Second-year neuroscience student Stacy Chang was on a Greek
island when “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince,”
the sixth book in the series, was released over the summer. She
went to six different bookstores on the island but could not find a
store that sold English books.
When she finally made it to Athens, it was on a Sunday, when all
the bookstores were closed. She found it agonizing to look through
the glass windows at the beautiful display of English editions just
out of reach.
And to top off the torture, the airport was sold out when she
departed from Greece.
“I finally found it in Munich,” said Chang, who
proceeded to read the sixth adventure on the plane ride home.
Chang has been a Harry Potter fan since she ordered the book on
a whim in seventh grade. Over the years, she has expressed her
enthusiasm by taking a Harry Potter tour of England, dressing up as
Dobby the house elf for Halloween, and collecting foreign language
editions of the novels to be displayed and compared with each
other.
Despite its a reputation as children’s literature, J.K.
Rowling’s series ““ which continues in screen form at
midnight tonight with the release of the film adaptation of the
fourth book, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”
““ has a large following of college students who, like Chang,
began reading the books before they became an international
phenomenon.
“The main fans are our age,” Chang said. “We
grew up with the books. The new fans are just catching
up.”
Longtime fans of the books are abundant at UCLA. Matthew Jacobs,
a third-year political science student, started reading the series
after three of the books had been released.
“It took a lot to convince me to pick up the first
one,” said Jacobs, who finally succumbed to peer pressure.
“It was right around the time when it was first starting to
get famous and everyone knew that I loved to read. I kind of held
out for a while, like, “˜No, I’m too cool for that.
Reading might be dorky, but I’m not that
dorky.'”
The first book got him hooked, and for the release of the sixth
installment this summer, Jacobs went to a Border’s bookstore
at midnight wearing a Dumbledore costume so elaborate that people
thought he had been hired by the store. Jacobs is a member of the
UCLA water polo team, and stayed up late reading the book because
he knew he would sit out of the game the next day.
“I couldn’t play because I was injured. I got shot
by an Airsoft gun in the eye. My eye was really blurry. I had to
read with one eye,” Jacobs said.
He also teased his teammates who could not sit out and read
because of an injury.
“I was like, “˜What page are you on ““ oh, haha,
you had to go play,'” Jacobs said. “When they
were playing, I was reading.”
The film adaptations, however, have caused a rift between Potter
fans. There are fans such as Chang, who is devastated that she has
a midterm on Friday that will force her to miss the midnight
showing, and there are fans such as Jacobs, who has no plans to see
it at all.
“I’m really not a big fan of the movies at all. J.K.
Rowling had something going where she was getting people to start
reading again. Now you have people who are just going to see the
movies,” Jacobs said. “There is nothing wrong with the
way they did (the movies), but it wasn’t my way and I like my
way better.”
The movies show just one interpretation of the text. Readers
worry that this edited version will be the only impression of the
story for non-readers, who might judge the book by its movie.
“(Non-readers) say the movies are way overrated, and that
is obvious because they don’t know what it’s about.
When you talk to them, you always have to explain that they are
cutting off half of the book,” said Susie Lee, a third-year
English student.
Readers also find that the movies do not show the characters as
they envisioned them.
“In the book they make Hermione look nerdy with really
frizzy hair, and that was what I wanted to see. In the movie they
improved her looks,” said Lee. “(And) the Weasley twins
““ they look hot in my head, but obviously not in the
film.”
But even the books themselves are not for everyone. Due to a
lack of time or taste, some people find the wizard’s
adventures tiresome.
Sangi Rajbhandari, a third-year microbiology, immunology and
molecular genetics student, has not read any of the six released
Harry Potter books in its entirety. She was nearly finished reading
“Sorcerer’s Stone” when she saw the first movie
in theaters in 2001.
“I read it to see what all the fuss was about. After I saw
the movie, I realized I didn’t really like it,” said
Rajbhandari, who never returned to finish the book. “I
usually don’t read books after I watch the movie.”
For fans of the series, however, part of the appeal lies in how
the series is a part of their lives outside of bookstores and movie
theaters.
“I use Harry Potter as a way to connect with people
““ like a similar interest. You get to talk to people that you
normally wouldn’t talk to. Even at clubs, you meet these
really ghetto looking guys and they read Harry Potter,” Lee
said.
Moreover, the series takes on a meaning for college-aged fans in
a way that younger readers may not yet comprehend.
“I wrote an essay (in high school) saying how Harry Potter
was not just for kids. It has underlying themes like racism, social
status, friendship, love,” Chang said. “I got an A …
I never get As on English papers.”