Harry Potter

The quick version

There is this kid called Harry Potter.  Turns out he's a wizard!  Who knew?!  And he's not just any wizard, but the wizard that some other evil wizard with no nose accidentally magicked into his own arch nemesis.  Oops!  Harry may be the only person on the planet with a chance of beating this evil noseless dude.  And he's 11 years old when he learns this.  Sucks to be you, Harry.

Wizardry is genetic (sort of) in Harry Potter land, so even though Harry is the Chosen One he has to go to wizard school where he makes friends and has lots of adventures that slowly build up from your average high school relationship hijinks to finally facing down No-Nosed Evil Wizard who is back from the dead and, of course, trying to take over the world.

This whole process of watching little Harry grow up and eventually save everybody takes 7 books.  Each book is longer than the last, mainly because author J.K. Rowling thought that would just look cooler on everybody's bookshelves.

Count the Tropes

A trope is a cliche - a literary device that has been used so often that you can almost see it coming.  Harry Potter has been praised for it's originality in the fantasy genre, but it's pretty standard mythological fare in a lot of ways.  
So let's count them!

• The main character is an orphan, removing the problem of accounting for parents whenever danger is threatening our hero.  When I first read the books, the format reminded me a lot of the Enid Blyton stories where a child is sent to boarding school

  

  Aw, they're so tiny and cute!

  or goes on holiday in order to remove those pesky adults.
• There is a Chosen One.  Remember that Harry Potter is still in the 'high fantasy' genre, which often deals with fate and destiny.  Expect several "prophecies" telling you he is special, which everyone will believe in no matter where they came from or even if prophecy is not the norm in that world.
• Our hero is treated very harshly by the people supposed to be looking after him (his foster parents, teachers and so on), making us feel extra sorry for him.  It's us and Harry against the world.
• Something evil wants to take over the world for no particular reason.  Being good or evil is also defined at birth.  Major characters will show their preference for good or evil from an early age, and very few switch sides.
• Our hero is not just trying to stop this evil, but is actually the only one that will ever be able to do so, usually due to a MacGuffin - a plot element that we are immediately told is important, but not always why.  In this case the Horcruxes (evil magical collectibles) are eventually revealed to be the MacGuffins, which means that Harry himself is in fact a MacGuffin too!
• Evil makes you ugly.  Seriously, there are very few good-looking arch villains in the world.  Humans like representing inner evil with outward physical defects, just to be sure we understand who the bad guys are.  Like Voldemort, who was sadly reborn with no nose.
• There is a wise elderly gentleman with a long white beard who gives us the moral lesson of the day.  Just like this...

Movie Drinking Game

They somehow managed to make the seven books into eight movies.  Eight!  This could take it's toll on your liver even more than Lord of the Rings did, so we're going to keep this short.

• The kid playing Harry adds a dramatic pause to a sentence.
• Someone reminds Harry he is the chosen one.
• Child actors can't act.
• Harry is treated unfairly by an adult in a position of authority.
• Dumbledore says something wise.
• Flames are used instead of electric lighting for no reason.
• Harry mentions or thinks about his parents being dead.
• The power of love does... something.
• Someone refers to Harry's destiny.
• Teenagers are underestimated/cannot be beaten by wizards with twice their age and experience.

The teen fantasy revival

The Harry Potter books, although their literacy level is hardly Shakespearean, did do something important for the fantasy genre.  The problem a lot of people have with fantasy is that it's largely based in history and the past, so most of the stories tend to cover the same ground in terms of setting.  Whereas science fiction can be more speculative because it covers what might happen in some possible future, fantasy is often a little more limited in this area.  Despite that these are often good stories, encouraging a lot of imagination from the reader and dealing with some of the fundamental questions of life... but no one was reading them.

Look!  More dragons!

The fantasy genre in the West has always been very influenced by a lot of classic European-style stuff, particularly since Lord of the Rings was published in the '50s.  Reading these stories meant getting involved in a world completely different to our own that a lot of people found unappealing or difficult to relate to.  Until recently this kind of fantasy was very much a niche thing, and not mainstream at all.  Part of the reason Harry Potter became so popular was because it presented the traditional fantasy fare of magic and Chosen Ones in the modern day world.  More or less.  

Harry Potter's world is our world, and is set in our own time.  It is simply hidden to non-magical 'Muggles' (Remember what we said about how geeks love complex worlds they can explore?).  This made it a much less intimidating introduction for kids who had never seen the genre before, and adults who had assumed they just didn't like fantasy at all.  This also began a spate of similar books and movies that had fantasy elements set in the real world.  

Check out the 'Teen Fiction' section in any bookshop and you'll see a healthy stack of newer stories that all feature magic or fantasy creatures (vampires, werewolves etc) that all exist in the present day, but are somehow kept hidden.  

In conversation with a fan

• DO say "I'm so pleased that J.K. Rowling got kids reading more".  Because she did, and that's a very good thing.
• DON'T say "Who do you ship?"  Shipping refers to romantic and/or sexual relationships between characters that fans like, even if they don't exist in the books.  They'll squabble over who makes the best couple, and write their own fanfiction about it.  So Harry and Ginny is a ship that did happen, Harry and Hermione is a ship that didn't happen, and Harry and Dumbledore is a ship that I wish never to hear of ever again.  EVER.