With the near ten year gap between the release of Deathly Hallows, and the arrival of Fantastic Beasts, is there an “Inbetweener” Potter Generation?
The gap between generations has been slowly collapsing over my lifetime, as technology speeds up. When I was a kid, the space of a “generation” was considered twenty years. Nowadays, the space is more like ten. And for the fans of Harry Potter, some argue, not even that.
To be fair, the nine year space between Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and the Potter revival this year was an awfully long and dark time, even if Warner Brothers did release three Potter movies during it. One could argue that the space between was really five years, from The Deathly Hallows Part 2‘s release in 2011, to Fantastic Beasts release in 2016.
But some argue that the space between those releases was a time when a generation of children came of age, to young for the Potter novels in the prime, but now too old for the Beasts movies as they arrive. In an article on Mugglenet, one of those talks about life as, to steal the title from a UK show “an Inbetweener.”
Part of their issue are fans who claim things like “You’re not a true fan if you never went to a midnight release.” For those who were too young to go to such late night bookstore fests, this is isolating–it’s not their fault they weren’t old enough. And for them, Fantastic Beasts is the stuff they can mainline as it comes out. So for those fans who pooh-pooh the new stories, it can feel isolating once more.
I sympathize with those who feel like they missed out coming and going with potter, and suggest to those hardcore fans who wish to deny them entry into “true” Potter fandom to consider how hurtful such behavior is. Not only hurtful, but selfish, and self defeating. J.K. Rolwing would certainly not approve of such exclusionary behavior.
Image via Tumblr
We’ve all seen this meme from Tumblr and laughed. But don’t forget–in Rowling’s world, those who celebrate Pure Bloods and try and keep the “less pure” out are the bad guys. Always.
There is no “conventional” way to consume Potter. I know Potterheads who discovered the series after it finished as age 45, and others for whom Fantastic Beasts will be all but finished by the time they are in high school. I know people who lived through the original releases and never went to a midnight party because they had jobs to go to the next day. There’s no right or wrong way to love the world of Harry Potter.
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It’s not about when you find the Wizarding World. Jacob, for instance was an adult when he eyes were first opened to the magic that had been all around him and he’d never known. It’s about loving it no matter what age you are, and consuming it any way you wish.