Влияние книг Джоан Роулинг «Гарри Поттер» на современных подростков.

By Kardanova Alina, Gimnasium №17.Teacher: Arzamasova Zh. V.Mytishchi, 2015.
Why did I choose this theme?
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series has become a critically acclaimed literary phenomenon. Nearly seven million copies of The Half Blood Prince were sold within the first 24 hours of the book's release in the U.S. alone. Five million copies of its predecessor were sold within the first day of its release. The popularity of the series is increasing with each new installment. Adults and children alike have become enchanted by the bracing tales of Harry, Ron, and Hermione and their valiant adventures. J.K. Rowling's imagination has captured the hearts of millions.
The author of a series of novels about Harry Potter
Joan Rowling was born in Yate, Gloucestershile, England. When she was a child, she often wrote fantasy stories and would usually read them to her sister, Di. The first story she ever wrote down was about a rabbit called Rabbit. She knew from a very young age that she wanted to get a book published one day, but she would have to wait for some time.
Fast forward 19 years later, she was on a four-hour-delayed train from Manchester to London one day when suddenly, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry came to her. “I really don’t know where the idea came from. It started with Harry, then all these characters and situations came flooding into my head.”
Good news finally came to her in 1998, when an auction was held in the US for the rights to publish her novel. It was won by Scholastic Inc. for $105,000. Rowling said she “nearly died” when she heard the news. Once this book was published in the United States, it went on to become a global phenomenon with thousands upon thousands of copies sold as well as an entire movie series devoted to her books. Her final book, The Deathly Hollows, sold over 7000 copies a minute during the first 24 hours of its release, making it the fastest selling book in all-time history.
During the year of 1995, she had finished her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone on an old manual typewriter. She sent her book out to find a publisher, but her book was constantly rejected. In total, it was rejected 12 times by different publishing houses, before it was finally accepted by a small British publishing house in London. They told Rowling to get a day job since there was little chance of making money in children’s books.
Harry Potter (character)
Harry Potter is the titular character of the Harry Potter books. Harry is a "scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy" with his mother's green eyes, his father's untameable hair and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead that acts as a conduit to Voldemort's mind. The books  cover seven years in the life of the orphan who, on his 11th birthday, learns he is a wizard and the son of magical parents Lily and James Potter. He goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn magic. Harry soon learns that he is already famous in the world of wizards. He also learns that his fate  is connected to Lord Voldemort. Voldemort was the evil wizard who killed Harry's parents but was believed to have died when he tried to use the Killing Curse on the baby Harry.
A summary of the book series "Harry Potter"
The central story arc concerns Harry's conflict against the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents in his quest to conquer the wizarding world.
The Harry Potter is a heptalogy of fantasy novels. The books chronicle the adventures of the eponymous adolescent wizard Harry Potter, together with his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The story is mostly set at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, an academy for young wizards and.
Research carried out by scientists, their findings
Facebook’s data team crunched the numbers on the viral Facebook meme that asked users to share books that have somehow affected them, and the series about the Boy Who Lived was on a whopping 21 percent of the 130,000 lists, making it what some have called “the most influential book in the world.” Harry Potter topped such standards as Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” and … the Bible.
There’s a big chance you’ve seen a friend list 10 books “that have stayed with them in some way.” And if you’ve seen such a list, there’s a big chance the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling was among the 10.

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise — the responses likely came from readers of a generation that pretty much grew up with the Harry Potter series. A new study from the PEW research center shows that millennials read more than any other generation. And despite reports that they are leaving Facebook, trying to hide from employers or their parents, millennials still constitute the majority of active Facebook users.
For those who may call it the end of civilization, or at least the demise of high culture, a new study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology may provide reason for pause. Researchers from several European universities found that reading Harry Potter may make young people more tolerant. In the study “The greatest magic of Harry Potter: Reducing prejudice,” psychologists led by Loris Vezzali at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia say that reading “Harry Potter” improves attitudes toward stigmatized groups, such as immigrants, gays and refugees.
