Reconstruction 6.1 (Winter 2006)
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Constructing a New Game: J.K. Rowling’s Quidditch and Global Kid Culture / Terri Toles Patkin
Abstract: As part of her wildly popular Harry Potter fantasy series, author J.K. Rowling created a setting of magical characters to populate magical towns, perform magical jobs, purchase magical products -- and play a magical game called Quidditch. This fast-paced team sport played on broomsticks is both a participant and a spectator sport, and forms a nucleus of leisure activity and discourse in the Harry Potter books. From preschoolers to professionals, wizards in Rowling's world incorporate this virtual sport into their everyday lives. Rowling's development of Quidditch -– some have suggested that Rowling's intense dislike of school hockey practices sparked the concept -– communicates psychological structure and sociocultural phenomenon simultaneously. In addition, real-world Harry Potter fans have extended their participation from passive reading of game descriptions in the books, beyond playing the commercially available board game and video game versions, to developing their own vernacular variations of the game of Quidditch. This manifestation of fan-based cultural production which engages players in a participatory dramatic experience transcends Rowling's creation and alters the author-audience dynamic. This case study of fan realization of a virtual sport provides a unique illustration of our cultural interpretation of the role of games in society and the way in which games help to reify cultural notions about self and society.
The game of Quidditch continues to thrill and obsess its many fans around the world. -- Kennilworthy Whisp (Rowling 2001: 51)
<1> As part of her wildly popular Harry Potter fantasy series, author J.K. Rowling has created a world filled with magical characters who populate magical towns, perform magical jobs, purchase magical products…and play a magical game called Quidditch. Rowling uses sport to unify her wizarding society and in the process satirizes the substantial hold that sport has on contemporary society. Rowling's creation of a game that never existed outside her imagination, its translation into film and interactive media, and fan realization of this virtual activity in real-world contexts combine to provide a unique illustration of our cultural interpretation of the role of games in society.
<2> Games and play extend social structures, clarifying cultural forms which have become so familiar that their meaning is lost or obscured as we conduct the familiar routines of everyday life. Play is unique in that it stands apart from ordinary life by virtue of its being "not serious" (i.e. noninstrumental in nature) but at the same time absorbing the player utterly and intensely. The game of Quidditch performs an important function in wizard culture, yet it does not overwhelm other societal activities, institutions or structures. The detailed discussion of Quidditch exemplifies the "richness" of the world Rowling presents to the reader (Gallardo and Smith, 2001; Grynbaum, 2001; Joseph and Wolf, 2002; Schafer, 2000).
<3> Harry Potter comes to the reader's attention as an eleven-year-old who has been living with abusive relatives since his parents' death when he was a baby. It quickly becomes evident that Harry and his parents were no ordinary people, not "Muggles" but in fact wizards in possession of magical powers. Harry becomes reunited with the wizarding world, attends the prestigious Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and is introduced to the wizard sport of Quidditch. He quickly discovers that he is a pivotal player not only on the Quidditch field but more importantly in a long-running battle of good against evil, apparently destined to defeat the evil Lord Voldemort, who murdered his parents.
<4> Two levels of symbolic communication are at play during a game: symbols that regulate the activity as such and are indispensable to it, and symbols that arise as a result of the inclusion of play in a larger metasystem. Along with the play itself is transmitted a message simply saying "this is play," which is mutually perceived by the players and which distinguishes play from other social forms it may resemble. Play simultaneously equates and discriminates map and territory. On a primary level, one plays the game in all seriousness, as though it "counted," but on a secondary level, the player is aware of the fundamental unreality of the activity. Play is integral to culture; any attempt to define play is to simultaneously define culture (Bateson, 1955; Ehrmann, 1968; Saraf, 1977). Quidditch, like other games, resides firmly in everyday (wizarding) life and yet stands outside of routine activities. Quidditch, unlike football, baseball, lacrosse or skiing, is always capitalized, giving it a distinctive aura in print. Quidditch has been likened to cricket, basketball, hockey, rugby, cricket, polo, dodgeball, lacrosse, soccer and extreme sports (Schafer, 2000). Indeed, some have likened Quidditch to the sacred ritual games of the ancient Maya and Aztec cultures (Grynbaum, 2002), although Quidditch does not ultimately mirror Harry's struggle against the evil Voldemort.
