Beloit College: Potter Chronology FAIL!

[mijan]

I found this story originally on coffee_n_cocoa's LJ, HERE.

Apparently, Beloit College makes a list every year called the Annual Freshmen Mindset List.  It's a list of social/cultural things that define, in one way or another, the incoming class based on the world as it has been since they were born.  The "Mindset List" for the class of 2012 begins:

1. Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.

Let's hear it.  First, the SQUEE of the initial "Ooh, they mentioned Harry Potter!", then the silence as we realize their chronology is off by a decade.  Then, the long groan of fandomers who just want to inform these people of their grievous error, and then the collective sigh as we decide it's just not worth it.

Well, I was feeling rambunctious, so...

Hello,

Your "Class of 2012 Mindset List" was brought to my attention by a friend, and I had to inform you of your glaring error in item #1.

According to J.K. Rowling's chronology, Harry Potter would have been born on July 31st, 1980, not 1990. In other words, he'd be the exact same age as me: 28 years. He would have defeated Voldemort (or completed Hogwarts) at the same time as I graduated high school, in the spring of 1998, at the age of 17, just months before our 18th birthdays. If he were not fictional, he would certainly not be attending class or playing Quidditch with the current crop of college freshmen. By now, our fictional boy wizard would be a man working at the Ministry of Magic and raising his young children.

So, while I found the Potter reference to be quite amusing, it was incorrect and I wanted to let you know. If your Mindset List is indeed "a globally reported and utilized guide to the intelligent but unprepared adolescent consciousness," then it should be accurate, shouldn't it? I hope it hasn't been cited in too many sources yet.

Regards,
(My name here.)
Gryffindor, Hogwarts Class of 1998
Also University of New Hampshire, class of 2003.

I feel strangely accomplished.
:D

Comments

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

I can understand the confusion; my little brother was 10 when the first HP book came out, and he just left for college.

Where is Rowling's chronology? She gave very little detail about the in-book year, so with the tech mentioned, it could have been anywhere from 1950-today.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

There were mentions to modern technology, including Dudley's Playstation, but mostly, the chronology is set by when JKR conceived of the books.

In 1991, she first envisioned an 11-year-old Harry. I don't know where the interviews are, but from everything I know, she's always set Harry's birth date at July 31st, 1980.

[scarah2.livejournal.com]

There are anachronisms, but the main anchor was the deathday cake in COS. The cake is for Sir Nick's 500th deathday, and says that died Oct 31 1492.

The problems are that Playstation wasn't on the market yet in 1994, and the full moons and Easters and days of the week never seem to match up, so I think she just never thought about those things very hard.

When DH came out, it had dates on the Potters' tombstones. They match the cake timeline.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah! I forgot about the Deathday Cake and the tombstones. But yeah... the Playstation was an issue of debate because it wasn't on the market yet. I remember someone writing it off by saying that Dudley was so spoiled that Vernon got him a prototype. I only brought it up to point out that the timeline couldn't have been anything close to 1950.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Ooo, good catches! This is the sort of thing I'll have to look out for if I get that editorial position in fiction.