30.EPILOGUE.49: June 23, 2003.
"Harry Potter and the Gargantuan Lineup of June 21, 2003."
Note: Yeah, sure, maybe I said most of this in 30.VIN.09:
"Harry Potter and the Bitter, Elitist, Misanthropic, Cappuccino-Swilling
Machine." But that was then and this is now. And, besides,
it's not my fault that even despite all the "cataclysmic" "events" and
"tragedies" of the last few years nothing substantial has changed AT ALL
in the world since The Year 2000. Despite the all world's incessant,
whining, pretentious claims to the opposite. --BC.
Night. June 20, 2003. Waiting in the rain with Kim for the
new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix.
Scattered thoughts:
Kim's talking to some friends.
I'm looking at lightning.
The lineup is long.
There are a lot of people out there, to get this book.
The doors to the bookstore
open at midnight. Order Of The Phoenix goes on sale June 21st.
People have been lining
up to get this book for two hours.
Frankly, I've never seen
anything like it before in my life. I've seen people line up to get
into movies and sports events and line up to get tickets to concerts.
But I've never seen a lineup for a book before.
It actually makes me feel
kind of good. People lining up to get a book.
And, interestingly enough,
most of the people here are either late teens or adults. There are
some kids, but the majority of the crowd is older.
Of course, this is partly
because of the lateness of the event.
Most people don't want to
bring 10 year olds out into a thunderstorm in the middle of the night so
they can get a book. So, they'll stand in line for their 10 year
olds.
Or at least that's the cover
story they can use when they're cornered.
And the line is long.
Actually, there looks like
there's 3 or 4 lines. There are different entrances to the bookstore.
We're near the front of the shortest line.
Or rather, it was the shortest
line when we got here about an hour and a half ago. Now it's more
or less as long as the rest.
Except for the really long
line that I can now see, the line that starts somewhere obscured by the
building and loops along the parkinglot and down to the street, and then
along the sidewalk for a half a block, and then back up into the parkinglot.
I think that's all one line.
There are thousands of people,
here.
A few really little kids,
too. I've just spotted those. They're dressed up.
I've spotted a few adults
dressed up, too. Harry and Hermione, and some generic wizards.
Most people aren't dressed
up.
Lightning and thunder.
I've never read a Harry
Potter book (see 30.VIN.09), although Kim's read them all. Most
of the people I know have read if not at least one, then all of them.
I hear they're pretty good. Better than most people expected.
I'll probably eventually
read one.
I haven't seen either of
the movies, either.
I hadn't really heard about
Harry Potter before Goblet Of Fire (see 30.VIN.09). But somehow
I think I knew what it was, anyway. Either that or this is one of
these things where it's a case of having heard so much about something
that you manufacture a vague memory of having somehow known about it before.
It happens.
There are things that get
so prevalent in the datasphere that you somehow remember having known about
them before you ever knew about them. Those memories are the weirdest.
They seem familiar, and you know you've heard of the thing before, but
you cannot remember how you heard about it, or why you know about
it. You have the memory of the thing, but no context. And even
though you know the memory's been manufactured through media saturation,
you're still convinced that the memory's real, that you knew about the
thing before. You're certain. You're sure. You'd stake
your life on it.
The people at the bookstore
better have ordered more than just their pre-orders. There are thousands
of people here.
Kim pre-ordered the book
a long time ago.
Order Of The Phoenix
is supposed to be darker than the others. They're supposed to get
progressively darker as Harry grows up. Kind of like life.
You think life is dark when you're a kid, but then when you grow up you
start to get hints of what real darkness is. This is why growing
up sucks.
This new one is also thicker
than the last, too. At this rate, the last book will be a trilogy
unto itself.
Unless they start getting
thinner, now.
And I do think it's
good that kids are reading thick books, though. (See 30.VIN.09.)
And although I haven't actually read a Harry Potter book, I have flipped
through them and while they're not ultra-sophisticated they are solidly
written. (See 30.VIN.09.)