The books examine such social issues as “opposing identities, prejudice and conflict,” and the researchers wanted to see whether the books could work as a tool to improve “out-group” attitudes. Harry’s world, they write, with its “strict social hierarchies and resulting prejudices,” has clear parallels to our society. Muggles — those without magic powers — are discriminated against, as are “half-bloods” and “mud-bloods,” or those wizards who have one or no magical relatives. “Harry has meaningful contact with characters belonging to stigmatized groups. He tries to understand them and appreciate their difficulties, some of which stem from intergroup discrimination, and fights for a world free of social inequalities.”
“Of course there are many factors that shape our attitudes toward others: the media, our parents and peers, religious beliefs,” writes Bret Stetka at The Scientific “But Vezzali’s work supports earlier research suggesting that reading novels as a child — implying literary engagement with life’s social, cultural and psychological complexities — can have a positive impact on personality development and social skills.” Mr. Stetka cites a study published last year in the journal Science that showed that reading fiction inproves our ability to empathize with other people.
A political science professor has claimed Harry Potter is partly responsible for Barack Obama being elected as U.S. President.Professor Anthony Gierzynski believes the moral tales found in the best-selling books 'played a small but not insignificant role' in influencing voters in both elections in 2009 and 2012.
He argues that fans took on-board key themes in the novels, including lessons of tolerance and diversity, which made President Obama and the Democratic Party appeal to them more than the Republican Party.
Professor Gierzynski, at the University of Vermont, claims J.K. Rowling's epic tale of an orphaned wizard who battles evil at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry also had some sway on who lives at the White House.He said: 'The lessons fans internalised about tolerance, diversity, violence, torture, skepticism and authority, made the Democratic Party and Barack Obama more appealing to fans of Harry Potter in the current political environment,' The professor said Millennials, who are born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s and comprise the core of J.K. Rowling's fan base, were so taken with the novels' moralistic themes it influenced their political persuasion.
Churches about Harry Potter
Harry Potter, demonised by evangelicals for glamorising the occult, is to be used by Church leaders to spread the Christian message. J K Rowling's creation, who is more usually associated with wizardry than worship, features in a new mission guide endorsed by the main Christian Churches.
The booklet, launched yesterday by the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, argues that the Harry Potter books can help illuminate themes such as the battle between good and evil. The children's books "ask people to look again at the selfish material world and the presence within it of Christian values - truth, love and, supremely, self-giving and sacrifice", it said.
The booklet, which accompanies Presence and Prophesy, a weighty book on mission, has been published by the ecumenical body Churches Together in England and Ireland weeks before the release of the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. J K Rowling's books, which have sold more than 90 million copies worldwide, have been attacked by Christians in Britain and America as a dangerous influence on children.
Canterbury cathedral turned down the chance of being a location for the first film in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, because of fears that the film's pagan imagery might upset worshippers. The new booklet said that Harry Potter was first seen as "one of the powerless and the voiceless". "In our sort of world, the selfish, materially-driven world we live in, Harry is entirely unprivileged," it said. "Like so many in our society, he is at the bottom of the heap, ignored, enslaved. "But Harry has a destiny that is known by others in another world. He is called to be among them."
Conclusions
It is possible to speak about pros and cons of series of the books about Harry Potter, but facts are stubborn things:30 thousand copies of the novel «Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone» were issued in Russia;The circulation of the novels « Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets» and «Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban» has grown, accordingly, up to 50 thousand and 20 thousand copies;1200 thousand books of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” were issued. The amount of all the books issued in Russia is 3 million 700 thousand copies.The last book «Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix» became the most expensive book for children in history. The previous four books were translated into 55 languages and sold in the amount of 200 million copies in 200 countries of the world (according to the magazines, «Around the world», and "Serial").It is not easy to explain why the novels are so popular. "Harry Potter" is our real world but with elements of magic. The plot of the novels is various, exciting, but simple at the same time. That’s why it’s clear even to small children. Besides "Harry Potter» is not so simplified as it attracts even adults. In conclusion I’d like to repeat the words of one of the admirers “If I knew why everybody liked “Harry Potter” I would be a millionaire”.