Warnings about Harry Potter

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brooklyn
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Okay, I’ve argued with this type of logic before. Literatures of tradition are nothing like traditions of religion. I agree heavily with Bertold Brecht when he said that no model of good form would be in power indefinitely. To say that the positive portrayal of beings such as vampires, wizards, dragons, and things traditionally deemed ‘evil’ in literature as a sign of paganization or (as I’ve read in other articles similar to this) moral/spiritual decline is a huge overreaction. There is no canon for such creatures. What matters is who these creatures are as characters. Besides, traditional depictions can grow obsolete at times.
Click to expand...
Except it’s not as traditional as portrayed. Folklore has long held “Merlin” as a good wizard (over a thousand years). All “wizards” in stories following are measured by the original. While witches are nearly always evil (contemporary and traditional stories) sorceress can go either way.

I’m a fan of getting kids to read and see no threat in HP. Let’s face it, if you are so close to edge that all it takes is a HP book to push you over then your Christian life was already in grave danger. If not HP then some other breeze would have done you in.
 
One thing about Harry Potter that both sides ought to note (and which may alleviate some of the concerns of the anti-Potters) is that the books are really only appropriate at certain ages. I do think Rowling did a good job of writing books for audiences at least the age that Harry is. That is, the Sorcerer’s Stone is generally age appropriate at 11, the Chamber of Secrets at 12, the Prisoner of Azkaban at 13, etc. Same goes for the movies.

I don’t know what you all were like, but I was reading heavier fantasy younger than these ages; I think older kids, really exploring their world and reasoning, are far less vulnerable to having difficulty separating reality from fantasy. That is, as long as they were raised responsibly and didn’t develop a lingering problem separating the two in previous years.

Frankly, about the middle of the series, HP carries more and more adult themes. The symbolism is fit for high school literature classes. At the appropriate ages, many of the critics’ contentions become more and more absurd.

I for one think that HP belongs in third rank behind LotR and the Chronicles of Narnia as the third major fantasy series that ultimately explores the Christ story. I believe that stories are popular/lasting/successful to the extent that they reflect the central story of human existence–the Christ story. HP would not be nearly so successful if it did not do so. Where (among many other things–all of them get into the nature of evil) LotR explored Christ’s roles of priest, prophet, and king; and Narnia explored the concept of the Lion of Judah and how his disciples experienced him while he was on earth; Harry Potter explores the human nature of Christ. I don’t think any of these authors fully understood the depth of what they were writing, for I don’t think the writing was wholly a construct of their own.
 
joe_clark said:
Once again, Harry Potter books and movies have visited us sneaking into our lives destroying little childrens minds? How? It’s a movie and was created, advertised and printed as fiction. It means it is not real. Harry Potter does not challenge or weaken the church. Maybe in some people’s minds, but that is not legitimate. Superman flies through the air and is not real, but he is ok. The Wolfman (he would bite innocent people to death), Dracula, He killed innocent people by sucking their blood out of them) the creature from the black lagoon (he would drown people), Frankenstien (Killed anyone in his way) and all were not real, but for some reason are better or less evil than Harry Potter?

We need to focus on what is important and Harry Potter will not end the world as we know it.😉
Click to expand...
And don’t forget Cinderella, a young girl who meets a stranger with claims to magical abilities that sets into motion events that allow her to marry into royalty and gain worldly goods.
 
The first part of this movie comes out on november 17th I believe.

IMAX here I come! :extrahappy:
 
Interesting how a discussion of wizards can run the gamut from Merlin/ Ambrosius Aurelianus to this: you’ve been warned [Not Suitable For Anyone With An Ounce Of Self Respect Remaining]
 
Reservoir_Dog said:
I think they throw people off tall buildings. But I don’t really know, my eyes automatically defocus when I try to read that site.
Click to expand...
Yeah it seems just dumb. There is no point if you cannot fly, and we all know thats impossible. 😛
 
It seems that this thread was mostly centered around a few people who were dead set in their views and only started this thread to receive confirmation from others about their views. Which is rather sad seeing that legitimate points were made on both sides but there was a clear lack of dialogue between.

One thing I would like to mention is, if one has a problem with Harry Potter then why not apply that line of thinking to all the books your children are to read? And let’s not stop at the fantasy genre either. How about we take issue with the following which are often read in school curricula (therefore making is required, and not optional like HP):

