* I am in no way a big Harry Potter fan. I am a casual fan so I may get some technical aspects of the series incorrect.
* I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise. I do not own any part of the documentary being referenced here.
* Harry Potter and the documentary are just being referenced for discussion purposes only.
Do you enjoy Harry Potter? Do you believe that it is a harmless story of magic and wizardry?
Believe it or not, there are some who believe that Harry Potter is a detriment to society. Honestly, I don't believe that this is the case.
If anything Harry Potter is actually something positive for the youth of this generation as it gives something to related to other people, enjoy themselves, learn not to fear being able to express yourself, and gain an sense of appreciation through others.
I stumbled upon this documentary which is where this Harry Potter topic came from.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/62149/we-are-wizards
"It just kinda gave me a place to belong. It gave me a group of people I'm part of. I probably have more friends through Harry Potter than I've made anywhere else."
Much of this documentary is riddled with fandom brought to an extreme and where fans and corporate "owners" of the Harry Potter documentary battle it out.
In all honestly, I fail to see the significance of this controversy.
The fans of the franchise are expressing their enjoyment out of Harry Potter, yet the corporate owners of the IP (initially) go after them for many reasons only to eventually decide that maybe it's time to re-evaluate things.
In the beginning portions of this documentary, the woman claims that Harry Potter "...entices children to dabble into the ocult." and that it "...ultimately will destroy society."
How so? I understand where she is coming from in regards to the occult issue, but that's really taking it from a surface-only point of view. If one were to read the books or watch the movies, one would quickly realize that there are more themes and morals that are discussed in the movie. In a sense, the magic and wizardry are just the icing on a cup-cake (for lack of a better metaphor). The "core" cake portion of it (i.e. the themes and morals) are what is important.
However, I will acknowledge that this woman who made the comment may be getting at something that is possible. Many of Harry Potter fans are younger children. Children, especially at the younger age, tend to take things that they see, hear, and experience from a face-value perspective; that is there is little to no processing of underlying meanings.
Even still, I believe that as life progresses, and as long as the child has a relatively stable childhood and is able to progress into young adulthood without much turmoil, the child will develop into a mature individual who is able to differentiate between "good" and "bad" morals.
It's quite shocking how something that may appear to be "just a movie" or "just a book" to cause such a ruckus. But, in the society that we live today, imagination is nearly crossing the boundaries of what appears to be real.
Most are capable of being able to distinguish what is moral & amoral, and what is "real" and what is "imaginary".
But, we see here (with the documentary) that there is always room for discussions and interpretations of the ramifications of massively popular items in a culture; of which can be extremely impressionable on an individual.
What do you think about this? Please comment below.
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If anything, I feel that the harry potter series offers an accurate potrayal of human behavior. Witchcraft and wizadry aside, the characters in the series are all people we know. Dumbledore represents the fatherly figure whom we admire and venerate. Hagrid is the lovable but loyal oaf and snape is a mystery that we cannot solve. We are also introduced to human dilemma. On countless times the characters in the series are tempted by the forces of good and evil. We see how frail the human will can become and how our choices affect our destiny. All these are positive lessons learned through what is seen as a children's book.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point about the Harry Potter series having more insight and things to learn than what some outsiders speculate.
To those who consider the Harry Potter series a ploy to get children to go into learning of the occult and whatnot really should read the books or at least watch the movies. Then, I would hope that it would be made clear that this series is a light-hearted (for the most part) tale of young children as they develop among children going through many challenges and overcoming them.
It's quite interesting that someone would come up with the theory that the Harry Potter series was an act to get children into the occult.
Are those people really that insecure or do they simply have nothing better to do than to criticize a vastly popular cultural icon in an attempt to make themselves appear scholarly or credible in the public eye?
It seems that people these days will do just about anything to make them known. Attention seeking desires is probably one of those issues that have developed in our culture.
Many of us have this desire to stand out above everyone else. Although this is definitely a worthy goal in life, there seems to be too much desire for such.
It is quite logical to say that mass media is one of the larger contributors of this. We see it everywhere.
Out on the streets, in the shopping malls, at the supermarket, on the Internet, on Television, at movie theaters (especially before the actual movie begins we are bombarded with commercials)...
Maybe this is something that really needs to change. People are being bombarded with so many commercials and whatnot essentially telling us what is "cool" and what we need to own in order to continue to be "cool".
What exactly is it that has turned many of us into such materialistic beings? The material goods should not be the defining characteristics of who we are. What defines us should be through our actions, thoughts, and behaviors in both public and private settings.
There should be no need for such feelings of inferiority as we all are human and that in effect starts us all on a "level playing field".
Many of us tend to perceive that this is not the case and these material goods that we own for the sake of showing off to others are what show the public who we are.
Public vs. private selves is quite a powerful concept. Maybe that's something many of us need to re-evaluate.
FUCK YOU CHARLES I. KIM! YOU SUCK!
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