Conclusion
What we see in Harry Potter and the Sacred Text as well as many other fan practices described in this project is a representation of the above quotation taken from the Harry Potter and the Sacred Text website ("Our Methodology"). I would, however, amend the statement. Simply reading fiction does not automatically help one live in the world, but engaging with it can. Using ritual or performance to transform a text, to make it alive in some way, allows one to understand the lessons it may offer, regardless of authorial intent.“Reading Fiction Doesn’t Help Us Escape the World, It Helps Us Live In It,”
Throughout this project we have seen the many ways fans engage in performance to transform a canon text. These performances are not inherently radical or subversive but have the power to be:
At first glance, the existence of self-inserted characters and Mary Sues contradicts the notion of fiction helping us live in the world. However, focusing the discourse of Mary Sues rather than simply arguing over what classifies one, reveals much about gender performance in the age of the internet. Moreover, young writers may use the Mary Sue to trouble through their own gender performances on and offline as well as cope with the pressure of sedimenting, ever-expanding expectations that surround femininity.
Slash and Racebending take the transformative work of fanfiction further by creating spaces in which underrepresented identities can be explored and celebrated. While slash may often stop short of actively naming reasons for this lack of representation, often skirting around topics like homophobia, racebending tackles issues head-on, often featuring racism as central to the plot of stories, performing a criticism on both the author and the world she created.
The massive success of the Harry Potter franchise has allowed for “live” engagement with the books through theme parks, musicals, concerts, and podcasts. While the authorized extensions to the canon in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are, no doubt, entertaining, the imaginative work of fan practice is done for fans, leaving only spectacle to produce the feeling of “magic.” In A Very Potter Musical or Potter Puppet Pals, however, much of the magic lies in being part of the community. The metaphors that the performances produce, linking characters to real world tropes and stereotypes, make viewing a fun and active experience. The satisfaction of “getting the reference,” so to speak makes fans feel like they belong.
Wrock and Harry Potter and the Sacred Text are perhaps the most obvious examples of fan performance and its radical possibilities, with their ties to activism, philanthropy, and education, but all types of fan performance can do this work. In the wake of J.K. Rowling in the middle of yet another transphobia scandal, the hosts of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text sent an email to subscribers of the podcast. In it they explained, “‘sacred’ is an act, not a thing. It is what we do together, as a community, around the Harry Potter books that makes it sacred,” (Harry Potter and the Sacred Text).
Performance is not passive. Fans who write fanfiction, plays, and music, who participate in sacred text circles or engage in activism use fan identity to perform those actions and to make those actions more legible to themselves and to others. These performances, as all performances say a great deal about who we are. Fan studies, as a field, has much to offer in the fields of gender and sexuality studies, critical race studies, performance studies, sociology, education, anthropology, and even law. Engaging with art in the way that many fans do with Harry Potter takes a commendable amount of imagination. Doing it for (mostly) free on the internet takes passion and confidence. Maybe it’s time we start taking what fans have to say seriously. After all, what’s more magical than loving something?