(spoilers alert!)
(snarky and sarcasm alert!)
  1. Of Mice and Men. We have issues with fictional stories about kids battling evil, but for some reason we’re okay with allowing teens to read a story where in the end, a mentally challenged individual gets killed to be put out of their misery?
  2. Frankenstein. So no one has a problem with the fact that a man literally plays God, and creates a creature which wrecks havoc on those about him?
  3. Anything Edgar Allen Poe. The man’s writings reek of the macabre and melancholy, and I would not be surprised if I found out he was intoxicated most of the time he wrote these things.
  4. Romeo and Juliet. This young couple is clearly in rebellion against their parents which violates the commandment to “honor thy mother and father.”
  5. Hamlet. Can we say Oedipal complex? Even worse than R & J, as he has a hand in killing his mother and stepfather.
  6. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. There are sexual references and cultural practices which are considered immoral by Christian standards, such as the indirect killing of infants born in multiple births being left in the wilderness to die. And this isn’t a problem?
    7.Number the Stars. There’s deceitful behavior in this book, as a family lies to authority figures to house someone who is better described as a fugitive in their home.
  7. Anything Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her portrayal of Native Americans is offensive at best.
  8. Catcher in the Rye. Doesn’t anyone find issue with the fact that a young man (still under his parents’ care), leaves school, tries to bed a prostitute, and acts like a vagabond?
  9. The Great Gatsby. A man has an affair, his wife considers the prospect, the title character is materialistic, and in the end things get resolved with death.
  10. Brave New World. Hello, sexual promiscuity?
  11. Lord of the Flies. Can you really imagine the horror of a world which is run by the likes of primal-driven humans with little or no sense of moral establishment? (oh yeah that’s right, it already happens!)
  12. James and the Giant Peach. Acid trip!
  13. Matilda. A precocious child somehow ends up with telekinesis in order to teach her family, and others, lessons. That sounds rather demonic to me!
  14. Anything by Thoreau. Not paying your taxes, disrespecting your government, living off the grid?? Who does this man think he is??
  15. Huckleberry Finn. That says enough.
  16. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Why is this even poetry? True poetry always rhymes and follows a pattern, I don’t care what you say.
  17. Candide. It is so wrong on so many levels.
  18. Canterbury Tales, the Miller’s Tale more specifically. Kissing someone’s nether eye? That sounds salacious!
  19. And last of this list which is not comprehensive, In the Night Kitchen. How dare nudity be allowed.
We all know how susceptible children are to dangerous and evil influences-- why are we allowing them exposure to these rotten books?

:tsktsk:
 
I don’t know. I don’t read the harry potter books but I have seen each movie when it came out, and I will see the next two. I think its an entertaining series but they never affected me in a way where I would act out on it. I never even thought of it like that.

to me its like watching an entertaining movie, thinking ‘okay that was good’, then just being done with it. And watching the next one when it comes out. I never tried to act as if I was a wizard or witch or whatever. I knew at a young age those things were bad to act out on. I never saw harry potter as a bad influence unless the kids don’t know better, which I can understand would be the case. But I think the movies are entertaining. Yes they are about good and evil, but the GOOD always WINS over the evil! And that is always the best part of it. If anything it can be looked at like that. Just trying to say that harry potter never really touched me in a bad way. I never acted out on it or wanted to follow it. To me its a movie, and I know its fake, so I would never even think twice on it, but I can definitely try to understand for most little kids who would think ‘oh thats cool, lets try to play wizards’. So i understand that but just remember that in harry potter, the good always wins over the evil in the end. And that is the main message of the books anyways. Other than that its just entertaining. Most movies have good verses evil anyways. Even little kid series.

Almost every disney movie has a good character that fights the bad character and the good always wins in the end. Its the same to me. And when this next movie comes out, which is on the 17th I think, I will see it, and I bet ill like it, just like all the other movies in the series.
 
Thanks for posting the quotes. I’d heard the HP stuff was “bad” but it was nice to read what the church officials think about it.👍
 
atara said:
Thanks for posting the quotes. I’d heard the HP stuff was “bad” but it was nice to read what the church officials think about it.👍
Click to expand...
I think these days ‘evil’ is everywhere. In stores, you can see models dressing skimpy, or on tv, almost every channel shows something that has something considered evil in it. Same goes with music and movies.

but then again, god did warn us of this. and I think its definitely here. I believe if you look for evil, you can find it anywhere. Even where you would least expect it.
 
I have noticed a lot of the pretty innocent shows on PBS and Disney use magic regularly. Your take on that? To be honest, it kind of bothers me a little bit.🤷:confused:
 
atara said:
I have noticed a lot of the pretty innocent shows on PBS and Disney use magic regularly. Your take on that? To be honest, it kind of bothers me a little bit.🤷:confused:
Click to expand...
Isn’t there a show called wizards of waverly place that does that?

Same with the farily odd parents (which is a fun show for kids to watch, i used to, lol).

And yes, thats my point. There is evil ANYWHERE you go.

If you are looking for it, you are bound to find it, no doubt.
 
spunjalebi said:
…
17. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Why is this even poetry? True poetry always rhymes and follows a pattern, I don’t care what you say. …:
Click to expand...
Allow me to contribute Burma Shave ads to this list of Depravities.
 
Agreed. There is no accounting for taste. It’s like a dodgy big mac. It’s also faintly embarrassing to see adults falling over themselves to honour such tripe
 
One person’s tripe is another person’s haggis:D

Anyway what is more embarrassing is to see how far people will go to blast something that they really have no or little experience with. Couple that with the of use fallacious arguments to back their assertions all while ignoring the mounting evidence of things which are far more questionable, if not worse.

Harry Potter is optional reading. In the other hand, I’ve seen school curricula require reading of Mein Kampf. What is more problematic here?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top