Why stand on line for an hour and a half to get a bracelet to buy a book? Why suffer through and hour and a half of being bored out of our gourds with 3 kids in tow? Why lose precious sleep to then stand on line again at midnight, finally making it home some time around 1am?
For Harry Potter, of course.
Well, no, not entirely. It was just as much for the experience of the cultural phenomenon. It was for the excitement of being a part of something big and joyous with a lot of other like-minded people, and to be able to say “I was there.” It was about standing next to my niece, now 12, for whom this moment and this last book are monumentally important. And to be part of a hugely successful marketing plan, knowing full well that I am their demographic, and reveling in it!
The release of the book, the last book, is a once in a life-time event and my daughter will remember it. One day she’ll recall the sacrifice of staying up way past her bedtime and struggling with exhaustion the next day (along with so many other people) and be able to say “Yeah, when I was eight my mom took me to the Midnight Madness Party and it was pretty cool.” It will be yet another anecdote, another quick story to relate who she was, and who we were together, during this time in her life. And that may be my truest reason for wanting to experience the cultural phenomenon of Midnight Madness.
What cultural phenomenon are you passionate enough to lose sleep over?
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