Hufflepuff!

I'll be honest - I was a little stumped by this week's blogging question. Then today I was talking to a friend about Harry Potter, and she mentioned to me that Pottermore has released new content about the wizarding communities in North America but, according to her, the whole thing is focused on the USA.

For anyone who doesn't know, Pottermore is a website that operates parallel to the Harry Potter books. It's full of extra content, sort of like the deleted scenes in movies, about everything a Harry Potter fan could possibly want to know. The website interface is smooth and seamless, obviously designed for easy access.

 

As you can see, I have been "sorted" into Hufflepuff. Below my profile page is an image of some of the extras that are available. 

But here's where I get confused. What exactly is Pottermore for? It doesn't strike me as kid-oriented; the articles are much to Buzzfeed-like to be for kids. So it's a site for adult fans. Fine. But now I'm confused about what Harry Potter is. Once upon a time, Harry Potter meant books written by one author. Pottermore succeeds in blurring the lines between the books, movies, and all this extra content. 

I won't believe you if you tell me that J.K. Rowling writes all the Pottermore content. There's no way that's physically possible, even if she does take most of the credit. 

You'll notice in the second screenshot the combination of movie stills and illustrations. The stills make me think there is no line anymore between the books and the movies. They have been melded into one mass-market thing. But that's still not quite right: it's not like there aren't stills of giants or of the Great Hall or the ghosts. In which case, the mixing is deliberate. 

The implication of something like Pottermore is that it's full of behind-the-scenes information about the Harry Potter world. And it is. Kind of. Mostly, though, Pottermore is a marketing tool. For example:

It's promotional material. And it's not always super-obvious:

You'd have to be looking to catch that this passage is an excerpt from Harry Potter Page to Screen. But it's there. And as far as I can tell, they really just want you to buy the book. The site is designed to look like a user is getting the inside scoop, but all that's inside the candy casing is a store, not unlike the iPad's book app as demonstrated by Steve Jobs. 

And then, at the bottom of the page:

Do you let readers into the world or do you hold them just outside of it? Reading Harry Potter was a much more immersive experience than using Pottermore is, although the sorting and wand-choosing features belie that slightly. It's not random that the first page is the sorting and wands. That's the hook before things get serious and you find yourself booking tickets to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Pottermore has me grasping at loose ends, trying to wedge myself further inside the Harry Potter world than it is possible to go. And the Pottermore creators know that the user's weak spot is nostalgia. 

Even so, the irony is clear to me: Pottermore gives away all the answers. Part of what made Harry Potter so wonderful was that there wasn't always an explanation for everything. It was magic. And now my brain is suddenly full of "behind the scenes" articles that let me in on all the magician's secrets. 

Sources:

https://www.pottermore.com/