How the War on Terror shaped Harry Potter

A lot has been said and written about the politics of Harry Potter in recent years. Comparisons between Donald Trump and Voldemort, for instance, have become somewhat tiresome. In these attempts to draw on the wizarding world of Harry Potter as a lens through which to view contemporary politics, however, the actual political commentary which exists in the series by JK Rowling (particularly following The Order of the Phoenix) gets lost a little. In this Harry Potter video essay, then, I (Tom Nicholas) seek to recontextualise the adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione within the societal context in which these books and films were written and released: that of the War on Terror. For, the latter books, not only including The Order of the Phoenix but also The HalfBlood Prince and The Deathly Hallows contain some very direct parodying of the war on terror and, in particular, the responses of the UK government and US government to the increased threat of terrorism after the attacks on the World Trade Centre and