[WonkersTHEWatilla]

But allow me to reinterpret Harry Potter from an Australian perspective.

Best thing I've read all day, and even better since I read all of it with an Australian accent in my head.

[bomma_man]

how does that work? do you just and 'cunt' onto the end of every sentence? "you're a wizard, harry, cunt"

fixed

[Dead Man]

As another Australian who was born and raised here yet lived overseas for a bit and has an ethnically diverse background, what is Australian culture anyway? Sure we have our own accent, foods, flora and fauna but there isn't any particular set of unique customs or traditions that everyone in our country abides by or pays attention to. Except maybe prolific consumption of alcohol which other countries do just as much anyway. And then again, not everyone drinks anyway. But allow me to reinterpret Harry Potter from an Australian perspective. If Harry went to Hogwarts in Sydney, it would likely be an all-male boarding school located probably on the North Shore (a wealthy area - as Hogwarts was considered the best school in Rowling's world). The school would be predominantly full of white, elitist kids and a few token asians and indians whose parents ultimately did well for themselves, like Hogwarts with the pure families and the mudbloods. Harry's aunt and uncle would be bogans/rednecks from either the Shire or the Central coast and would also spend their days abusing Harry by locking him under stairs and then proceeding to get wasted. Hagrid would then rock up as a DOCS officer, taking Harry away, dumping him in a nearby Westfield and allowing him to buy a computer (or some other magical device) that enables him to buy his clothes and wand online from overseas anyway like every other smart Australian consumer. He'd then rock up at Hogwarts, get placed in a particular boarding house not due to a sorting hat but simple availability at the time. Hermione and all female characters would be all guys as co-ed boarding schools don't really exist in Australia (well, they do but there's not many..) and they'd go on their usual 'learning magic and shit' adventures while conversing with each other in Australian accents of varying strength. Ron and Hermione would still get together in the end but no kissing or relative affection would be shown as Australia is still pretty conservative and would cause outrage amongst concerned parents who spend their all their other time on denying our country an R18+ rating for video games. Voldemort would be the same but he'd just have an Australian accent and probably be some unemployed genius who couldn't get a graduate job because his personality didn't mesh well with others at group interviews and his snake would probably be an inland Taipan (world's most poisonous snake) as there's plenty to choose from in Australia. So Harry and friends would fight Voldemort repeatedly and the final confrontation would take place in the Australian bushland and then probably on the street outside the school, causing further traffic delays at peak hour and getting Sydney drivers to become even more hateful and pissed off at another group of people other than cyclists. Harry would win, Voldemort would die and then Harry would probably remain single afterwards and opt to become a transit officer (ticket inspector) because he could hang around Platform 9 3/4 all day and bust new Hogwarts students for incorrect concession passes. Oh and Dumbledore would probably be from Knox....

Victory.

[ScientificNinja]

Households in the UK and most of Europe have useless pieces of furniture that predate Australia's discovery. It is an intellectual vacuum and a backwater nation with a highly derivative social fabric that could barely pass for a unique and individual culture.

If you want to know what an Australian version of Harry Potter would be like, you need look no further than productions like Home & Away and Heartbreak High.

[wenis]

It's a reference to Alcatraz. I think in Deathly Hallows Hermione modifies her parents' memories and sends them to Australia to keep them safe. This might be Rowling's way of saying that Australia isn't a major focus for Voldemort's plans for world domination.

you seen the size of their fuckin' spiders? yeesh. i wouldn't conquer it either.

[dhatt1]

... do you think that the books would ever have sold as well or have been turned into popular movies? I mean, in this hypothetical situation it wouldn't just be that Harry was an Australian in England - Hogwarts would be located near Sydney, and all the characters would be Australian, and all the English settings and animals and characters etc would be written in an Australian context. Do you think that the world could have taken to it like it did, assuming it was just as well a realised setting as the English one from the actual Harry Potter books? I'm just wondering whether Australian culture would make a series of books like that unsellable on a world market. Whether Australian culture just isn't relatable enough to an international audience. Or would it be all the more charming? I'm interested to know what people from other countries think.

Australia has no culture. (I live in Australia :p)

[Always-honest]

"winguardian leviosa, mate"

[Dead Man]

Households in the UK and most of Europe have useless pieces of furniture that predate Australia's discovery. It is an intellectual vacuum and a backwater nation with a highly derivative social fabric that could barely pass for a unique and individual culture. If you want to know what an Australian version of Harry Pitter would be like, you need look no further than productions like Home & Away and Heartbreak High.

