13 Reasons Children Who Read the Harry Potter Books Are Better Prepared for Adulthood

“A textbook on combating major depression.” Why reread Harry Potter in 2020

July 31, 2020 marks the 55th anniversary of the famous British writer JK Rowling. It makes no sense to clarify that her main work is the Harry Potter series of novels about a young wizard and his friends. By the way, according to the book, Harry himself turns 40 years old on this day. Everyone read them in childhood, but will we now find something important and relevant in them?

We asked media consultant and creator of the telegram channel about books ReadMe.txt Ilya Klishin (he is also a huge fan of GP) to explain why adults in 2020 should re-read the seven books about Harry Potter.

Photo: Warner Bros.

First, let's talk about conspiracy theories. There are probably some wild variety of crazy theories about the Harry Potter universe. Some are completely stupid, and some are unbearably sad.

My favorite combines both. Its essence boils down to the fact that none of this happened. Nothing at all. Well, that is, an eleven-year-old orphan with a strange scar on his forehead sits, humiliated and insulted, in his closet under the dusty stairs and quietly dreams of iron-bellied dragons and goblin bankers, of magic, so to speak, and sorcery. Well, a little about the fact that he is the Chosen One.

If you think about it and then think again (from the point of view of the so-called “common”, that is, boring sense), then this version sounds extremely plausible. After all, many people had their own magical land in childhood. I even ended up splitting into three kingdoms: somewhere in my parents’ garage, under a broken sled and a telescope, that map is still kept.

Well, everything could have been like that here. No magic, just a game of imagination. Could it? It could.

Following this, it is reasonable to ask the question: so what? I mean, does the fact that it was all a play of the imagination (spoiler alert: it really was a play of the imagination - only JK Rowling) devalue all those sleepless nights with a book about the boy who lived, thousands of turned pages, long hours of looking at metaphorical movie holes, as well as spells, robes, assorted beans, chocolate frogs and butterbeer.

Photo: WikiCommons

Is it really possible to take all this and put it down (no, I’m not talking about JK Rowling’s tweets), that is, to say that it was ridiculous childish nonsense that does not help in life. And cross it out. In the end, serious boys and girls who are chasing success and a long buck now read only top non-fiction, and even better in the squeeze, because they always don’t have enough time and certainly don’t have the opportunity to sit back and re-read all seven volumes.

They will tell you how to build a successful startup with zero money in your pocket, how to increase your productivity by 400%, manage up to a dozen task lists and have up to a hundred smiles on duty. How to never go on vacation and sit in the office until midnight as a modus vivendi. How to show off, show off, then show off some more, and then a little more.

This is not to say that all of the above is terrible. On the contrary, some people like to fill the existential abysses of their soul with workaholic exercises. I'm just not sure it makes a person happy. Excuse me, white collar workers from White Square (let me not guess what you say to your highly paid psychotherapists). Well, you have become serious and rich. Forgotten Harry Potter and children's joy. And what? And nothing.

Okay, so be it, I’ll explain in your language the extreme benefit and exceptional usefulness (then you’ll have to remember to wash your hands). JK Rowling wrote more than just a children's book. It also has a second bottom. Just for you, just for you, you won’t believe it.

In short, this is a great autobiographical textbook about dealing with deep depression and cortisol storms . After all, maybe this story was not dreamed of by a sad orphan in a closet under the stairs, but it was definitely dreamed of by a middle-aged woman spending her days in a dubious coffee shop or an incomprehensible bar in order to climb out of her emotional bottom.

Only a person who experienced not just depression, but very severe depression, could describe dementors. These are not just panic attacks, but, let's be honest, suicidal attacks of darkness. When it seems that all the joy in the world is gone and will never return, when it is cold and scary. And the patronus spell, that is, the protector, is one of the psychotechniques that is taught to people with clinical depression. And Rowling was taught too. Immerse yourself in a happy memory. To the happiest. Even in such little things as a piece of chocolate after an attack by dementors, everything Rowling says is a paraphrase of the fight against depression (after such attacks, chocolate really helps a lot).

Still from the film: Warner Bros.

And dementors are just a very clear example. In essence, the whole world of magic and sorcery is a world of the depths of the psyche. Yours or mine. Any. Everything, absolutely everything is about it. Take, for example, platform nine and three quarters at the very beginning, where you can only get (!) if you believe that you will get there. Psychotechnics again: you will achieve success only if you yourself are ready to believe it. The same thing, by the way, with flying on a broom. Another incredibly effective psychotechnique is taught by Professor Lupine in the sixth book - laugh at what scares you. Try it, and the results, as they say, will surprise you.

