The Evolution of the Harry Potter Fandom- By looking at fan-made content on TikTok and the fan-fiction ‘All the Young Dudes’ (ATYD) on Ao3, my paper examines how social media platforms foster connection in the Harry Potter fandom, demonstrating how participatory culture, fan creations and platform affordances promote community persistence over decades.
Hi Eabha, your presentation revealed so much about the complexities of the Harry Potter fandom, some of which I had no idea about! It sparked quite a few points of discussion, which I’ve outlined below:
1. You touched on some of the earlier forms of internet community that arose when the initial books were released in the 1990s. I’m interested to hear your ideas on how communities form differently based on the affordances they’re granted. Do you think that the communities built prior to the introduction of modern social media platforms, such as the mentioned TikTok, Instagram and even A03, are different to what we see today? Do they require a deeper sense of knowledge of the source material due to the niche subject matter, or do they have just as low a barrier to entry as what is granted through modern social media affordances and fan creations? Because I noticed, especially during the ‘DracoTok’ rise in 2020, that there seemed to be a heightened interest in the Harry Potter fandom than anything I’d seen before, essentially creating a mainstream conversation from something that was previously not talked about as much online.
2. I love how the fandom has taken the source material and modernised it in their new media creations, through diversification and inclusivity that aligns with modern expectations. What do you think the divergence from canon to include LGBT perspectives says about the source text, and how should an author or creator view this take (not necessarily JK Rowling)? Do fans still rework texts to increase diversity in the modern day, or is it reserved for more dated texts produced at the time of increased scrutiny around these ideas? It will be interesting to see how the fandom reacts to the new Harry Potter series on HBO and if the show’s creators have taken on this reflection of the fans’ inclusive approach.
3. I particularly enjoyed your deep dive into the complex relationship between the LGBT community and the Harry Potter fandom, as it seems quite intricate. I was curious to see if you thought that, through social media’s affordances, queer fans were able to connect deeper with the source material than heterosexual/straight fans because of the deeper meaning the reworked content provides? Meaning that, are straight fans limited in their connection because a lot of the themes of this new fanfiction or social media culture are aimed at diversifying the story to align with queer experiences? And is doing this harmful to an entire subset of the community, or is it simply a reversal of decades-long perpetuated stereotypes?
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