The origins of Harry Potter?

[A l t e r E g o 9]

 

 

In a movie entitled Troll the POTTER family are protected from the "Troll" by a witch & the eldest child of the Potter family; a son named HARRY. That movie was released in 1986, 12 years before J.K. Rowling released Harry Potter and the SS in hardcover. (<12 years according to this page)

 

My gut tells me this (bad) movie is where she got the idea for the Harry character, what chu think; possible?

[HRH The KING 0]

I would doubt it.

 

As far as I'm aware, JKR simply based the magical elements on classic folklore and mythology (Pixies, Trolls, Wizards, Witches, Magic, etc). The school element is based on traditional British boarding school archetypes, and the name was chosen simply because she liked the sound of it.

 

She blended all that with typical and familar British quirks and idiosyncrasies to create Harry Potter.

[LordOfTheBorg 1]

I dunno, i think its a mighty coinkadinc that JK decided to just up and write a story Called Harry Potter. She probably did watch the movie, then plagerised the name, but we can never know.

[Jack_Bauer 1]

There was a woman who I believe sued Rowling for some sort of theft of ideas. This woman claimed to have written books known as "Larry Potter" some years earlier and the books also featured the term 'muggles' (in these books they were nuclear-holocaust survivors).

 

Here's an article from a few years back:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1224264.stm

 

 

I don't know if anything came of this.

[HRH The KING 0]

She was found to have lied and the court ruled against her.

 

This is from Wikipedia:

 

Link

[Tina 0]

I'm sure JK would have found varous sources of insperation. She was a mother in the British Welfare system at the time she wrote the first book

 

 

She may have taken it from many sources. But i have never read anything like the Potter books..And i am sure Childers authors are jelous of her success

[gul_nodrog 2]

If I tried to write a book even at the age of 15, I wouldn't have been able to leave out all the elements of every book and movie I had seen or heard of up until that time. Imagine trying to write a book at the age of 30 or 40 with thousands of books and hundreds of movies running around up there in your brain!

 

Is Potter truly original? Of course not. Everything Jo had ever absorbed culturally, through literature, movies, day to day life is part of the books.

 

Tolkien was not original.

 

Stephen King is not original.

 

Shakespeare was not original.

 

George Lucas is not original.

 

Imitation is the highest form of flattery ... anyone creating a story brings all of themselves TO the work. You can't just tell one part of your brain: "You be quiet over there."

 

Just naming one of your characters the same as some dude in a bad movie from the 80s does not constitute plagiarism! That's a bit strong.

 

If I wrote a book and called my main character Brad Hamilton and had him working at a burger joint, would the "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" folks try to sue me? I think not. Brad Hamilton, Harry Potter, Larry Smith ... those names are just generic, could belong to any of us. Now, if I named a character Sonny Crocket and made him a vice cop, that might get the attention of the creators of Miami Vice. A name like Sonny Crocket stands out. A name like Harry Potter (prior to the HP phenomenon) does not.

[Spike The Trill 0]

If I tried to write a book even at the age of 15, I wouldn't have been able to leave out all the elements of every book and movie I had seen or heard of up until that time.  Imagine trying to write a book at the age of 30 or 40 with thousands of books and hundreds of movies running around up there in your brain! 

 

Is Potter truly original?  Of course not.  Everything Jo had ever absorbed culturally, through literature, movies, day to day life is part of the books.

 

Tolkien was not original.

 

Stephen King is not original.

 

Shakespeare was not original.

 

George Lucas is not original.

 

Imitation is the highest form of flattery ... anyone creating a story brings all of themselves TO the work.  You can't just tell one part of your brain:  "You be quiet over there."

 

Just naming one of your characters the same as some dude in a bad movie from the 80s does not constitute plagiarism!  That's a bit strong.

 

If I wrote a book and called my main character Brad Hamilton and had him working at a burger joint, would the "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" folks try to sue me?  I think not.  Brad Hamilton, Harry Potter, Larry Smith ... those names are just generic, could belong to any of us.  Now, if I named a character Sonny Crocket and made him a vice cop, that might get the attention of the creators of Miami Vice.  A name like Sonny Crocket stands out.  A name like Harry Potter (prior to the HP phenomenon) does not.

328960[/snapback]

 

Agreed.