<5> Signs mark the beginning and end of playfulness: overt invitations to play and/or the simple commencement of play activity signal the onset of the play frame (Glenn and Knapp, 1987; Goffman, 1974). Quidditch is played on a clearly-marked Quidditch pitch, and despite their magical powers, wizards must compete for the scarce resource of practice time on the field.
<6> Rowling, a self-described klutz at sports participation (Yahooligans, 2000), deliberately developed the sport of Quidditch in order to give her imagined world a unifying factor (CBC, 2000). Her imagination was sparked by viewing televised basketball and football matches (Amazon.co, 2001; World Exclusive, 2000). Rowling (writing as Kennilworthy Whisp, 2001) has even produced a history of the game with profits donated to the British charity Comic Relief UK. Presented as a Hogwarts library book, with several familiar character names filling the borrower's card, the "text" discusses the history of the broomstick and presents a credible sounding development of the modern game of Quidditch from medieval broom races and various tossing and jousting games. According to this history, the first game of "Kwidditch" was played at Queerditch Marsh, but did not involve a Snitch (these were later developed from the miniature Snidget bird). Rowling's parody of technical changes in the game, such as the replacement of baskets with open goal posts, and discussion of the international growth of the sport (missing the United States more or less entirely) sounds suspiciously like a critique of international soccer.
<7> The expressive nature of play and games is important on two levels, the structure of the temperament of the individual (psychological structures) and the temper of the society (sociocultural ones). We engage in "deep play," which may on the surface appear irrational, but at a deep symbolic level articulates serious social meaning (Geertz, 1973). Similar distinctions accompany analyses of sport in society, where the rationalization of the means of production has expanded into other areas of life (Ball and Loy, 1975; Giddens, 1964). Indeed, it has even been proposed that culture itself evolved from play (Caillois, 1979; Huizinga, 1950).
<8> Quidditch can be understood as metaphor for the complex and interlocking roles within Rowling's wizarding society. The rules of Quidditch sound complicated at first, but the game is relatively straightforward:
There were seven people on a Quidditch team: three Chasers, whose job it was to score goals by putting the Quaffle (a red, football-sized ball) through one of the fifty-foot-high [golden] hoops at each end of the pitch; two Beaters, who were equipped with heavy bats to repel the Bludgers (two heavy black balls which zoomed around trying to attack the players), a Keeper, who defended the goalposts, and the Seeker, who had the hardest job of all, that of catching the Golden Snitch, a tiny, winged, walnut-sized ball, whose capture ended the game and earned the Seeker's team an extra one hundred and fifty points. (Rowling 1999: 108)
<9> The Chasers keep the Quaffles moving through fast-paced teamwork while the Keeper attempts to prevent the opposing Chasers from scoring. The opposing team is attacked by Bludgers, small heavy balls batted by the two Beaters on each team. When Harry asks if the Bludgers have ever killed anyone, he receives the mildly reassuring answer that, at least at Hogwarts, the most serious injury has been a broken jaw. The final player on each team is the Seeker, whose job is to catch
the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see....You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers, and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. That's why Seekers get fouled so much. (Rowling, 1997: 169)
Harry plays Seeker for the Gryffindor house team, and plays intramural matches against the other Hogwarts teams, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. We are told that the Hogwarts Quidditch teams practice diligently, rain or shine, in the cold autumn of northern England, an echo of the uncomfortable hockey practices of Rowling's childhood (Fraser, 2000). The co-ed teams wear colorful uniforms, have captains who give stirring pre-game pep talks in the locker rooms, and enjoy popularity and high status in the school. The rules are enforced by a referee, and play-by-play commentary helps the enthusiastic audience seated in the bleachers follow the high-speed airborne play.
Games, Culture and Magic
<10> Play and games are central to childhood development of personality, according to social psychologist George Herbert Mead. The first stage in Mead's typology is that of imitation, where the infant merely imitates the actions of the adults surrounding him, without any comprehension of the meaning of his actions. Mead's second stage involves solitary role-playing on the part of the child, and finally the child enters the game stage in which the child indicates the emergence of a generalized other by taking on a number of roles simultaneously in a game situation. The game introduces a level of role organization where the various roles are so interdependent that the child must anticipate what others will do in order to adequately perform his own role (Meltzer 1964). These interactions may be primary (where players act directly upon one another), secondary (metacommunicative acts which serve to control the course of primary ones), or tertiary (highly specialized interactions between subgroups of participants) (Sutton-Smith, 1976). Harry's development, from his first attempts at mounting an unfamiliar broomstick to solo practices with team captain Oliver Wood, to becoming a fully-competing team member and even Most Valuable Player, recapitulates this progression nicely.
