Harry Potter and the Order of the Geeks

The title already makes me an iconoclast in the state of Utah.

But this whole phenomenon made me think of an episode of South Park. Cartman bought tickets to a ride that had a humongous line. Kyle, Kenny, and Stan weren't too excited about waiting, but Cartmen reassured them that anything with a line that long has got to be awesome. So they jumped in. After they reached the end, to their disappointment they saw that their line didn't lead to anything. The line was the ride.

Which leads me to another line:

This is what people did these past two weekends here in Utah, as the Harry Potter book and movie were released. There were some who waited three hours to pick up their copy of the book, and then read it continuously throughout the night, to arrive to their jobs on two hours of sleep. There are those who dressed up, only to find the book sold out in a matter of minutes. There are men in their twenties who became as giddy as schoolgirls as they pondered the prospect of Severus Snape revealing his good side. The theaters at Jordan Commons in Salt Lake set the record of Harry Potter ticket sales over one weekend in the entire nation. There is no escaping it, the bandwagon is rolling, and a ton have jumped on.


But I wonder, is Harry Potter a truly touching piece of work that one must include in his or her life? Or is the hype train rolling too fast that it would be impossible to jump off? If one has started the series, is that person bound in seeing or reading anything that Rowling touches? In my humble opinion, it's just a current fad that is not without precedent.


Star Wars was huge in its day, bringing with it throngs of people who thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Geeks came out of hiding dressed as Chewbacca and Storm Troopers, and Mark Hamill was a national hero. Even to this day, there are many geeks obsessed with all things Star Wars; they are the ones who couldn't move on to Harry Potter. The parallels are many: A huge movie that set up its own lexicon and mythology, numerous sequels, a boyish hero, bubblegum fantasy that has become a phenomenon. It is just that Harry Potter has done it much quicker. They have gone through their first trilogy, a second, and have one to spare, with each successive installment becoming "the best Harry Potter evar!!!"

Personally, here is hoping that people jump off the wagon soon. So for all those Harry Potter nuts, I pose a question: Have you entered the realm of geekdom, and if so, have you realized it yet?