• @solrize
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    27 days ago

    I watched a minute of this and it looks kind of interesting but I wasn’t willing to kill half an hour watching the rest. It’s about the amount of product tie-ins and other money grabs connected to the Potter empire. Seems like another long video that could have been distilled down to a tweet.

    • Blaze (he/him)OP
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      527 days ago

      One angle I found interesting was the diametrically opposite treatment of consumption between the books and the movies.

      Another element was how manufactured the success of the franchise was, and made possible by the media coverage available to Warner Bros and AOL.

      Finally, I didn’t know that officially HP clothes were made of polyester.

      • @solrize
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        127 days ago

        One angle I found interesting was the diametrically opposite treatment of consumption between the books and the movies.

        What was different? I didn’t read or watch the whole series but didn’t notice much difference? Here’s a different vid that talks about consumerism in HP, and fit my recollection: https://youtu.be/-mxgSq1wiPk

        • Blaze (he/him)OP
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          27 days ago

          Well, now it’s my turn to not have the opportunity to watch a 30 minutes video he he

          About the differences, the books spend a lot of time mocking the overconsumption of the Dudleys for their son, how he’s obsessed with the number of toys he gets, how much television he watches, that kind of stuff.

          The first movie cuts that whole message.

          What they do though (and I guess that’s what your video talks about too) is emphasize on the wizard capitalism. Buying your own wand for instance seems weird. You wouldn’t imagine a Jedi buying their lightsabers

          • @solrize
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            27 days ago

            I thought it was cool that Jedi were supposed to build their own lightsabers. I’ve been wanting to build my own mobile phone as sort of a tribute. Reasonable point about Dudley’s overconsumption.

            Brooms were an example of consumerism in Harry Potter called out by that video that I linked. The whole thing about the Nimbus vs the Cleansweep vs the Firebolt.

            I watched that particular video all the way through a few years and remember being surprised that I found it engaging. It had lots of interesting visuals and sound effects, while the Consumerist Dystopia one was afaict just somone talking in front of a camera.

            I read the first few Potter books ages ago and lost interest after a while. More recently I have found myself reading a lot of Potter fanfiction, mostly because I’m too unfamiliar with the settings of most other fanfic these days. I have generally found the Potter fanfiction to be better than Rowling’s originals.

            • Blaze (he/him)OP
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              227 days ago

              Brooms were an example of consumerism in Harry Potter called out by that video that I linked. The whole thing about the Nimbus vs the Cleansweep vs the Firebolt.

              Yes, also Hagrid buys him Hedwig because owls are trendy. The whole shopping aspect from the story is what replicated to the amusement parks nowadays, most of the experience is shopping.

              It had lots of interesting visuals and sound effects, while the Consumerist Dystopia one was afaict just somone talking in front of a camera.

              This changes after the intro, lots of illustrations of what they’re saying. No sound effects though.

              I have generally found the Potter fanfiction to be better than Rowling’s originals.

              Some fanfic are very well written. Rowling’s books tend to lose track of Harry’s Hero’s Journey in 6 and 7 compared to his progression up to book 5

          • @[email protected]
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            27 days ago

            The most common type of Jedi is like a government employee, they are issued required gear. You don’t just get given one for being force sensitive.

            Those who build their own could totally be buying the crystals or something, not milling and crafting all the parts themselves.

            A wand for wizards in hp feels like a cellphone today. In general you go get your own, and you’re paying the wandmakers for their craft.

            Edit So maybe a freelance Jedi could pay a special machinist who knows how the crystals work