Posted on 06/03/2004 9:38:49 AM PDT by BobbyBeeper
FIRST-PERSON: Is Harry Potter merely entertainment? Jun 2, 2004 By Phil Boatwright
"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" Photo courtesy of harrypotter.com
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (BP)--"I love Harry Potter. I think it would be so cool to be a witch," Sharon, age 11, says.
That's my answer to anyone who says J.K. Rowling's adventure series is harmless fantasy.
While the Harry Potter book and film series has held a hypnotic fascination for youngsters, its thematic foundation is troubling. Arguably, perceptive children can view such material without succumbing to the snare of the occult, but it would be naive to think that movies and TV programs containing witchcraft are not aiding the rise of Wicca in our culture.
In a television special titled "Hollywood Spirituality" which aired several years back on E! Entertainment, Raven Mounauni, a professing witch and owner of an occult paraphernalia store, credited the 1996 movie "The Craft" with inspiring young women to explore the world of witches. "I get a lot of teenage girls in here. You can always tell when 'The Craft' has been on TV, 'cause we get a big influx of girls looking for supplies."
Occult practices shouldn't be considered just diverting amusement. Ouija boards, psychic readers and other forms of misleading supernatural entertainment should not be taken lightly. In Leviticus 19:26 we are instructed, "Do not practice divination or sorcery." There are several warnings in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, making it clear that we are to avoid witchcraft or anything associated with the occult. So if God is instructing us to avoid occult practices, how can we justify using it to entertain ourselves?
This may not be a popular view right now. The first Harry Potter film installment earned $969 million worldwide. J.K. Rowlings' five books on the young wizard have become a phenomenon, allowing the author to become the richest woman in England, with assets beyond $1 billion. That would indicate that many parents find nothing wrong with these children's adventures.
There are even a couple of books out right now exclaiming parallels between the Potter books and the Gospel. One author suggests the books help relate Christian themes and truths, opening the door for talking about things such as right and wrong, the nature of faith, loyalty, bravery and trust. Honestly, I think that's a bit thin. Yes, Rowlings’ themes deal with honor, friendship and self-sacrifice, but the kids in Harry Potter gravitate to sorcery in order to accomplish these attributes. And even if there are positive elements associated with the series, you simply can't ignore the witchcraft equation.
Members of Wicca teach a philosophy that embraces no absolute truth or sin and replaces the patriarchal male creator God of the Bible with a belief in both male and female gods. Its credo instructs members to embrace spirits and conjure spells in order to control their lives and the lives of others. There are millions of practicing witches worldwide. Indeed, Wicca has become one of the fastest-growing religions in the world today.
OK, it's good that children are reading. But what is it they're reading? Shouldn't that be considered? When an author makes $1 billion on five books that have sorcery as a main theme, and renowned secular critics hail the films as incredible filmmaking without examining their occult roots, I question what's really behind this phenom.
Is it merely entertainment? Or is there a dark spiritual source feeding and supporting it? I realize that may sound like a stretch, but often Satan is most deceiving with a glossed-over package. Wouldn't it be a shame if kids got pulled into witchcraft, while their folks thought of the books and films as merely children's fantasy? --30-- Phil Boatwright is a film reviewer and editor of The Movie Reporter, on the Web at www.moviereporter.com. (BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKAB
At first glance, Harry Potter seems a noble little boy, one who will put his own life at risk to save his friends. He defends the weak, comforts the sad, and fights evil. But I found he also had a nasty propensity to flaunt school rules and to lie.
So, just because you sneak out after curfew or go to places you shouldn't, or tell lies to prevent much worse from happening, you're a symbol of evil? Nearly every teenager in America is screwed then. Who hasn't broke some minor rule or law? Who hasn't ever lied? Have you ever drove over the speed limit, forgot to wear your seat belt, passed on a double yellow line, cheated on a test, took a day off for work saying you were sick when you weren't, told your parents, children, siblings, or significan others a minor lie? If you say you haven't done any of these things, you are either a liar or a saint- I'm sure we'll know which one.
I spent a summer doing that at various clubs for extra cash.
Problem was, the drunker I got, the less "effective" a reader I was. ;-)
Sam may marry Rosie at the end and have a dozen children, but that's not family-oriented enough for some people.
Frightening? Sounds like the young fellow has an open-and-shut plagiarism lawsuit that should set him up for life.
That cold reading thing sounds like a great gimmick. How do you get people to pay you for that?
If you make some sort of homosexual reference to warlocks, I'll cast such a spell on you.
I'm not a fan of the Iliad. Never have been. That's just me. Mark Twain and Shakespeare did write about women, as I recall.
I find it interesting that several of you get upset when I discuss the manliness of British fantasy writers. Seems to be a sore point. I'm not trying to say they were gay, but I am trying to say their stories are juvenile.
The same way you get them to vote Democrat -- figure out how to tell them what they want to hear, and that someone or something else can be blamed for their problems.
There are some people who are just gullible.
Kind of like "Band of Brothers". Now that didn't have many women or kids in it did it?
Ahem. In LOTR and Middle Earth there is only one God, Illuvatar, IIRC. Illuvatar was served by lesser beings of his own creation, the Valar, which could be considered angels, devas, demigods, godlings, or whatever your imagination wanted to consider them (I just thought of them as Valar...). During the process of creation the greatest of the Valar rebelled. He became Morgoth and, at the end of the Second Age, he was defeated by the Valar and the Maiar and expelled from creation (the elves had been fighting fruitlessly with him throughout the First and Second ages).
Below the Valar in power were Maiar. Sauron was a Maiar in the service of Morgoth and survived Morgoth's fall to cause trouble in the third age. Gandolf, it is hinted at in the book and stated blatantly in the movie is a Maiar (I think in the Silmarillion it is hinted that Gandolph actually a Valar!). In any case, Gandolph's (and Sauron's) magic comes from himself.
Read the books: The Hobbit, LOTR, The Silmarilion, the Unfinshed Tales, etc. It would be a good use of your time. As soon as the girls can hold still for an episodic tale, their going to get the Hobbit (right after Wind in the Willows...).
Having never seen any in my almost 52 years, this statement seems to be demonstrably false.
How is this different from science?
Because science WORKS, and it's repeatable !
179: There is a reason why such fantasy is written by childless middle aged British men.
(Biograpical information of Tolkien's wife Edith of fifty-five years redacted)
So Tolkien had children. That in itself proves very little.
It proves you wrong.
Please, have mercy on me! I repent my evil ways and vow to end the life of all who practice witchcraft!
I guess I just don't see it... she doesn't look that attractive to me. Oh well, we all have our own tastes.
There really is no accounting for tastes. I think Ms. Balk is quite tasty indeed.
Because science WORKS, and it's repeatable !
That's my point: magic in the fictional world of Harry Potter is equivalent to science in the real world. There is nothing inherently good or evil in gravity or the second law of thermodynamics. Technology is not inherently good or evil. Guns are not inherently good or evil. It depends upon how they are used. In the HP books, magic is the same way.
Gandalf/Olorin is a Maia, not a Vala. He is of the same order as Sauron, Curunir (Saruman), and Melian (Arwen's great-great-grandmother, I believe).
Fine. Many feel that way. No problem with that opinion. But why say there are no family relationships in the books or imply that Tolken is asexual or homosexual?
Or more laughable yet, why say that British men from that era treated their wives like Muslim men do? LOL!
Sex and romance are not required in every story, nor is pure male fantasy unworthy of reading. But 1500 pages without a mother and child doing anything domestic seems to be an example of obsessive avoidance. I just find it boring. Makes me wonder where all these people came from.
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