The Fan Studies Network

Harry Potter on the Page and on the Screen: Adaptation/Reception/Transformation

The eight film versions of the seven Harry Potter novels represent an unprecedented cultural event in the history of cinematic adaptation. The movie version of the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone, premiered in 2001, in between publication of the fourth and fifth books of this global literary phenomenon. As a result, the production and reception of both novel and movie series became intertwined with one another, creating multiple combination of fans who accessed the series first through the books, first through the movies, and in various other combinations. The decision to cast three young age appropriate actors who would mature along with their fictional counterparts further represents a cross-pollination of the interpretive process, as readers began experiencing the newly emerging novels in terms of the visual imagination of their screen experiences.

Harry Potter on the Page and on the Screen: Adaptation/Reception/Transformation is an essay collection that proposes to explore the cultural, political, aesthetic, and pedagogical implications of the adaptation of this generation-defining young adult narrative in order to expand our scholarly understanding of this far-reaching international literary and cinematic event, consider what we can learn about the process of cinematic adaptation of literary sources, and facilitate the classroom exploration of the Harry Potter series.

Some questions that might be considered:

· How does the overlapping adaptation history of the Harry Potter series affect theoretical questions of fidelity, interpretation, and transformation in film adaptation studies?

· In what ways do the novel and movie series represent the same or different narrative universes?

· How does the dual experience of the novel and movies affect the reception process of Harry Potter fans?

· How do the different media versions of the Harry Potter series impact representations of gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality?

· How was the dual development of the novel and film series affected by the concurrent development of Web 2.0 and interactive fan culture?

· How has the larger political and social context, particularly 9/11 and the wars of the 21st century, shaped the adaption and reception experience of Harry Potter?

· How have fan communities responded to issues of fidelity and interpretation within the film series? How have fan communities influenced the production process of the movie adaptations?

· How do specific examples of individual novel/movie adaptations represent different issues and developments related to the development of the dual media Harry Potter series?

Interested contributors may email inquiries or one page abstracts by 15 August 2014 to:

John Alberti
Department of English
Northern Kentucky University
Highland Heights KY 41099
alberti@nku.edu

Andy Miller
Department of English
Northern Kentucky University
Highland Heights KY 41099
millera@nku.edu

This entry was posted on July 13, 2014 at 3:47 pm and is filed under CFP, Publications. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.