This article in The Southern Cross about the Harry Potter books and films suggests that some anti-Potter critics are, at least, exaggerating the "danger" they pose to children and teenagers.Personally I have never been convinced that the danger is great. In conversation with others I have mentioned other things which many seem unaware of. The more or less recent teenage interest in the occult and magic began some time before Potter became so popular. The film Practical Magic seems to have had quite an effect on American teenage girls. This was followed by other films and TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film and TV series). There was a popular comedy series about a teenage witch, but I can't imagine any great damage being done by that. Nothing was said about the famous Bewitched series which was immensely popular in many countries. Buffy may have started out as a kind of spoof, but it became very worrying and - in my view - very dangerous indeed. Many anti-Potter critics seem to be ignorant of this. Another dangerous TV series - really because of its style and popularity - is Charmed. To my mind this and other things such as - and especially - the recent vampire craze (Twilight etc) are far more dangerous that Harry Potter.
Some Christian critics have suggested that the Potter films and books are really quite moral. I have read only one book and I found it riveting and confusing. It did not seem to be all that knowledgeable regarding real magic. I have seen most of the films and fell asleep during most of them because they were too long and became boring in parts. I have seen no hard evidence to show that many young people have turned towards the occult because of these stories. In all the stories it is the character of Potter that is emphasized over the magic. In at least one of them, love is shown to be the most powerful force of all. I have seen some anti-Potter critics saying that Harry Potter is not a genuine hero because he lies. Excuse me, but I don't think this is a serious argument. The author never intended to make Potter a Christ-like figure, and just because a person sins sometimes does not make him or her completely evil. On the whole Potter is both truthful and courageous. He fights against evil whilst coming to grips with both his strengths and weaknesses - like all of us. I remain unconvinced that the Potter books and films are simply evil and it seems to me that even if they are inspired by the devil, something else has entered the stories - namely something to do with courage, honour, love and self-sacrifice. The fact that it is human virtues which seem to triumph in the end, whether using magic or not, suggests to me that we should be more careful before simply branding something "the work of the devil". One question that remains with me after all this, is why those who condemn Potter because of the presence of magic seldom have anything but praise for Lord of the Rings. Another question is why the same critics do not condemn Grimm's' fairy Tales or The Wizard of Oz. Certainly there are some worrying elements in some of the Potter stories, and if I was to single out one element it would be the ghost of a girl who lives in the school toilets. I agree that this is particularly bad and possibly damaging to those who have no Christian or Jewish background, but this serious mistake on the part of the author should not make us blind to the many good elements in the stories. Amongst those I have not mentioned we could list friendship, loyalty, compassion, respect for animals, and an anti-slavery theme. If anyone knows any better, I would be happy to hear about it.
My girls get annoyed at what they say is JK Rowling's obvious plagiarism of Tolkien..particularly my English graduate daughter..
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there is some of that. In fact much of the background must have been cobbled together from lots of things. At the heart of it all, though, is there anything else here but a rather good but conventional story about a schoolboy and his friends? My own feeling is that people often mistake the padding for the substance,but, as I say, I am willing to be corrected.
ReplyDeleteStrangely enough, Father, I was thinking about this myself after reading a leaflet from your church called Spirituality by the Living Truth series. It states "THere are good spirits which are angels and bad spirits which are fallen angels. It is possible to be "spiritual" and catastrophically on the wrong track. Much of what is called New Age, everything to do with the Occult, anything like Ouija Boards, spiritualism, even fortune telling, should be avoided as one would avoid filth or poison."
ReplyDeleteI have never read a Harry Potter book. Apart from anything else I would be interested, if I did, to see the quality of her writing. Judging by her sales, she must write in a way which appeals to children, like Enid Blyton did--an author I used to love as a child, but subsequently was reputed not to be exactly the ideal mum! I have to confess I was disconcerted to see Harry Potter on sale in the bookshop of a religious house I visited last year. I did watch a HP film due to my grandaughter's insistance when she was at my house and found it tedious in the extreme, noisy and full of flying whatsnots whizzing around , and have't a clue what the plot was as I also fell asleep. Whatever the case, it is clearly reflective of the world today with it fascination with quick thrills and noise. Grimms Fairy Tales, in contrast, and other fairy tales as they are called, are simply Folk stories and legends , usually reflecting some underlying fears of the times they were written in, often with deep psycholical and primitive overtones. I think there is a difference between this sort of thing and Harry Potter stories , which are clearly, correct me if I am wrong, about wizards and magic spells, maybe there is a moral somewhere in the tales as you suggest, but I would think the children who read them just see the thrills and spills. CS Lewis, as a Christian, probably was saying something "moral" in his Narnia work, I haven't studied it closely and I haven't a clue about Tolkien, never fancied reading things about animals being humanised, though I did like the Wind in the Willows, not to keen on Beatrix Potter though!
St Teresa of Avila said--she was talking to her nuns "Let them beware for the devil,through many small things, drills holes through which very large things enter."
Barbara
Barbara, you might find this link helpful;
ReplyDeletehttp://catholiclane.com/what-the-last-harry-potter-movie-got-wrong/
I think we need to be very discerning about all this, and not too ready to jump when we see references to magic etc. I agree with you about the folk tales to some extent - many of them were clearly from the pre-Christian pagan background of Northern Europe. My point is that the critics of Potter focus too much on the wrapping and not on the substance, or they mistake one for the other. There is more to this than meets the eye.
Thank you father. As I have't read the books I cannot really give an informed opinion,therefore I will have to bite the bullet and read one--or a bit of one at least, if I can find the time. Films do not always do justice to literature.I shall leave the matter in the hands of the Church who know better than I do on these issues. One thing is for certain however, in that it is, I would presume, impossible to find any "evidence" of the Potter influence one way or another.These days we are carpet bombed with the supernatural, with books, Internet and film, in particular nonsence(in my view anyway) like Derek Acorah and his TV ghost hunts- which I have watched once or twice in the interest of "research", so it would be hard to pinpoint, if research were to be undertaken into the Potter influence,( and presuming young people were shown to be dabbling more than they were supposedly doing before HP , in the occult,) who exactly is to blame. The "supernatural" can be very interesting, as the mystics also had "supernatural" experiences , as of course did Our Lord, Our Lady, St Paul and the prophets ,but these were always carefully examined by the Church.
ReplyDeleteI am sure Harry Potter may represent some moral tale as you have explained, but at the end of the day young Potter is not my main focus of work by any means , so I willl leave it at that. It simply crossed my mind when I read the leaflet because I was puzzled seeing it in the nuns' bookshop,
Thank you for your wise advice, I do appreciate it as I am , apart from my religious group who meet monthly, rather isolated in my ponderings
Barbara
Father, I just read this blog post and thought you might find it interesting. http://romans8v29.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteYes, Father, let me quote you: "How easy it is to be fooled by satan"!
ReplyDelete