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One of Steve Vander Ark's book, after the Harry Potter Lexicon case

In Search of Harry Potter by Steve Vander Ark

I thought I’d do a book recommendation for those of you who like such things. :)

This book is a must read for any Harry Potter fan. It was recommended by a fellow Potterhead and I am now passing it on.

Follow Steve as he attempts to find the places mentioned and hinted at throughout the series. As a creator of the Harry Potter Lexicon he knows his grindelows from his goblins which will delight any Harry Potter fan. Going on little information he manages to guess the locations of Grimmauld Place, The Burrow and many more, keeping the magic alive.

            Although there is little proof that any of Steve’s deductions are what JK Rowling had in mind, it’s a very interesting read. As a British citizen and Londoner I found it particularly fascinating as I followed Steve around.

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lmao this is so embarrassing … all i can think about lately is drarry

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Sexualisation and Fetishisation

Fan-fiction and 'shipping' is debated as being unethical, due to the sexualisation of relationships of characters and actors. One example that comes to mind is the 'shipping' of One Direction members Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, as 'Larry'. The boys were underage at the time, or just turning 18, with an influx of teenage girls overanalysing every one of their interactions and arguing that they were dating as a result of this - Louis Tomlinson himself confirmed in a 2017 Seventeen article (Noelle Devole) that this shipping "ruined his friendship with Harry Styles". "Louis said the fear that fans would overanalyze every minor interaction between the two stars caused them to stay away from one another. "It created this atmosphere between the two of us where everyone was looking into everything we did,"".

The fetishisation of young gay men is a prevalent theme in fan-fiction, with most of these relationships being 'shipped' by teenage girls. Although this may not appear to be fetishisation at a first glance, when looking into 'ships' such as that of 'Danisnotonfire', a YouTuber, and his partner 'AmazingPhil' shipped as 'Phan', it is evident through the language used these grown men are infantilised through homoeroticism.

Fans have commented on this, because it is clear to see the obsession with Phil Lester, 'AmazingPhil' as being infantilised through the content posted by fans about him:

(Source)

In relation to Harry Potter, sexualisation is more of an issue due to the nature of the characters being underage, yet written about in sexual scenarios:

(Source 1 and 2)

Although the content above is explicit, the warnings on these fan fictions connote the nature of the content these teenage girls are writing about. As Gina Tonic states in Vice, 2019, "When it comes to celebrities, however, overexposure in the public eye makes it easier for fans to separate their 'famous identity' with that of an actual, tangible human persona." This is evident in the fandom culture we see today online; due to digitalisation, the communities have grown but not necessarily for the best. There are also many stories with problematic themes prevailing, such as rape, incest or kidnapping - a similar theme within the porn industry, promoting these questionable ideas around sex and relationships to a young audience, while also creating an uncomfortable environment for the actors who portrayed these characters, who have to acknowledge these fantasies people have about them and the role they play.

While not all fan-fiction and aspects of fandom have this dark side, it is important to acknowledge the problems of creating a community where people feel safe posting what they want is not necessarily the great idea it seems to be. Although fan-fiction is a good outlet for young girls to explore ideas about relationships, sex and sexuality through the use of either fictional or non-fictional characters, these works are published in a public domain where they can have damaging effects. As Tonic puts it; "As with our dirtiest dreams and desires, fetishes and fantasies, it seems fan fiction really needs to remain in the private, fictional realm rather than the public eye."

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Pros and Cons to Fan-fiction

Whilst fan-fiction is a popular media outlet for fans, there are both pros and cons to contributing to fandom in this format:

Pros:

It is a creative outlet, to get people's interest in reading and writing up. Although some people tend not to read books, they may rather read fan-fiction, as it is about something they know they will be interested in - whether this is a fictional relationship or their favourite characters.

Instant feedback and praise for writers, encouraging them to continue their stories and pursue their interest.

World and character building - for example, fans used fan-fiction to create their own endings as J.K. Rowling didn't satisfy them with a 'good' one.

Cons:

Minors are often sexualised, particularly within Harry Potter fan-fiction given the characters' ages, as the story was set whilst they were at school. Furthermore, J.K. Rowling had lawyers complain about the sexual nature of fan-fiction - "by putting in the sexuality, the humour and the irony that the original tales often lack, these writers can change the way some readers see the works, and not always negatively," (Natasha Walter, The Guardian, 2004).

Time-consuming for the authors of these works, as they often work for free.