[Harry Potter]

[i_am_ben]

Households in the UK and most of Europe have useless pieces of furniture that predate Australia's discovery. It is an intellectual vacuum and a backwater nation with a highly derivative social fabric that could barely pass for a unique and individual culture. If you want to know what an Australian version of Harry Pitter would be like, you need look no further than productions like Home & Away and Heartbreak High.

Heartbreak High was fucking amazing so you shut your mouth.

[Ferga]

"winguardian leviosa, mate"

Harry, mate, we needa' beat that bloody monstah! It's gunna bloody crush our school mate!

[ClassyPenguin]

As another Australian who was born and raised here yet lived overseas for a bit and has an ethnically diverse background, what is Australian culture anyway? Sure we have our own accent, foods, flora and fauna but there isn't any particular set of unique customs or traditions that everyone in our country abides by or pays attention to. Except maybe prolific consumption of alcohol which other countries do just as much anyway. And then again, not everyone drinks anyway. But allow me to reinterpret Harry Potter from an Australian perspective. If Harry went to Hogwarts in Sydney, it would likely be an all-male boarding school located probably on the North Shore (a wealthy area - as Hogwarts was considered the best school in Rowling's world). The school would be predominantly full of white, elitist kids and a few token asians and indians whose parents ultimately did well for themselves, like Hogwarts with the pure families and the mudbloods. Harry's aunt and uncle would be bogans/rednecks from either the Shire or the Central coast and would also spend their days abusing Harry by locking him under stairs and then proceeding to get wasted. Hagrid would then rock up as a DOCS officer, taking Harry away, dumping him in a nearby Westfield and allowing him to buy a computer (or some other magical device) that enables him to buy his clothes and wand online from overseas anyway like every other smart Australian consumer. He'd then rock up at Hogwarts, get placed in a particular boarding house not due to a sorting hat but simple availability at the time. Hermione and all female characters would be all guys as co-ed boarding schools don't really exist in Australia (well, they do but there's not many..) and they'd go on their usual 'learning magic and shit' adventures while conversing with each other in Australian accents of varying strength. Ron and Hermione would still get together in the end but no kissing or relative affection would be shown as Australia is still pretty conservative and would cause outrage amongst concerned parents who spend their all their other time on denying our country an R18+ rating for video games. Voldemort would be the same but he'd just have an Australian accent and probably be some unemployed genius who couldn't get a graduate job because his personality didn't mesh well with others at group interviews and his snake would probably be an inland Taipan (world's most poisonous snake) as there's plenty to choose from in Australia. So Harry and friends would fight Voldemort repeatedly and the final confrontation would take place in the Australian bushland and then probably on the street outside the school, causing further traffic delays at peak hour and getting Sydney drivers to become even more hateful and pissed off at another group of people other than cyclists. Harry would win, Voldemort would die and then Harry would probably remain single afterwards and opt to become a transit officer (ticket inspector) because he could hang around Platform 9 3/4 all day and bust new Hogwarts students for incorrect concession passes. Oh and Dumbledore would probably be from Knox....

Not even Australian but agree.

[shadyspace]

:lol Australia has no books.

[ThoseDeafMutes]

I'm visualizing an Argus Filch / Hagrid character merge, in the spirit of Alf Stewart.

Right you little Weasly cunts, I've had a gutfull of your fuckin' shit. I've a right mind to take you back to me cabin.

[wonzo]

Households in the UK and most of Europe have useless pieces of furniture that predate Australia's discovery. It is an intellectual vacuum and a backwater nation with a highly derivative social fabric that could barely pass for a unique and individual culture. If you want to know what an Australian version of Harry Pitter would be like, you need look no further than productions like Home & Away and Heartbreak High.

dat angsty cultural cringe

[The_Hitcher89]

Does the Harry Potter series have the best character names of all time?

[Trent Strong]

Does the Harry Potter series have the best character names of all time?

Not even close.

[defel]

Care of Magical Creatures with Steve Irwin? Im in.

[Mistle]

As an Australian... this is a really weird topic.

[Firestorm]

I don't think it would work if you set it outside the UK. Also the problem with most Aussie movies is that they go for all these stereotypes that nobody can relate to, including people from Aus. Kath and Kim is a good example of an Aussie feeling show, but i don't think that will be relatable for much longer. Its hard to say what you can even put from Aussie culture into a movie without it seeming 20 years out of date.

