Transcript for MuggleCast Episode #499, Life As An Adult Harry Potter Fan
Show Intro
[Show music plays]
Andrew Sims: Welcome to MuggleCast, your weekly ride into the Wizarding World fandom. I’m Andrew.
Eric Scull: I’m Eric.
Micah Tannenbaum: I’m Micah.
Laura Tee: And I’m Laura.
Andrew: This week we’re going to be talking about being an adult Harry Potter fan and what it means to still like Harry, and we’re also going to talk with one of our listeners who’s parenting an up-and-coming Harry Potter fan, and that listener is Julia. Hi, Julia. Welcome to the show.
Julia: Hi, thank you. I am thrilled to be here.
Andrew: Awesome, yeah. Now, you are the mom of Wyatt…
Julia: I am.
Andrew: … who wrote in a couple of weeks ago, and we thought, “Well, since we want a Harry Potter parent on the show today, why don’t we call up Wyatt’s mom and see what’s up?”
[Eric laughs]
Laura: The famous Wyatt.
[Andrew and Julia laugh]
Julia: Oh my goodness, that was hysterical, you guys. Your discussion about his question was… it made our day.
Eric: Well, it was a great question, honestly. It was such a good question.
Andrew: I’m still thinking about it, yeah.
[Julia laughs]
Andrew: Let’s get your fandom ID.
Julia: All right. My favorite book is Half-Blood Prince, my favorite movie is Sorcerer’s Stone, I am a proud Hufflepuff, I don’t actually know my Ilvermorny House, and my Patronus is a dolphin.
Andrew: I am so glad you said you don’t know your Ilvermorny House because I was just reminded this week that they took down the Ilvermorny quiz.
Eric: They did.
Andrew: Is that why you don’t know it?
Julia: Partially, yeah. I think I just never took it when it was still there.
Eric: You guys, this is America’s wizarding school! We’re all in America…
Andrew: And it’s being erased. [laughs]
Eric: You don’t want to know? You never wanted to know what it was going to be?
Julia: I don’t know; maybe I’m just holding out hope for a foreign exchange program.
[Andrew and Julia laugh]
Eric: You’re right. You’re right.
Andrew: You want to go to Hogwarts. We get it.
Laura: That’s legit.
Julia: I feel a connection to Hogwarts. I don’t really feel a connection to Ilvermorny.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. Well, because of the fact that they dropped the test from the site, I’m wondering if we should retire Ilvermorny House from the fandom ID, because it’s just not fair to any listeners like Julia who can’t take it.
[Julia laughs]
Andrew: Anyway, how old were you when you first got into Harry Potter?
Julia: I’m only a little bit older than you guys; I’m 38. And I was in high school when the books were coming out, so they weren’t really on my radar; they were being marketed to kids at the time, really. So I didn’t listen to them until my freshman year of college and I went on a road trip with a friend, and we borrowed the audiobooks of the first four books on cassette tape…
Eric: Nice.
Julia: … which was awesome, and that was in 2001. Later that fall, got to go see the Sorcerer’s Stone movie on opening night with a bunch of friends, and that was a lot of fun, and then literally two weeks later I met my now husband and got him into Harry Potter.
Andrew and Eric: Oh!
Eric: Nice.
Andrew: What a magical year for you.
Laura: I know.
Julia: It was. It was a very special year. [laughs]
Micah: Given that it was just the holiday season, I’m curious. I’m just making sure that you haven’t purchased for Wyatt anything like a locket, a cup, a diary, or a snake.
[Everyone laughs]
Julia: No, there’s very little Dark magic happening here.
Micah: Okay. I just wanted to be sure.
Andrew: So we do have a couple of news items to mention. Last week, we did talk about the chances of a Harry Potter TV series heating up with the appointment of a television exec appointed to be in charge of growing the Wizarding World franchise. After we recorded that, we found out from the Hollywood Reporter that a Harry Potter TV series is in the works. Now, this has been inevitable, so I can’t say that any of us are super surprised by it. And of course, we’ve been talking about why it was inevitable for years. But the Hollywood Reporter did say that it is going to be live action; I’m very relieved to hear that. It is going to be on HBO Max, which again, not a huge surprise, and WB is currently hearing lots of pitches from different writers. So we’re in the very early days, and we’re still years from ever possibly seeing this Harry Potter series on HBO Max, but something is in the works. And hopefully in the year ahead, maybe, we will hear reports about the idea that they have settled on.
Micah: It’s just funny; we always have these conversations, and then it feels like either the day before or right on the day of our release, this news comes out.
Eric: It’s you, Micah. You get results.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Micah: It must be. But I will just give an update that that executive has still yet to connect with me on LinkedIn.
Eric and Laura: Aww.
Micah: Very disappointed. I haven’t even gotten a profile view or anything, but I’m assuming he’s pretty busy.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Micah pays for LinkedIn Ultra where he can see where that guy is at any given time.
Micah: LinkedIn Premium.
Andrew: “He hasn’t looked at my profile!” Oh my gosh, you sound like an ex who can’t get over the relationship.
Micah: To your point, it’s not surprising. We’ve talked a little bit about how series like A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones are doing spinoffs now, though I did read yesterday that they are looking at an animated version of that. So Andrew, an animated version of Harry Potter may not be far off after they do live action.
Andrew: I don’t want it. Don’t manifest that, please.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: It worked for Star Trek; they’re doing animated. Everybody’s touching it.
Andrew: Yeah, I’m sure at some point there will be animated, but first, they’ve got to do live action. And I also feel like they will be seriously considering several ideas for TV shows, and by that I mean they might put a couple into development at once, because look at what’s happening with Game of Thrones and Star Wars and Marvel: They are creating multiple TV series in these fandoms because it keeps people subscribed to these streaming platforms year round if they can keep continue releasing content year round. So I see a day for MuggleCast where we will be focused on these TV shows, and like I said last week, recording at 2:00 a.m. to discuss what happens. [fake cries]
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Exciting. Exciting. But there is a big question, too, about how involved J.K. Rowling will be, and there’s already a lot of concern about that, as there should be. I doubt she will personally be very involved, but she will be collecting a paycheck from these things in all likelihood. And by the way, if you haven’t already, check out Episode 483 of MuggleCast where we did a deep dive into fancasting a Harry Potter reboot that would air on television.
Eric: Jennifer Lawrence is still my favorite casting.
Andrew: For Molly Weasley?
Eric: Oh, yeah.
[Julia laughs]
Andrew: Sure. Okay. You know what? I’ll buy into that now. 2021, new year, new me.
