The Daily OrangeSU's rampant 'Potter' fanatics find magic in wizarding world
By Mallory Rubin
Posted: 12/1/05, 11:32 PM EST Section: Pulp
Just as the magical world is hidden to the average "muggle" in J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series, so were the fans to the average student … until recently.
As Micah Tannenbaum, a 2005 alumnus of the graduate economics program, can attest to, being low-key about "Harry Potter" does not preclude being a passionate fan. Tannenbaum would, on occasion, engage in "Potter"-related discussion with close friends, but he was not one to draw a zigzag scar on his forehead if a new book or movie was coming out.
And yet, as his involvement with the Internet fan site mugglenet.com and the weekly "Potter"-related podcast, Mugglecast, makes clear, Tannenbaum is, in his own words, "a bit crazed with the whole thing."
For Tannenbaum, the rich details about the magical world and its inhabitants are what make the "Potter" books so special.
"There hasn't been an author in a long time who has created this whole world so intricately with such detail and opened this world for people to go to," Tannenbaum said.
Like a fine wine, "Potter" seems to be getting better with age. Rather than losing support as fans grow older and the stories longer and darker, the book and its multiple franchises continue to gain momentum.
This summer, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth installment in the series, sold a record 6.9 million copies in its first 24 hours on sale, according to U.S. publisher Scholastic. And the recently released fourth film, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," earned $101.4 million in the United States alone in its opening weekend, the most of any of the Potter flicks and the fourth most of any film ever, according to mugglenet.com.
With "Goblet's" release, the "Potter" popularity at SU, which is perceived by Tannenbaum and others as largely low-key, began to rear its head.
"The fan base was silent until those prescreening tickets came out," said Erica Smithson, a sophomore music education major. "They had like hundreds of them and they were gone by 4:30!"
As Micah Tannenbaum, a 2005 alumnus of the graduate economics program, can attest to, being low-key about "Harry Potter" does not preclude being a passionate fan. Tannenbaum would, on occasion, engage in "Potter"-related discussion with close friends, but he was not one to draw a zigzag scar on his forehead if a new book or movie was coming out.
And yet, as his involvement with the Internet fan site mugglenet.com and the weekly "Potter"-related podcast, Mugglecast, makes clear, Tannenbaum is, in his own words, "a bit crazed with the whole thing."
For Tannenbaum, the rich details about the magical world and its inhabitants are what make the "Potter" books so special.
"There hasn't been an author in a long time who has created this whole world so intricately with such detail and opened this world for people to go to," Tannenbaum said.
Like a fine wine, "Potter" seems to be getting better with age. Rather than losing support as fans grow older and the stories longer and darker, the book and its multiple franchises continue to gain momentum.
This summer, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth installment in the series, sold a record 6.9 million copies in its first 24 hours on sale, according to U.S. publisher Scholastic. And the recently released fourth film, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," earned $101.4 million in the United States alone in its opening weekend, the most of any of the Potter flicks and the fourth most of any film ever, according to mugglenet.com.
With "Goblet's" release, the "Potter" popularity at SU, which is perceived by Tannenbaum and others as largely low-key, began to rear its head.
"The fan base was silent until those prescreening tickets came out," said Erica Smithson, a sophomore music education major. "They had like hundreds of them and they were gone by 4:30!"
