Harry Potter's Hamstrung Pedantics



Are you a Harry Potter fan?

Have you encountered the fear & negative perspectives held by some with regard to the books?

Does the popularity of the books & movies reveal a growing societal interest in supernatural & spiritual matters?

13 comments:

Nicole MacIver Okiring said...

I agree with the woman from the New Age bookstore, that the "physical plane is wearing us out." And that may be why people are looking for something spiritual; supernatural, whether that be for entertainment purposes only and an escape from reality or the search for God, Truth, spiritual experience etc.

If Harry Potter helps us delve deeper into questions about spiritual/supernatural/mystical realms, then I think that's good.

Of course, if it just provides us with another 2 hours of entertainment via the movie theatre, or a good read, that's pretty wicked too.

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm sorry to have to say so, but I don't think Cheese Wiz is good for you even if it does have cheese in the title. I mean, take a good look at Cheese Wiz. Hold it up to the light. Smear it across some bread and press it to the ceiling. How long will it take for that sucker to come down? Days. It's more like glue than a milk product. It just seems like false advertising to call it Cheese Wiz. Plastic Wiz would be more like it.

Oh, are we talking about Harry Potter? Sorry. I thought we were talking about Cheeze Wiz.

Um, ok. Harry Potter. I'm afriad I don't like Harry Potter - the books or the movies. Why? I guess for the same reasons I don't like Cheese Wiz.

I'll let you try to figure that one out.

stacey said...

I just think that is something engages us deeply it's from God. God is speaking through it somehow. Pay attention.

I think there's a clear difference between being "engaged deeply" and tempted into something sinnful. So I'm not even sort of worried about that.

If Harry Potter draws you in, engages you, go with it.

That's all I got today!

Anonymous said...

No, I am not a Harry Potter fan. I like sci-fi/fantasy stuff. And HP isn't really very good fantasy, or even just good writing to me. It's okay, don't get me wrong - I don't hate it. ...the movies are kind of abysmal in an endearing sort of a train-wreck kind of a way... I do read the books however, fairly faithfully, but tends to be only in Spanish. It became a habit several years ago and it keeps me accountable with myself to keep up my Spanish. It will be another 6 months before the latest one comes out in translation though. Hey, can anyone tell me how it ends??!!

hmmm, negative views about the book - like it's subject matter? Well, yes, I've heard a few, but not for a while. Ideas do come in and out of popularity it would seem.

...and honestly, as icky as it is, I can't, on any grounds, really disagree with the Jesus Camp lady. Our poor little 'arry probably woulda been stoned or some such back in the day, and everyone would have applauded. Can we just dismiss that cause it was "back in the day," and stoning people is messy? Well, possibly...

stacey said...

Also I liked how that new age lady and the Bible college lady made the same basic point about mystery and spirituality....

stacey said...

Jesus Camp lady was scary!

Anonymous said...

Yah, yah - but does Harry Potter die?? What happens to Voldemort and does Hermione finally get Ron?!? Gh, those are the real questions!

Rob Scott said...

Please, Please! No one indulge Shannonarama's request for spoilers to the final HP book plot. There's a reason their called spoilers: They spoil stories.

As for Harry Potter getting killed in the Old Testament: you don't hear (many) people hollering at kids that various beloved Narnia characters would be killed if they attempted using magic in the OT. There's a difference between fantasy fiction and real occult practices (at least to me). Of course for fundamentalists like the JCamp lady, there is no such thing as fantasy, metaphor, fiction, words with more than one syllable, personal hygiene, concepts such as "don't yell violent, hateful vitriol at children" etc. There is only simply, blunt, surface level literal Bible interpretation (of a distinctly American flavour).

Anonymous said...

No one has mentioned the author, J.K. Rowling. What's up with her? Does anybody know? Is she evil or harmless? I'd like to get an idea (without having to spend hours on Google) because I have a hard time swallowing a work if the author is a pill.

Rob Scott said...

J K Rowling claims some Christian background and influences and as far as I remember from interviews was rather hurt by the tirades against her from certain Christian camps (because she defined herself as a Christian, not an evil, possessed, witch, monster worthy of death).

Anonymous said...

Some sick part of me is disappointed she's not a witch monster worthy of death. Less dramatic.

By the way, judging from the response to this week's post, I'd say the prize package is working.

Anonymous said...

Hary Potter is a book, and a movie. I personally have never read them or seen any of the movies. One day I hope to and make my own conclusion, but for now I am limited by the conrols of my parents.

Is there a connection to the fantasy in the media and some peoples desire for a more spiritual exsistance. I would say yes, I beleive that the world sucks, it sucks a lot, and that drives Human beings to want something more. That is why we imagine these great worlds and tell stories about them. And that inturn shares that want for something more with even more people. That is how a fanboy is created.

Anonymous said...

I have friends who hate the Harry Potter books but I have read them and they're just, well, stories. If they're obsessive then so are Middle Earth and Narnia. Certainly Harry Potter is not on the same level as those in a literary sense. If I know someone has a problem with the whole witch / wizard thing, I just drop the subject because it surely isn't anything worth fighting about.

The movies do pretty much suck, proving that sticking closely to the book's storyline is no redemption for a poorly made film.

Is it a surge of 'spirituality' in people? If so, I would say it's as shallow as the books. I've noticed in the forums that Harry Potter fans are deep people, and extrapolate their own thoughts onto the stories, thus making them very significant for themselves but the books, at face value, are not that deep.