Eric: Aww, thanks.
Andrew: JLaw for Molly. [laughs] Also, MuggleNet is reporting that Fantastic Beasts 3 is going to finish filming this week, which honestly surprises me.
Eric: That is surprising, but I have no concept of time.
Andrew: Oh, that’s true. Maybe that’s my problem.
Eric: Since the pandemic, because we know filming was delayed forever. Actually, I think either the day that they were going to start filming, or the day after they started filming entirely, the whole studio shut down; everybody had to quarantine. So finding out that they’ve managed to record the entire movie so far, film everything they needed to film, is surprising.
Andrew: Especially with just appointing Mads Mikkelsen into the role of Grindelwald.
Laura: Yeah! That’s what I was wondering. I was like, “How much is Grindelwald in this movie?”
Micah: Just a smidge.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: I respect the people at MuggleNet, but I don’t know if this is entirely true. But we’re going to assume it is, and in bonus MuggleCast this week, available on Patreon, we are going to discuss what happens now. When can we expect to hear more info about this movie, trailer, synopsis, and why a 2022 release if they just finished filming? So we’ll talk about all that. Patreon.com/MuggleCast.
Eric: Well, I mean, MuggleNet said insiders told them. People on the set.
Andrew: Who are these insiders? Reveal yourselves! Reveal your sources!
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: At this rate, honestly, we’re going to get the title of the movie on Monday and we’re going to have to do a whole new episode.
[Julia laughs]
Andrew: Oh, darn.
Main Discussion: Life as an adult Harry Potter fan
Andrew: So let’s move to our main discussion today: being an adult and still liking Harry Potter and facing people who might wonder why we still like Harry Potter as adults. And this is going to be kind of a two part discussion; we’re going to talk about, like I just said, being an adult Harry Potter fan and what that means, especially when people question it, and parenting future Harry Potter fans. Eric, one of the reasons we wanted to talk about this today is Harry Potter has always been marketed as a series for children.
Eric: Yeah, there’s really been a push against any overall industry effort to get adults to read these books. I’ve known plenty of adults that have found the messages very relevant, and anyone can enjoy the storytelling and the richness of the world, but it just seems that there’s always been this push to keep Harry Potter firmly in the box of kids’ stuff.
Andrew: For as long as Harry Potter has been in existence, there’s been this wide assumption that the books are only for kids, and then that puts adults like us in difficult positions.
Eric: Right, exactly, because of this push… because Harry Potter is always listed… you always have to walk to the children’s section.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: And you’re there with Franklin the turtle and Clifford the Big Red Dog, and you kind of feel like… even as a teen when I would go check out Borders’s Harry Potter section, I’d be a little bit nervous about kids running around my ankles next to me. [laughs]
Andrew: Right, and the kids section is always separated from the rest of the bookstore; you have to go through, like, a magic wall that they set up…
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: You have to walk under an arch to get to…
Eric: Well, right, because when Harry Potter was out in bookstores, there wasn’t even a young adult section many times. We’ll probably touch on this, because Harry Potter really changed everything, including bookstore layouts. But yeah, absolutely. You had to go through the magic wall with the train that was going around the store with people in it.
Micah: Well, and don’t interrupt story time that’s going on in the little circle with all the kids.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: I know, you’ve got to… shhhh. So I can’t imagine what it would have been like for somebody who was already an adult when Harry Potter was huge.
Andrew: We have some evidence of the publishers being aware of this issue, and we’ll talk about that in a moment. But first I wanted to ask, have any of us here ever faced some backlash for being an adult Harry Potter fan? Not when we were kids, but as an adult, so in the past decade.
Laura: Not really, honestly, and I kind of credit that to the change in our culture. It’s cool to be a nerd now.
Julia: Indeed.
Laura: It didn’t used to be cool to be super into fandom, and now it is. I face this less now than I did as a kid.
Julia: I agree, absolutely. The culture has definitely shifted and nerd culture is part of mainstream now. It definitely didn’t used to be, especially when the books were first coming out.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. Because as kids, we couldn’t necessarily be open about being a Harry Potter fan. I certainly was not open about being a part of a Harry Potter podcast, and then when my TV tech teacher exposed me, it was like, the worst day of my life. It was like I was outed as gay or something.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: It was that bad. Nobody was making fun of me; I was just so embarrassed that my secret had been revealed. [laughs]
Eric: Well, and originally it felt weird to be me, because I was originally also thinking the books were cheesy and for children, and then when I started liking them, I was like, “Well, clearly I was wrong.”
Micah: And for me, I mean, Julia and I are the same age, and so I mean, I’ve always been an adult Harry Potter fan, so hopefully I can bring that perspective. But I agree with what Laura and Julia both said; as an adult, it’s actually… you find more engaging conversation goes on with people when you say, number one, that you do a podcast, because the first thing people always say, “Oh, well, what is it about? Can I download it? Can I listen to it?” They’re very excited to learn about it. And I think once you add in Harry Potter, the first question you always get is, “Oh, well, what do you guys talk about?” And that just spurs more conversation. And I think, yeah, fandom has become so much a part of our culture now where it wasn’t before, and just the rise of other series that we’ve seen take off post-Harry Potter, I would credit Potter with that, too.
Eric: Yeah, the inmates have taken over the asylum, you guys.
Andrew: I think you all are right. I still think there are people out there, though, who question why adults would like Harry Potter, because maybe they just have always known it to be a children’s series. I don’t have any specific examples myself of being made fun of or anything like that, but I definitely know of some people who would question it, but they just suck, so whatever.
Laura: Yeah, I think that’s part of it, right? As an adult, you get to make the choice about who you want to surround yourself with, right? When you’re a kid, that’s not always the case. So I feel like as adults, we’ve made a very conscious choice to surround ourselves with people who don’t make it a habit to crap all over the things that other people like.
Andrew: Great point. And while this is not directly backlash, a common question I’ve gotten over the years is, “You’re still doing MuggleCast?”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Even Harry Potter fans.
Eric: I hate this question. I hate this question so much.
Andrew: Why?
Eric: It makes me have to question why I’m still doing this show. [laughs]
Andrew: Oh, really? Oh, no.
Eric: I mean, no, I get such joy out of it, which is why. But no, it seems to suppose that Harry Potter is over and died, and we know from doing this show that’s just not true.
Laura: I’ve definitely gotten the question, “What do you guys talk about?”
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: I was like, “Have you read these books?” I mean, it’s an incredibly rich source material there; you can have endless conversations about it. And I don’t think people realize sometimes how involved the fandom still is and how alive it still is, so there’s still a good bit for us to riff on, that’s for sure.
