Reading, Writing, Rowling

Fresh off of May the 4th, Emily and Katy talk about their love of and academic interest in Harry Potter alongside another fandom they hold dear: Star Wars. Emily came to Star Wars relatively recently, after the birth of her son and a class at Signum University taught by Amy Sturgis, but Harry Potter was a gateway for her into speculative fiction and imaginative literature. Falling into fandom can be like learning a language - it becomes easier to understand others in the same group once you've mastered one. Katy and Emily are not only fans but aca-fans with scholarly interests in the properties they enjoy. Fans have long noticed common threads shared by Harry Potter and Star Wars, and some of them hold academic appeal. Emily likes the clearly articulated sense of right and wrong in both series but also the fact that they don't shy away from exploring the complexities of morality. Soul triptychs, in which characters represent different aspects of humanity working together, are also present in both. Potter an