Why Heather Can Write: Literacy Media

The main argument of the chapter is that people are able to be involved in the storytelling process. They are unable to be controlled by corporations due the fact that people have “lovemarks.” The Media producers now have to find what the audience likes and appeal to them. The other argument that is present is what we are allowed to read and write.

The support shown that society is part of the story telling process is the Harry Potter books. The author appealed to the imagination of little children and even teenagers. J. K. Rowling found what society’s “lovemark” were and took advantage of young people’s imagination. The chapter goes on to talk about the Harry Potter books. There were two groups of people arguing over what should be done about the books. Either band them from shelves in various locations like schools and libraries or allow Warner Bros. to make a move out of the books. The chapter explains how children enjoy “participating in the imaginative world” and how this conflict between film and books makes a challenge for children’s “right to read” and “right to write.”


I do see the point of what Jenkins is discussing. I find it that people should be allowed to read whatever they find pleasing. Since we are talking about Harry Potter, I am guilty of not reading the books and only seeing clips of the movie, and they are very imaginative. I feel all the book can stimulate the mind to make a child or teenagers think and be creative. J.K. Rowling had an instinct to find a “lovemark” for that age group and in doing that Warner Bros. took advantage of Rowling’s wonderful work and made millions. I really do feel people want to control what society reads. We can control what we watch on television but books are still a free way to express ones opinion.

The Potters Wars are that are happening between teachers, librarians, book publishers and civil liberty groups against Warner Bros. The side with the teachers and librarian find it to be a religious right to have the book, Harry Potter, take off of shelves in bookstores, schools and libraries. On the other side, the Warner Bros. side, they find it that they should satisfy the fans and appeal to what they want. Warner Bros finds that making a move is still a way for children and teens to use their creative minds. They find that the Potter Wars are the “heart of the struggle over what rights we have to read and write about core culture myths.”

Literacy is in some ways related to social control. The thing about literacy is that it is hard to define who is in control. There was the historical literacy term of “universal literacy” while other societies have limited literacy to their preference. No the fight over literacy is makes me wonder who is in control over it. I do see literacy related to social control because the argument over the Harry Potter Wars is media literacy battle. The Daily Prophet was started by a girl named Heather Lawver. It is a web-based school newspaper; the writers are 102 children from all over the globe. A Daily Prophet Writer has some benefits to it the kids get to cover what they think is important to them in the Harry Potter series. The Daily Prophet allows for children to escape reality and create their one magical world and character. The group is filled with different racial, ethnic and national backgrounds.

Fan Fiction is when a story about setting or characters is written by fans of the original work. Due to fan fiction, fan writing has finally taken off. A great example of this is Zsenya, an adult who has a leading site for Harry Potter fan fiction, he explains who having a site like the Harry Potter one can make everyone feel equal because you cannot see the person you are talking to. You can also make that person you are talking to a character in your own mind. If someone wants to be in the convergence culture one must have an open mind to the really world and the imaginary. Society is changing and we need to understand that books are now movies or their on the Internet or even television. We have to descried what we should do with the media that we are given. Being educated is a privilege no matter how you learn, but along as you are learning something you cannot say that that form of media was wrong.

The relationship between fan writers and publishers is different. Fan writers have an exact purpose for writing, they was to support their cause. They are from an educational stand point just like a teacher and like to support the creative imagination of children. On the other hand there are people who did not like fan writers because they feel that they are copyrighting. Warner Bros, once they bought the movie privileges went thought the websites and tried shutting them down because of copy write or trademark phrases.
People fought hard to have Harry Potter removed from the shelves. People risked their jobs and reputations. A fundamentalist critic finds the lightning bolts on Harry’s forehead to be “marks of the beast.” They believe that children who want to understand the books more will be drawn to the pagan works. A Catholic writer explains that in the imaginary world there are classes being taught in the real world that relate to those classes; astrology and alchemy but still it is offensive to fundamentalists. There are fan-friendly churches that have discussions instead of beating them down. The Internet has been able to play a role is these discussions because it is the gateway to the real and imaginary. Anyone can read the Internet and right now to have your voice heard it is on the Internet. The Internet allows for both support of the Harry Potter books and anti-Harry Potter people to state their opinions.