<11> Games are recreational activities characterized by organized play, competition, two or more sides, criteria for determining the winner and agreed-upon rules. As games satisfy no survival needs nor provide any direct environmental or physical benefit to the society, their expressive nature is plain. Games may model various cultural activities or social interactions. Certainly Rowling's conception of training brooms -- "toy broomsticks that rose only high enough for the girls' toes to skim the dewy grass" -- (Rowling, 2000: 81) exemplifies the practice element of play. Games provide exercises in mastery: games of strategy related to mastery of the social system, games of physical skill associated with mastery of the self and environment, and games of chance linked with mastery of the supernatural (Roberts, Arth and Bush, 1959). Quidditch clearly serves all three functions in Rowling's magical world. It is first and foremost a game of physical skill, with demanding broomstick acrobatics and throwing/catching proficiency, but it also requires precision aim, technique and strategy, which would be demanded of the mature wizard in casting spells or concocting potions. Even the balls themselves represent these three elements, with the Bludgers personifying the physical level and the Quaffle the social, while the vagaries of the mystical Snitch embody the supernatural.
<12> But it is the third element that most pervades Rowling's synthetic game. Even the mechanism for winning depends on the caprice of the enchanted Snitch. Not only does the entire game take place in Rowling's imagined supernatural world, but the element of chance inherent in the Snitch's intermittent appearances further emphasizes the fantastic element: "A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages -- I think the record is three months, they had to keep bringing on substitutes so the players could get some sleep" (Rowling 1997: 169). The converse is also true. Harry's second Quidditch game lasts only five minutes, as the Snitch appears unexpectedly at the beginning of the game and is quickly snared by Harry.
<13> The magical universe may on occasion interfere with a Quidditch game. Harry's glasses get streaked with rain or fogged with cold, until Hermione puts a spell on them. Harry falls from his broom as magical nasties, called Dementors, approach the field. Harry's nemesis, in the form of Professor Quirrell in the first book of the series, takes control of Harry's broomstick, nearly injuring him. The Bludgers can be tampered with to concentrate on one player only (Harry, naturally). Rowling borrows liberally from popular culture, building on current news about British teams and tournament play to integrate her fabricated sport into wizard culture. Even wizards fall back on analogies to Muggle sports, as when Hagrid first explains Quidditch to Harry: "It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like -- like soccer in the Muggle world -- everyone follows Quidditch -- played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls -- sorta hard to explain the rules" (Rowling, 1997: 79). The connection is one way, however. While wizards are familiar with the idea of Muggle soccer, they do not seem to know many details about Muggle sports. When Harry likens Quidditch to basketball on broomsticks, his team captain merely looks confused. Even the few Muggle games familiar to wizards have been adapted to accommodate magical powers. Wizard chess, for example, features animated battles between the pieces, and Exploding Snap is an eponymously named version of its Muggle counterpart. On the whole, however, wizards ignore Muggle games, just as they ignore the presence of Muggles whenever possible, although they do study Muggle culture in anthropology classes.
<14> Enjoyment of Quidditch, however, crosses race, gender, social class and even species boundaries in the wizarding world, as everyone from the Minister of Magic to the lowliest House Elf enjoys watching a fast-paced game of professional Quidditch. Both men and women participate on both school and professional teams (except for the all-male Slytherin team), and fans of both genders can be found in the stands cheering on their favorite teams. Professional Quidditch teams have mascots. For example, the Bulgarian team is represented by veela, magical female creatures so attractive that the referee becomes distracted by them during the game.
<5> It is worth noting that Hogwarts is the magic equivalent of an elite British public school, such as Eton, and that the students, while of varying racial and ethnic backgrounds, are largely children of privilege. Indeed, Malfoy's father buys his son's way onto the Slytherin team by donating state-of-the-art broomsticks for all of the players.