And there is also extremely important for a modern person, for whom work and social networks invade private space, legilimency (that is, protecting one’s psyche from invasion). There is a pensieve, after all. I think you can continue this list yourself.

But one more thing is important. This is not just a list of psychological life hacks in the form of a fiction book about wizards. Well, that is, you can take it this way and try to apply them to yourself. Just for what? To be happier? More efficient? Richer? If you remember, in “Harry Potter” many people on the side of evil, voluntarily or forcedly, at some moments triumphantly come to success. Does this negate the fact that they are on the side of evil? No, it doesn't cancel.

In our era of moral relativism and already tired post-irony, in an era of new global instability, “Harry Potter” will not only help you get out of the bottom, if anything, but will also help you not to forget what truth is and what lies are, what good is and what evil is what is honor and what is betrayal.

Life after Harry Potter, or What JK Rowling writes about under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith

Carlo Allegri / Reuters
In 2007, JK Rowling put an end to the story of “Harry Potter” with the final volume “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” - everyone died, and those who didn’t die got married. True, since then the writer has repeatedly returned to her famous saga, creating prequels (the Fantastic Beasts film series), sequels (the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and other comments on the plot (for example, about Dumbledore’s sexual orientation or race Hermione Granger). It seems the only way to get behind Harry Potter is to finally come up with something completely different. And this new thing for her was a series of books about the one-legged detective Cormoran Strike. Everything here is like in adults: blood, love and slight criticism of modern England. But there is still more blood.

"Random Vacancy"

In February 2012, after an almost five-year break from writing, JK Rowling admitted to the BBC that she was writing a new book, “not at all like anything I’ve written before”: about how, behind the cute façade of a small English town, a real war is raging between everyone and everyone. everyone: parents and children, teachers and students, and first of all, rich and poor. “Harry’s success,” she said, “gave me the freedom to explore new territories.” “The Casual Vacancy” was released on September 27, 2012 and was indeed very different from everything that Rowling wrote before: in the struggle for the seat of a member of the local council, the heroes clashed more unpleasantly than the other. In the first three weeks, the book sold a million copies, but as soon as readers became convinced that there really was no magic in it, they stopped buying books - as if by magic. It turned out that although Rowling's name remains a guarantee of sales, it does not guarantee reader loyalty: as soon as she betrays Harry Potter, readers betray her.

Robert Galbraith. Start

Rowling's next book, The Cuckoo's Calling, comes out six months after The Casual Vacancy, and it's a mystery. For the series of books about Cormoran Strike, JK Rowling chose a new pseudonym - Robert Galbraith. “New” - because the books about Harry Potter, like “The Casual Vacancy”, were actually also published under the pseudonym J. K. Rowling - specifically so that it was not clear whether the author was a man or a woman. And then Rowling tried to be someone completely different herself: a man, a retired military investigator, who knows the world of crime firsthand.

The first name was borrowed from Rowling's favorite politician, Robert Kennedy, and the last name was taken from the fantasy name Ella Galbraith, which she created as a child. But above all, she wanted to maintain the intrigue: hide behind a pseudonym to see if she could succeed this time too. But she didn’t manage to be Galbraith quietly and anonymously for long - three months later the pseudonym was revealed: as it turned out, one of the lawyers of the law firm representing her interests blurted out to his wife’s best friend who was hiding behind Galbraith, and soon the whole of England knew about it. Rowling was furious, the publishers were happy. Before the leak, Rowling managed to sell only 1,500 copies of the novel and another 7,000 audiobooks and electronic copies, and on the first day after the pseudonym was revealed, sales increased by 150,000%. She herself, however, in a conversation with the BBC, claimed that Galbraith had been very successful before her and that she received an offer for a film adaptation when her real name was not yet known.

It is curious that, although his incognito status has long been revealed, Rowling continues to write on his behalf - and even give interviews. According to her, she had long dreamed of writing a detective story and five years of “Harry Potter” gave her enough time to play and come up with something truly different. Only now she does not intend to deceive the expectations of old readers, but wants to meet the expectations of new readers.

One-legged giant

Cormoran Strike is a veteran who lost a leg in Afghanistan. Having survived post-traumatic stress and a stormy, incredibly long affair with the aristocratic Charlotte, he opens his own detective agency in London. His secretary is Robin Ellacott, a young, very attractive girl with a good figure and blonde curls, who has dreamed of becoming an investigator all her life. Pretty soon she turns from a secretary into Strike's full-fledged partner. This was the beginning of The Cuckoo's Calling, the first novel in a series of detective stories about Cormoran Strike, of which, Rowling promises, she already has at least 10 in her head (so far only four have been written).