This is Canada's exact same issue.

I wouldn't have considered Britain particularly sellable in America/The world back in the late 90s/early 2000s when Harry Potter was releasing. I think the country is incidental.

I agree.

[CPS2]

I guess it just means that if an Australian wants to write a blockbuster teen fiction series, they'll need to steer away from what they've experienced growing up, and re-frame it in a general western/anglo setting, which is probably going to be based on what they've read and seen of American culture, OR rely on that romanticised version of Britain's past as employed in most Fantasy novels.

Why do you say that? I think that's a pretty terrible thing to take away from this. Australia doesn't have any mythology or history involving dragons, wizards, castles, etc, that's the main reason why this wouldn't work.

Look at crime drama though, you could do a show about bikie gangs without really making any sacrifices. If you specifically want to do something about school age people, there wouldn't be a problem other than that there'd be few obvious tropes to fall back on. Fat pizza and summer heights high were pretty decent comedies that had characters that age, and comedy's arguably harder to write than drama.

I think you basically just need good characters, they could be from anywhere. Trying to slap on wizards, monsters, zombies, dinosaurs, time traveling aliens etc without actually having some fleshed out characters would be a bad idea though.

[Router]

Harry would be Australian. Hogwort's would still be in England. The series would take 1 book for harry to win all the sport, defeat all the bad guy and do all the chicks.

and finish at the pub.

[Sutton Dagger]

As another Australian who was born and raised here yet lived overseas for a bit and has an ethnically diverse background, what is Australian culture anyway? Sure we have our own accent, foods, flora and fauna but there isn't any particular set of unique customs or traditions that everyone in our country abides by or pays attention to. Except maybe prolific consumption of alcohol which other countries do just as much anyway. And then again, not everyone drinks anyway. But allow me to reinterpret Harry Potter from an Australian perspective. If Harry went to Hogwarts in Sydney, it would likely be an all-male boarding school located probably on the North Shore (a wealthy area - as Hogwarts was considered the best school in Rowling's world). The school would be predominantly full of white, elitist kids and a few token asians and indians whose parents ultimately did well for themselves, like Hogwarts with the pure families and the mudbloods. Harry's aunt and uncle would be bogans/rednecks from either the Shire or the Central coast and would also spend their days abusing Harry by locking him under stairs and then proceeding to get wasted. Hagrid would then rock up as a DOCS officer, taking Harry away, dumping him in a nearby Westfield and allowing him to buy a computer (or some other magical device) that enables him to buy his clothes and wand online from overseas anyway like every other smart Australian consumer. He'd then rock up at Hogwarts, get placed in a particular boarding house not due to a sorting hat but simple availability at the time. Hermione and all female characters would be all guys as co-ed boarding schools don't really exist in Australia (well, they do but there's not many..) and they'd go on their usual 'learning magic and shit' adventures while conversing with each other in Australian accents of varying strength. Ron and Hermione would still get together in the end but no kissing or relative affection would be shown as Australia is still pretty conservative and would cause outrage amongst concerned parents who spend their all their other time on denying our country an R18+ rating for video games. Voldemort would be the same but he'd just have an Australian accent and probably be some unemployed genius who couldn't get a graduate job because his personality didn't mesh well with others at group interviews and his snake would probably be an inland Taipan (world's most poisonous snake) as there's plenty to choose from in Australia. So Harry and friends would fight Voldemort repeatedly and the final confrontation would take place in the Australian bushland and then probably on the street outside the school, causing further traffic delays at peak hour and getting Sydney drivers to become even more hateful and pissed off at another group of people other than cyclists. Harry would win, Voldemort would die and then Harry would probably remain single afterwards and opt to become a transit officer (ticket inspector) because he could hang around Platform 9 3/4 all day and bust new Hogwarts students for incorrect concession passes. Oh and Dumbledore would probably be from Knox....

This is amazing... wait a minute, I'm from the Central Coast :(

[Peru]

[Tim the Wiz]

I can see what you're driving at. The number of Australian writers with a world-wide reputation that have made their names with work set in Australian environments are few. In the realm of fantasy, analogue settings are the norm in the genre, so I don't know if you can say that there is a specific pattern of absent "Australianess" - whatever that is - with local authors like Garth Nix, Trudi Canavan, Karen Miller, John Flanagan, Sara Douglass, etc.