The Symbolism of the Broomstick
<16> As do sports discussions in the everyday world, conversations about Quidditch often comprise small talk for wizards, particularly male teens. One of Harry's very first conversations in the wizarding world turned to Quidditch almost immediately, filling a conversational gap as he and classmate Draco Malfoy were fitted for their school uniforms. Soon afterward, Harry's female friend Hermione fills the train compartment with chatter about the books she's read in preparation for entrance to Hogwarts, while his male friend Ron asks Harry about his favorite Quidditch team. When Harry admits ignorance of the game, Ron enthusiastically explains the rules, describes famous games he's attended with his brothers, and discusses the type of broomstick he'd like to get if he could afford it. The boys analyze technical capabilities, compare earlier and later models, critique the artistic detailing, and discuss the new models that quickly make older ones obsolete. Status is not the only advantage to certain broomsticks. Faster, more maneuverable brooms are equivalent to faster, more maneuverable players, providing a technology advantage over the opposing team.
<17> Broomsticks, like automobiles, represent power to teenage males, and just like car conversations, broomstick discussions go far beyond simple transportation. Although it is worth noting that the broom starts life as a slight modification of the traditional housewife's tool (Gallardo and Smith, 2001), it soon transcends domesticity; the phallic symbolism of the broom cannot be ignored. Wizards do utilize broomsticks for short-distance transport, but other modes of transportation are primary. There is a magical bus service, special wizard trains such as the Hogwarts Express. Wizards can travel between specially-prepared fireplaces by using Floo Powder, and special portals may be set up for distance travel (e.g. to attend an event such as the Quidditch World Cup). Adult wizards may pass a test to Apparate, i.e. use a spell to instantly transport themselves from one place to another. Even ordinary Muggle vehicles, such as automobiles, boats and motorcycles, can be enchanted to fly (despite the disapproval of the Ministry of Magic), and even Muggle transportation may be pressed into service on occasion.
<18> Harry uses his broomstick for a variety of purposes other than Quidditch, including spying on the suspicious Professor Snape, helping his inept friend Neville retrieve a possession grabbed by the bully Malfoy, and unraveling other puzzles including finding the elusive Philosopher's Stone and outwitting a dragon in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Like other boys, Harry admires a new broom displayed in one of his favorite shops, Quality Quidditch Supplies. The Firebolt is advertised as the fastest broom in the world. Clearly the art of writing catalog copy has been extended into the wizarding world.
This state-of-the-art racing broom sports a streamlined, super-fine handle of ash, treated with a diamond-hard polish and hand-numbered with its own registration number. Each individually selected birch twig in the broomtail has been honed to aerodynamic perfection giving the Firebolt unsurpassable balance in pinpoint precision. The Firebolt has an acceleration of 0-150 miles an hour in ten seconds and incorporates an unbreakable braking charm. Price on request. (Rowling 1999: 43)
Even Lee Jordan, the Quidditch commentator, is distracted by the abilities of the Firebolt and segues his commentary to a discussion of the Firebolt's relative advantages, until he is shouted down for providing free advertising. When Harry receives a Firebolt from an anonymous donor one Christmas, the connection is described as highly sensual. Ignoring the Freudian implications of the broomstick, mounted at crotch level, and introduced to first-year students on the cusp of puberty, is difficult.
Its handle glittered as he picked it up. He could feel it vibrating, and let go; it hung in mid-air, unsupported, at exactly the right height for him to mount it. His eyes moved from the golden registration number at the top of the handle right down to the perfectly smooth, streamlined birch twigs that made up the tail. (Rowling 1999:165)
<19> Sometimes a broomstick is just a broomstick. But sometimes it symbolizes power and mastery, and its use in a game of Quidditch provides a symbolic echo of social and cultural norms and rituals.
Commercialization of Play and Professional Quidditch
<20> No material interest or profit accompanies play, which proceeds within its own boundaries of time and space according to rules fixed in advance. Emergent play that develops naturally in the absence of commercial pressure both reflects and shapes culture. Quidditch is not only a participatory sport; it is also a highly commercial spectator sport. Ron's room is decorated with posters of his favorite team, the Chudley Cannons, and the bedspread matches the vivid orange of the team. The team logo, "two giant black C's and a speeding cannonball" finish the picture (Rowling 1998: 40). Much like everyday Muggles, young wizards root for their favorite teams and collect paraphernalia about their favorite players.
