26/08/2013

POTTERHEADS: WIZARDS OF ODD - ADULT FANS GO HOGWART'S WILD AS NEW TREKKIES - NYPOST.com

POTTERHEADS: WIZARDS OF ODD

ADULT FANS GO HOGWART'S
WILD AS NEW TREKKIES
MAUREEN CALLAHAN
Last Updated:
Posted: 12:00 AM, November 15, 2005

THIS past Saturday night was one of the most momentous in 25-year-old Melissa
Anelli's life. She's so nervous that she worries which pair of gold earrings go best
with her gold necklace. She applied her makeup hours ahead of time. She lives on
Staten Island, but is anticipating such an utterly thrilling late night in Manhattan that
she's rented a hotel room.
The big event? The Harry "Pottercast" that she's hosting at the Union Square
Barnes & Noble. A giddy, free-flowing discussion between fans and experts, it will
be recorded for later broadcast and download on the Web.
As editor of The-Leaky-Cauldron.org, Anelli is one of the world's foremost
"Potterheads" - adult superfans whose devotion to the books and films rivals the
monomania of Trekkies.
Potterheads are otherwise fully functioning adults who attend conventions, where
they enjoy dressing up as their favorite characters and quoting arcane dialogue to
each other. They revel in panel discussions, midnight screenings and heated
debates in hotel hallways.
They rent out entire theaters when the films are released, so they can dress up and
watch with their brethren. (The Leaky Cauldron is hosting one in New York this
Saturday.) And, yes, they attend podcasts, like the one held right after the premiere
of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" at the Ziegfeld.
Anelli nervously makes her way through the crowd of 600 Potterheads to the
sounds of U2's "Elevation." (Anelli and Emerson Spartz, the 18-year-old editor of
the equally popular fansite Mugglenet, were flown to England for a rare, highly
coveted interview with author J.K. Rowling this summer, but were forbidden from
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POTTERHEADS: WIZARDS OF ODD - ADULT FANS GO HOGWART'S WILD AS NEW TREKKIES - NYPOST.com

