Harry Potter is a known phenomenon in pop culture, and its impact is growing day by day. Harry Potter’s magical world has become an unchangeable part of pop culture. It persuades many readers to set their sights on this majestic world. It attracts readers of all ages and teaches them the values of courage, kindness, and friendship. Harry Potter’s magic in other TV shows has enhanced its impact on pop culture elegantly. Harry Potter symbolizes aspiration and creativity to future generations. Which helped it to gain the admiration of all ages and cultures. Harry Potter’s narrative and thematic style have a unique lavishness. Beyond all this, the Harry Potter series has an intense cultural impact that can be seen by the fans’ urge to experience the magic themselves. The Harry Potter-themed parks get swarmed by the fans almost all the time of the year. The new edition of merchandise gets booked as soon as it drops for the fans. These things show how dedicated the fans are to it.
Most TV shows use Harry Potter references to make their show acceptable to audiences as this series has an immense fan base. They use it to become known to the audience as they would be interested knowing their favorite character has been mentioned in the show. This gives the new shows a huge opportunity to gain more publicity. It is a type of policy that newcomer TV shows use to make their shows popular among the viewers by mentioning or using references to the popular series or characters. TV shows use the widespread appeal of Harry Potter to their favor and earn the admiration of the viewers. Harry Potter’s magic in other TV shows even got as much admiration as it, which inspired others to use Harry Potter in their shows.
Harry Potter as a Pop Culture Phenomenon:
Harry Potter is undoubtedly a cultural phenomenon, and its dominance can be seen in other media works throughout the world. Other works of media and films were inspired by the fantasy work penned by J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter’s magic in other TV shows has proven its charm to all. Some works were even made out of the same outline just to get the flavor the Harry Potter series offers. The Harry Potter series contains both the theme of classical writing and some new additions that were made by Rowling in the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter was also a commercial phenomenon as it helped merchandise and other movies or TV shows to come up on top.
Harry Potter has been referred to so much in modern entertainment that it is now uncountable. The most important relevance of Harry Potter is its fierce popularity and its fans’ unconditional admiration of it. Minimalians grew up with the series and they are still proud fans of it. They do not feel any shame about being a part of this series. As a result, whenever they find out something related to this series, they jump up with excitement to interact with it again, or even a little reference to this series makes them nostalgic for it. TV show hosts mainly target these audiences to provoke their nostalgia, make them attached to the new TV show, and make them feel the magic of Harry Potter is still overpowering any other influencing series.
Harry Potter References in TV Shows:
Popular shows like Friends, The Simpsons, The IT Crowd, The Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother, etc. made these references and made it clear how much power Harry Potter holds over the media world. Let’s find out the memorable references of these series:
1. Friends:
Ross was a big Harry Potter fan who knew about the cupboard under the stairs and the invisible cloak. At a moment Ross was so embarrassed about his life he preferred to live under someone’s stairs.
2. The Simpsons:
The Simpsons has referred to Harry Potter many times, and it is now uncountable. Once Lisa met J.K. Rowling. Lisa asked her if she could disclose the ending of Harry Potter. Another time was when Ned Flander used Harry Potter books as nighttime stories.
3. The IT Crowd:
Moss ordered his Harry Potter books, both child and adult editions, just to check if the texts written in them were the same or different.
4. The Big Bang Theory:
The Big Bang Theory is mostly known for its references to popular sci-fi and fantasy series. Leonard has just started reading the sixth book of Harry Potter and Sheldon gave the worst spoiler possible of Dumbledor’s death. Leonard was speechless after that. Another time when Howard came up with a hilarious remark that Sheldon may know about the game Quidditch, but football?
One time Raaj was trying to buy a handcrafted Harry Potter magic wand and got ripped off with a stick that may have come from someone’s backyard.
5. 30 Rock:
In a meeting to uplift the mood, Jack chatted about Harry Potter-themed parks.
