DVDIn this tutorial, Dave Monahan discusses
cultural analysis and looks closely at the Harry
Potterseries.many of these same scholars pay special attention
to blockbusters and other popular entertain-
ments. Why do they do this? To begin with, they
may seek the answer to an obvious question: why
do audiences like this movie? Or, to take it a step
further, they may try to analyze the movie’s form,
themes, and messages to better understand how
those elements might explain the movie’s popular-
ity with contemporary audiences. But why is this
sort of analysis important? Stated plainly:
because movies are influential. The more con-
sumers see a movie—or even just see the adver-
tising and witness public reaction to its
success—the more likely it is that that movie will
exert some kind of effect on those consumers’ cul-
ture. Any movie capable of influencing society is
surely worth a closer look.
For example: few cinematic figures have been so
ubiquitous for so long as Harry Potter. Since 2001,
the Harry Potterfranchise has produced eight hit
films that together earned over $7 billion worth of
worldwide ticket sales,^1 a staggering figure that
doesn’t even include the additional exposure and
revenue generated by DVD, pay-per-view, stream-
ing video, and other sales of the movies. Clearly, the
Harry Potterseries is an influential and important
cultural phenomenon. But how can we even begin
to explain its popularity?
To start with, the sheer scope of the series pro-
vides viewers a particular brand of narrative
development unavailable in most movies or film
series. If we stop to consider other well-known
film series, few if any of them feature any signifi-
cant figurative or literal character growth. Con-
sider Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Ringsor
Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean
or even Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars
trilogy. Although they accomplish extraordinary
feats in spectacular adventures, all of these lead-
ing characters act and look much the same from
the first movie to the final installment. In con-
trast, Harry Potter and his classmates literally
grow up on-screen. Watching (and anticipating)
Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Wat-
son), and Ron (Rupert Grint) develop from inno-
cent children to moody adolescents to
world-weary but resolute young adults provides
viewers a participatory pleasure that compels
them to see the next movie, as well as rewatch and
compare earlier installments.
An analyst studying the appeal of the Harry
Pottermovies would likely examine the role nostal-
gia plays in the story and its visual presenta-
tion. Instead of computers, smart phones, or video
games, the wizarding world of Harry Potter fea-
tures puzzles, riddles, and Quidditch. Although
the story is set in the 1990s, the movies’ design
schemes are a pastiche of more distant and roman-
ticized pasts. The look of the Hogwarts boarding
school and much of its eccentric faculty suggests
the Middle Ages; many character costumes, includ-
ing the Hogwarts school uniforms and the office
attire favored by the Ministry of Magic, evoke fash-
ions from the 1940s.
The visual associations with the World War II
era are one piece of evidence that the series
connects with audiences by tapping into a shared
cultural and political experience. Lord Voldemort
may not look like Adolf Hitler, but he does rule by
fear, is bent on world domination, and exploits(^1) Source: boxofficemojo.com a racist ideal of “pure blood” to intimidate and
WAYS OF LOOKING AT MOVIES 23