Eric: And Micah is right; usually when people ask “What do you talk about?”, it is this air of they’re genuinely interested. It does foster sort of a good conversation. But we wouldn’t get that question if we said we started a Marvel podcast in 2008 or…
[Micah laughs]
Eric: When did Iron Man come out? 2010? Something like that.
Laura: Somewhere in there.
Eric: We wouldn’t get those kinds of questions.
Micah: I will say though, too, for adults… maybe this is a presumption and not necessarily totally true in all cases, but I think that adults have more of an awareness about the conversation at hand, and so if maybe a kid would start going down the road of making fun of you for it, an adult has a little bit more awareness that they’re going to try and shift the conversation a little bit and get to know a little bit more about, “Okay, well, why are you doing this? Did you grow up reading the series?” Things like that. Maybe I’m wrong, but it’s just something that came to mind.
Andrew: Yeah. To Eric, your point about if we started a Marvel podcast, nobody would be asking that, but I think that’s because there’s still so much new content happening there, whereas in a lot of people’s minds, Harry Potter ended in 2007, or 2011/2012. And of course, Fantastic Beasts is still going on, but it’s just not as big. It’s not as important to the core story as all of these Marvel movies and now TV shows are. But I hope we get back to a point where there’s a lot of new Harry Potter content and everybody’s happy with it, and MuggleCast to even outsiders feels super relevant.
Laura: I will say, in recent history as an adult Harry Potter fan, I’ve not felt the need to defend my position in the fandom except for to offer people a disclaimer that I vigorously disagree with J.K. Rowling. So usually what’ll happen is people… I had it happen recently, actually, where a friend of a friend found out about MuggleCast because she was randomly in a Zoom happy hour call and another friend was in there and they realized they knew me, and my one friend was like, “Oh, do you know that she does this Harry Potter podcast?” And so she messages me and was like, “Hey, I didn’t know you did this.” And I was like, “Oh, yeah. But also, J.K. Rowling is very wrong.”
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: And she was like, “Okay, yeah, agreed.” So I feel like I have to clear the air on that issue anytime somebody asks me about it, because I’m like, “Oh my God.”
Eric: Good point. Because if fellow adults who are more active and care about that… they want to make sure that we’re politically aligned with them, and I would be, too, yeah.
Micah: Right. And I would just add, too, I think there’s something about the fact that when you’re having these conversations, you can say, “Well, we started this when we were in our teens or early 20s, and we’ve done it for 15 years.” There’s a longevity to it. And it’s become a business, too, and I think when you have that conversation with adults, that resonates with them, right? And I think it can go either way. But to Laura’s point earlier, I don’t feel the need to sort of defend my position; I just say, “Look, I host a Harry Potter podcast” and go on from there, and most of the time the people that you’re talking to have read the books themselves, so it does spur additional conversation, and maybe you pick up a listener or two.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] One of our listeners listening over on Patreon right now, Savannah, she said, “I’m made fun of all the time for liking Harry Potter still. They are lame people.” We agree, Savannah. We agree.
Laura: Yeah, for real.
Andrew: To heck with them. Banish them. Push them through the veil.
Laura: Whoa.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Eric: That’s murder, dude.
Andrew: No, it’s not. It’s just putting them in some weird space that we don’t know anything about yet.
Eric: You’re right, you’re right. Sirius is still alive.
Laura: Andrew is like, “I’m just putting them in a pocket dimension they can’t come back from. It’s okay.”
Andrew: It’s a timeout. Sirius Black is going to come back at some point, I’m convinced.
Eric: [laughs] Well, I will say the one time I actually really felt made fun of as an adult for being a Harry Potter fan was when that big news broke about Zoomers, or… the next generation out.
Andrew: Gen Z.
Eric: Gen Z were calling Millennials out for like, “Oh, a Hufflepuff isn’t a personality, Karen.”
Andrew: Oh, yeah. [laughs]
Eric: Kind of like, yeah, “You’re 32 and you still talk about Hogwarts and the students there.”
Andrew: Right. Yeah, I wish we remembered the tweet; it was a pretty good one.
Laura: Oh, yeah. No, it was like, “Millennials will fight for their Hogwarts House but they can’t afford their own housing.” Something like that.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Eric: And I’ve never felt simultaneously more seen and more angry at being called out.
Andrew: Right.
Laura: You know what? I love it. And just a side note, I think Gen Z is great. Roast us, please.
Andrew: Oh, yeah. It’s funny to read.
Eric: They are the future. I think I want to embrace the younger generation being the future much more than previous generations embraced us.
Andrew and Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: So like I mentioned a few minutes ago, the Harry Potter book publishers were aware that adults might feel uncomfortable reading the Harry Potter books with the original covers, because they did look like books for kids. And when you’re reading on the beach, in the subway, in the park, adults might want different covers. So what did they do, Eric?
Eric: So I found… this is one of three primary sources I found that I’d love to talk about on this show. But you know those adults edition UK Harry Potter books that I believe we’ve all become familiar with over the years?
Micah: Yeah, I have them.
Eric: Oh, yeah. Very simplistic design. I think Philosopher’s Stone is just the red Philosopher’s Stone on the front of it. Book 6 in particular is just the locket, and it’s very dark, very sort of covert. These are the adult edition covers. I found out that the ones we know and love of the adult edition covers, all seven of them, they only switched to that style in 2001, but as of 1998, actually… so as early as 1998, between the first and second book in the UK, they actually had another set, and they actually released “For adults” editions that were also… but it was a similar situation. It’s kind of a smokey cover, it’s usually focused on one element; like, there’ll be a dragon on it. But very, very different than the UK children’s edition, which is Harry in front of the train looking quizzical.
Andrew: Right. And those covers are very colorful, I would argue more colorful than the US ones. It is interesting they never did adult editions in the US, did they?
Eric: I don’t know why it didn’t catch on, especially because Scholastic, they would have liked the money. I guess it just would have been another opportunity, because seeing as how… the reason I base that claim is Scholastic has completely redone the Harry Potter book covers about 17 times since 2007.
Andrew: Oh, so many times.
Eric: So they’re not above money grabs, so I’m surprised too.
Andrew: I guess they realized that releasing only a certain cover wasn’t going to impact sales; they didn’t lose out on any readers just because they didn’t release any adult editions. Of course, you can always just take off the cover if you’re buying the hardback, too, so maybe that’s what they were thinking as well.
Micah: I’m trying to remember, too, if there’s anything else besides the covers specifically that are unique about the adult editions from the UK.
Andrew: No, I don’t think so.