Rowling borrowed the name of the main character from folklore - that was the name of the giant whom Jack defeated by going to heaven along a beanstalk. Rowling likes to repeat that the hero himself would prefer a simpler name, like Bob, because even the heroes of the saga cannot pronounce the name Cormoran and call him Corm, and his sister calls him Styx. The son of a rock star and a groupie drug addict, Cormoran spent his childhood in squats, his mother was probably killed by his stepfather when Strike was 20, and Strike himself, although successful with women, never wanted to turn relationships with them into anything something more serious. His relationship with Robin is a running theme throughout the book series; they seem to be attracted to each other, but the friendly trust between them is worth more. Robin, by the way, has also been traumatized since her youth, when she survived rape, and after she is attacked by a maniac in the third book of the series, “In the Service of Evil,” panic attacks are added to the trauma. Characters with trauma are incredibly important to Rowling in general: almost every character in her books, both children's and adults, bears a scar, visible and invisible.

Harry Potter connection

Perhaps the most important thing to know about the Strike series is that it is actually very well written. In general, Rowling has one strong point - the plot, and one weak point - the language. Her style can always be identified by all sorts of rough edges, unnecessary pronouns, and a clutter of adjectives, but in the detective genre, no one needs the ability to write cleanly and beautifully. What is needed here is a plot, and a more twisted one, and a completely convincing fictional world - and Rowling can do this. Before she starts writing, she lays out the future plot in tables: a separate table for characters, a separate one for evidence, a separate one for a coherent plot line, a separate one for a set of tricks that will distract the reader from the plot, and also a roll call of symbols that seem to make up second page of the book. Each book turns out to be more difficult than the previous one, and turns out to be an increasingly exciting attraction. Perhaps the main thing that connects Strike with Harry Potter is not even the scars, but the opportunity, within the framework of a fascinating genre, to talk about the state of society in general, about how we treat women, the poor, migrants, our cult of money and celebrities and Where could this all lead?

Detective without a detective

Another thing that Rowling is very talented at doing is mixing different genres. Harry Potter was a children's fairy tale, a fantasy, a coming-of-age story, and a powerful political satire. “The Casual Vacancy” was by all accounts a political satire (the fight for a seat on the city council exposed all the problems of a small society), but ultimately the fight between the characters turned into a kind of detective story without a murder - the reader still had to figure out who, who and what. The first detective stories about Cormoran Strike were almost classics of the detective genre: in the first book, “The Cuckoo's Calling,” a model is brutally murdered; in “The Silkworm” a writer is killed in a sophisticated way, repeating the plot from his last unpublished novel; in the third, "In the Service of Evil", Robin and Strike pursue a maniac who stalks them, leaving parts of women's bodies in his wake. But in the latest book, Deadly White, Rowling completely departs from the classic detective scheme: there is no crime for a very long time.

At the beginning of the novel, a mad visitor comes to Strike with a story that as a child he saw a child strangled and buried, soon after him the Minister of Culture Jasper Chiswell appears and asks for help against a colleague who is blackmailing him for something that could previously be done, and now you can't. Robin goes to work undercover at the Ministry of Culture to dig up incriminating evidence on the blackmailer himself, and for about 500 pages of the 700-page novel we read not about who did what, but about who is related to whom. We are hinted at - but not shown - the most unsightly things, in order to show something completely different in the finale. It must be said that the heroes themselves become entangled in this avalanche of knowledge, hints and characters. “Why do we know so much?” - Cormoran Strike asks his assistant, who cannot connect all the events into a single whole. “That’s life,” she replies. - We have suspects - each with their own personal secrets and problems (...) it does not follow from this that all the facts must fit perfectly. Most likely, some facts are simply not relevant."

Masses versus classes

If the reader can forget that Rowling herself is not of blue blood and before “Harry Potter” she was a single mother who could barely make ends meet, then she never forgets this and never misses an opportunity to hit the aristocracy harder. The heroes of Deadly White are an aristocratic family settled in shabby living rooms with traces of former English luxury. Aristocrats give their children fancy names and stupid nicknames: the children of the Minister of Culture Jasper Chiswell are called Isabella and Sophia, nicknamed Izzy and Fizzy, and Fizzy's children are called Pringle, Flopsy and Pong (although the first is called Peregrine, and the second is Florence, the third, most likely , also a completely normal name). “Stunning! - Strike exclaims. “Some kind of Teletubbies.” However, high society is outrageous not only with its stupid nicknames. First of all, they have power, which they often abuse: either they steal money from a charitable foundation, or they grab pretty boys between the legs. And Rowling cannot help but marvel at the hypocrisy of these people, who are ready to turn a blind eye to real crimes: “Strangling a child is welcome, but hurting a horse is a no-no.”