But there are writers like Peter Carey, Greg Egan, Colleen McCullough, John Marsden and Tim Winton that buck the trend, whose Australian-set stories have found an international audience, even if it is maybe isolated to a handful of crossover works. Not sure if Australia can really claim JM Coetzee, otherwise. I can't think of anyone else, but that could just be a deficiency in my knowledge. However, it's not an entirely unexpected condition for a country of 20 million.

[Exterminieren]

There are some glorious things happening in this thread.

Does the Harry Potter series have the best character names of all time?

Read some Dickens some time.

[Ecotic]

Australia isn't really known for having much of a romantic or classical culture like some of the old European countries. America frankly doesn't either, but we compensate with an economic importance that demands attention and a culture that breeds creativity in a variety of mediums and genres.

But with a population smaller than Taiwan's and its perception as a scorchingly hot, backwoodsey-type place, Australia has a hard time getting much respect.

That's geographical bias for you though. Some countries like Indonesia which are both large in terms of population, land mass, and increasing economic impact have a hard time even getting people to know they exist. Just be glad you're not one of the ill-forgotten 'Stans'.

[Suairyu]

I wouldn't have considered Britain particularly sellable in America/The world back in the late 90s/early 2000s when Harry Potter was releasing. I think the country is incidental.

The country is absolutely so much of what makes Harry Potter's identity. The British style of government, school system, the English tabloid rags and even the way towns/villages are set up.

The Britishness is probably the most defining aspect of the entire series. You'd be changing both the flavour and probably the plot massively if you planted it in another country.

[FOOTE]

Nah. The setting and everything that comes with it is a big part of the success of the series.

[tallkid123]

A lot of the crap I wrote before was from personal experience. Im originally from Brisbane but started living at boarding school in Sydney since 2003 as parents were overseas at the time. Been here ever since and have gotten to know most parts of the city and all the private schools.

Still, I'd really like Australia to step up and show some true importance in the world from within this country rather than having our entrepreneurs and actors run off to america all the time for example. It's like our country is inhibited by tall poppy syndrome and subtle racism and that we can't ever become anything more than a mediocre first world country with a national emphasis on sport and alcohol.

I honestly wished we had a culture worth writing fiction about.

[Fusebox]

Yahoo Serious Black.

Slow clap. You've outdone yourself this time Dookkake.

[Fusebox]

This is amazing... wait a minute, I'm from the Central Coast :(

Yeah, tbh I'm not sure why anyone mentioning bogans and rednecks would look anywhere else other than west Sydney, the original home of the original bogan.

[SquiddyCracker]

... do you think that the books would ever have sold as well or have been turned into popular movies? I mean, in this hypothetical situation it wouldn't just be that Harry was an Australian in England - Hogwarts would be located near Sydney, and all the characters would be Australian, and all the English settings and animals and characters etc would be written in an Australian context. Do you think that the world could have taken to it like it did, assuming it was just as well a realised setting as the English one from the actual Harry Potter books? I'm just wondering whether Australian culture would make a series of books like that unsellable on a world market. Whether Australian culture just isn't relatable enough to an international audience. Or would it be all the more charming? I'm interested to know what people from other countries think.

Hogwarts+bogans?



Serious business:

I think tallkid123 nailed it with his post. Great thread, I love imagining different settings and circumstances for stuff like books.
While I don't think it would work as well in Australia, a Harry Potter taking place in the U.S.A would probably work just fine - just have Voldemort be a white supremacist/KKK inspired villiain. Thinking about it, the relatively big racial divide in the U.S might actually be a better place for a story with an integral mudblood/pureblood divide

[Fusebox]

Crabbe and Goyle are already bogans.

[Rice-Eater]

Speaking of Australia, are your celebrities(the big ones like Chris Hemsworth, Jackman, or Bana) even celebrities in your own country before they become the big Hollywood stars that we know them as now? It seems like a number of these guys a number of small roles or star in just a few productions before they make it big in Hollywood.

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Speaking of Australia, are your celebrities(the big ones like Chris Hemsworth, Jackman, or Bana) even celebrities in your own country before they become the big Hollywood stars that we know them as now? It seems like a number of these guys a number of small roles or star in just a few productions before they make it big in Hollywood.

We have long-running soap opera style shows here that are also inexplicably popular in the UK (Neighbours and Home & Away) that double as star factories for young Aussie actors.

Isla Fischer, the Helmsworth brothers, Heath Ledger and a bunch of others I've forgotten got their starts in one of those two (awful) shows.

