10 Things That Prove Harry Potter Has The Best Fandom Of The Internet Age
#1: Potter Puppet Pals.
This week is the 20th anniversary of the book that changed reading habits for a generation of children (and adults, tbh): Harry Potter. Yes, it’s been two decades since that bespectacled angst factory thrust his hand into the air at 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, and grabbed his Hogwarts letter. I’ll give you a little room to tear up here.
If you’re like me, you remember being read the very first book by your mother, who did a great Hagrid voice and knew the correct pronunciation of the name “Hermione”. If you’re like me, you remember sitting in the car outside primary school, reading as Quirrell unravelled his turban to reveal Voldemort’s face stretching out the back of his skull (ewwwwwww) — and being deeply shook. If you’re like me, Harry Potter is Very Important to your most formative years.
No matter what you think about Potter — and the series certainly has its vocal detractors — there’s no denying it has come to define a generation of readers, as well as our understanding of, and interaction with fandom online. As the series came of age during the Internet Era, the Potter Fandom has largely been defined by its relationship to various online portals.
There’s the plethora of hilarious Potter videos on YouTube, the storm of tweets from JK Rowling on everything from Dumbledore’s sexuality to Scottish Independence (??), and the world of Sad Fan Theories and even sadder Potter tattoos on Tumblr. Basically, Potter will always live on online, and I am here for that.
Time for a trip down Diagon Alley… I mean Memory Lane, with all the best Harry Potter content the interwebz has to offer.
Potter Puppet Pals
“I feel cranky and pubescent today, and I don’t know why!” Potter Puppet Pals, the brilliant low-fi webseries pastiche of Harry Potter, premiered on Youtube just over a decade ago. The series, which was created and voiced by comedian Neil Cicierega, featured puppet versions of your favourite Potter alums, including Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Snape and Dumbledore.
My favourite episode has to be ‘Wizard Angst’, in which Puppet Potter explains he’s feeling “cranky and pubescent (Grr!)” and is going to “take it out on people I like”. Although Ron and Hermione try to cheer him up, you’ve got to feel sorry for Puppet Potter, who complains, “My parents are dead, my life sucks, I can’t hold down a girlfriend and I’m surrounded by fucking goblins and shit all the time!”
But undoubtedly the most famous PPP video is ‘Mysterious Ticking Noise’: where the gang, led by “Snape, Snape, Severus Snape“, try to locate the source of a mysterious ticking noise, and inadvertently make up a truly inspired song in the process.
The video has racked up over 174 MILLION views on YouTube (lots of which, not going to lie, were me avoiding studying for the HSC back in 2007), and its reach was far beyond the recesses of obsessive internet fans. Just look at this video of Potter fans chanting the song at Alan Rickman (RIP) at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in Trafalgar Square.
And, look, 10 years later, Potter Puppet Pals actually holds up. It’s still hecking hilarious, so see you in one hour, once you’re out of the PPP YouTube hole.
potter puppet pals: snape snape severus snape
me: DUMBLEDORE pic.twitter.com/9wk2CFclYB
— COCKroach (@artsystevie) March 20, 2017
StarKid And The Very Potter Musicals
Before Glee‘s Darren Criss was Glee‘s Darren Criss, he was the star of a cult online musical out of Michigan: A Very Potter Musical. Criss played the angsty (yes, that’s a recurring theme when it comes to fans revisiting Potter online) Harry Potter, new arrival at Hogwarts magical and musical School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry. He also co-wrote the musical with his college production company, StarKid Productions.
StarKid and their A Very Potter Musical series became an insane online hit. The team uploaded their musical trilogy (A Very Potter Musical, A Very Potter Sequel and A Very Potter Senior Year) to YouTube, and the videos went viral. A Very Potter Musical is legitimately really good (if painfully uni student production in its vibe) and, as with Potter Puppet Pals, totally holds up years after its online release in 2009.
‘Dark Lord Funk’
Over the years, Harry Potter has spawned many a musical parody. Along with the viral musical trilogy A Very Potter Musical (above), there were a host of Potter-themed rap battles — so many online rap battles. (also, a dance battle!) There are also a bunch of Harry Potter-themed bands — like my favourite, Harry And The Potters.
But the best musical crossover is a little parody song called ‘Dark Lord Funk’. Yes, someone did a Potter parody set to Mark Ronson’s ‘Uptown Funk’ — and it’s actually hilarious. Come for the Bruno Mars-looking Voldemort, stay for the line: “Witch, say my name. You know who I am!” (LOL)
Harry Potter Explained… A Billion Different Ways
Because the internet is the internet, there are a host of online Harry Potter explainers for those too lazy to read seven books (or watch eight movies). Harry Potter has been condensed into seven minutes, it’s been condensed into 99 seconds. It’s been performed by kittens, and given the Honest Trailer treatment. All the films have also been obsessively sin-counted by cult webseries Cinema Sins.
But, for my money, the best Potter recap isn’t a recap at all. It’s the fantastic Cracked article by Dan O’Brien, ‘6 Harry Potter Films According to Someone Who Never Saw Them‘. In the piece O’Brien, who has never read the books or seen the movies, decides to recap them anyway, or “what I imagine they are about”, based solely on the six trailers for every film from Philosopher’s Stone to Half-Blood Prince.
And props to Cracked because it’s pretty bloody funny — and mostly involves O’Brien spending most of the article trying to work out what a “Muggle” is.
So, whether or not you’ve actually read (or seen) Harry Potter, thanks to the internet you’re bound to know at least something about what Potter, Hogwarts and the rest of the wizarding world means to readers. Thanks, nerds!
