Harry Potter and the Fanfiction Community

Here I am three years after the release of the last book in the Harry Potter series, writing about the still strong Harry Potter Fanfiction Community. I thought it would have died by now or have become irrelevant to many fans who have been satisfied by the completion of the series. I was wrong.

Where do I fit in to all of this? I loved Harry Potter Fanfiction back in the day when we only had four books in the series. It was fun to be able to turn to a source to get more Harry Potter to read. Now, the writing was not as good and sometimes the story lines were ridiculous, but it was comforting to just find more to read. Also, when the series was only half over, fanfiction was a way to play with the 'what-ifs'. What will happen? What does this one clue mean? Authors could explore it through fanfiction, be wrong, and then be able to market their story as "Alternate Universe."

So, what are some common traits of the fanfiction community?

Shame/Pride/Anonymity

For this ethnography, I spoke to a good friend who used to read fanfiction at the same time as me. We both discussed how embarrassed we were about it. It was our kind of secret that we didn't want to tell anyone. We were teenagers at this time, using our family's computers. We would both delete the browser history because we were too embarrassed to be confronted by the rest of the family - even though the rest of the family would have absolutely no idea what that text meant. Strangely enough, my friend and I would never talk about what we read together - we just knew we both read fanfiction. It was too personal to talk about the alternate universes we imagined, but I think it's because we felt some shame about our dream hook-ups. Why? Well, they were so improbably and not based on the books that it was silly. Draco is not going to be sensitive, people.

However, in visiting the fanfiction world outside my circle, I see a sense of anonymous pride. Authors hide behind the constructed identities of screen names and avatars, but there is a sense of community. For example, fanfiction.net has a forums section that is split up among what kind of situations (or relationships) people like to read. Each of these forums has thousands of posts relating to writing challenges (ideas for authors), recommendations (I am a reader and I just read this great story; you should read it too!). For the most part, people involved in the fanfiction community seem to view their participation in the community necessary for keeping it alive. It is not a self-sufficient place. Members are needed to promote stories, keep the community alive through non-fanfiction communication and by keeping writers writing through story ideas and challenges. Most importantly, the goal of the Harry Potter fanfiction community seems to be keeping the series alive. We were all disappointed that the series ended, especially since the epilogue was disappointing to a lot of people who participate(d) in the fanfiction community. It's their duty to erase the epilogue and keep it the series alive in some strange alternate reality.

A Chance to Write and Not Develop

Now, I can honestly say I've never written fanfiction. I was always a passive user, but that's because I had too much shame to write anything. However, what I have noticed in a lot of fanfiction writers is the lure of being able to write a story and not have the develop the characters. It's a great entry and practice for developing writers. They do not have to give the characters any attributes because we know them already. They don't have to describe most of the setting, because we know it already. The truth is, all they have to do is write a coherent plot and it's a readable story for many people.

However, a lot of the characterization introduced in the actual series gets ignored. Or explained. Draco may be sensitive in a fanfiction and that is explained away because "Harry just didn't know the real Draco." The reader suspends his belief and accepts it, because honestly, we don't want to read a story about a shamelessly mean person anyway, but we are intrigued by his character. Most fanfiction doesn't exactly match up with the real series, in either characterization or content, but that's alright since it's a fantasy world spurned by a fantasy world. Fanfiction isn't really viewed as a knock-off of books, it's more of an exploration or a chance to say, "What if?" It's a way to get that awful epilogue out of your brain.

Skellig Response

I was very torn about this book. I kept having this conflict as to whether I liked it or not. I think there are two factors: I had difficulty suspending belief and I kept waiting for something to happen. Everything just happened so calmly and peacefully that I expected some form of tense conflict whenever I turned the page. I was wrong.

The question I ask myself, then, is was it a good book? Yes. It was. It was a really good book. But, for some reason, I had difficulty getting into it. I had a problem turning the pages and wanting to know what came next. To me, it felt like a story that passively unfolded and then tied itself up in a nice bow. There is no more supernatural left to explain at the end of the book; yes, Skellig is still a mystery, but Michael and Mina just accept he is a positive mystery and move on with their lives.

I think I also did not love the book because I read it as a text with religious undertones. Personally, whenever I interact with a text (film, TV show, book, etc.) with a mysterious, helpful being that might be an angel (but also might not be), I always am a little put-off. I associate these texts with cheesiness (even though Skellig was not cheesy) because they usually have the ‘I am a human and I can’t do anything for myself; why have I been trying all these years?’ motif to them. Skellig, thank goodness, did not have this as all the confirmed humans in the story really didn’t need Skellig, but he did provide support. Just because Skellig had the ‘Is he an angel or not?’ question to it, made me automatically put it in the same category. I suppose it’s my loss for being inflexible while reading it. It’s my loss because, even though I know it is a beautiful and well-written story, I just could not enjoy it on a personal level.

