The release of part two of the movie “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows,” on July 15, 2011 concludes the seven-part series that most College of Charleston students have grown up with – seniors were nine years old when the first book was released in 1997. The series has influenced this generation – right down to the classes they are taking, the research they are doing and the sports they are playing.
“You can’t gage how important this series is to college-age students who grew up with them,” says Trish Ward, English professor and Harry Potter aficionado. ”Even though this is the last movie, I don’t think we have seen the end of Harry Potter. We have this generation of people who grew up with the books and they’re going to read those books and show the movies to their children. And they’re good enough to be with us a long time.”
English Professor Trish Ward has been teaching a course on Harry Potter since 2009, and has filled three different sections of the three-credit special topics course that requires students read the entire Harry Potter series – more than 4,000 pages! She divides the students into Hogwarts (School of Witchcraft and Wizardry) houses for group discussions and presentations. She specifically looks at the themes of love, loyalty, friendship, innocence and “ancient magic” as more powerful than the forces of evil that underestimate and forget the power of those they consider weak. The course also looks at some of the authors who had a profound influence on those themes including Jane Austen, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
“My students pre-purchased tickets for tonight’s movie as soon as they were available,” Ward says. “They’ve been planning their costumes, what time they’re going to camp out and what they are going to eat. It is a communal thing – one student is going back to her hometown to go to the last movie with all the people she saw the first movie with.”
Every Sunday in July, Ward is taking her knowledge outside the College and into the community to teach a Sunday School class on the Harry Potter series. She has a full class of people from age six to 60 at Grace Episcopal Church, right next to the College.
Jason Coy, associate professor of history, focuses his research on magic and superstition in early modern Europe. He says the Harry Potter series has been very influential in the way students look at history and culture and it sometimes comes up in classes.
The College of Charleston Quidditch team is ranked No. 12 in the world, according to the International Quidditch Association. The game is brought down to Earth – literally – with participants running around on brooms throwing balls through mounted hula-hoops. The sport is a mix between rugby, soccer and dodgeball.
Watch the CofC Quidditch team.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows – Part 2,” is the final adventure in the eight-part Harry Potter film series. This is the second part of the final novel by J.K. Rowling. The story follows Harry Potter on a quest to find and destroy Lord Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes.
For more information, contact Trish Ward at wardp@cofc.edu or 843.953.5648.
