Impact of Harry Potter on Society

Many people all across globe have fallen in love with Harry Potter over the years, whether it be the movies, books, games, or any other of the novelties associated with the franchise. Most people, however, haven't thought how the books that started this global phenomenon, have impacted them. The Harry Potter book series has made an impact on numerous people throughout the world. From helping young readers develop reading skills, to captivating people around the globe, Harry Potter has something for everyone, which is why it is why it has reached so many people, and will continue to teach lessons to whom over comes in contact with the books.

As the series progresses there are increasingly difficult problems and language. For example, in the first book was about a young wizard who had family problems, such as no parents and an abusive foster family. Harry was also solving problems, and attending school. The first book used basic language. However, by the seventh book, Harry was battling the evil wizard, Voldemort, and his army. Harry had to cope with the loss of friends and to make difficult decisions. There was more complex language and problems by the last novel. The Harry Potter books have helped people develop reading skills, and will make people want to read.

I predict the books will provide an escape for everyday life and people will be able to immerse themselves into a fantasy world, making people want to read the book series. If someone has problems in their everyday life, they can escape these problems by reading about a fantasy world. Harry, also has his flaws and problems, but deals with his issues and overcomes them. This makes Harry Potter relatable to the reader, and shows that they can also overcome these obstacles. According to Sara Ann Beach and Elizabeth Harden Willner, The magical world created by Rowling draws young readers into the books by connecting aspects of the world in which they live with a world that transcends reality. Harry and his friends participate in such everyday activities much like an average kid. Although this seems like the life of an everyday kid, it also has things outside of our realm.

Since Harry Potter genre is fantasy, it will allow people to experience events they cannot experience in real life. According to Beach and Harden Willner, The nonhuman characters that inhabit both Hogwarts and the wizard world are the creatures of myth and fantasy, creatures that fascinate young readers. A huge three-headed dog guards the entrance to the chamber where the sorcerer's stone is kept. Unicorns and centaurs inhabit the Enchanted Forest on the edge of the school grounds. The school headmaster Dumbledore's pet is Phoenix, who bursts into flames and then rises from the ashes. This aspect can appeal to those who normally dislike reading. These books will appeal to the lifelong love for reading that can develop overtime. It can help a child get into to reading that would normally dislike the activity. It truly helps to captivate the reader. This can be useful to help impact readers develop a lifelong love of reading, and help teach other various lessons.

Harry Potter should also be able to help people empathize with others. One example is in one experiment, researchers studied attitudes toward immigrants, people often discriminated against in Italy, among a group of 34 elementary-school age Italian children (Nye, Lesley). The children were first given a survey about immigrants and then divided into two groups: One read passages from Harry Potter that included prejudice Draco Malfoy calling Hermione, a filthy little Mudblood, and the other read neutral passages. Among those who read the first passage and identified with Harry Potter as a character, tolerance toward immigrants improved. In the following studies, the researchers measured attitudes toward homosexuals in an Italian high school and toward refugees among British university students. Both groups showed a more positive outlook on the stigmatized group among Harry Potter readers (Nye, Lesley).

In the first two studies, which included younger participants, these attitudes were associated with identifying with Harry Potter as a character. Among the university participants, who were older than Harry, the researchers attributed the lower prejudice to dissociation with the negative character Voldemort (Kozlowska, Hanna). It can also teach people to stand up for themselves and others. In The Prisoner of Azkaban, Malfoy makes fun of Harry, and is cruel to him, so Hermione stands up for Harry by punching Malfoy. Later on in the book, Hagrid has a magical pet hippogryph, named Buckbeak. Hagrid brought him in to the magical creatures' class he was teaching so they could learn about him. Malfoy mistreats him, and resulting from it, Buckbeak attacks him. Malfoy's father complains, so they are forced to put him down. Harry, knowing that Buckbeak is innocent, saves him before he is executed, because it is the right thing to do. This is crucial reason why it has touched many lives, it truly makes people feel for Harry, and is highly relatable to the audience. Harry Potter' fans who love this story so much and then you see that story being represented in your own world, it's hard not to want to use it as inspiration (Yasharoff, Hannah).

One reason the Harry Potter series has impacted the world, is the sheer volume of Harry Potter has reached is absurd. Harry Potter's enormous amount of exposure has made it able to make an impact on maximum amount of people. This could be in part to Harry Potter being the fourth most sold book of all time. Facebook's data team did a survey, and the series about the Boy Who Lived was on a 21% of the 130,000 lists, making it what some have called the most influential book in the world. Harry Potter topped such standards as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, J.R.R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and the Bible. (Kozlowski). With all this exposure, it has had the opportunity to impact an immense amount of people. Harry Potter has an immense following, in part to various reasons. One being, the books have been turned into films. From these films, it has kept compounding, and growing. An example of this is in live action roleplay. There are groups that participate in live action role playing based on the series, which brings people together. Another example is that, there are numerous games, toys, and other merchandise for sale. At Disney World, they have even recreated a part of their theme park to be like Diagon Alley, with shops and various other places that allow people to feel like they are in the movie (Galligan, Anne).

Harry Potter has touched people across the globe and will continue to make lasting impressions on children. The sheer exposure of the books, movies, etcetera, has helped this book leave a lasting imprint. It will result in various people who now have a lifelong relationship with reading. It will teach people about empathy, and promote standing up for what's right. It will teach others that we may have our flaws, but at the end of the day, we can still be the hero and overcome our differences.

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