Cultural Politics in Harry Potter: Life, Death and the Politics of Fear is the first book-length analysis of topics, such as death, fear and biopolitics in J.K. Rowling's work from controversial and interdisciplinary perspectives. This collection brings together recent theoretical and applied cultural studies and focuses on three key areas of inquiry: (1) wizarding biopolitics and intersected discourses; (2) anxiety, death, resilience and trauma; and (3) the politics of fear and postmodern transformations. As such, this book:
• provides a comprehensive overview of national and gender discourses, as well as the transiting bodies in-between, in relation to the Harry Potter books series and related multimedia franchise;
• situates the transformative power of death within the fandom, transmedia and film depictions of the Potterverse and critically deconstructs the processes of subjectivation and legitimation of death and fear;
• examines the strategies and mechanisms through which cultural and political processes are managed, as well as reminding us how fiction and reality intersect at junctions, such as terrorism, homonationalism, materialism, capitalism, posthumanism and technology.
Exploring precisely what is cultural about wizarding politics, and what is political about culture, this book is key reading for students of contemporary literature, media and culture, as well as anyone with an interest in the fictional universe and wizarding world of Harry Potter.
Author(s): Ruben Jarazo-Alvarez, Pilar Alderete-Diez
Edition: 1
Publisher: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 245
Tags: Rowling, J. K.: Criticism And Interpretation, Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter Series, Potter, Harry (Fictitious Character), Literature And Society: Great Britain: History: 20th Century, Literature And Society: Great Britain: History: 21st Century, Politics And Literature: Great Britain: History: 20th Century, Politics And Literature: Great Britain: History: 21st Century
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Contributors
Preface
Acknowledgements
Note on the Text
PART I: Wizarding (Bio)Politics and Intersected Discourses
1. The Chosen One(s): Ethnic Election and Contemporary English National Identity in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series
Notes
References
2. Squibs, Disability and Having a Place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
References
3. A Magic Manic Pixie Dream Girl?: Luna Lovegood and the Concept of Postfeminism
Notes
Acknowledgements
References
4. “Like an Old Tale”: Art and Transformation in the Harry Potter Novels and The Winter’s Tale
Notes
References
PART II: Death Culture, Trauma and Anxiety
5. Death Sells: Relatable Death in the Harry Potter Novels
Representation of Death in Harry Potter
Fate Worse than Death?
Death as a Marketing Tool
Notes
References
6. The Last Enemy: Harry Potter and Western Anxiety about Death
Dualling Influences
Modern Medicine
Plato and the Soul
Problem Solved?
Notes
References
7. “A Story About How Humans Are Frightened of Death”: Harry Potter, Death and the Cultural Imagination
References
8. Arthur, Harry and the Late Mother: From T.H. White to J.K. Rowling
References
9. King’s Cross: Harry Potter and the Transformative Power of Pain and Suffering
Pain and Identity Crisis
Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions
Growing Pains
Teaching as Torture, Torture as Teaching
King’s Cross
Pain and Power
References
10. When Spares Are Spared: Innocent Bystanders and Survivor’s Guilt in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
References
11. Death Culture, Literary References and Postmodern Sacred Elements in Harry Potter as a Transmedia Franchise
References
12. Death and How to Deal with It in the Harry Potter Series
What Is Death in the Harry Potter World?
Coping with Death and the Grieving Process in the Harry Potter World
Conclusion
Notes
References
PART III: Trauma, the Politics of Fear and Postmodern Transformations
13. Al-Qa’ida and the Horcruxes: Quests for Immortality by Violent Extremist Organizations and Lord Voldemort
Notes
References
14. Gender, Sexuality and the War on Terror in Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Nationalism, Class and Gender in Harry Potter
Non-normative Masculinities and National Discourse in Fantastic
Beast and Where to Find Them
Notes
References
15. Magic as Technological Utopia?: Unpacking Issues of Interactivity and Infrastructuring in the Potterverse
References
16. Flirting with Posthuman Technologies in Harry Potter: Overconsumption of a Good Thing – Technology as Magic
Conservative Consumption of Posthuman Technologies
Consumer of Posthuman Technology Becomes Posthuman
Understanding Voldemort’s Choices to Overconsume
Ethics and Consequences of Posthuman Technologies
References
Index
