With this connotation, Rowling is showing how our lives and geniuses can take on new adventures after our deaths through texts.
Quote 2 Blake
"The community is not given; it is made by the abilities and activities of all its members -- by the incompetent Neville Longbottom as much as by heroic Harry. Harry Potter isn't just part of Hewison's museum culture; he is revolutionary, a symbolic figure of the past-in-future England which is in desperate need of such symbols," making Harry a transmedia character that will help bring English society into a more future and present oriented world (Blake 15-16). In his work, The Irresistible Rise of Harry Potter, Andrew Blake discusses how modern transmedia characters can help give England the push it needs to move beyond its past and into a more technology driven and innovative future. Blake discusses the importance of having symbols in film and literature that push English society forward, instead of holding it back, allowing the nation to compete in an ever-changing global market with new evolutions seen in technology daily.
In his work, Blake discusses how England is very much restrained from potential growth capabilities because of its incessant habit of living in the past. Despite the fact that the monarchy does not rule like it used to, English society still relishes in every event and story regarding the royal family, which is basically now just a symbolic form of leadership. Blake insists that this is occurring even still, when a modern world is demanding change from deep within English society in order to facilitate the spirit of innovation that will help England remain a competitor in the technology and communications fields.
Blake presents the idea that England "was stuck on its own past. Parliament's lords preserved the feudal system, and the monarchy preserved itself as a Victorian matriarchy despite te modernizing attempts of the young women who had married into it," (Blake 5). This entire obsession with the past was stunting England's abilities to adapt to a new and innovative future.
The transmedia character of Harry Potter helped reunite England's obsession with the past with a new vision of the future. The whole Harry Potter series is a bridging of the gap between past and present, first appearing in book form and then transcending into film, with all the amazing cinematography and special effects in it. Blake suggests that it is characters like Harry which can help transcend the English society from its limit potential in its obsession with the past, into a new and welcoming society that embraces evolutions and advancements in both technology and in general principles. According to Blake, the world of Hogwarts reunites the image of a quaint English village with a new hope for the future. Harry first solidified his presence in traditional media with the
success of the books, and the series gained a whole new international appeal when the stories were translated into the more modern and innovative medium of film. Harry's journey into film helped expose a new England to the world, one which was no longer limited by the stiff traditions of the past. This new England was one willing to take risks. The special effects, intriguing story lines, and progressive choice of a young, talented batch of actors all made England look more progressive and future oriented to the rest of the world. As such, Blake claims that transmedia characters like Harry Potter can help societies bridge the gap between what is and what was. Such characters help pay homage to the traditions of the past, but offer a new viewpoint, one is future-oriented and bathed in technological innovation.
References
Blake, Andrew. The Irresistible Rise of Harry Potter. Verso. 2002.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Pottermore. 2012.