When I look at Skellig critically, I have many more positive things to say about it because I can fortunately take myself and my opinions out of it. I can see why Skellig won the Printz award; it is so unlike any story I have read, especially a story meant to be read by a younger crowd. I want to compare this story to Out of the Dust, because it is one of the very few novels where I can tell each of the words were carefully chosen. David Almond paid great attention to the aesthetics of the words. He uses simple vocabulary and sentence structure, but he arranges the words in such a beautiful way. The description on the back said it’s told in lyrical prose; I’m not sure I would ever be able to identify it as that, but I can see some of the techniques that give this book both a distinction (Printz award) and a category of lyrical prose.

For example, Almond uses alliteration (“I held my hand to my heart.” on page 141; honestly, though, you can open up to any page and find an example) and lyricism (“We sat on the front wall waiting for Dad’s car to turn into the street”). The whole book sounded like and felt like a song.

Beyond the sound of the book, this book had a very adult feeling that I believe young adults would enjoy. This book’s main character was only ten, but the book dealt with adult themes (life, death, humanity, nature) and general things young people do not have much experience with, such as William Blake, ornithology, and decay.

Though, this brings up the question, is it over their heads? Perhaps, at first, but I do believe if students have initiative to do some research about some of the unknowns in the book, or if adults answer questions for students, they will get a lot out of this book. They will get more out of this book than I did. I hope so, because it is a beautiful book and I hope more people like it more than I did.

The Graveyard Book Response

I loved this book! I am a huge fan of Harry Potter and I put The Graveyard Book into a similar category. Both involve orphan boys with malevolent beings with dreams of world domination out to get them. Both are this strange realistic fantasy genre where the real world exists and interacts with their worlds, but the fantasy worlds are contained within borders. With fantasy books like that, it’s easier for me to buy into the fantasy worlds. I can suspend my belief better than with a book like Skellig where the fantasy is too intertwined with reality.\

To me, this book was just a fun read. It was 300 pages, but it didn’t drag. I didn't understand every word (some I had never even seen before!), nor did I understand everything that was always going on in the book, but that didn’t stop me from just reading straight through and enjoying myself. This book didn’t feel like work to read; it felt like a break or a reward.

I’m actually surprised I had not heard of this book before I read it. This book feels like it would be very popular with a lot of kids. It feels like it could be turned into a movie (after researching, it is supposed to become a movie). It’s even been the New York Times bestseller and winner of the Newbery Award - so why haven’t I heard of it before this class? I’m not sure, but I will make sure to pass this book on to students and adults, because I’m sure most will feel the same as I do, especially if they are fans of fun, humorous, well-written fantasy.

I enjoyed how well this book fit into the fantasy genre - the graveyard is its own world, governed by its own rules and secured by its own boundaries. This book is about a fight between good and evil and how good can triumph evil with teamwork, ingenuity and caring. Most importantly, what works well for this book is its importance it puts on the human world. Bod is alive and needs to live in his own world; therefore, he cannot stay with the world of the dead forever.

The reason I bring this out as a positive of the book is because I have to juxtapose it with another fantasy novel, Twilight. My biggest complaint about that series was the glamorization of the vampire world. There were no drawbacks to that fantasy world and it made me feel as though being a human were a terrible thing.

The Graveyard Book does not do this; it celebrates life. The graveyard is an exciting place with great stories and beautiful places, but Bod will be able to go back to the graveyard in time. Life is so short and precious that it is imperative that he lives it while he still has the chance. This may involve leaving his family and friends behind, but he cannot miss out on something so wonderful as life.

I also feel that I need to comment on the structure of the novel. When I first started to read it, I thought the stories were disjointed snippets. I appreciated when I saw the ends created from the other chapters tied up. There is no smooth transition from chapter to chapter, but each chapter is important in making the ending believable to the reader. Everything mentioned in the book had a purpose, even if that purpose was just to show the importance of being human and the consequences of mixing the worlds of the living and the dead (as in the case of Bod going to school). Although, now that I think about it, what was the point of the danse macabre? Perhaps it was just to show Bod is not dead, even though he can consort with the dead and harness some of the powers the dead have.

Facebook Addiction

Alright - I admit. I use Facebook all the time. It's become a ritual; I log into Facebook the same time I log into my e-mail. This is the first action I take every time I go on the Internet or even just use the computer. I need to write a paper - okay, well, after I check Facebook. I need directions - what's on Facebook? I need that recipe for French Dip again - oh hey look who's getting married! It's a great tool because I can stay in contact with people who are too busy to pick up their phones, like me. Also, I have a lot of friends around the country due to me and them moving all around.

