The wizarding community in the Harry Potter universe lives, in many cases, alongside the muggle community. Despite the close proximity to these two worlds they seem to be completely unaware of the happenings of each other. While there is a small amount of crossover between these communities, through muggle borns and some squibs, the wizarding community actively tries to hide from the muggle community, out of fear that they would be taken advantage of or attacked for their abilities. Even with this separation one would expect that at some point wizards would have come around to modern inventions like electricity and radio. Why does the community reject most modern inventions and what does it do for the story to have the wizards live in a more medieval world?
Historically speaking it makes sense that wizards would have separate from the rest of human society sometime during the late medieval period. During the late medieval period there were cases of people being prosecuted for practicing witch craft. In fact, King James I of England even wrote a book on how to correctly identify and prosecute witches in 1597 called Daemonologie. While witches and wizards were already trying to separate from the muggle community, Hogwarts was founded in 990ad and had charms put on it to turn away muggles, the events of the late 16th century would have of course caused them even more fear of the muggle community.
The idea of a wizarding community purposefully separating themselves from the muggle one makes sense, but why does J.K. Rowling have them reject most muggle advancements of modern times. By placing it in the medieval period Rowling is allowing the reader, primarily children for the first few books, to escape their everyday lives. This relies on the idea that the middle ages were somehow and easier time and that the invention of modern utilities has complicated our lives. It also allows the reader to use their imagination and pretend to be in a world outside their own, escapism. Putting the medieval period into the modern world is perfect for the escapism because it allows the author to pick and choose which parts they want to bring, which in this case was almost exclusively the positives while leaving the negatives.
Getting Medieval 
I agree that the use of the medieval, and the rejection of modern technology is primarily based on escapism. A reader of the Harry Potter books sees the Muggle and magical worlds through Harry’s point of view. Harry deals with abuse and neglect in the Muggle world, and literally escapes to the magical where he makes friends and is connected to his parents. There’s a line in the books where it talks about how Harry dreamed of someone appearing to take him away from the Dursley’s, and that dream becomes a reality. The medieval world creates a stark contrast that clearly delineates one world from another. I also think you’re right to say a judgement is being made on the complication of technology on everyday life. The medieval is used to simplify complex life and make good and evil more clearly delineated. And this simplification extends to technology and modern advancement.
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In the later books and movies the line between the muggle and wizarding world is blurred, particularly in the seventh book. Modern technology, such as Dumbledore’s magic reverse lighter he leaves to Ron in his will and the radio chanel the surviving Order of the Phoenix broadcasts, serve as connections between the two worlds. As the line between the worlds is blurred, so is the line between good and evil. Ambiguous characters appear with increasing regularity, and further motives are revealed. Snape and Dumbledore serve as the principal two examples, as we learn their dark and mysterious pasts during the final book.
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I think Ben brings up a very important point in the complexities of the seventh book. The series starts out for children and utilizes a stark contrast to make things simple for children. In this way the first few books fall into the same “sanitizing” pattern Pugh and Weisl describe in children’s literature. But by the end, readers are much older and they realize that this binary of good and evil is much more complex. Having the muggle and wizarding worlds blur reflects the nuanced moral array in the real world. By the end readers cannot truly use the books as escapist because they are about confronting problems and uniting people of muggle and magical backgrounds.
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I would also agree with the notion that the separation of the modern world and the wizarding world in the Harry Potter franchise is utilized to allow readers to engage in escapism. This escapism, of course, relies on the idea of an innocent and happy Middle Ages that engages in only very selective aspects of the historical (and fantastical) Medieval period. Because the characters all live in this idealistic medieval society, the problems that eventually spurred invention and technological innovation in the real world are not present. In a world where you can use apparition, things such as cars and airplanes are completely unnecessary. They do use some non-medieval inventions, such as the Hogwarts Express, but while their steam locomotive has quickly become obsolete here in the modern world, their magic allows them to easily solve problems that the muggles encountered and successfully carry on without innovating the train itself. By simplifying the world of the magic in Harry Potter to one that emulates a narrow view of a chaste Middle Ages, the necessity of technological improvements and development becomes borders on nonexistent and therefore the wizarding world refrains from engaging in the inventions of the modern day.
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I think you have brought up some interesting points as in why J.K Rowling decided to separate the magical world from modern technologies. I believe that the main reason they do not have technology is because they would not know how to use it or make it themselves. They are not taught any math science or useful skills at school really. They really do not have anything from the muggle world in their world so maybe if they could make it they would use modern technologies.
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I feel this is an important thing to consider in the Harry Potter universe; however, I don’t believe this is entirely true. If you are to look at Hogwarts solely, yes you would find it rejects modern technology. This is in my mind likely because of its age and the fact that the school has run for so many years under this they prefer to keep it this way as a means of retaining the same environment eternally. You will find that privately they will in fact use modern technology such as in the opening scene how Lily and James Potter live in a home with functioning electrical appliances and modern amenities. In the new film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them you will also find that wizards utilize modern technology to the fullest. It is likely that they do use these technologies and Hogwarts is simply an exception for reasons unbeknownst to us.