telling a soul: "The hardest days of my life!" says Agnelli now. "God, it was so
intense. But it was like interviewing an old friend.")
It is no exaggeration to say that she and her colleagues are greeted like rock stars.
A Mugglenet tech guy elicits hysteria when he is introduced as "basically
compatible with everything except HTML!" Spartz declares the latest Potter film
"hands down, the best one ever" to glass-shattering squeals.
"I spent last night tossing and turning," says 25-year-old Jeff Guillaume, who runs
the popular fansite hpana.com (an acronym for "The Harry Potter Automatic News
Aggregator"). He flew in from Ann Arbor, Mich., for the premiere and podcast. It
was his first red-carpet event, and the buzz hasn't worn off yet. Last night, he
hosted a dinner for about 30 fellow Potterheads at the theme restaurant Jekyll &
Hyde. He says the waiter made fun of them, but he doesn't care. Agnelli, too,
knows what it is to be ridiculed: "I have had people look at me funny," she says. "It's
nice to be someplace where people don't look at you weird for being an adult Harry
Potter fan."
Though neither Guillaume nor Anelli seems particularly socially awkward - both are
unfailingly kind, and their obsession seems more endearing than odd - but both
share a sort of shy quality that is squashed by irrepressible glee once they are
among their own.
"Who better than the socially awkward to be engaged by a story about a kid with no
friends, abused by his guardians, who becomes a savior with stigmata on his
forehead?" asks Bob Thompson, professor of media and popular culture at
Syracuse University. "This is a terribly appealing story."
Thompson says that the phenomenon of adult Potter fans is completely
understandable, given the "nexes of identification" in the books and the appeal of
the fantasy/sci-fi genre in general.
"As incredibly successful as 'Desperate Housewives' has been, you don't get this
kind of thing. An alternate universe with its own rules and vocabulary gives you so
much to sink your teeth into, and a lot of info that you can become an expert in."
Superfan Guillaume discovered the books late, in the summer of 2000. "I literally
remember being hooked on the first paragraph of the first book," he says. "I read all
four books in one month, oh yeah!"
"The turning point for me - and some people night think it's hokey - is when Rowling
had Tom Riddle put his wand up in the air and rearrange the letters to read, 'I am
Lord Valdemort.' It took my breath away."
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Guillaume started his site on Oct. 15, 2002 (he recalls the date as though it's his
birthday) and says he gets 8 million to 10 million hits a month. In 2004, Rowling
awarded it the "best Harry Potter fan site" for that year. He was a guest of Warner
Brothers at today's premiere, and attended both 2003's convention at the Swan
Hotel at Disney World - which was for adult fans only - and this year's in Salem,
Mass., which drew more than 1,000 Potterheads.
"When these people get together, they can really be themselves," Guillaume says.
"Because they really have trouble sharing this with the people in their lives."
Steve Pope, 29, understands. He's an exec at a financial software company and
lives with his wife in Riverdale; one of their favorite pastimes is listening to the
books on tape during road trips.
Still, he is careful about bringing up his obsession in certain circles: "If someone
tells me, 'I used to play [with] GI Joes,' or they played sports and spent a lot of time
outside - you can tell they're not going to be Harry Potter fans," he says. "They did
not spend a lot of time indoors, reading."
While Pope insists that he is "not like a Trekkie or anything," he thinks it's fair to say
that there's a parallel. " I think they're the same type of people." Meaning? "They
played Dungeons & Dragons when they were little. They happen to be more
socially awkward, if that's the right phrase. I'm definitely one of 'em. I grew up kind
of a nerd."
"The overarching themes - the Death Eaters, who look like the Klan; the pure blood
vs. house blood thing - there's a lot of racism in the world, and as a black person, I
related to that," adds Angela Bronner, 32.
Bronner and Guillaume say they relate to Harry's orphan status - though they're not
sure why. But Bronner thinks is has something to do with rooting for "the underdog
kid who's mistreated."
Perhaps it has as much to do with childhood trauma as it does with being, in fact,
rabid adult Harry Potter fans who are often subject to ridicule. Professor Thompson
believes that those who would heap scorn on adult obsessives should consider it in a very Potter-esque way - another form of prejudice.
"You know, there are major professors who spend Bloomsday doing readings of
James Joyce from beginning to end, or who dress up as Ernest Hemingway on his
birthday," he says. "If you're doing it with Joyce and Hemingway, you're a professor.
If you're doing it with Harry Potter, you're crazy."
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POTTERHEADS: WIZARDS OF ODD - ADULT FANS GO HOGWART'S WILD AS NEW TREKKIES - NYPOST.com

--Potterheads vs. Trekkies (Tale of the Tape)

Potterheads
Fan gender: Men and women
Fashion statement: Long scarves, lightning-bolt scars
Pet of choice: Owls
A romantic evening includes: Butterbeer, snuggling under "invisibility" cloaks
Pin-up: Hermione
Mode of transport: Nimbus 2000
You know you've crossed the line when: You bet on Quidditch
Future employment: Extrovert IT help work desk worker
Archenemies: "Lords of the Rings" fans
They look forward to: One more book, three more movies
Trekkies
Fan gender: Who are these "women" you speak of?
Fashion statement: Monochromatic shirt, communicator badges
Pet of choice: Tribbles
A romantic evening includes: Synthonol, Ferengi ear messages
Pin-up: Green-skinned Orion slave girls
Mode of transport: NCC-1701
You know you've crossed the line when: You speak Klingon
Future employment: Introvert IT help desk worker
Archenemies: "Star Wars" fans
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POTTERHEADS: WIZARDS OF ODD - ADULT FANS GO HOGWART'S WILD AS NEW TREKKIES - NYPOST.com

They look forward to: Sunshine, lives

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