Micah: I candidly have not opened the set. I have a set of all seven and it’s unopened, and I don’t plan on opening it anytime soon. [laughs]
Andrew: Okay, so you bought it just to collect. You weren’t hiding from people on the subway.
Micah: Yeah, exactly. [laughs] No, I was not hiding from people; not for that reason I wasn’t hiding from people on the subway.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: But I do think it’s an interesting marketing technique, though, that Bloomsbury came up with. And it is, to your point, also interesting that they never went down that road, really, in the US. They stuck with Mary GrandPré and her illustrations for the US editions. But clearly, there was a concern.
Eric: So further talking about the industry shift and them putting Harry in the children’s box, if you guys remember back in the late 90s/early 2000s, Harry Potter was obviously becoming the global phenomenon that it is now, and it was just topping the New York Times Book Review bestseller list constantly. Something like 57 or… no, 79 weeks, I think, was the record. So the New York Times, tired of seeing what was then the four Harry Potter books coming out on the top of the list all the time, actually created a New York Times Book Review children’s list. So Harry Potter was still topping the list, but they moved it to the children’s list so that other books… and there’s a lot of good comments I got, quotes I was reading about why that was a good thing. Apparently, some publishers were advocating for such a move, because the cluster of children’s books at the top of the adult list could keep deserving adult books off the list. But yeah, the editor of the Book Review said, “The time has come when we need to clear some room,” and it’s because this children’s… rather than embracing the children’s book that’s a really good world-building story for all ages, they’re like, “You know what? These books are getting in the way. They’re not giving adult books their due. We’re going to create a separate list.”
Laura: It’s like, actual market manipulation.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Hmm, interesting.
Laura: I feel like I can speak to that after the last few days living on this planet.
Andrew: They pulled a Robin Hood.
Laura: But yeah, I mean, it’s just moving the goalposts, right? And as we’ve established here on the show, there are plenty of adult themes in the Harry Potter books. And I think for people who maybe aren’t super familiar with the stories, they just hear “Harry Potter” and they think of it as being synonymous with “Oh, that’s a children’s story,” and I actually think, especially as the book goes on, that’s not always the correct categorization.
Andrew: Would you call, Laura, the later books, books for adults? Or not children’s books?
Laura: They’re kind of multifaceted, right? One of the things that I always admired about the Harry Potter books is that they don’t infantilize children.
Eric: Right.
Laura: Sometimes there can be this infuriating tendency towards treating children like they can’t understand darker, more adult concepts, and I think that is bogus. But maybe Julia might have some other thoughts on that topic. So I don’t know; I think that… I get for categorization purposes they have to stick Harry Potter somewhere, but sometimes I feel like constantly trying to create children’s spaces to shoehorn it into isn’t necessarily the most accurate way to depict what the books are about.
Julia: Yeah, I agree. I think that they really transcend categories, especially the last three books; they definitely get a whole lot darker after Goblet of Fire.
Andrew: Yeah, I mean, especially after you read… if you read the whole series and then go back to 1 or 2, you’re like, “Wow, there is nothing happening here compared to what happens in the later books.”
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Laura: Right.
Andrew: The upside of creating this children’s bestseller list is that it probably featured a lot of children’s books that would never have been featured otherwise.
Laura: True.
Andrew: So at least there was that.
Eric: Yeah, and I’m quite comfortable with the series being nestled under young adult, even if it’s not… and I don’t think it’s like just naming it something else, like, “Oh, I feel uncomfy that it’s not being called children when I’m not a children,” but I mean, the heroes are 17 years of age at the end, so I feel like that’s a big deal, as the same age as the characters. And young adult has come to be much more widely respected as also meaning angsty, intelligent, relevant; these are the lessons you will need as a young adult when you go into the larger world, and I think Harry Potter actually fits quite comfortably under young adult lists.
Micah: Well, I just hope that the record extended. So if they were on the New York Times bestseller list for however many weeks, and then they move to children, they don’t lose the record just because they made that shift.
Eric: Right.
Andrew: They have so many different categories now, though. I’m looking. They have a bestselling children’s picture book section, and middle grade hardcover section, and then young adult hardcover, which is probably where Harry Potter would maybe go now. So they’ve really… they’ve added a bunch of categories over the past couple of decades.
Micah: Makes sense.
Andrew: And yet as we talk about all this, “Harry Potter is for kids” or “Harry Potter is for adults too,” they just always market it to children still, and I think that’s one of the most frustrating parts about this.
Micah: It’s bad marketing, honestly, and here’s why: because most of the fans are not kids anymore, right? And I understand appealing to a new generation, but if you want to appeal to the core base of fans, you need to look at people in their 20s and their 30s.
Andrew: Right, right. I always go back to the theme parks. Whenever you see commercials for the theme parks, it’s nothing but kids. And I also think back to when they opened the first theme park in 2010. There was this grand opening moment, and Dan Radcliffe walks into the park surrounded by children. [laughs] And I’m there like, “I’m excited too. Can I be excited, please?”
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: They just leaned so hard into that, and maybe they’re starting to…
Micah: Grow up, Andrew.
Andrew: What? Grow up? Yeah, I know.
Micah: Grow up. Go to Disney.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: That’s another thing that’s hotly debated all the time. I mean, Disney Park fans are adults, and yet always marketed towards children. And then you always hear those comments from adults, like, “All these Millennials are obsessed with Disney, grow up, blah, blah, blah.”
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: I think they are starting to come around to marketing more to people like us. I’m thinking like, the Wizarding World online store, I see photos of adults like us. Or you think about Hot Topic or BoxLunch. We’re talking about how being a nerd is cool; they really lean into marketing to adults. But yeah, it’s been a long time coming, and we’ll see what they do in the years ahead. I’m not holding out hope, though, because… I mean, I guess on the other hand, these kids are the next generation so they want to market to them so they can have them hooked in for the next 30 years.
Eric: We talked about this on a recent episode, but the Wizarding World theme park is a great place to go to get a beer.
Andrew: Yeah, and the secret menu!
Eric: Oh, yeah, the Long Island that’s on the secret menu at the Hog’s Head.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: But yeah, definitely these are adult spaces. And if you grew up with the books, you are an adult now, and you can enjoy these places, too. So that’s a good point. But my favorite source that I found when researching Harry Potter as a children’s book, what’s the pressure like, I found this 2003 article in The Telegraph called “I worry for Harry’s adult readers,” and it was published, like, the weekend after Harry Potter 5 came out in the UK. And it’s by this guy called Stephen Pollard, again, in The Telegraph. And here’s two choice quotes from this article: “The number of adults reading Harry Potter for themselves should hardly be surprising, given the infantilization of our culture.” It’s this whole article complaining about how so-called adults are embracing more and more children’s literature. He says, “Regression into childhood is the defining characteristic of modern culture. Computer games, pop music, loutishness, and fast food are all part of the same phenomenon – behaving as a child but in the body of an adult.”