Here is where I construct who I am to the outside world - I put my stats about my life, what I'm doing and what I believe. The problem is, it's not always really me. Facebook makes me censor myself since I know everyone else's stats and beliefs. I don't want to offend them. I don't want to list my religious or political beliefs because now my parents are on Facebook and I don't want them to think I'm their terribly raised daughter.

I know TOO much about people now. I also know how they have no shame in driving me nuts to improve their farms. That's why I wish I could change Facebook into just a contact source, like a cell phone or a letter. I want to be able to notify people on Facebook and then converse with them in a more private setting. Unfortunately, I like gossip too much, so I depend on other people's 'too much information' for my entertainment.

For students, I feel that Facebook can be a good lesson in audience, both intended and unintended. The students may write to a specific audience, but it will be read and (mis)interpreted by a wider audience. This can lead to a lesson in creating a more specific audience (i.e. don't post in the extreme public!) or by writing to a more diverse audience (what kind of words and what kind of structure to use).

Luna Response

I was really excited to start reading Luna. I am a big supporter of GLBT rights, to the point where I get really emotional about it. I get really upset whenever I hear about students’ suicides in the news because they were bullied for being gay, or another set-back in making marriage a legal right for all consenting adults. I have too many friends who are affected by this mindless hate.

I know too many good people who perpetrate this kind of hate, too; they don’t mean to be discriminating or hateful, they just believe they are standing up for their own convictions. For example, my father is a great guy. He’s very loving, a great father to my sister and me and now a great grandfather to my niece and nephew. He’s very caring and would sacrifice many things so that his family would do better. My father, however, doesn’t understand the queer rights movement. He believes it’s wrong and there’s no other way to argue about it. It is against God to not be heterosexual.

This is why I was so excited about this book. To me, I saw it as a gateway to get readers to understand the confusion of gender identity our friends, family members and peers feel. I was excited to see a text that explained the lack of choice in having a different gender identity or sexual preference. The reader sees Liam and his two choices: pretend to be something he’s not and be miserable, or become the woman she is meant to be, be more self-confident and have a better life. The circumstances the book presented makes Luna’s choice easy. Of course, she should have her sexual reassignment surgery: what’s the point for her to live as Liam?

I do have to say that after reading the book, I have mixed feelings about it. I was so happy that it put a necessary topic out there for teens to think about; unfortunately, I thought the book quality was a little sub par to what we have been reading. I think I have become a little spoiled with the fantastic books we have been reading throughout the semester; this book’s writing just seemed a little flat compared to them. I could not picture the character’s in my heads; their predicaments seemed a little contrived to me (really, Liam just has all this money? I know he’s earned it, but in reality, Peters wants me to just swallow that he has $100,000 sitting around?) or a little stereotypical (sports-crazed dad, pill-popping mom).

I believe the book does improve towards the end. At first, Regan’s complete acceptance of Luna seems a little far-fetched to the reader with the type of GLBT-intolerant family background I come from. When Regan struggles with Luna’s needs, she seems like a more real character.
I feel as though I’ve bashed on this book too much; that’s not what I meant to do, because I am thankful to have read it and to be able to put it in my future classroom’s library. I think the distance from Liam’s or Luna’s thoughts were necessary, in a strange way, for the reader to accept his decision to leave and go through with his sexual reassignment surgery. I don’t want to admit it, but I think most readers (including me) would be put-off if the story were told through Liam’s point-of-view. I don’t feel like I could completely understand his gender confusion.

Regan, however, gives us the lens of Average Girl. We see her brother’s transformation through her eyes and we are more able to accept it. She accepts him, loves him, gets frustrated by him, but most importantly, supports him. He’s a loving guy who only wants to have the life he’s meant to have. As a reader, how could we read this and reject him? It makes us feel guilty. Thank you, Julie Anne Peters, for giving LBGT teenagers a voice. I hope some kids learn some extended definitions of compassion from her books.

Moms in Media

MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS ACTIVITY:

This activity is meant to get students thinking about stereotypes and how we passively accept them. This can work for any media representation, but I will use moms for my activity. I will tell each student to draw a picture of a mom; they won't have to put their name on it so it will stay anonymous. They will crumple up these pictures and toss them in a pile on the floor or into a hat if the students go too crazy throwing paper. The teacher will then unfold each drawing and make a list of the attributes on the picture. For example, if the mother is wearing a skirt, the teacher will write skirt on the board and put a tally mark beneath it. If another picture has the mother wearing a skirt, the teacher will put another tally mark there. The teacher can do this with as many or as few categories as she wishes. At the end of this assignment, there will most likely be a lot of tally marks in a category. The teacher will then ask students to think of the mothers they know and think about whether they fit into this category or not. The teacher will then ask where these stereotypical images appear. The students will then free write about the differences and similarities between real mothers and media-created mothers.