Harry Potter Tumblr
Ok fam, Harry Potter Tumblr is a deeply earnest and emotional space, so I hope you’re ready for this. Tumblr, the blog platform where most fandom lives online, has a massive (like, I mean, massive) contingent of Potter superfans, and they’re all sharing intense Potter theories,
and funny Potter jokes,
and excellent Potter memes.
Once you dive into Harry Potter Tumblr, it’s honestly hard to pull yourself out.
JK Rowling On Twitter
In the wide world of Harry Potter web content, there’s potentially nothing more bizarre and bizarrely iconic than the Queen of Potter herself, JK Rowling. Specificially, of course, the case of JK Rowling and the Very Active Twitter Feed.
Rowling is now a world-famous tweeter, followed by over 10 million fans who live for her mixture of pop politics, pop culture and Potter nostalgia. Recently, Rowling has tweeted about everything from Trump to Scottish independence; from Potter to otters.
'What would you like to be if you weren't a writer?'
An otter weigher. pic.twitter.com/Tc7TwevoN7— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 24, 2014
She’s also pretty famous for her epic troll takedowns — like this one:
Well, the fumes from the DVDs might be toxic and I've still got your money, so by all means borrow my lighter. pic.twitter.com/kVoi8VGEoK
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 31, 2017
But Rowling’s Twitter is probably most valuable for the odd little insights to the Potter world the author continues to tweet out, long after the series has ended. After her famous post-series reveal that Albus Dumbledore is gay, Rowling has taken to Twitter to defend the character’s sexuality (and the LGBTQI+ community). She also explains people’s bugbears with the series, and occasionally apologies for a traumatising death or two.
Once again, it's the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts so, as promised, I shall apologise for a death. This year: Remus Lupin.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 2, 2016
In the interests of total honesty I'd also like to confess that I didn't decide to kill Lupin until I wrote Order if the Phoenix.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 2, 2016
Arthur lived, so Lupin had to die. I'm sorry. I didn't enjoy doing it. The only time my editor ever saw me cry was over the fate of Teddy. ?
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 2, 2016
Long live JK Rowling’s weird and wonderful Twitter presence.
Hogwarts House Rivalry
One of my favourite little corners of internet fandom is the Hogwarts House Rivalry. Come on, each and every one of us has at some point taken one quiz (or 20) to discern what Hogwarts House we would be sorted into if we were part of the wizarding world.
The four Hogwarts houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, are kind of like quickie personality tests, and all of us have different ideas about which house is the best one to be in.
Lots of people would love to think of themselves as part of the Hero Squad, AKA Gryffindor. Others think of themselves as the cunning cool kids (evil???), AKA Slytherin. And us smarties know we belong in the best and wisest house of all: Ravenclaw.
And look, there’s a strong contingent of people who are Hufflepuff and proud, but they’re definitely the least popular option:
FOUNDER OF HOGWARTS: okay, so we all know there are four types of kid. brave, smart, evil and miscellaneous.
SCHOOL BOARD: yes, continue.— Baegar Targaryen (@TVsCarlKinsella) August 6, 2016
Yer A Quizard, Harry
Sorting Hat quizzes aren’t the only way to be a giant nerd about Harry Potter on the internet, believe me. There are also trillions of Harry Potter online quizzes. They range from ridiculously easy to bafflingly hard, and there are so many you could probably spend the rest of your life testing your Harry Potter knowledge and still never complete every Harry Potter quiz on the internet.
Potter Ink
Harry Potter body art is a fascinating, sometimes beautiful and occasionally terrifying experience. Just like members of other fandoms, Potterheads sometimes like to have Rowling’s beloved series immortalised in some way on their bodies. The most common tatt is the Deathly Hallows sign:
A post shared by Multi-Fandom? (@pumpkin_pasties394) on
A post shared by Ashley Vellier (@ashvellier) on
Many have chosen to immortalise Snape’s everlasting love for Lily Potter, with his deeply sad refrain: “Always”.
And others have inked themselves with the famous words of Moony, Wormtail Padfoot and Prongs.
Some other Harry Potter tatts are just… too intense for words.
A post shared by Lygon St Tattoo Co. (@lygonsttattooco) on
Damn, Dobby. Too soon.
Harry Potter Slash Fiction (And Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On Series)
With every internet fandom comes the fan fiction — most of it too filthy for much examination. Fan fiction allows fans to extend the universe of a novel, a TV show or a film beyond the one presented by the artist who created it. Harry Potter fandom goes in all sorts of weird and wonderful places, but the best of these is the Draco/Harry slash fic.
There are dozens and dozens of archives devoted to the slash fiction (fan fiction that puts two character — usually same sex — together in romantic and super sexy scenarios), including my personal favourite, Bottom Draco.
And then there are the pictures. OH, the pictures. Everything from sweet SFW pics to extremely NSFW pics (that you’ll have to search for yourself, kids).
To be honest with you, it’s not like it’s a huge stretch to imagine that the hate/hate Harry and Draco have for each other could’ve turned to sexy, sexy love/hate.
The fandom for Harry Potter, and particularly for the Harry/Draco love, was so powerful, popular YA author Rainbow Rowell even tapped into it for her brilliant novel Carry On, a kind of fan fiction for Harry Potter fan fiction. The book is about a relationship between a scatterbrained “Chosen One” wizard, Simon, and a devilish villain, Baz, who Simon just can’t seem to get out of his head.
Carry On itself has now become so powerful that it’s spawned IT’S OWN FAN FICTION. Which means there is fan fiction of fan fiction of fan fiction of Harry Potter out there.
It’s a crazy world, gang, but Rowling’s magical invention — Harry Potter, Hogwarts and the rest of the wizarding world — is just that powerful.
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Matilda Dixon-Smith is Junkee’s Staff Writer. She tweets at @mdixonsmith.