<21> Of course, professional Quidditch presents a less "pure" play situation, as would any professional sport. When Harry attends the Quidditch World Cup match (Rowling, 2000), with its large international audience of wizards and witches, he is overwhelmed by the ubiquitous salesmen hawking magical souvenirs of the game -- talking rosettes, hats and scarves, toy broomsticks, tiny waving flags and collectible, animated figurines of famous players, as well as magical binoculars ("Omnioculars") with slow-speed, replay and commentary features. A giant billboard flashes advertisements across the field for brooms, sweets, security systems, cleaning products and clothing. There are side bets, team mascots and a halftime show, announcers and a giant trophy cup for the winner. It's a long way from the Weasley brothers' backyard pick-up games of Quidditch to this international extravaganza.
Realizing the fantasy: Fan Culture and Quidditch
<22> Children have for many years reproduced their favorite stories in play. Just as Ron incorporates Chudley Cannons paraphernalia into his everyday life, Muggle Harry Potter enthusiasts struggle to construct their own community by making meaning from popular culture texts that are often discounted by mainstream thinkers. Harry Potter fans, like others, ignore the boundaries between fact and fiction; Rowling has received letters from young readers inquiring about the admission process for the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Fans actively produce meaning by borrowing mass media images and manipulating them; the difference between author and audience becomes blurred (Jenkins 1992). Affiliation is voluntary, the culture is transmitted informally and there are common patterns of consumption, but there is no core to the "culture" of Harry Potter fans that would qualify it as a "folk" culture (Fiske, 1989).
<23> Today, the audience is no longer seen as an undifferentiated group whose members respond uniformly to media texts. Audiences simultaneously receive messages and produce meaning, thereby shaping social reality. They may be characterized as active or passive, having preconceived ideas or being totally responsive to the information presented, homogeneous or fragmented. Fans have appropriated any number of popular culture texts for their own entertainment, as they transform mass-produced entertainment to personalized forms (Barber, 2001; Fiske, 1989; Jenkins, 1992; Liebes, 1989; Tompkins, 1980).
<24> Fan fiction allows fans to create their own texts, adding spin-off stories not considered part of the canon of the original, and which often offer oppositional codings. Fan fiction includes general stories about Quidditch play at Hogwarts and in other places in Rowling's world (Field, 2004; Lawver, 2004) as well as filk songs with Quidditch themes (Marcius, 2002). Indeed, fan criticism and fan communities may reverse and influence the original production in unexpected ways, both internally and externally as they contest and negotiate meanings (Barber, 2001; Hall, 1980; Harris and Alexander, 1998). Rowling, for instance, has devoted increasing numbers of pages to descriptions of Quidditch as the series has evolved, perhaps in response to the overwhelmingly enthusiastic fan response to the game. Playing their own versions of Quidditch, fans appropriate Rowling's contribution to mass culture and rework it as their own.
<25> Jenkins (1992) suggests ten ways in which fans writing reinterprets the original text: recontextualization, expanding of the timeline, refocalization, moral realignment, genre shifting, cross-over, character dislocation, personalization, emotional intensification and eroticization. Homegrown Quidditch games essentially function as personalization strategies, in which Harry Potter fans not only get to picture themselves participating in Hogwarts activities, they have the opportunity to actually do so, at least to some degree. Secondarily, Quidditch represents genre shifting from fantasy to sports story and refocalizing the plot from wizardry to game play.
<26> Quidditch-the-fantasy is fast becoming Quidditch-the-reality. Despite Rowling's avowed intention to limit the merchandising of franchised Harry Potter products, the release of two movies has generated astonishing numbers of Harry Potter accessories and toys, from the Whomping Willow Board Game to LEGO TM representations of important locations to huggable dolls bearing some resemblance to the characters. Franchised tee-shirts, board games and videogames have incorporated elements of Quidditch in a commercial context. In one respect, this may signify the disempowerment of fans, as it takes advantage of their interest to encourage lavish spending on themed artifacts and merchandise (Fiske, 1987) -- an effect multiplied by the relative youth of Rowling's fans.
<27> On the other hand, Potter fans have taken advantage of the empowering presence of the internet to build multiple thriving fan communities around the books. Fan fiction, filk music and various Harry Potter discussion groups -- both officially sponsored and homegrown -- are just a click away. However, emergent play that develops in the absence of commercial pressure provides more interesting insights. Rowling's young fans adore Quidditch, and many are not content with reading about the game or even playing the officially-franchised version on their Playstations. Certainly, the Quidditch scenes are among the most vivid in the books, and the Harry Potter movies and videogames that have been released feature exciting Quidditch action as a central element. Players zoom and soar with quick cuts, edits and exciting sound effects as the cameras seem to struggle to keep up with the action.