Andrew: “And fast food.” That’s my favorite part of that sentence. [laughs]
Eric: Oh, yeah, that’s just kind of like, “And why don’t you throw in the picket fence?” Just be like, “Kitchen sink, just anything.”
Julia: What a bummer for this dude.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: This dude sucks.
Andrew: He’s never had any fun in his adult life.
Micah: Yeah, what does he do for fun?
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: In the article, he talks about going to see The Lion King on Broadway and hating it, but being surrounded by the people who…
Laura: Oh my God.
Eric: I know, I know. But being surrounded by all these people who love it, and he’s just like, “This is childish. This is crazy.” So yeah, this is the most outspoken voice that could possibly exist. [laughs] But yet, something touches me: this whole thing about behaving as a child in the body of an adult. I hate to say it, but I still feel, at some times, 17 years old, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think that we have… this was written 17 years ago, you guys. I feel like he was on to something only in that it was occurring, and not necessarily… I don’t share at all his negative opinion of it.
Andrew: These things are designed for people of all ages, and they make us happy. They give us an escape. They help us unwind at the end of the day. This kind of viewpoint is so silly, and like was said a couple of minutes ago, I worry for people like this who can’t enjoy pop music or… fast food. [laughs]
Laura: Yeah. Well, and I’m like, “Have you never felt nostalgia for anything?”
Andrew: Right.
Laura: That’s really sad if not.
Eric: Here’s another paragraph I found from this guy Stephen: “I managed to avoid the first Lord of the Rings film. The critical reception for the second, however, was so overwhelmingly positive – variations on the theme of ‘a stunning cinematic achievement’ – that curiosity, and the accusation that ‘You can’t criticize it unless you’ve seen it,’ got the better of me. After an hour of elves, monsters, and hilarious ham acting – hardly surprising, given the drivel the actors had to work with – I walked out. It was a children’s film shot for and marketed at adults.”
Micah: Harumph.
Eric: [laughs] So there’s his accusation that they were sneaking in or secretly marketing things that were children’s things for adults, so this guy probably definitely supported the opposite, like the adult covers and stuff.
Laura: Yeah, this guy sounds like a riot.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: Let’s invite him to our next party. Sounds like a ton of fun.
Micah: For sure. He’s on bonus MuggleCast.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: I assume people read The Telegraph.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s a big publication.
Eric: Yeah, we’ll put him on an episode with Laura Mallory.
Micah: Can I just stop after the first five words? Because I think those are the most important, which are: “The number of adults reading.” And that’s something that he doesn’t… actually, I’m not going to say that because I haven’t read the full Telegraph article, but I’m presuming it’s not something that he touches on. And Harry Potter was – and yes, we’ve mentioned this many times on this show – a once in a lifetime phenomenon. Being grouped in… and we can have other conversations about computer games and pop music, etc. But Harry Potter captured the globe, and it encouraged not just kids but adults to read, and I think the fact that that’s being omitted from what he’s writing here is a big issue.
Eric: I mean, seeing as how The Telegraph was so big, this is just one more bit of proof that there was probably immense pressure for adults to closet themselves at the time.
Andrew: Yeah. So we did go on Twitter, and we wanted stories from adults like us, and everybody was actually pretty positive. We didn’t hear any horrific stories about people being made fun of or anything for liking Harry Potter as an adult. Mother of Hedgehogs – that’s a fun name – said, “I read them before my kids did! And we went to every midnight release from Order of the Phoenix to Deathly Hallows. I wish I could relive those days! And many of the adults in my life were also reading them, so no worries there.” Carla said, “I was over 30 when I first read the Harry Potter books. I got immersed in a wonderful, well-constructed magical world of good versus evil. Yep, I stood besides excited children to get the books, the first at the movie theater. I even spent my 40th at Harry Potter Wizarding World Universal.” Nice, yeah. I have to say, if I was an adult when the Harry Potter books were released, I probably would have felt a little awkward being surrounded by a lot of kids at a midnight release party. Not that it would be wrong to be there, but it would just feel a little awkward.
Micah: Preorder it, Andrew, right to your door.
Andrew: Yeah, but going to a party was more fun.
Micah: Have a house party with some other friends.
Laura: I don’t know. I mean, I remember going to midnight release parties, and at least one of my parents would be there with us. I feel like a lot of kids were there with their parents, so it’s not as though you would be in a 100% child-filled environment. I don’t know.
Andrew: True.
Laura: Julia, did you ever get to do any midnight release parties for the movies or the books?
Julia: I went to the midnight release of Sorcerer’s Stone movie and the midnight release of Order of the Phoenix book release. And gosh, I feel like it was a good mix of people of all ages.
Laura: Yeah, I think so.
Julia: And there were adults that were there without children. I don’t remember being overwhelmed by little kids.
Andrew: I’m trying to remember if my parents stayed with us during the midnight release. I don’t think they did. They dropped us off for one of the books and then picked us up at 12:30 or something like that. [laughs]
Eric: Probably went to the pub next door.
Andrew: [laughs] Right.
Eric: Adult things.
Laura: See, my mom usually came with us because she was just as excited as we were.
Andrew: So your mom read Harry Potter? My parents haven’t.
Laura: Oh, yeah. She was super into it and was reading the books alongside us and…
Andrew: Nice. Cool mom.
Laura: Yeah, she is.
Eric: FencingLibrarian on Twitter says, “I was 37 when Book 5 was published. I couldn’t stand not being in on this global phenomenon.” There, she gets it.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s a big thing.
Eric: “While my twin daughters napped, I read. Never had I experienced such an immersive fantastical world. Immediately, I purchased Books 1-4, and I am still a fan.” FOMO is real. FOMO was definitely a motivating factor for that. And then TWJ on Twitter says, “I was 33, recently married (hubby was 43). We watched the first movie to see what the controversy -“ controversy [laughs] “- was all about, and loved the film. My former high school English teacher, Sister Helen, recommended the books, and I borrowed the first three from her.” Man, getting Harry Potter books from your old nun teacher. Amazing.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: That’s a shocker.
Andrew: Blasphemy.
Micah: Maybe it shouldn’t be. That’s what makes me think that our our good friend Stephen Pollard is actually a huge Harry Potter fan.
