Like many millennials, I grew up with the Harry Potter series and was a major fan of the series. I had read the original 7 books and watched their film adaptations. The series was a special interest of mine throughout my early- to mid-teen years. While the Harry Potter novels were far from the first books I read, they were the first fantasy novels I read, and the series’ concept of a magical world set in a contemporary setting fascinated teenage me.
+Like many millennials, I grew up with the Harry Potter series and was a major fan of the series. I had read the original 7 books and watched their film adaptations. The series was a passion of mine throughout my early- to mid-teen years. While the Harry Potter novels were far from the first books I read, they were the first fantasy novels I read, and the series’ concept of a magical world set in a contemporary setting fascinated teenage me.
However, even during my Harry Potter fixation years, there were things from the series that bothered me, from the idea of house elves being a slave race that naturally love being slaves, to Snape’s unconvincing “redemption” arc. As I got older and became more aware of social issues, I started to notice more problems with the series. In addition, reading more books has also made me realise that even on a technical writing level, the Harry Potter series was mediocre at best. As a result, I had stopped becoming a Harry Potter fan even before J.K. Rowling’s transphobia got mainstream attention.