participatory culture

I used to be part of that participatory culture of Harry Potter as a child. I read all the books up to Order of the Phoenix and even went online to understand more about the lore of Harry Potter. Eventually I lost interest in it, focusing my interests towards Elder Scrolls and Starwars. It was really only a few week ago I was reintroduced to Harry Potter after watching the Deathly Hollows in the theaters. The culture and influect of Harry Potter is big. An example is our school. We have quidditch, people wear scarf’s similar to the movie, we have a upcoming event call the Yule Ball and many people started using Pottermore around school. it gets much bigger once you leave school. However not being in that culture, I wouldn’t not know the extent of that culture. However I can state examples of other “universes” that took up an almost cult following: Elder Scrolls, Starwars, Star Treck, Stargate and Lord of the Rings. One giant constant in these separate universes is the fact that they all have an entire universe at their disposal. They created an entire universe just for the story. Because of this, you get people creating their own stories that occur within the limits of that universe. It gives people free reign to do as they wish, because all the thinking and planning was set by the creators of the world. 

Oryx and Crake

Oryx and Crake at first felt like a science fiction genre. But reading through it, the story had more substance to it. It was less about the science and fiction, and more about the characters and their situations. Even the science presented in the book has to deal with morals, ethics, globalization, bio-terrorism and genetics. Snowman describes his past. Living in a utopian-fascist compound where genetic reengineering occurs, and how everything goes down hill, from his personal life to a wider scale and how he was part of it. The story brings up a lot of ethics in science, and culture. From the morals of genetic engineering to bio-terrorism and a little bit of eugenics. The story is pretty simple, but made interesting and complicated because of all the layered elements placed into the book that makes the reader think.