And, like I said, it's a
good thing that kids are reading books this thick. (See 30.VIN.09.)
Anything to get kids reading because reading does actually make you smarter.
(See 30.VIN.09.)
And people who hate Harry
Potter should also realize that, too. Even if you don't like the
book it's still better than having them read nothing.
Unless you belong to some
lameass moral majority religious right Christianity cult that thinks that
Harry Potter will turn the youth of the world into Satan worshippers.
But then again, I can see how you wouldn't want your kids reading Harry
Potter, or anything thick or thin for that matter. Because, like
I said, reading makes you smarter and if your kids actually read something
maybe they would get smarter. And then maybe they'd figure out that
what you believed was a bunch of primitive bullshit and turn their backs
on their "faith."
Or something like that.
(See 30.VIN.09.)
Actually, I heard that there's
a book on Harry Potter coming out published by Verso. And in general
I like Verso books, even if I don't always agree with them.
The book is called The
Irresistible Rise Of Harry Potter: Kid-Lit in a Globalised World.
The author is Andrew Blake.
However, already just from
looking at the title the red lights and sirens go off, though-- because
the word "globalised" is on the cover. And I have yet to have anyone
explain to me in coherent terms what exactly is wrong with "globalization."
And, of course, the gist
of the book is that Harry Potter books are bad.
Of course. It goes
without saying. There's a school of thought that states that if lots
of people do something it's clearly wrong, or bad. Both the left
and the right subscribe to it.
Of course, if a lot of people
do something that the critic approves of, in that circumstance the people
aren't stupid. Rather, they're enlightened.
Anyway, the supposed reason
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books are bad is that they mask a conservative
agenda. Harry goes to an old-style school with stern headmasters
and a dress code and a clearly defined hierarchy, and of course he has
to follow all these rules and regulations.
(If there's anything in
Blake's book about Harry Potter's initials being H.P., which of course
stands for House of Parliament, and about how this is a coded
conservative message, thus subliminally forcing the reader to secretly
identify with a hierarchical mode of political control, I will throw
the book against the wall.)
Thus, the argument goes,
this is a step backwards: if kids and adults are reading these books they
must secretly long for a restrictive environment. Either that or
the Potter books are a brainwashing tool, an attempt to promote restrictive
conservative ideals and turn The Nation's Youth into brainwashed zombies.
Both of these things no doubt smack of fascism and undermine all the "freedom"
(read confusion) that the came about as a result of the post-structuralist
revolution.
(Now, granted, I like post
structuralist confusion. But not everybody is as used to being buffeted
by a streams of contradictory and auto-deconstructing data. It takes
a bit of getting used to.)
Thus, Harry Potter is a
symptom of something ugly and bad. It is an attempt to secretly reinforce
class privilege in Britain, and with it a new Capitalist neo-conservatism.
Forgetting that these books
are extremely popular in countries like the USA and Canada where there
really isn't a British class system or British style private schools.
Forgetting that the books
are set in a fantasy world, and that no place like Hogwarts exists anywhere,
and I'm pretty sure never will, and that 99.9999999999999999% of the readers
of these books are aware that they are reading fantasy novels. And
that the use of a stern private school like Hogwarts is an example of postmodern
trope-appropriation, above and before it is anything even semi-political.
Forgetting that from what
I've heard life at Hogwarts is anything but pleasant. And the reason
Harry goes there is he has little choice.
Forgetting that the majority
of the readers of these books will look at Hogwarts simply as a strange
place with no real bearing on the real world.
Forgetting that kids are
reading huge books packed with words and events, as opposed to sitting
at the tv with stings of spit drooling out of their mouths.
Forgetting that people have
to start reading something, and have to start reading somewhere, before
they can move onto other stuff and maybe challenge assumptions.
