Modern culture is in constant flux, subject to the whims of the people and the varying fads of pop culture. Such examples include the early 2000s obsession with the Twilight saga, which fell out of the spotlight before the final movie was even released, and the hysteria induced by the book Fast Food Nation, which never actually put a dent in the fast food industry. One thing that does seem like it will stick around, however, is the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, the story of a young wizard battling against dark forces and a villain who is basically the embodiment of evil.

This series, though originally written for children, continues to this day to amuse and touch the hearts of even adults well into their forties and fifties. A large part of the popularity of the Harry Potter franchise can be credited to its well-executed transmediation in film, theater, youtube, short plays, the continued release of new books and merchandise, and even its own theme park.

The continued popularity of the Harry Potter series began with the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 1998, and the subsequent decision of Scholastic editor Arthur Levine to really up the publicity surrounding the books in the United States. The unusual decision to promote the book in newspapers, magazines, and on front tables in bookstores was very unusual for an unknown author such as Rowling, even more so for a children's book (Grady, Constance, and Romano). The tactics worked, however, and within no time at all the book series was taking the world by storm.

The portrayal of young children - the underdogs of their groups - rising up against both bullies and a cruel supervillain was very appealing to kids wanting to connect to the characters and be excited by the plot. The light-heartedness of the books, however, do not take away from the gravity of the situations that the characters are put in, nor the severity and importance of the issues that they face (racism, genocide, war, etc), making it enjoyable and relevance across generations. Thus, the popularity of the Harry Potter series was not limited to just children but rather was available and in demand across multiple generations.

Today, Harry Potter is one of the most well-known series (books, movies, or otherwise) of the modern age, and it continues to be popular in part because of the fact that it spans so many various genres within the confines of its pages. From mystery to fantasy to the bittersweet coming of age boarding school classic, Harry Potter is able to capture the best of a multitude of genres while staying true to the signature Harry-Potter-Wizard flare that fans have come to love.

This fascinating combination keeps the books interesting and endearing throughout the entirety of their 350-700 pages (the first books were each quite small, but after publishers realized that people were really invested, they encouraged longer books, resulting in the last three books being over 600 pages each). In regards to their lengths, these books also made it possible and even desirable to market longer, more complex stories to younger children for purposes not confined to just academic analysis. The combined size and popularity of the books changed the way people read in the transition between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and now it is common to see even elementary-schoolers absorbed in chapter books.

Despite the fact that the final installment of the Harry Potter book series was published more than ten years ago, the universe that Rowling created has stayed active and alive through the cinematic releases of eight movies, the publication of multiple canonical textbooks (such as Hogwarts: A History and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), and the more recent release of the "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" movie, centered on American Wizardry and Newt Scamander, a briefly mentioned character from the original series. The fact that these most recent movies are set in America expands the Wizarding Universe even more, and the continued release of movies allows for the empire that has been built around the original books to remain in the limelight. J.K. Rowling herself is still very active on social media platforms in answering questions from the fans and making comments about the Wizarding Universe.

This continued activity and growth continues to expand the franchise itself. Even the stage-play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, considered one of J.K. Rowling's biggest failures (Franks), still brings in millions of dollars annually from both the theater performance and the book publication itself. Outside of Rowling's own writings, the fandom has taken it into their own hands to amuse themselves in between releases from the Harry Potter franchise (Tosenberger). One such example is the Youtube phenomenon "Potter Puppet Pals," a series of videos made by Neil Cicierega that parodies the canon series and whose songs are well-known within the fandom. Yet another fanmade and widely loved part of the Harry Potter culture is that of "A Very Potter Musical," a musical play that makes fun of various aspects of the original series (such as House Sorting and the infamous shared-head of Professor Quirrell in the first book). This only goes to show a small portion of the massive transmediality of the Harry Potter universe (Straumann).

"The Wizarding World", as Rowling's fantastical universe has come to be known, is still going strong, with the second installment of the "Fantastic Beasts" being released in November and the fans ravenous for a television series of the "Marauders Generation" (that of the generation predating the wizarding war against Lord Voldemort), to the point that Marauders Fanfiction is some of the most written and most searched fanfiction on the internet (Tosenberger). The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is alive and strong today, despite backlash from fans, critiques by academic and political figures, and anger incited by J.K. Rowling's actions (or lack thereof) in regards to the representation of LGBTQ and racial minorities in her works. Though people have always said that

Harry Potter is a controversial series for many reasons (Grady, Constance, and Romano), it seems that the empire will continue to grow as long as there remains someone (be it fans or the author herself) to provide material, and a platform to use for consumption. As long as the transmediality of Harry Potter remains relevant and evident, so will the franchise.