By mid-1999, the internet was in a third of U.S. households.
By 2001, it had reached the 50 percent mark.
Where was Harry Potter fandom in 2001?
It was the year the first Harry Potter film was released.
So was Harry Potter just in the right place at the right time?
Definitely, but that doesnt negatethe strength of J.K. Rowlings characters, plot structure, and world-building.
The ongoing series of novels was then made into an ongoing series of films.
The stage was set.
Harry Potter and The Fanfiction
Fanfiction has always been a thing.
Fandom as we now know it today, however, is a more modern development.
A huge part of this fannish revolution was in the writing, reading, and sharing of fanfiction.
The internet created accessible community in a way like never before.
This was the first step toward mainstreaming fannish activities and behavior.
On September 4th, 1999, the first Harry Potter fanfiction story was uploaded onto Fanfiction.net.
That same month, theHarry Potter for GrownUpsmailing list is started.
The following month, in October 1999, MuggleNet launches.
Both were sites where fanfiction was shared and welcomed, though that was far from their only purpose.
Slash fanfiction is the name for fanfiction written about two same-sex characters in a romantic and/or sexual pairing.
Theywriteit in fanfiction and in some version or another, they always have.
They used to write it in notebooks, and now they write it and share it online.
Like it or not, this has become normal and public, a part of growing up formillions.
IfTwilightandHarry Potterhave taught us anything, its that authorial intent has nothing to do with the afterlives of characters.
Today, readers dont only have fanfiction for gay teen wizard stories.
In 2015, Rainbow Rowell publishedFangirl, a young adult novelabout a college-aged girl and fanfiction writer.
Her follow-up novel,Carry On, focuses on theHarry Potter-like characters first introduced as fanfiction characters inFangirl.
(Yes, Simon and Baz are teen wizards.
And, yes, they fall in love.)
Notably, an interest in interiority and emotionality are common traits in contemporary young adult fiction.
With the rise of social media, conversations between The Powers That Be and fandom are easier than ever.
Lawver told Jenkins:
Warner was very clever about who they attacked …
They attacked a whole bunch of kids in Poland.
How much of a risk is that?
They went after the 12 and 15 year olds with the rinky-dink sites.
They underestimated how interconnected our fandom was.
We did what we would normally do in the protection of our intellectual property.
If those Harry Potter fans had been less organized, who knows what the internet would look like today?
From wizard rock to the Harry Potter Alliance to LeakyCon, the Harry Potter fandom is no one thing.
It is massive and diverse.
However, it does seem safe to note its vital importance as one of the first major internet fandoms.
For many,Harry Potter fandom is just as if notmorepowerful than Harry Potter canon itself.
Any why wouldnt it be?
Fandom involves millions of creators rather than just one.
Fandom is a conversation.
Canon is a lecture often times, an articulate one, but one-sided nonetheless.
They can do it themselves.