These references enhance the shows and the audiences can connect with it as they may feel the same feelings as the characters felt with Harry Potter. These references strike the memories of the audiences and take them again to the world of Harry Potter, where they can be the muggles and enjoy their magic. The main purpose of these references is to evoke nostalgia and familiarity among the audiences as they can relate to how they have felt about Harry Potter and how Harry Potter has changed their childhood into a magical journey.
Keeping the Magic Alive in Modern TV:
Recent TV shows like Stranger Things and Brooklyn Nine-Nine can be said to be inspired by Harry Potter. Their characters, powers, or even storylines are, at some point, referred to in the Harry Potter series. Let us discuss how these TV shows incorporate Harry Potter references:
1. Stranger Things:
The references we find in Stranger Things are relatable to Harry Potter in the sector of comparison. In Stranger Things, many characters represent the characters of Harry Potter; it seems like a parallel world of Harry Potter. Such as-
a.The Chosen Ones
Both Eleven from Stranger Things and Harry from Harry Potter are called the chosen ones. Both characters had their difficulties in the past. Eleven and Harry were tasked to save their respected world and fight the evil power while finding themselves on the journey.
b.The Friendship Trio
Both Eleven and Harry have their trio friendship group. Both dynamically fight the tough moments alongside their friends. They care for their friends most and have each other’s back at all costs.
c.Hopper as the Dumbledore Figure
Jim Hopper, the strong character in Stranger Things, kind of refers to Harry Potter’s Professor Dumbledor. Both of the characters advise the lead characters and help them to reach their goal.
d.Dustin’s Hogwarts Reference
At a point, Dustin directly refers to Harry Potter, comparing Seven with Harry Potter. He even brings forward the famous and well-known spell “Lumos Maxima”
e.The Battle Against Evil: Demogorgons vs. Death Eaters
In Stranger Things, the Demogorgons represent the Death Eaters of Harry Potter. Both of the evil powers lurk in the dark forest and they are most powerful there. Both characters have to fight against these demons constantly in the series.
2. Brooklyn Nine-Nine:
In Brooklyn Nine-Nine most of the characters show their liking towards the Harry Potter series directly. Their admiration for Harry Potter is noticeable throughout the show. Such references are-
a.Jake Peralta’s Love for Harry Potter
Jake Peralta is a goofy detective but one of the biggest Muggles of Harry Potter. Even though he is a detective he never misses a chance to mention Harry Potter. He even compares situations with Harry Potter where a situation may occur similarly.
b.Character Comparisons
In Brooklyn Nine-Nine there were many times when the characters can be compared with the characters of Harry Potter. Captain Holt can be compared to “Dumbledor” as he mentors and gives guidelines to Jake, just like Dumbledore did with Harry Potter.
c. Amy Santiago’s Gryffindor Pride
Even though Amy’s character is a serious one, when she declares herself as a proud member of Gryffindor the audience finds out about her being a closet (secret admirer) fan of Harry Potter.
These new TV shows referring to Harry Potter make the new generation know about the magical world of Harry Potter. They get attracted by watching their favorite character become obsessed with a series and start to search for it. When they once enter into the world of wizards there’s no going back. They are bound to fall for the enchanting characters and the magical world. This is a loop that will continue unlimited times and the fire of Harry Potter will keep spreading more.
Harry Potter is an admired franchise with a handsome number of fans who adore it without any condition. Harry Potter’s magic in other TV shows is a great example of its popularity. Every day, a new muggle is getting born in the world. Harry Potter has an everlasting impact worldwide in almost every sector it has its sorcerer impact. TV shows and the media sector are not out of them. To become a successful TV show they try to target already successful characters that would help them to gain the attention of the audience towards them. To give this ideology a real feature, the most easy and perfect target is Harry Potter, as this is well-known in the world. The fans are very much dedicated to it; they would choose anything that mentions the name Harry over any other huge opportunities. Harry Potter is such a great phenomenon in pop culture that almost every newcomer in the media industry uses the name Harry Potter as their ladder of success.