<28> Just as computer-mediated communities have strengthened fan culture, so too have they shaped adaptations of Quidditch. Befitting a fictional game, the web is perhaps the best arena available for reproducing Quidditch. A search for "Quidditch" brings up more than 129,000 google hits; "Muggle Quidditch" yields over 17,000. Some sites include the official franchised Warner Brothers Harry Potter site, trivia contests, online games (including general Harry Potter games which include Quidditch as part of the fun), puzzles such as Quidditch word-searches, information about rules and the Harry Potter series overall. Verbal Quidditch may be played in chat rooms (players type comments such as SCORE or THROWS THE BALL while others type opposing comments such as INTERCEPTION) (Anonymous, 2002).
<29> The web provides a most favorable climate for fans to appropriate portions of popular culture and incorporate it into their own lives. Since Quidditch cannot actually be played as described, the flexibility of digital media permits audience members to give free rein to their imaginations. Not surprisingly, there are several parody web sites for Quidditch teams such as the Birmingham Bullets (Manter, 2002), with game schedules and "sponsors" such as the Nimbus Racing Broom Company. One of the most complete sites is Quidditch Illustrated (Urban, 2002), which imitates a sports magazine site, including international scores, player news, featured products and even pop-up ads from broomstick manufacturers and "Gred and Forge's Joke Shoppe" (referring to the Weasley twins' expressed career ambition in the books). The link to "Muggle Sports" brings one to the actual Sports Illustrated website. A parody of college-level play is introduced at the fictional Osric University, noted for its Department of Contrived Languages (such as Klingon), and provides a tongue-in-cheek parody of Muggle Quidditch using battlebot-type robots as bludgers and weasels in exercise balls for the Golden Snitch (Chris, 2004).
<30> Other real-world variations are played with an array of props on playgrounds, in backyards, on rollerblades, piggyback, and even on horseback ( Moore, 2001). Web sites offer a multiplicity of strategies. There are Quidditch board games, card games, chat rooms. Harry Potter birthday parties include Quidditch matches as part of the festivities. Brooms are used, sometimes as hobby-horse imitations of wizarding brooms, sometimes as hockey sticks. Children even hang brooms from the rec room ceiling and ride them as swings, aiming to catch a stuffed Snitch toy hanging from a string. How-to sites suggest rules for Muggle Quidditch, including equipment (glue wings onto a ball or frisbee to make a snitch), uniforms (make a robe in three easy steps) and provide "standard rules adapted for ground-restricted Muggles" (Coleman, 2001). The rules of this virtual game evolve according to the group's needs, even when it is introduced a relatively structured format such as a gym class (Spivey, 2004). Typically, the adapted game is a mix of basketball, dodgeball, capture the flag, soccer and freeze tag, using beanbags, shot puts, basketballs, frisbees, hockey pucks, ping-pong balls, soccer balls and other creative substitutes for Quaffles, Bludgers and Snitches. Other than board and video game versions, no one is yet marketing officially franchised Quidditch products to children; all adapted games have been developed by the players themselves. (In some cases, child fans have been assisted by mothers planning birthday party activities or gym teachers attempting to make the curriculum more appealing to their students.)
<31> The significance of new forms of media often are seen first and most clearly in the realm of play and games. Audience empowerment is part of a larger trend of involving audience members in participatory experiences -- from videos where one can choose the camera angles, to sing-along theatrical productions to karaoke contests, we turn the media back on itself to meet our own needs. On a metalevel, children playing Harry Potter playing Quidditch extends the power of imagination into from virtual to real world contexts and back again.
<32> In a postmodern world it is not surprising that the line between Rowling's imaginary game and real-world enactment has blurred. For years, teachers have complained that children simply re-enact their favorite cartoons during recess; Muggle Quidditch simply alters the imitated medium. In our absurd corner of Plato's Cave, we avidly watch television shows about aging rock musicians, our politicians assail fictional characters for giving birth, we nurture our virtual pets, we routinely expect our news photos to have been digitally enhanced. Media "reality" shapes our perceptions of real-world violence; it's no surprise that a constructed synthetic game shapes our children's play. Just as Rowling's fictional Quidditch unifies the wizarding world, homegrown playground imitations can function to unite real-world Muggle children in a world of their own construction that is to date relatively unmarred by the media marketing wizards.
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