Harris Potter

After my Dad has vehemently opposed the whole phenomenon known as Harry Potter, I feel like I need to say something about it. I don't hate Harry Potter. I do realize that as a phenomenon it is a little lacking. Its hype does give it a little more momentum than it deserves. JK Rowling has been able to transcend generations though and get adults as well as children to embrace a story of a child. It is fun to read the books and be a part of something which has meant so much to so many people.

The story of Harry Potter is something most everyone can get behind. There are too many different things going on at once though. Rowling dug a hole for herself by having so many characters and so many new things to introduce to each book. The subsequent books got so long and burdensome. But, people read them and find things they like. Whether it is the Weasley family celebrating Christmas or the werewolf aspect or just a love of snakes... There are plenty of evil under and overtones to deal with for that crowd. It covers a lot of bases.

And we, the audience, love all these different mythologies. Wizards and witches, goblins and trolls, evil forests and trees. Before Harry Potter came along, no one would dare make these dark things declaratively good. And, it is entirely mainstream. I figure that the idea of Hogwarts School outside the realm of regular school is very good. They keep it in its own realm. It is obviously make-believe. It does not have the children sloughing school so that they can go join some cult elsewhere. And, the school is set up to be just as tough as a regular school.

The movies are interesting to have, but they could have done without them. Why not leave Harry Potter up to the imagination of people? I suppose they have to make movies though of everything. Why is that? I have this idea of creating a miniseries for classic books, so that they can cover every aspect. But, still that is absolutely unnecessary. A movie is a snapshot. That's it.

As far as the criticism of magic and how it affects children and the dark nature of it all. It has some evil to it. There is the notion of the misunderstood aspect of wizards and witches. Our familiarity with magic has told us that witches are evil and wizards are kind of cool. Why not tell a story that says that witches and wizards are just the same except for their gender? It is a fun idea to open a world up to a child who thought he was just a kid in Great Britain.

The main argument I have heard against Harry Potter is that it empowers the nerd aspect of our civilization. It trains and emboldens the awkward, weird, and outcasts to continue on that road. Instead of embracing the tougher aspects of childhood like sports and being disciplined they are embracing the namby-pamby lifestyle which says that one can accomplish things by reading and casting spells. But that is not true within the books themselves. Harry and his friends are constantly battling all types of conflict while in school. Sure, some of it is contrived, but that makes for fun reading.

I do think that we have a culture of namby-pamby parents raising namby-pamby children, but Harry Potter does not really contribute to that. Harry Potter falls into the realm of good escapism just like Lord of the Rings or Xmen comic books. Sure it is over-hyped, but so is everything.