2010 - Fear of Brown People

Here's a collection of the most racist political ads this election cycle. ARGHGH!

Critical Analysis of Wife Swap

Wife Swap is a show that picks a subject and shows two wives on opposite poles of that issue. The wives switch families and everyone gets really mad because they believe their extreme pole is the right pole. For this critical analysis, I will critique this clip of Wife Swap through a feminist and semiotic analysis.

Feminist Analysis

What does it mean to be a woman? Or a wife? Or a mother? More importantly, what does it mean to be a good one? Although this clip does not explicitly state a proposed answer to this, viewers can infer an opinion.

The mother (in this clip, only known as Grandma) of the other wife (Paulette) storms into the kitchen and begins moaning about the terrible things the visiting wife, Elizabeth, has done. Her initial critiques are on the cleanliness of the kitchen, the presentation of the cooking dinner and the overall state of the house and family. She makes it known that she and her daughter believe this is the definition of a good woman, wife and mother. Elizabeth disagrees.

The strange thing about this clip is its focus. Yes, it's not hard to understand that a show about two wives who have different ways of defining wife would focus on traditional feminine roles, such as cleaner, cook, and childcare provider. This clip, however, focuses more on these roles than the women themselves. We do not learn about these women beneath the visible surface. We do not see how their definitions of woman have been developed. Instead, we only see the overflowing pots and food-encrusted counters. The grandmother says, "My daughter vacuums everyday!" These women are defined by their roles; the editing of the show, with its emphasis on surface actions, reminds us of this too.

Semiotic Analysis

As I mention in my feminist critique, this show represents the roles of women as a binary. In this clip, we have the clean wife versus the sloppy wife. The show does not have a game show format, but it invites the viewer to choose a side by providing arguments for and rebuttals for each definition of wife.

In this scene, we have the sloppy wife (Elizabeth) meeting the mother of the clean wife (Paulette). To show the binary of the two definitions of wife, the show uses semiotics to visually show the division between the two roles. The show uses two primary locations in this clip: the kitchen and the porch. The grandmother and the Elizabeth have agency in one location and not the other: the grandmother can critique Elizabeth in the kitchen while Elizabeth can critique the grandmother on the porch. Both of these locations are representative to their definitions of the word 'wife.' Additionally, these two locations draw on the cultural code of who belongs where: the sloppy wife outside of her home and the clean wife in her kitchen. Having two different locations also brings the idea of a binary back into play; the two women have polar opposite views and cannot reconcile.

Classroom Approach

I am very interested in how cultural codes and gender are constructed by media; I want my students to think critically about this too. If I were to use this clip and these analyses for instruction, I would begin by asking students to define wife, woman and mother and begin thinking about why their definitions are what they are. My objective is to deconstruct the strong binaries presented in this clip. To do this, I would ask students to first notice all the different binaries in the clip - age, setting, cleanliness, clothing, etc. - and through this, we will have a discussion as to how gender roles are socially constructed. We will explore how this clip constructs gender roles and the danger of polarizing them.

Response to Folklore - Sukey and the Mermaid (for Adolescent Literature class)

I am so confused. I am including by response to The People Could Fly first:

I was a little unsure about reading folk tales. I did not have much experience with them previously; the ones that I did read, I never liked too much. I tend to dislike stories with undeveloped characters and simplistic plot lines. Characterization is one of my favorite parts of all narratives and so I feel a little sad when I read the interchangeable characters. Really, if we were to dissect it, we could change the names of any of the characters in the folktales (which happened frequently) and most of the attributes. The jokester is always the jokester; the villain is always the villain; the hero is always the hero. I have realized in reading these folktales that this is not the point and it is unfair to critique these tales by standard literary merits such as character arcs, plot developments or use of language. I will go into this further in the critical section of my response.

I am still not a huge fan of the folk genre; that’s simply due to what I enjoy about reading. As I said before, I enjoy arcs of all kinds and folk never seems to have this. I can say, however, that Virginia Hamilton’s collection of folktales has given me a greater respect of the genre. I had to take a look at the history of the tales, the vernacular they are written in, and the idea that they are meant (as most folktales are) to be remembered and shared orally with a group. Folktales are more than just stories; they are historical sources that aim to interpret the thoughts, feelings and desires of a group of people at a certain time in history. Additionally, their stories are not so different from the types of stories I like to read; many folktales serve as the basis for the archetypal characters we might see in today’s fiction. Perhaps today’s characters and plots are more fleshed out, but we can see folktales as a dot on the timeline of the history of fiction. These are the beginnings of fiction when books either didn’t exist or were unusable by the population.