Andrew: [laughs] Email him. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
Eric: I wonder if he still writes for The Telegraph.
Andrew: Kristen had a powerful story. She said, “I was 29 years old trying to connect with my 8-year-old son after the sudden death of my fiancé. I was numb, not coping and failing to connect with my son. I picked up Book 1 and hoped reading to him would be an easy way to spend time together, with the words already there for me, all I had to do was read aloud. I was a shell of myself and not the mother my boy needed. Slowly we were taken out of our world of grief and transported by magic. We learned to cope with our collective loss and found comfort in knowing ‘the ones who love us never really leave us.’ I was reminded that my love for my son would be his strength, and so over the course of a couple months we finished the books, not knowing all the while we were processing our grief and living again.” That’s really sweet, Kristen.
Laura: Yeah, that’s a beautiful story.
Andrew: Let’s talk about parenting a child and introducing them to Harry Potter. I have a big question here because I have two nephews now. They’re still very young, too young for Harry Potter; three and about one year old. When is the right time to introduce them to Harry Potter? And Julia, let’s start with you. When did you introduce Wyatt? And I know you have a daughter, too, who’s younger.
Julia: I do. Zoey is 8. And I hope that I’m not a disappointment as far as a parent guest…
Andrew: Oh my gosh, stop.
Julia: … because we didn’t have any hard and fast rules for introducing Harry Potter. And I know of other parents who have had rules like waiting for a certain age, or not watching the movies until after they’ve read the books, which, I appreciate that rule; I didn’t think of it in time to enact that rule myself. [laughs] But we didn’t really have a specific age. Part of it is because we’re fans, we didn’t want to deny ourselves the joy of watching the movies when our kids were still little, so they had some exposure to especially the first couple of movies when they were young. But I think that that helps because it gives them an introduction and a curiosity to the characters and the storyline. We like to listen to audiobooks, and the great thing about audiobooks is that you don’t have to worry about the reading ability level of the kid; they can read something above their grade level. I think that Wyatt probably was maybe 6 or 7 when he first listened to Sorcerer’s Stone. But the funny thing about kids is that they love to listen to the same thing or watch the same shows over and over and over again, so literally he listened to the first book for over a year, every single night.
Andrew: Oh my gosh. [laughs]
Julia: And so it takes a while to get through it because it’s like, “Okay, it’s been two weeks starting with Chapter 1. Do you think maybe we can start with Chapter 2 now?”
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Oh, man. He’s going to know the books better than any of us.
Julia: [laughs] He’s 12 now and he’s read the first four books for sure. I can’t remember if he’s read Order of the Phoenix yet or not, so he hasn’t gotten all the way through the series.
Andrew: But has seen all the movies.
Julia: Most of the movies. I don’t think he’s seen Deathly Hallows.
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: I was going to ask specifically about Books 5-7, the later movies, because I know of parents that have said to us even, “We’ve read the first four; that’s totally fine,” but they wait a couple years; they really want to make sure their kids are old enough for the source material.
Julia: So he’s definitely seen Movies 5 and 6. This wasn’t any kind of conscious choice that he hasn’t read those books yet; this is just his own pacing.
Laura: I love that.
Julia: I think for sure he’s ready for it, and he… it’s fun, because he knows what to expect later. But there are things that aren’t explained in the movies that he’s picked up on, and we won’t explain those things to him. “Oh, sorry, you’ll just have to read the books.”
[Eric laughs]
Laura: That’s great.
Julia: So it helps… it keeps him interested. And same goes for Zoey, too; she finally let me put on Chamber of Secrets for her to listen to at night after listening to the first book for, I don’t know, well over a year every night.
[Andrew and Julia laugh]
Laura: I love that you’re letting them move at their own pace. I get a little confused sometimes when I hear about hard and fast rules. I can understand if you’re a really big fan, if you want to decide that the kids need to read the books before they see the movies; that’s fine. But I was raised in a similar household, it sounds like, in terms of what you were allowed to read, where my parents were sort of like, “Hey, if she’s old enough to read it and understand it, then it’s fine.”
Julia: Absolutely. Yeah, not to harp on about audiobooks, but that’s the great thing, is that you’re not restricted to your grade level reading. If the interest is there, then go for it.
Eric: Yeah, my friend Angela is putting the… she actually just had her first child 14 days ago, but even in the womb just having audiobooks on was a big thing for her. She’s like, “We’re starting him when he’s young. He’s in utero and he’s going to listen to…”
Andrew: [laughs] When he’s zero.
Eric: I did ask for clarification; it is the Jim Dale audiobooks, versus Stephen Fry, which I probably think of as being more authentic. But yeah, I mean, you’re talking about audiobooks in the womb; this kid’s going to be a massive Harry Potter fan one day.
[Andrew and Julia laugh]
Julia: Nice. That’s awesome.
Andrew: Julia, is Harry Potter still a popular book for kids to read? Like, is it discussed amongst parents? Because obviously, it’s what, 20 years old now at this point? So I just wonder if people think about it for their kids, or is it just kind of an old book?
Julia: No, I mean… gosh, I think so, especially among parents who have read it before. I don’t really have a finger on Wyatt’s group of friends as to whether they’ve read the books or are into it, but his band teacher in middle school has Harry Potter stuff all over the band room, and kids are definitely aware of it.
Andrew: So it’s really thanks to all the adults who grew up reading it that kids are currently reading it.
Julia: I think so.
Andrew: It’ll be interesting to see, though, how it pans out over the next century. Maybe people will be listening to MuggleCast when they have nowhere else to turn, [laughs] and we’re all dead. But hopefully MuggleCast is still available for people to listen to. So final question for you, Julia, about this: The books have a lot of good messages, of course. Are there any bad messages that you’re like, “Eh, I don’t know if I want Wyatt thinking much about that”?
Julia: I think that there are examples of behavior that maybe isn’t great. When thinking of Harry as a role model, yes, he’s absolutely brave and super resilient, but he’s also very stubborn, and his whole “I’m going to do it myself” or “I’m going to suffer through this myself” is maybe not something that is a great message for kids to think about. But luckily for Harry, his friends are just as stubborn as he is; “No, Harry, don’t be dumb. We’re going to go with you.” [laughs]
Andrew: Right, yeah. I guess it also kind of becomes a problem when somebody’s listening to this book with stubborn Harry over and over and over again for a year.
Julia: Right.
[Andrew and Julia laugh]
Andrew: I mean, actually, I’d like… there was a TV show – I’m not going to say which – that I binged. It was six or seven seasons.
