How Fandom is Changing the World
Please bear in mind that this article was written for the purposes of showing the power of fandom to everyone, including those with no knowledge of it! Therefore please don't email us complaining about dumbing-down or the like :P Not everyone knows about wizard rock! Thank you.
If you were to hear the words 'social change', your first thought might not be fandom-related. However, there are many people in fandom right now who are working to make a difference in people's lives. Perhaps the most well-known organization working towards this is the Harry Potter Alliance. The HP Alliance was founded in 2005, with the express aim of uniting fans to fight against social injustice. Its main efforts so far have been campaigning against genocide in Darfur and, recently, joining the Free Press Action Fund in campaigning against media consolidation in the USA. But can a group of fans really make a difference? The group's founder, Andrew Slack, certainly thinks so. And so far, it seems he is being proven right. At this moment in time, the HP Alliance has managed to raise over $5,000 for the Genocide Intervention Network. While the StopBigMedia campaign did not stop the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from ruling to allow further media consolidation, campaigning has begun again in earnest, this time to have Congress overturn this ruling. No matter what happens they will not be going down without a fight.
The HP Alliance was not the only well-known name attached to the campaign against media consolidation, however. Available on the 'Potterwatch' section of the StopBigMedia website is a thirteen-track album which is free to download. While you may or may not have heard of the bands - Harry and the Potters, Roonil Wazlib or The Owl Post, to name but a few - they have amassed a large and dedicated following. Welcome to the genre called "Wizard rock". Wizard rock is simply songs inspired by the Harry Potter series. With band names inspired by characters - such as The Remus Lupins or Draco and the Malfoys - or even plants, such as the wonderfully alliterative Chinese Chomping Cabbages - they have a large fan base and sell CDs and merchandise as well as performing gigs. However, changing the world remains a top priority. The StopBigMedia album, for example, centres around the media and who controls it, and was created and given away for free in order to spread the message that media consolidation is a bad thing. There have also been compilation albums which have been sold with proceeds going to charity, such as the recent Wrocking On The Borderline CD, which raised $315 for the BPD Research Centre. Lastly, bands also promote literacy: several have adopted the slogan, "Fight evil, read books" and raise money for literacy charities - in fact, Harry and the Potters have donated some $17,500 to literacy charities as well as raising more through benefit shows and compilation contributions. One of the compilations they appeared on was the fan site The Leaky Cauldron's "Jingle Spells" Christmas compilation, for which a total of fourteen artists donated a song each. This was not the first foray into charitable fundraising by the site however - it runs a nonprofit organization known as Leaky Inc, through which they have managed to raise over $30,000.
Music is not the only way fandom has had an impact on people's lives, however. In 2005, a longtime Fiction Alley author, thirteen year old Katie O'Brien, lost her battle with leukemia. As a tribute to her memory, Fiction Alley established a scholarship in her name, which was funded by selling wristbands. This goes to show just how close-knit and caring the Harry Potter fandom community is, and how people can make great friends from all over the world!
So there you have it. While Harry Potter fans are often dismissed due to the series being termed "for children", it's impossible to argue that our fandom is not making a difference in the world. The series has certainly spawned a whole subculture with its own music movement, but even more than that, it has created a community of likeminded people who are uniting to prove the most important message of the series - that love really can triumph over the evils of society.
On that note, it seems appropriate to end with a quote from arguably the most important man in socially aware fandom today, Andrew Slack: "We as Harry Potter fans are huge in number, huge in heart, and united by the message that our love and the love of the characters that we treasure can renew the spirit of ourselves and the spirit of our world."
How You Can Help
If you want to get involved, there are lots of things you can do! Here are a few ideas:
- Support the HP Alliance! You'd be surprised the number of ways you can do that. Buying an official HPA tshirt, buying merchandise from the Wizardrock.org Cafepress store, even going to Wrockstock in May. There has never been a better excuse for indulging in fandom.
- Participate in Be Awesome Month - ok, it's for everyone, not just those involved in fandom, but there will probably be some fandom-specific initiatives during the month, because fandom is awesome, of course.
- Buy a compilation for charity - whether it's buying Jingle Spells on iTunes, or getting the anticipated compilation in aid of B-EAT, you can get some awesome music while helping people. Bargain!
- Join the StopBigMedia campaign against media consolidation. It's an excellent cause, and you get music by seriously awesome wizard rockers into the bargain.
- Spread the message of love and tolerance through wizard rock! It seems overly simple, but it's one of the most important things there is in fandom.