Warner Bros has not forgotten our wizards and witches, and neither do we at the start of 2022. To the delight of the public, the famous Harry Potter saga returns on January 2 with the episode “Harry Potter: Return to Hogwarts” (aired on Tipik on January 2 at 8:05 pm). The main actors and several directors, including Chris Colombus (who signed the first two opus), will meet for the first time at Hogwarts to celebrate the anniversary of the very first film. A reunion mixed with new and exclusive interviews that promise to be magical, touching and nostalgic! Enough to make our die-hard fans burn with impatience. Will this story never tire? It almost looks like magic …
With this famous line: ” – After all this time ? – Forever “, we discover (spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen the movies or read the books) that the Half-Blood Prince, known as Severus Snape, has an endless love for Lily Potter, the mother of the young wizard This professor is undoubtedly an example for our Potterheads who, after all these years, remain devoted and loyal to their favorite saga.
No need to resort to magic to discover or remember this supernatural universe. If the last Harry Potter film dates from 2011, there are many derivative products around this saga, as the director of the “4 houses” store, Stanig Blistain, explains: “The bosses, the Warner, are doing the right thing: there are museums, studios, amusement parks and a perenniality with fantastic beasts. Merchandising is developing in a gigantic way.”
By its realism, the Warner studio in the suburbs of London has indeed something to bewitch the most passionate. All this attraction is alsoa business of nostalgia, which Alain De Crop, professor of marketing, told us about in 2017. At the time, he already informed us about its use: “We try to plunge consumers into their childhood with a sort of Proust madeleine. It is a technique to encourage him to discover or rediscover his brands.“. “Consumers often realize that they are being manipulated and yet it works, he explained again. Because it undoubtedly corresponds to a somewhat regressive need to go back to childhood and to somehow rediscover a taste for carefree … “
Nothing magic then!
In the very first film, if young Harry struggles to grab a flying key, it is without difficulty that we open the doors of the first store dedicated 100% to the Harry Potter universe in Belgium. Get on your brooms in the direction of rue du Mery in Liège. It was out of passion that Stanig Blistain decided to open. “What I like most about the Harry Potter universe is the emotion, the brotherhood, the friendship and the disconnection. It’s a world we would like to live in“he confides.
For Philippe Marion, professor of media narratology, this success can be explained as an unpredictable and renowned phenomenon in a familiar environment: “It is an unexpected phenomenon of consumer fever with a desire to know more, to know the characters. It corresponds to a popular and media craze about a story.”
And he goes further by describing the reasons: “There is a familiar side to old England that some find with pleasure. The inlay in a familiar environment, for children and young teens it was imprinted in the context of a school year, i.e. very familiar settings but in which absolutely wonderful and unexpected things happen.”
Harry Potter universe is part of me
This is indeed the case for many people, including Sarah Raffa, a fan since childhood: “I would still love the Harry Potter universe, it’s part of me. At school, I remember that we used to have fun disguising ourselves as wizards, and we liked to believe in the idea of a magical and fairy world where we would have powers. “
And it is this aspect of superheroes, of magical faculties that work best for Professor Philippe Marion: “There are some great fantasies that still work: omnipotence, overabundance, and immortality. We find less overabundance, treasure, in this saga but many others. Overpower still works, the superhero who made a resounding comeback! What is also interesting is the fact that when things are going very well, the universe tends to become autumn, it creates its own universes. success.”
For the little muggles, it will still be necessary to arm yourself with patience before the date of the broadcast. As for our wizards who could use magic to advance in time, “Silencio”! Spoilers prohibited …