Many authors are against fan-fiction, as a means of protecting their ideas. For example, George R.R. Martin (the author of Game of Thrones) states "I am not a fan of fanfiction" (quoted by Dan Selcke, Fansided, 2019), arguing that "in his day, fanfiction was something you called fiction written by fans, rather than what it’s come to mean now, which is fiction that uses characters and worlds invented by other authors". Essentially, R.R. Martin is arguing that it is not the way to come into writing, by using other people's characters and stories, stating it is similar to "riding a bike with training wheels". His other objection is copyright. Many authors share these views, as they are protective of their own work and characters, and do not want their stories bent out of shape.

A lot of criticism is out there online, as evident from the backlash fan-fiction writers face from the authors of their favourite novels. But, also, there is such thing as trolling online, putting people off writing altogether as the internet can be a toxic environment.

Also, a lot of writing is sexual, as previously stated, and although minors themselves may be writing this sexually explicit content about characters who are minors, ethical issues are raised around the content of sexual fan-fiction, and whether it should be written at all.

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Made some of the POC characters (and characters that I imagine as POC) from Harry Potter. Designs are inspired by Michele Rosenthal’s illustration style.

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Hermione Granger!

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Hermione on her first day in the wizarding world

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150 POINTS?.?.!.!!

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The digital revolution and the history of fandom

The triggering of the digital revolution started in the 1990s due to the exploration and emerging of technologies. This drastic shift from analogue, mechanical and electronic to digital has transformed the world, enabling wider and more accessible online practices. This has led to the rise of the unanticipated “near zero marginal cost phenomenon” where digitization has increased incentive for people to express themselves online, a space that is cheaper and more accessible. Undoubtedly, this has opened up boundless opportunities for creative expression for fans and fan practices, increasing the circulation of online stories and videos of particular work about the characters or universe – such as the Harry Potter series.

Historically, the practice of fandom can be traced back to the 1960s with the Star Trek series, through fanzines and conventions. Many also trace it back to Lisztomania/ Liszt fever in the mid 19th century, where fans became obsessed with the composer Franz Liszt. Nevertheless, the first fandom “power” where fans became active producers/ prosumers can be seen in 1893 with Sherlock Holmes, where fans started their own stories about him after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed his character off. This social activity allowed fans to build their own community and as Jenkins (1992) states, consolidate fans’ increasingly important status as “active producers and manipulators of meaning”.

Although fandom and fan practices were certainly apparent before the digital revolution began, technology and its centrality to our everyday lives in this day and age has enabled widespread access to fandom/ fanfiction. This has allowed consumers to increasingly become prosumers, giving fans more power to express themselves online, as well as offline. For example, the 2019 movie trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog received so much online controversy (such as YouTube reaction videos and articles) for its visuals that fans’ feedback led to the remake of Sonic and the pushback of the film by nearly a year. Jeff Fowler (Sonic director) stated that “… just seeing and hearing the feedback, that fans were not happy where we were at.”

Therefore, evidently, the digital revolution has communicated the importance of fans and their role as prosumers, giving them a powerful voice online and facilitating online creative expression.

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fan fiction is SO addicting to people with ADHD because our brains aren't innattentive, they're just constantly searching out sources of dopamine because we don't produce enough on our own. fan fiction supplies us with an endless archive of free stories - long and short - containing characters we already love and we can just devour story after story after story one after another and it feels SO GOOD.

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Copyright and the Harry Potter Lexicon

According to the U.S Copyright Office, “Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression.” It is also “originality and fixation”.

The digital revolution has enabled an increase in copyright due to increased circulation of original works. This may serve as a subjectively unnecessary barrier to entry for fans, limiting their potential to creatively express online.

Arguably, fandom and fan practices don’t compete on the same market as the original work, as it is a form of non- commercial creative expression that doesn’t interfere with producers’ economic incentive. It furthermore aligns with copyright’s goals of “originality and fixation”.

Yet often, fandom can also be an infringement to copyright, as the use of characters from an original creative work is a creation of derivative works that is illegal under copyright law (McCardle, 2003). The trademarked characters, plots and settings in fan work may closely resemble those in the original work, potentially affecting the author’s future works and creating competition for the original producer. The Harry Potter Lexicon – a compiled encyclopaedic website of Harry Potter characters, references and facts relating to the book (Chua, 2007) is an example of this. The derivate author was fined, under the argument that the fan work had a constructive and transformative purpose, rather than just purely derivative. This consolidated the fact that online fandom and fan practices that may threaten authors works can be persecuted.