[tallkid123]

Yeah, tbh I'm not sure why anyone mentioning bogans and rednecks would look anywhere else other than west Sydney, the original home of the original bogan.

Off the top of my head, I only associate Mt Druitt with bogans. Had to go out there once with my gf to buy a dog (unsurprisingly, from a bogan) and it was not a fun place to be at night.

Otherwise, I generally associate western Sydney with migrants.

[The_Hitcher89]

We have long-running soap opera style shows here that are also inexplicably popular in the UK (Neighbours and Home & Away) that double as star factories for young Aussie actors. Isla Fischer, the Helmsworth brothers, Heath Ledger and a bunch of others I've forgotten got their starts in one of those two (awful) shows.

Guy Pearce as well, and the dude from House. They played Mike something and Billy something in Neighbours. I think they're popular because of the times they're on, especially Neighbours. It used to be on straight after kids' TV, and just as people started coming home from work.

[Jintor]

I honestly wished we had a culture worth writing fiction about.

I can't really parse what this means. What makes a culture more or less worth writing fiction about?

[vas_a_morir]

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Sheilas.
Harry Potter and the Order me some XXXX.
Harry Potter and the Brisbaner with abeercan.

[CPS2]

Speaking of Australia, are your celebrities(the big ones like Chris Hemsworth, Jackman, or Bana) even celebrities in your own country before they become the big Hollywood stars that we know them as now? It seems like a number of these guys a number of small roles or star in just a few productions before they make it big in Hollywood.

Eric Bana used to be a comedian doing sketch shows and stuff. He was kinda known but just as a random tv guy.

Actually Hugh jackman's background in theatre makes him unconvincing for me as wolverine.

[Fusebox]

We have long-running soap opera style shows here that are also inexplicably popular in the UK (Neighbours and Home & Away) that double as star factories for young Aussie actors. Isla Fischer, the Helmsworth brothers, Heath Ledger and a bunch of others I've forgotten got their starts in one of those two (awful) shows.

Kylie Minogue!

[Trurl]

This is brilliant!! LOL I've asked this question in a few places around the internet and it's very hard to get a serious answer out of anyone - but the overall reaction is to make fun of the idea, which tells me that no, a teen fiction series set in Australia would not be an easy sell in non-Australian markets, and a writer who wants to be commercially successful would be crazy to attempt it. Really interesting to get some perspective on how difficult it is to envisage a non US/British cultural background to a novel ever resulting in a commercial success. I guess it just means that if an Australian wants to write a blockbuster teen fiction series, they'll need to steer away from what they've experienced growing up, and re-frame it in a general western/anglo setting, which is probably going to be based on what they've read and seen of American culture, OR rely on that romanticised version of Britain's past as employed in most Fantasy novels.

It doesn't mean that no children's lit set in Australia could be successful, just that framing a story about wizardry in Australia might seem strange and less appealing to the outside world.

Maybe the story should be set in New Zealand. Face it Aussies, New Zealand is now seen by the world as a more culturally significant country than Australia.

[Jamie xxoo]

It doesn't mean that no children's lit set in Australia could be successful, just that framing a story about wizardry in Australia might seem strange and less appealing to the outside world. Maybe the story should be set in New Zealand. Face it Aussies, New Zealand is now seen by the world as a more culturally significant country than Australia.

Well, if you like being known as the Lord of the Rings country lol.

[Sirius]

Should have been an Aussie character in the established UK setting of the HP universe.. would have made it all the more diverse.
.. a classmate in Harry's year,
.. or even better - a raggy member of the Order, .. i.e. Mad-Eye's apprentice.

Such a missed opportunity.

[Jintor]

Well, if you like being known as the Lord of the Rings country lol.

heh.

[Jay Sosa]

He'd probably be on Voldemort's side.

[Hari Seldon]

Should set Harry Potter in Detroit directed by David Simon. Leave Harry British for maximum plot potential.

[El'Kharn]

Households in the UK and most of Europe have useless pieces of furniture that predate Australia's discovery. It is an intellectual vacuum and a backwater nation with a highly derivative social fabric that could barely pass for a unique and individual culture. If you want to know what an Australian version of Harry Potter would be like, you need look no further than productions like Home & Away and Heartbreak High.

wow man, just....wow.
Oh and fuck you by the way.

As an Australian... this is a really fucked up topic.

fixed.