Dead children and white horses

In Rowling's novels, irrelevant facts become important, especially in Deadly White, where they are generously scattered throughout the body of the novel. For example, all the heroes are paired up: two sisters, two brothers, two partners, two opponents. Or the symbol of a white horse - sometimes it physically gets in the way of the heroes, sometimes it appears in the name of a pub, sometimes it appears in a painting that could well have belonged to the brush of George Stubbs, the main master of white horses in English painting. Or dead children - one heroine gave birth to a stillborn child, others had a daughter commit suicide, others had a son die in the war, and some children were completely lost a long time ago, only to later turn up alive in other counties. By the way, the very title of the latest novel, “Deadly Whiteness,” is about horses and dead children: “A snow-white foal is born, seemingly healthy, but in fact with a defect. With intestinal obstruction. (...) Such a foal does not survive - it is, one might say, deadly whiteness. The tragedy is that the baby is born alive, the mare begins to feed it, becomes attached to it, and then...”

Non-resistance to evil

Rowling's novels are remarkable not only for their structure - although everything here is very thought out, all the names and actions of the characters are written out in tables, and Rowling never starts writing if she doesn't know who was where and how it will end - but above all for their non-obviousness. If there is blood and dismemberment here, it is not in order to amaze the reader with it - she is always ready to amaze him with something else. If the main characters are attracted to each other, it is not so that they end up merging in an embrace. If it denounces English politics, classism, the abuse of men against women and the laws of high society, then the novel does not become propaganda. But the most important thing is that not a single one of her novels turns into a battle of good and evil. Which is even surprising after Harry Potter, so clearly divided into good and bad. However, even there everything was not so simple: Dumbledore, as we recall, ended up with the rotten one, and Snape, on the contrary, is a kind soul. A social crime novel, be it France or Scandinavia, is always ready to throw the gauntlet in the face of the world, to blame the system, the state, society. Rowling is simply sincerely interested in this strange device of this world.

Why hasn't Harry Potter and the Cursed Child been made into a movie yet?

The fantasy franchise, which Harry Potter creator J. K. Rowling and Warner Bros. have continued to develop for several years now, focuses mainly on the past, the “backstory” of the series - the new “cornerstone” franchise has become the “Fantastic Beasts and Where Them” franchise inhabit,” which is set in the decades leading up to the era of the Boy Who Lived. Most fans are simply glad that the world of Harry Potter is at least somehow developing, but there are also those Potter fans who still dream of seeing the heroes of the original series on the big screen after completing their studies at Hogwarts.

Purely technically, Rowling and Warner Bros. have material for film adaptation. already exists - “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is actually the 8th book of the Potter series. The story was written personally by JK Rowling, and then several productions were staged based on the script in different countries around the world. In the United States, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has become one of the most popular productions on Broadway, and therefore many fans, and with them film experts, are wondering why the studio has not yet decided to film a story that is already bringing in so much money ?

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child premiered on the London stage in July 2020. The play's script was written by award-winning screenwriter Jack Thorne, and was based on the story of JK Rowling herself. Even before this, in April 2020, JK Rowling met with the management of Warner Bros., and fans then suspected that the parties were agreeing on a potential film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It was later revealed, however, that negotiations were being held over the Fantastic Beasts franchise.

If you've heard anything about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, you probably know that this story has much more to do with the original Potter series, Harry Potter and his family than with the franchise, which has already released two films about Newt Scamander and Fantastic Beasts.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child once again tells the story of Harry Potter, who went from being the boy-who-lived and savior-of-all-Britain to being a busy employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children. While Harry himself faces the consequences of a past that refuses to remain, his youngest son, Albus, struggles with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present meet and mingle, father and son must learn the truth: sometimes darkness can be found in the most unexpected places. Here's what the cast of the sequel looked like:
Harry, Albus and Ginny

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Ron, Hermione and Rose

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Draco and Scorpius

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This lengthy plot description alone would probably be enough to get dedicated Potter fans once again lining up for cinema tickets to see the continuation of the story that officially ended in 2011. Surely many would be interested to know what happened to Harry Potter and his family 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts. So why does Warner Bros. and JK Rowling decided to instead focus on the adventures of Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts prequel? Experts believe that Warner Bros. decided to adhere to a more competent financial strategy - diversification.