Micah: Blue’s Clues.
Andrew: And this person, this lead character in the TV series, was an egotistical buttface, and I felt like I kind of became that person after binging six, seven seasons of the show. [laughs] And I eventually broke out of it, but I can completely understand this potentially happening to kids who might read Harry Potter and experience stubborn Harry for an extended period of time.
Micah: Or want to get into witchcraft and start casting spells on other kids.
Andrew: [laughs] Well…
Micah: I’m just joking because of Laura Mallory.
[Andrew and Julia laugh]
Micah: But I do think, though, there’s something about letting kids read the book for themselves just at face value, and then if they do read it again, or as they get older – kind of like what we’re doing with the show – then you can reflect back on things that maybe are a little bit more adult in nature and maybe that you didn’t pick up on the first few times that you read the series.
Julia: I think overall the positive messages outweigh the negative messages. They might be things that kids might not pick up on the first time through, or even adults might not pick up on the first time through until really critically thinking about the books.
Laura: Yeah, and I would imagine that it opens up room for conversation, right? Obviously, if a really dark theme were to come up, it gives you room to discuss that with whoever is reading it, quite frankly. Not just a child, but you can do, to Micah’s point, what we’ve done here on the show and talk about things that haven’t necessarily aged well per se, or things that in retrospect, like when we were reading it as children, we didn’t think too much about it, but now it jumps out at us a lot more. And I think that it just, for children, it helps them develop those critical thinking skills.
Julia: For sure.
Andrew: To wrap up today’s discussion, I wanted to play a bit of a game with you all. I want to prepare our listeners for any situations they might face as an adult Harry Potter fan, and this segment I’m going to call “Troll in the Dungeon,” and it is inspired by Harry Potter actress Evanna Lynch, who plays Luna. She has a podcast called the ChickPeeps, and it’s a veganism and sustainability podcast, and they do a vegan Troll in the Dungeon segment where they pretend that they are facing vegan trolls. So you all are going to face some Harry Potter trolls now. And Eric, I have one especially for you.
Eric: Ooh, gosh.
Andrew: But Micah, Laura, and Julia, feel free to take on…
Micah: We need to get you music for this, though, by the way.
Andrew: I don’t think we need music, and you’ll find out why.
Micah: Oh.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Andrew: All right, so here’s the first troll. This is a person named Cletus, and when you answer, please address the person as Cletus, okay? I’m not in the room. All right. [in an obnoxious southern accent] I think Harry Potter is clearly for kiddies. All you see are kids on the cover, and when they opened that Harry Potter World down in Orlando, all I saw was that Dan Radcliffe walking around with the kids. In fact, whenever I see ads for anything Harry Potter, I’m just seeing kids in the ad, so clearly it’s not for you. So grow up, Micah.
Micah: Well, Cletus, thank you so much for calling into the show. Really respect what you have to say, but have to disagree. I can’t help but wonder, Laura, do you know this person? Do they live near you?
Laura: Um…
Eric: Why would Laura know this person?
Andrew: [still as Cletus] Not everybody in the south sounds like this, Micah.
Laura: In fact, most people in the south don’t sound like that.
[Julia and Micah laugh]
Andrew: [as Cletus] So why is Harry Potter for adults?
Eric: I would say that we were all children once, and even though we are no longer kids, we like Harry Potter because it reminds us what it was like to be a child. It was what it’s like to… you ever feel like the world is wide and you’d never quite understand it, and you ever feel overwhelmed? The Harry Potter books really capture that but in a fantasy way, and they have a lot of humor and adventure. I think it’s a joyful, joyous romp between three best friends as kids confronting the challenges of their day, and I think that’s something that we can all relate to, yourself included.
Micah: That was wonderful, Eric. And I would just add too, Cletus, I think that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone would be a great first book for you to read.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Wow. Oh my…
Laura: I would ask Cletus, are you a fan of Marvel movies? Or DC movies?
Andrew: [as Cletus] Yeah, they’re all right.
Laura: Yeah, so actually, I think this is really great common ground for us to start out on. There was a time not so long ago where you would have been ridiculed for liking those things, because it wasn’t commonplace for adults in the mainstream to like comic book movies, and people would have made fun of you for that, so what you’re doing right now is kind of the same thing.
Andrew: Okay. Well said. Cletus has left the room.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Cletus, by the way, was the name of my character in The Sims Online when I was obsessed with playing that game. Cletus Poodum.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: He wasn’t country, though. It was very strange. I don’t know why I named him that. All right, so the next person joining us is Alexis. [in a valley girl accent] You’re, like, still a Harry Potter fan? Didn’t you read those books, like, 20 years ago or whatever, Laura? That’s literally forever ago. Why don’t you move on to other things?
Laura: What things have you moved on to?
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: [as Alexis] I love The Real Housewives and, like, Jersey Shore. All of these things are still new and fresh. But Harry Potter is, like, forever ago.
Laura: Well, I don’t know if you could call the themes of those shows new and fresh; they’ve basically been recycling the same content for two decades now. At least with Harry Potter there’s a deeper message and interpretation that can happen.
Eric: You know, a good Harry Potter book is like a good cup of coffee from Starbucks: everlasting.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay.
Eric: I really have no more to add than that.
Andrew: All right, and this last one is for you, Eric. This is Herman. [in an old man voice] Hey there, son. I see you’re wearing what looks like a blanket, or like a backwards apron.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Andrew: [as Herman] What is that…? Is that a cloak? Why are you wearing a cloak? Do you think you’re a wizard? Because I have some news for you, son, you’re not a wizard. And don’t you get hot in that thing when you go down to Orlando? Why do you dress up as a Harry Potter character?
Eric: Well, sir, I find it to be an excellent way… dressing up in this outfit is an excellent way for me to channel parts of myself that I wouldn’t ordinarily express, and I do it because it entertains people, first and foremost myself. It’s just some play. It’s just some fun. And I never made it into any kind of professional theater group, so I like to try sort of a practice on my own, a little bit of flair for the dramatic.
Andrew: [as Herman] I see, I see.
Eric: Thank you for asking.
Andrew: Okay, that was it.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Micah: No, we need to introduce him to Elvis Dumbledore. I think he would really enjoy that.
Eric: Oh, yeah. There’s a rockstar from his age, yeah.
Andrew: [as Herman] Now there’s an Elvis Dumbledore? I can’t keep up. There’s too much going on these days.
Eric: Well, sir, I will get your grandchild to send you the YouTube link.
Micah: Then go back to sleep.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Eric: Andrew, you really put yourself out there for this segment. I love this. This was wonderful.
