Harry Potter and the Chamber of (Studio) Secrets

To me, the most powerful thing about the Harry Potter movies are that they are so realistic I used to actually believe it was real.  Everything in the movies was so well done, at least to an elementary schooler, that I thought Hogwarts and wizards existed and adults were trying to make it seem fake.  However, the Harry Potter studio tour ruined that illusion for me.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the tour and it felt very magical, it made the little kid in me sad.  The most appealing thing to most people about Harry Potter is it reminds them of their childhood.  It takes them back to a time when wizards and magic were still a possibility.

Coming out in 1998, Harry Potter has become a cultural phenomenon.  It unites people all over the world and give them something to talk about.  This essentially leads to a better understanding of other people's culture and gives evidence to the fact that if people all around the world enjoy this series, we might not be as different as we think.

When the movies came out, it made even more people join in on the Harry Potter bandwagon.  The movies make people, and more importantly kids, want to read.  Even more significant was that they push kids to read chapter books.  Kids want to read something that is over 50 pages long and challenges them, while still being rewarding.  The story pushes adults to build their imagination back that they had lost over the years.  Harry Potter closes not only a cultural gap, but also the generational gap.  People who read the books or watch the movies all finally have something in common. 

Harry Potter pushes people to find empathy on both sides of good and evil.  It defines how good and evil is not as black and white as we have been told.  The main character, who epitomizes good, has evil in him.  Part of the most evil wizard known to Hogwarts is manifested inside of one of the most pure characters.  Then there are characters like Professor Snape who is typically on the evil side of things, becoming one of the most liked characters of Harry Potter.  Audiences and readers empathize with his character when they learn that he was in love with Harry's mom and learn about his background in the Half-Blood Prince.  This is just one of the many lessons that Harry Potter teaches people though.

The studio tour of Harry Potter was enlightening as to how much detail and thought was put into the making of a monumental book series.  The tour was incredibly interactive in showing how the movie was made and putting people not only in the place of the actors, but of the actual characters.  The tour in itself felt very unifying with everyone who was there.  People fed off the energy of each other and share in something they all enjoy, regardless of where they traveled from.  As much as the tour ruined some magical aspects for me, it also made me feel like I was part of the magic with drinks, interactive sets, and food all seen in the movie.