Additionally, the Lexicon, according to Judge Patterson (the US District Court) was a commercial product designed to be profitable, therefore “weighs against a finding of fair use”. Rowling, testified that the Lexicon took “all the highlights of [her] work… all the things that are the highlights of [her] stories.” Yet Vander Ark (publisher of the Lexicon) argued it was all under the demand of Rowling’s fans. This raises the question of whether the digital revolution has enabled fans of particular works to have too much influence on the original producers, and what “fair use” even is.

Conclusively, digitization has led to wider access and a subsequent rise in online fan practices, which increases potential copyright infringement, as more work is posted online and can be readily accessed from all over the globe, such as with the Harry Potter Lexicon. As a result, copyright may threaten the online fan community and have a negative impact on fan practices, limiting fans creative expression and overall reducing fan activity.

harry: it's like my life is just one long series of unfortunate events

lemony snicket: hey, that's copyrighted

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Bisexual Harry Potter ◡‿◡✿

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Queer Harry Potter Headcanons No One Asked For That I Don't Even Know Why I Have

• we all know this by now but Harry is such a bisexual. he's a bisexual mess throughout the entire series. are you telling me he didn't have a crush on cedric and bill?? he also totally found tom riddle hot as fuck before he knew who he actually was.

• ginny is attracted to women. I haven't decided label she would use but like. she digs the women. I genuinely consider this to be canon since in the fourth book it is described that everyone except hermione covered their ears when the veelas did their allure thing. so ..... ginny like the ladies

• trans boy ron. I base this entirely by a post I saw on tumblr ages ago. ron complaining about back pain due to his binder and hermione performing some kind of pain relief spell. his brothers giving him their old clothes and when he starts hrt they give him tips on how to deal with puberty.

• nonbinary luna. I mean come oooonnn. xem just going wild with how xe looks to confuse people. wearing only a binder and a skirt. dressing really masculine and makeup. being super feminine but wearing a binder and packer. luna just ..... living xem best nonbinary life. also yes, xe uses xe/xem/xer pronouns.

• lesbian tonks. now I know; I'm upsetting everyone who ships her and lupin. but I always felt like she's a lesbian. I can accept her being pansexual but I just always thought she was Lesbian.

• queer sirius black. just. he doesn't even care he just know what he likes. boys are cute, girls are cute, enbies are cute and everyone is cute. doesn't have a preference (except werewolves with cute sweaters)

• bisexual remus lupin. with a slight preferences for boys, especially if they have long hair and are named after stars.

• trans mcgonagall. cant explain why but can we just accept that she's a trans icon. thanks.

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The Potterheads reimagining the founders of Hogwarts

POC Potter Week: Wednesday Founders Era

Godric Gryffindor Helga Hufflepuff Rowena Ravenclaw Salazar Slytherin

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Black Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley P.O.C. Fan Art Cartoon 

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Big Bang challenges are organized in many platforms! Here is an example of one that is taking place this year.

art by @procoffeinating​, banner by @capipuff

We are excited to announce that the HARRY/DRACO BIG BANG is returning in 2021.

In 2018 we ran the Harry/Draco Big Bang inspired by the first ever Big Bang in 2005 which had a 50,000 minimum word count and was also based around the Harry/Draco pairing. We had a fabulously successful round with 20 amazing fics illustrated by over 20 talented artists! You can find our 2018 masterlist here.

Although our plan to run this fest every other year got away from us and 2020 went to hell, we are thrilled to bring back the Harry/Draco Big Bang for 2021. The Harry/Draco Big Bang is a great way to celebrate Harry and Draco’s ever changing and intense relationship and encouraging the creation of EPIC works of fanfiction (50,000 words minimum) and fabulous art. Who doesn’t love to see Harry and Draco banging? :D

Your mods, @gracerene09 and @writcraft are delighted to welcome you back for another year, we’re super excited about this challenge and we hope you are too! Please check out the rules and timeline to get a sense for what’s involved and do consider joining us on 1 January 2021!

For more information about the fest, please click below!

HARRY/DRACO BIG BANG 2021 – RULES & TIMELINE

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What are Big Bangs? And how are they related to fanfiction?

Many fanfiction communities and archives organize content-generating events such as the Big Bang challenge. This contest requires participants to produce a novel-length fanfiction in a stated period of time, upon completion the authors are rewarded with fan art created specifically for their stories.

In 2005, a Harry Potter Big Bang took place. This event consisted of a year-long challenge to write a novel-length Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy fanfiction based on the Harry Potter book series (the minimum word count being 50,000 words). After this first event, other fandoms began to run similar challenges outside of the Harry Potter fandom.

These Big Bang challenges reflect some of the most positive aspects of these online fan communities, such as fostering creativity, collaboration, and community support.