Also forgetting that claiming
authorship of any text is also a type of organization and control, thus
Andrew Blake himself is proposing a type of hierarchical and conservative
class-structure with an author at the top and readers beneath him/her,
simply by signing his text. Forgetting that even the most utopian
auto-deconstructing leftie still believes what he or she believes and believing
what you believe establishes a type of hierarchical control, and hence
a type of hierarchical and conservative class-structure with an author
of an idea at the top and readers beneath him/her. Forgetting that
simply proposing an idea creates a type of hierarchical and conservative
class-structure with the author of the idea at the top and readers beneath
him/her. That the possibility that any idea is correct or even has
value or even is an idea in relation to other ideas is itself restrictive
logocentrism.
It really just sounds like
Blake is just upset that kids aren't reading his stodgy, paranoid post-Marxist
neo-pragmatist, post-neo-postmodernist diatribes. That they'd rather
read Harry Potter. And it upsets him. That they want to read
something fun instead of a bunch of "serious" writing.
Maybe if Blake wrote a novel
with wizards and a sense of fun, instead of a critical thesis, maybe people
(other than academics and me-- because I'll still probably buy and
read Blake's friggin book) would want to read his writing, too. If
Umberto Eco can write novels popularizing his ideas, why doesn't Blake?
It all just smacks of bitterness
and the trendiness of trend-bashing.
(This is, however, an extrapolation
of the content of the book based upon what I personally know of current
academia. Not based upon my reading of it. So this is just
a gut feeling. And so, I could be wrong. But I bet the book
does go something like what I've set out. And if "fascism" isn't explicitly
used, it will be implied.)
And, well, maybe there is
something to what Blake says, maybe people do want a bit of organization,
in their lives. A feeling that there really is someone in control.
That there is a plan and a meaning and a place for everyone and every thing.
Even if it's a rigid, conservative class system.
Or at least a little fantasy
of organization, a fantasy of control, order, and meaning.
After all, that's really
all we're left with now, isn't it.
Fantasy.
Someone has just informed
the crowd that there are only 98 books that haven't been spoken for.
They only ordered 2500 books
and there have been 2402 pre-orders.
There are way, way, way
more than 2500 people here. There's almost 800 people in this lineup.
And, now I am convinced that this is the shortest line.
If this wasn't Canada, there'd
be a riot.
More thunder. More
lightning.
Heavy rain.
And Kim's still here, with
me and her friends. One of them has an umbrella.
Kim's short enough to get
under the umbrella.
The umbrella is channeling
water directly onto my head. But I can't really move. I'm ensconced
in this spot.
And now we're moving because
they opened the door. And when they opened the door there was a big
cheer.
They're letting ten people
in at a time.
And, like I said, if this
wasn't Canada there'd be a riot. Especially now.
And, inside there's the
media. They interview people. They're interviewing little wizards.
Some woman sticks a microphone
in my face:
"And why is someone like
you, who is clearly an adult, interested in Harry Potter And The Order
Of The Phoenix."
I tell her I'm here with
my friend. That I've never read a Harry Potter book.
She looks skeptical.
"It's okay," she says.
"It's actually true," Kim
says.
So the woman interviews
Kim instead.
The store smells like wet
people.
Everything is loud.
I can't hear what the interviewer
says.
When I ask Kim what she
said to the interviewer, Kim said when the interview's played she'll probably
sound like an idiot. Kim will. Not the interviewer.
A guy with a videocamera
sweeps the camera towards me. I must be scowling, or have some other
sort of dangerous expression on my face, because he leaves.
Most of the bookstore is
dark. They're keeping lights on the lineup and a few key areas showcasing
Rowling merchandise.
Another guy comes by with
packages of "Every Flavour Jelly Beans." I take a pack. They're
actually Jelly Bellies, they're gourmet jelly beans, and they taste good.
Even though they claim to be snot-flavoured, and footfungus-flavoured,
and so on. Kim also takes a pack.
Today the book is ten dollars
cheaper than it will be tomorrow. Tomorrow it's $40.
Eventually, we reach the
front of the line, Kim buys the book, and we wander around the darkened
areas of the store for a while. Then we leave.
Outside: Rain and
thunder.
Where I parked, my car is
surrounded by hundreds of people.
