As the world hold its collective breath for the impending release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, I had a few thoughts I wanted to share.
First, this website will be a spoiler-free zone. Except for the tidbit that Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans are people. There. I said it.
No, really, spoiler-free zone. I haven’t read a Harry Potter book since number two. I haven’t seen the films since number three. Spoiler-free zone, right here.
Second, I wonder how much of the online leaks of the book (the photograph thing is quite clever) and various retailers breaking street date is genuine stupidity and/or a clusterfuck, and how much of it is Scholastic/Bloomsbury/Rowling wanting to crank the hype machine up that much more.
Y’see, if I were a cynical man, and we all know that I’m not, I’d find the digital photographs suspicious. Almost a “See, this is the real book. There it is, you can’t deny it” sort of suspicious. Would Scholastic go to the time and trouble to have a bogus book written up, laid out, printed, and bound? The photographs–and yes, I’ve seen some of them–look amateurish. There are better angles that could have been used, better set-ups to use. You don’t even have to think hard to find several other better ways to take digital photos of every page of Deathly Hollows. Were I a Romulan, and I’m manifestly not a Romulan, perhaps I’d be screaming “It’s a faaaake!” right now. I dunno, maybe the photos are legit. Maybe.
And for the early shipments from online retailers? I won’t say they’re carefully coordinated, but surely, surely they’re not so damaging. Why? Because with every early-shipped book that’s reported on in the media, it adds to the hype machine that little bit more. The rabid fanbase gets just a little more rabid until, lo and behold, the book finally goes on sale.
And there you have it. Spoiler-free zone. Bertie Bott’s beans are people. And the rampaging hype machine.
Gah, I’m so indifferent. 🙂