Let's look at the facts. The Harry Potter fandom is still alive and well, and although the prequels to the Wizarding World saga do not boast the same high level of quality and viewership as the Harry Potter films, there is a market to be capitalized on with the planned 5 films ( the script for which is also written by Rowling herself), is still quite large. As long as JK Rowling's brand and writing talent remain involved in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, we can safely assume that fans will continue to show up in theaters.

Rowling and cast at the premiere of The Crimes of Grindelwald

Everything will become obvious if you compare the Potter series with Disney's Star Wars. Remember what happened when Disney tried to release Star Wars movies every few months - each subsequent film was increasingly criticized, and Solo, which told the backstory of the iconic hero Han Solo, completely failed at the box office. That's why Warner Bros. prefers a linear franchise development strategy - strictly one film a year, or even one and a half to two, so that the finished product turns out to be as thoughtful and high-quality as possible.

Well, the last and, probably, the most important reason why we are unlikely to see the film adaptation of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” on cinema screens in the next few years. The thing is that this story still makes a lot of money on the theater stage. Now this production can be seen in 3 cities around the world - London, New York and Melbourne. Two more will follow in 2020 - the premiere will take place in San Francisco in October, and this spring in Hamburg, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will be staged for the first time in a language other than English. Just imagine how much money Warner Bros., which owns the Potter rights, will make from this.

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Making a film of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child right now is like making a film version of the acclaimed musical Hamilton: yes, it may be a good idea, but it will become an even better idea when enough time has passed since the theatrical debut - or even when she will leave the theater stage altogether. Otherwise, the film version will only take away income from the theatrical version. Hollywood producers have long understood this and continue to adhere to this rule. For example, “The Phantom of the Opera” took many years to migrate from the musical format to the big screen, “Les Miserables” took even longer, and “Cats” began to be adapted for the big screen almost 4 decades after the musical’s theatrical premiere - and will be released in December 2019. So there is hope that someday we will still see the film adaptation of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” on the big screen - but we definitely shouldn’t expect this in the next few years.

Rowling spoke about adult Harry Potter

Harry Potter is 34 years old and getting divorced; Hermione is an exemplary careerist, and Ron Weasley does not want to work with Harry at the Ministry of Magic. And that's not all the sensations from the new story written by JK Rowling. Is the writer really hinting at a possible continuation of the seven-volume Potter series?

Harry Potter has a new scar on his cheek, two handsome sons and a divorce from Ginny Weasley on the horizon. Ron and Hermione are doing great, and the latter has had an amazing career. Neville Longbottom innocently teaches Herbology at Hogwarts. Harry Potter fans call the report from the Quidditch World Cup final published on the Pottermore website the main book news of the last five years. On behalf of Daily Prophet journalist Rita Skeeter, Rowling told the details of the lives of the grown-up heroes. The stylization of newspaper material is perfect! Every paragraph of Rita's article is peppered with the standard "rumored", "as we have been told" and even "we are not commenting on the work of the Ministry of Magic's top-secret laboratory, as we have told you no less than 514 times, Ms. Skeeter."

What is still known about the heroes? Harry Potter with two sons (James and Albus), but without his wife Ginny Weasley, arrived at the Quidditch World Cup and was accommodated in the VIP building. He is 34 years old, his hair is slightly gray, but he continues to wear his round glasses, despite the fact that they are much more suitable for a “twelve-year-old nerd.” He works in a secret laboratory at the Ministry of Magic and seems to be doing more than just shuffling papers. The famous lightning scar has company: Harry Potter now also has a cut on his right cheekbone. There are two options: either these are the consequences of family scandals, or top-secret activities.

Ron Weasley is married to Hermione Granger. He recently changed his activity profile. After working with Harry at the Ministry of Magic, Ron went into business - together with his brother George, he runs a store of magical items. Hermione is pursuing an administrative career and already holds the position of Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic. Neville Longbottom is married to Hannah Abbott and has settled at Hogwarts.

Something is also known about the fate of minor characters, but only positive ones. Luna Lovegood is married to Rolf Scamander and they have two twins. Bill Weasley is married to Fleur Delacour. Their daughter appears to be friends with Harry Potter's godson, Teddy Lupin.

How's Malfoy doing? And, most importantly, what have you heard about Voldemort? These are the most important questions that Harry Potter fans ask each other. A small newspaper article is clearly not enough for them. Hopes for a possible continuation of “Potteriana” are inspired by a phrase dropped by Rita Skeeter:

“So what are they hiding? Is the Chosen One once again surrounded by some secrets that will one day fall upon us like a bolt from the blue, plunging everyone into horror?”