The People Could Fly is an excellent collection of folktales. Virginia Hamilton makes these tales accessible by the readers by providing a commentary at the end of each story. Sometimes she explains the origination of the tales; sometimes she discusses some variants among regions. No matter what, she provides a sense of history and importance to these folktales.

This brings me back to the idea that I cannot criticize folktales as I would other types of literature. These tales give us a synopsis of what African Americans of the mid to late 1800s considered entertaining and inspiring. The book is broken down into four sections: animal tales, fanciful tales, supernatural tales, and tales of freedom. In connecting all four of these sections together, certain themes, such as work, freedom and family begin to emerge. I feel, though, the most important theme to emerge is the small overcoming the large. Many of the stories deal with the individual, unremarkable man getting freedom from slaves masters, the devil or magical beasts through uses of unknown magic, good fortune or plain wit. To me, this seems like a commentary on the lack of agency and power in the African American communities at this time in history.

These folktales are important to preserve because it is apart of American and African American history. The stories originate from the West Indies and Africa and develop as they are retold around different regions of America. It is important to preserve these stories and understand the voices of the slaves. The oral storytelling may not be as prominent as it once was, but Virginia Hamilton and others have done an excellent job at preserving these stories in an original structure and dialect.


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For my choice book in the folktale unit, I chose Sukey and the Mermaid by Robert San Souci. I read this book before I read The People Could Fly and I’m still not sure if that was the best decision or not. I suppose it doesn’t matter and I should just be grateful I read both. Reading The People Could Fly, however, gave me a better insight into Sukey and the Mermaid.


I enjoyed this book as an experience. I tend to not enjoy reading folktales because I enjoy developed characters and plausible plotlines. Folktales usually drive me a little crazy with their simplicity, even though I understand the historical and cultural significance of them and the nature of their oral pasts. However, the big, bright illustrations really created an enjoyable experience for me. I hate to say that folktales are more enjoyable in a children’s book format, but I think it works better that way for me. It forces me to let go of my initial reaction of approaching the text with the intent of analyzing and criticizing it using forms of literary critique. It allows me to first appreciate the story for what it is and then go back and critique it.




After reading The People Could Fly, I can say this tale appealed to me more emotionally than any of the tales in Hamilton’s books did. First of all, the protagonist was a little girl; this was something I was sad to not see in Hamilton’s collection. All of the tales in Hamilton’s collection seemed very man-centric; the only women included were mothers, witches or wives. Additionally, the abuse came from the home instead of the plantation and the isolation of the island made the tale made the tale connect with me more emotionally. I felt for Sukey and wanted her to have a good life.



This tale is definitely a good example of a folktale and could have been easily included with Hamilton’s tales. The story derives from a West African tale that has been influenced by the Caribbean and American South. It is written in the dialect of the Sea Islands of South Carolina’s coast. Its protagonist is a person who has very little power, but gains power and good fortune through the mystical: this time, a beautiful, black mermaid named Mama Jo.



Sukey, like many of the protagonists in The People Could Fly, faces difficulty in being isolated on a small island, being a black woman, and being abused by her step-father. Her encounter with Mama Jo is a way to escape her oppression. The interested twist Sukey and the Mermaid takes, however, is the idea that a problem-free life is not necessarily as wonderful as it sounds. Mama Jo takes Sukey beneath the water to live with her, but Sukey begins to miss the land, her family and her home. Despite escaping from her hardships, she asks to return to them.



On land, Sukey faces more difficulties as her step-father murders her fiancé for the sack of gold Mama Jo gave Sukey. This story does not stray too far from the norms of the folktale genre; the story has to have a happy ending. It does as Mama Jo’s magic brings Sukey’s fiancé back to life and the evil step-father dies. Everyone seems to live happily ever after.



In reading this story, it’s easy to notice the similarities between it and other fairy tales, especially Cinderella. Sukey may be a Cinderella figure, but she still incorporates the characteristics of a Southern black folk figure. She uses her cleverness to escape from bad situations; she uses magic to aid in making her life better, but she uses it wisely; she has a dedication to family and community; most importantly, she does not become mentally overwhelmed by her hardships. Her body gives out before her will. She is a strong woman and any reader cannot help but cheer for her happy ending.