Andrew: Thanks.
Laura: That last one actually reminded me of a real world example. When we were at one of the Harry Potter conventions – I think it was Portus in Dallas – we were actually sharing our hotel with another convention, and so it was… and I’m not going to get into what they were there for, but we were worlds apart. We’ll just say that.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Jesus. You can just say Jesus.
Andrew: It was a Jesus con, wasn’t it?
Laura: Yeah, yeah. And at one point I was in an elevator and this guy was looking at me for a while, and then he finally was like, “Are you guys witches?”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: [as Herman] Are you guys witches?
Laura: And I just looked at him stone cold and was like, “Yes.”
Andrew: And it’s situations like that why I brought Herman onto the podcast, because I think a lot of people see… let’s say in Texas where that convention was, outsiders see people dressed up in cloaks and whatnot and they’re like, “What the hell is going on with that?”
Eric: The getups you see on young people these days!
[Andrew and Julia laugh]
Andrew: I mean, cosplay is a big thing in this fandom and many others…
Eric: It’s huge, yeah.
Andrew: … and so Herman just wanted to know more about it, but I think that was a very open and honest answer, Eric.
Eric: I will say – thank you – when I first started dressing as, at the time, a Gryffindor, I actually didn’t know and wasn’t trying to do cosplay, but actually seeing cosplay be so embraced to the level… it’s leaps and bounds above anything I’ll ever do. There’s people who turn into Transformers and have armor and they make their own armor and they use PVC pipes to have extendable wings. It’s really just… it’s the new way of showcasing some serious technological prowess and talent, but creative expression, the goal inside that I sort of hinted at, is the same. You’re bringing out parts of yourself that you don’t always get to do, and it’s a wonderful time.
Andrew: Right. I still give Eric a lot of credit for wearing those cloaks in Orlando in the dead of summer. Like, man. [laughs]
Eric: Well, because mine was full on cotton twill. It’s a heavy cotton. But now when you go to the park, the robes they sell are super lightweight. They’re almost jersey knit.
Andrew: Oh, okay. But it’s not authentic, then.
Micah: Time to upgrade.
Andrew: No, that’s not an upgrade. That’s not an upgrade.
Eric: My cloak could actually survive northern Scotland weather in the winter.
Andrew: Right, yeah. [laughs]
Micah: There you go. I just can’t wait for Cletus to meet southern Hagrid.
[Julia laughs]
Andrew: [as Cletus] I don’t know who Hagrid is, but I guess I’ll find out when I read that Stone book you mentioned. [back to normal voice] All right, well, if anybody has any feedback today about our discussion about being an adult Harry Potter fan, about parenting a child and introducing them to Harry Potter, write in. MuggleCast@gmail.com. You can email that address, or you can send a voice memo there using your phone, or you can call 1-920-3-MUGGLE; that’s 1-920-368-4453. We also have the contact form on MuggleCast.com. No matter how you get in touch with us, we do read or listen to your message, and we can’t get back to all of them, but we try to get back to as many as possible, and we really appreciate reading all of your feedback. It’s super helpful and inspiring, honestly, because when we do this podcast, we’re not hearing from you in real time, unless you’re in our patron live chat. So we love getting the feedback throughout the week.
Quizzitch
Andrew: It’s time for Quizzitch.
[Quizzitch music plays]
Eric: What is Albus Dumbledore’s favorite flavor of jam? And the correct answer… now, this is his secret make-sure-he’s-not-an-imposter question. He tells Harry the answer to this: raspberry jam.
Andrew: He would.
Eric: Yeah, he would. I’m actually surprised; raspberry is like, tame for Dumbledore. You would expect almost a double flavor combination or something.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: But LanceDance – who submitted this, the correct answer, to us over on Twitter, among with others – added this GIF that’s somebody with a martini glass shouting “Raspberries”? It’s a blonde woman? I don’t know what this is from. And she’s holding champagne. But anyway, now I think that raspberry is perfectly Dumbledore because I saw this GIF. Anyways, correct answers were submitted also by Ali Frega, Time-Traveling Unicorn, Chelsea B., Kati Jane, Ginny, Robbie, Tori, Grace, Thunder Boom, Chellearia, Billy, HallowWolf, ZoomTarot, Growler, Stephanie, Darren, Caleb, and Deb. I guess I asked an easy one this week, you guys.
Andrew: Yeah, a lot of answers. That’s good, though.
Eric: Thrilled by the participation. Next week’s question: What statue resides next to the prefects’ bathroom? Submit your answer to us over on Twitter at @MuggleCast. Use hashtag Quizzitch. Please do not post mail us answers to Quizzitch, please do not email us, please do not find me on other various social media, don’t LinkedIn me with answers… it’s strictly a Twitter game.
Andrew: [laughs] Peace and love, peace and love!
Micah: You’re not being very flexible.
Andrew: [laughs] Ringo said a few years ago on video, “Please do not send me mail anymore; I can’t take it. Peace and love, peace and love.”
[Eric and Julia laugh]
Andrew: This is Eric’s peace and love. “Tweets only, peace and love, peace and love.” I’m going to start playing that every time you say that. [laughs]
Eric: Oh my God. That would be a goop clip; I can hear Ringo saying that.
Andrew: We would also appreciate if you took a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to MuggleCast if they have a review system; thank you very much in advance. Also, follow us on social media; we’re @MuggleCast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. And coming up on our Patreon this week, we’ll have a new bonus MuggleCast about Fantastic Beasts 3 finishing filming, and we would really appreciate your support as well. We’re about to hit 500 episodes, and it’s only because of our patrons that we are hitting 500 episodes. When we launched the Patreon, the goal was to return to doing MuggleCast episodes on a regular basis. At first we said, “If we hit this goal, we’ll do an episode every other week. If we hit this goal, we’ll do an episode weekly again.” And we did hit that goal pretty quickly, and thanks again, thanks to our patrons, we are hitting Episode 500 of MuggleCast next week. What an incredible milestone.
Eric: Wow.
Andrew: Julia, you’re one of the people who supports us out on Patreon. Thank you very much, and thanks for joining us today.
Julia: Thank you, guys. This has been an absolute treat.
Andrew: Great. I know you were very excited to join us, and we were very excited to have you on the show. And give our love to Wyatt, as well.
Julia: Thank you.
Andrew: Thanks, everybody, for listening. I’m Andrew.
Eric: I’m Eric.
Micah: I’m Micah.
Laura: I’m Laura.
Julia: And I’m Julia.
Andrew: Bye, everybody.
Julia, Laura, and Micah: Bye.