Henry Jenkins, "Why Heather Can Write: Media Literacy and the Harry Potter Wars"

Questions for Making Connections within the Reading:

1. Jenkins sees the controversy over Harry Potter as being essentially a controversy about rights: “the right of children to participate within the imaginative world” of the series; “the right to read”; “the right to write”; “children’s rights.” What leads Jenkins to assert that children have these rights? Would it make a difference to Jenkins’ argument if one spoke rather of society’s obligation to provide children with an education?

2. “Schools are still locked into a model of autonomous learning that contrasts sharply with the kinds of learning that are needed as students are entering the new knowledge culture.” Jenkins never explicitly defines either the “model of autonomous learning” to which schools are committed or what “the new knowledge culture” is that awaits students. As you reread “Why Heather Can Write,” develop a list of the characteristics of these two contrasting models for learning. How would schools have to change to prepare students to enter the new knowledge culture?

3. In the section, “What Would Jesus Do with Harry Potter?” Jenkins deploys a non-standard approach for presenting his argument: early in the discussion, an additional column is added to the page, with the text in bold, and footnotes at the bottom of the page. What is the relationship between the two columns of text? Why does Jenkins adopt this mode of presentation at this point in his argument? Once you develop an explanation for Jenkins’ motivation, assess the success of his effort.

Questions for Writing:  

1. In “Why Heather Can Write,” Jenkins elaborates on the three major types of responses to the unprecedented popularity of the Harry Potter series: the prohibitionists, the collaborationists, and the consumers who are asserting their “right to participate” in the imaginary world that J.K. Rawlings has created. How does one distinguish between active participation and mindless copying? Is the reason that Heather can write the same reason that the Evangelist Phil Arms and the Fans for Christ can write? Has participatory culture generated new reasons for writing? New kinds of writing? New ways of thinking?

2. Because Jenkins is focused on acts of writing, he doesn’t discuss the uses to which fan cultures have put the movie versions of the Harry Potter series. On YouTube, for example, with little effort, you can find clips from the Harry Potter movies that have been provided with new soundtracks, different voiceovers, and adoring comments. After you’ve performed your own search, discuss whether the examples you’ve found provide evidence to support Jenkins’ broader claim that “through their participation, these kids are mapping out new strategies for negotiating around and through globalization, intellectual property struggles, and media conglomeration.”

Questions for Making Connections Between Readings:  

1. In “Why Heather Can Write,” Jenkins is concerned with describing the characteristics of the various affective communities that have evolved around the Harry Potter series. Are these affective communities examples of “self-organizing systems,” as defined by Steven Johnson in “The Myth of the Ant Queen”? Does convergence culture give rise to complexity or simple multiplicity? What exactly is it that is converging in convergence culture—individuals, groups, opposed ideas, self-organizing systems, or something else altogether?