not to do something, he or she will inevitably do it. It’s basic psychology.
As Jenkins states, the existence of books like the Harry Potter series does indeed help spark a child’s interest in reading and writing. However, it seems that kids these days aren’t really picking up books as often as they should. For me, the adaptation of books into film has caused a decrease in the amount of reading being done by this generation. Why read the books when you can watch the movie? This can be said of many novels these days: The Chronicles of Narnia, Twilight, The Hunger Games. The trailer of The Hunger Games trailer has sparked curiosity in many viewers but there are several people who would much rather wait until March 23rd rolls around instead of pick up the trilogy.
In reference to Heather’s appropriation of the Harry Potter franchise, why stop her? She’s an example of the positive influences of the media world. In addition to inspiring an interest to improve one’s writing skills, Heather offers the company a mean of transmedia storytelling. In a way, her little Hogwarts newspaper is a form of free advertising for the Harry Potter franchise.
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