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I don’t think we can consider the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as indicative of how and why the British wizarding world uses or does not use Muggle technology. J. K. doesn’t really expand on how Muggle technology is used in other countries besides the UK, so basing the idea that all wizards have knowledge and access to basic Muggle amenities is problematic. Also, J. K. Rowling is the creator of the Harry Potter world and does not have as much influence in creating the movie world of Harry Potter, where directors certainly take creative license with how to portray the books. In the British wizarding world, the purebloods are in power and seemed to marginalize anything related to Muggles. For example, Arthur Weasley, head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office, has maybe three people on staff at any time, a crappy salary, and a whole lot of belching toilets to fix. Purebloods like Lucius Malfoy are on the Hogwarts Board of Directors (one of the probable reasons for the lack of knowledge or allowance of Muggle related things in Hogwarts), on the Wizengamot, and have plenty of high-ranking officials in their back pocket. I would argue that it is extremely unlikely for wizards and witches in mainstream wizarding society to either know about, or acknowledge Muggle technology in the slightest except for the few that actually make life interesting that they can pretend wizards invented first.
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I wouldn’t consider the Harry Potter fantasy world to be medievalist in the same way that, for instance, The Lord of the Rings fantasy world is medievalist. Aesthetically, Harry Potter is overtly evokes the medieval, between the heraldry of the four houses of Hogwarts, the influence of bestiary in its depiction of nature, and, of course, the prominence of western magical canon. But in this series, the medieval does not stand in for the simple and chaste times that are repeatedly presented in traditional medievalist fiction. Rather, the medieval in Harry Potter is extraordinarily complex in a way that may even playfully mirror the real world. Magic, after all, is governed by an international bureaucracy and taught in a familiar academic context. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the medieval is implemented more romantically than moralistically.
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Agreed! The medievalism present in Hogwarts is primarily due to its age (consider Old Main on our own campus, the exterior more indicative of centuries prior than modern day architecture.) There is also the late medieval/early modern date when the wizarding community went into hiding for the reason of the lack of technology- diminished cross-cultural exchange resulted in fewer muggle inventions being adopted by wizards. I believe that the majority of the medievalism is more of, as you said, “western canon.” Heraldry, bestiary, and other religious connections. Given the United Kingdom setting of the work and Rowling’s nationality and university education, she would be most familiar with her homeland and culture’s symbolism.
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I respectfully think that although LOTR is more obviously medieval, both are equally medieval in different ways. Both use the medieval to critique the modern world but in different ways. One has the modern world present in the narrative while one does not. That being said both stories have two completed worlds that are essentially medieval. There is hardly anything modern in Harry Potter’s magical world. The spells are in Latin, the stores are from the dark ages, the houses have medieval coats of arms, and even the train taking the students to school is as close to the medieval as JK Rowling could get.
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I agree with your viewpoint of how the Harry Potter fantasy world is at a different degree of being medievalist in comparison to other works we have read in class. At first glance, if someone were to say that Harry Potter is medieval, some individuals may simply identify the visualization being alike. Yet, it requires a deeper analysis and a background knowledge on original works from the medieval era to begin to see connections and allusions in the Potter world. J.K. Rowling borrows a multitude of elements to create this complex world that intrigues readers, while not having the obvious medievalist allure like other works. Now I wonder if fans and readers are intrigued by these “borrowed” elements or what may seem more of an original world?
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I agree that escapism a great point for the author to have the setting be medieval. I also think that the medieval aspect is what attracts people to this series versus having just wizards in the modern setting. It makes sense that the wizards would want to stick to their culture and avoid the muggle technology. I also disagree that the muggle technology is too advanced for the wizards. That is the complete opposite of what any wizard would tell you. Besides, wizards usually live among muggles and know as much, and more than the muggles themselves.
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I do believe that magic must naturally have that effect of triggering an escape to childhood simply because children have a natural appreciation for magic that the world tries to get us to give up as we grow older (emphasis on tries). In retrospect, there were probably two worlds that especially captured my imagination as a child: one was Harry Potter, the other was Pokemon. While Harry Potter had a clear magical aspect, I think both of them, to me had a certain magical aspect to them (okay they still do really). After all, perhaps the greatest thing about both of these worlds is the idea that you, or anyone, could do this awesome magical stuff of shooting spells from your wand or commanding (adorable) monsters with incredible powers too. In most stories, there’s one special person, and if you’re not that special person, the world of the story isn’t probably that much more exciting than the world we’re all living in now, but in Harry Potter, it’s a whole school of people and it was easy to imagine yourself as a student in that school. As far as the medieval goes, I think that in general people tend to correlate the medieval with magic and as such, a medieval school would necessarily have to have some medieval aspects to it.
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Your comment is really interesting as you explain how accessible the magic in Harry Potter is. The existence of magic communities in a vastly modern, muggle world makes it easier for the reader to imagine the possibility of them being able to visit the magical place. I believe that Rowling chose to make Hogwarts and a large part of the wizarding community reject modern technology to truly separate their world from the modern. It allows the reader to imagine actually stepping into another world that still exists fairly logically within their own reality. The steam engine is a very smart choice as a transition vehicle to the wizarding world, because while the train is not medieval, it is an object of the more recent past, an era of transition between old and modern, and symbolizes the children’s passage into the medieval, magic world.
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