Harry Potter!

[timmystood]

A little Harry Potter Poll!

 

[boozybears]

hmmm.. I clicked 'no' in the first poll as I've never read any HP books. But it won't let me finish the poll since I can't answer the second one.

Anychance of editing the second and adding a 'none of the above' category?

 

[timmystood]

Cannot edit poll once it's created -- sorry, I should have put that!

 

[Arfie]

Read them Boo, you'll enjoy them and they are better than the films, like most books.

Arfie

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I saw the first film and nearly left half way through it was that crap.

I have read all the books though and to be honest the kind of merge into oneanother for me (as I am sure it's meant to in a way) but I like the recent turn of events almost as much as I like the excitment of the first book.

 

[timmystood]

The poll is edited so the second question can also be answered by people who haven't read them!

Thanks to Annatastia for editing it.

 

[willtang3000]

harry potter used to be good but after the 2nd they werent cause its mostly the same old story aaa scary weird guy going to kill me

 

[Jessica13]

I read the first one when it came out, and it was ok, but i couldn't get past about the second chapter of the second!

My friend managed to talk me into reading them again and told me to at least finish the second, so i did! I managed to read all of them no. They're not really my thing, i prefer Stephen King or Dean Koontz But they're fun. I've seen all the films cos my friend drags me along, she's obsessed with Harry Potter!

 

[PeterM]

I like the books but I have to say... theyre nothing special. I really dont understand the mania - Imagine if Terry Pratchetts Discword series was made into big-budget hollywood films. Theyd be awesome!

Apparantly Good Omens and the Wee Free Men are on their way to the hollywood style bigscreen, and not th Cosgrove Studios style animated series.

 

[SirMinion]

I like the books but I have to say... theyre nothing special. I really dont understand the mania - Imagine if Terry Pratchetts Discword series was made into big-budget hollywood films. Theyd be awesome!

Apparantly Good Omens and the Wee Free Men are on their way to the hollywood style bigscreen, and not th Cosgrove Studios style animated series.

Wee Free Men is in pre-production right now, but sadly Good Omens has been stuck in Development Hell now for nearly 10 years.

Such a shame as it was being directed by Terry Gilliam and woul have been seriously fantastic.

What killed it was the Studio requesting to Terry P. and Terry G. that all references to the bible, God and the Devil be taken out because it would be poorly recieved in the southern United States.
A story about armaggeddon without referencing them is impossible. So that's the end of that (for now at least)

The same thing happened when Terry P. was in talks with Disney to bring Mort to the big screen but Disney asked Terry to re-write it without Death in it. Terry walked away.

 

[Arfie]

I think you're looking at them wrong Peter, I read the 1st 3 before the 1st film came out, actually in under 2 weeks

And bear this in mind, they are childrens books that have captured the imagination of millions children all over the world along with millions of adults too, what other books have managed that? Sure, many books are ready by different generations, but rarely in such large numbers with kids and adults into it at the same time.

Arfie

 

[PeterM]

I also read the books before the films, just to find out what all the fuss was about, and I wasnt much impressed. The story is good for sure, but there are aspects of the books that just dont endear me - long drawn out periods where the books get very page-skippable and bursts of action that are too short and easily missed. I think the exception is book 3 though - I actually really enjoyed that one and rate it very highly!

I question how much of the success of Harry Potter is due to its marketing and pomotion. There are thousands of excellent books that are practically unheard of sitting on shelves that would make absolutely amazing films and could also capture the minds of many. The lord of the rings series for example was written a long time ago, before modern promotion and merchandising / marketing. As soon as it became apparant that the LOTR series of books had a huge cult following, the big budget films were made (excellently ) and much profit was had.

These days, anything that looks like it could potentially be the next biggest thing is given all the hype necessary to float it if it does take off. If it doesnt, then it doesnt last and is blown into obscurity.

I seriously think that the Harry Potter series lucked out on its popularity. It grew from good book to well-read good book, and made it into the media enough to gain a modern cult following. After all, if the person who decided to use the HP novels in schools had simply read another series of books, the media coverage would have been much less for HP, and who can say that the cult following would have grown any further from then on? I think that the fact that there is only one such phenomenon as HP speaks in equal part for how lucky its been as well as for the quality of the stories. You couldnt make something like the HP mania out of nothing, but it doesnt take the best book in the world to produce a money-making machine. Its abit like the publising companies have taken a lesson from the music industry and promoted something easily promotable so much that it is basically guaranteed to be a knockout success while it lasts.

Dont get me wrong here though, Im not blamming the books or even saying that theyre not good. They are certainly good, and well worth the read, its just that I dont rest the success of the series entirely on the strength of the writing. At least in some part its success comes from its marketing and presentation to a dual audience. They come bound one for adults and one for children after all, this is nothing more than marketing and money-making. How many other authors are treated to such priviliges from their publishers? To my knowledge, the books came bound in this fashion from the first print.

 

[boozybears]

The poll is edited so the second question can also be answered by people who haven't read them!

Thanks to Annatastia for editing it.

Thanks

 

[prankster705]

I have read all of them, I liked the 6th the most (I have read it in 1 day).

 

[SPLiSH]

I love Harry Potter - I've read all the books at least twice, Goblet of Fire is my favourite. I've seen all the movies except Goblet of Fire, which I'm going to see this evening!