:::: One Part FANDOM RETROSPECTIVE, One Part ANALYSIS ::::
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play that premiered in London, 2016. It was met with praise by theatergoers and disdain, even hatred, by those who read the script. Today, there is a...
Four days ago we celebrated the arrival of an important date in Harry Potter canon. September 1st 2017. 19 years later. The date of the Epilogue to HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. It was trending across Twitter and commemorated at King's Cross station with wands and cheers. And tears. If you were a fan of Harry Potter in your youth, you were aware on Friday that something special was about to pass. This moment had real significance. It was profoundly meaningful to so many.
We knew that none of the present day... whatever this is... should take anything away from what 19 Years Later still means to us. It was not some advertisement for the new play. It was the "close" to the "open". It was the day when the adult version of the trio (nearer to my age than most of yours) let a child go off to school. Really, if felt like a day when we were all being released into the world. That it was okay to be done. It was okay for the story to be ended. Okay to grow up.
But, as we know, JKR decided that she had one more part of the story to tell. And many fans saw this past Friday as a way to acknowledge the Cursed Child play, as it begins where the original Potter books ended. For others, it was also an amusing reminder that JKR's grasp on her own canon is tenuous and that her pronouncements on Twitter aren't fully fleshed out. Because, as some of you may recall from a year ago, Rowling sent a shiver of confusion down the necks of Potterheads across the world when she got the dates wrong:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
This swiftly led to JKR having her book knowledge corrected by her own fans:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
To which, she deleted the embarrassing tweet, responding:
"I got the year wrong: blame #CursedChild! In my head it's already 19 years later! #BackToHogwarts"
Oh, we'll be blaming Cursed Child for a ton of stuff very soon. Don't you worry about that. And yes, Jo. We understand. Part of the problem *is* that there are things in your head which seem to be accurate to what was written in the books... when they are not.
So, fans have to educate (nay, school) you on your own canon. Once again (with only the best intentions and love, dear...because, you know, you're still Queen).
Here we go.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
