Progressive Values And Diversity
Time magazine said in 2005, “Rowling adapts an inherently conservative genre for her own progressive purposes. Her Hogwarts is secular and sexual and multicultural and multiracial and even sort of multimedia, with all those talking ghosts.” To mark the French publication of Deathly Hallows, prominent French center-left paper Liberation devoted the front cover and two more pages to answering the question “Why Harry Potter is of the Left”.
In 2007, responding to a question from a child about Dumbledore‘s love life, Rowling revealed, “I always saw Dumbledore as gay.” Filling in a few more details, she said, “Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald…. Don’t forget, falling in love can blind us. was very drawn to this brilliant person. This was Dumbledore’s tragedy.”
According to Think Progress, a progressive news site, conservative blogs say Rowling’s revelation about Dumbledore vindicates Jerry Falwell‘s attacks on homosexuality in children’s media that were lambasted by the mass media. “What’s stopping her from saying that Neville grows up to be a paedophile?” said David Baggett, an associate philosophy professor at Falwell’s Liberty University‘s School of Religion. Baggett, who coauthored the book Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts, says he was taken aback not only by Rowling’s announcement, but by the fact that it came on the heels of her confirming many Potter fans’ belief that the series had Christian themes.
Because Of That He Treated His Friends Like Garbage
It’s time to get real for a second. Neville Longbottom is the true MVP. He lost nearly everything to Voldemort, and yet during the most dangerous time at Hogwarts, Neville didn’t run off to camp in the woods. No, he stood up to Voldemort, cut off the head of a snake, and more importantly, worked to protect the students of Hogwarts during a time when they were basically being tortured for disagreeing with the teaching staff.
Do you know who didn’t care about all of that? Harry Potter, that’s who. Harry was so wrapped up in his own need to be the one to stop Voldemort that he didn’t seem to care that all of his wizarding friends were basically trapped in a juvenile wizard prison. Sure, he was on an on-going mission to destroy the Horcruxes and make sure that Voldemort could die for good… but he spent half the time on that mission insisting that his friends didn’t have to join him. Let’s look at this. Ron is the youngest son of two well-known Muggle sympathizers and Hermione is, according to the views of the Death Eaters, a disgrace to the entire wizard community. His friends are in trouble, but Harry just whines and yells and tries to ignore the two people in his life who are willing to risk everything in order to help him. Shame on you, Harry Potter.
He Kept The Elder Wand
When Harry gets the Elder Wand, he does the right thing. To prevent more bloodshed and more people who are desperate to get their hands on it, he snaps it. Good on you, Harry! Someone had to do it.
But why didnt Dumbledore?
Because of Dumbledore, Voldemort ended up with his hands on it. It all worked out in the end, but Dumbledore couldnt have known it would come to that for all the decades that he held onto that wand. He would have done so many people a favor in the past if hed had the guts to snap it but he didnt because on some level, he wanted the power.
This goes back to him once having the ideology that magic trumps all else. You were shady, Dumbledore. You were shady at best.
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What Was Missing From Me
It’s a big question to ask based on a series of books about a boy wizard. But let’s go with it for a second.
A few years back I was with a partner, and we were book shopping for her nephew.
We looked at loads of different books. I’d gotten to know her nephew just a little bit, and I had some pretty good ideas of what he might like. But each book I suggested, my partner would read the description and say, “…No. Not quite.”
After we did this with half a dozen titles, she put one down and said, “I think he wants something mysterious. Like an adventure. Something that makes him think there’s still exciting adventures out there in the world. Something like Harry Potter.”
As a librarian, you start to recognize something in people. Once in a while, when talking about books, people will say something very guarded about themselves. Something about how they want the world to be.
When I heard my partner say that, I heard that voice. The voice that says, “This is what I want the world to be like.”
She didn’t believe there was adventure in the real world. But she wanted to. And she wanted a book to do that. The way Harry Potter had for her.
This is where my problem comes in. I don’t believe in magic. And when I talk about magic here, I’m talking about it in broad terms.
I’ve never been very interested in fantasy, and I think that has a lot to do with the kind of person I am. A sad, cynical person.
In Harry Potter, there’s something a tiny, weak character can do to save the world.
Accusations Of Conservative And Sexist Themes
The critic Anthony Holden wrote in The Observer on his experience of judging Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for the 1999 Whitbread Awards. His overall view of the series was negativeâ”the Potter saga was essentially patronising, very conservative, highly derivative, dispiritingly nostalgic for a bygone Britain.” A review in The Guardian echoed this interpretation and stated that “despite all of the books’ gestures to multiculturalism and gender equality, Harry Potter is a conservative a paternalistic, One-Nation Tory, perhaps, but a Tory nonetheless.”Salon.com critic Christine Schoefer has also criticised the books as sexist, claiming that the series presents a patriarchal world filled with stereotypes and adherence to “the conventional assumption that men do and should run the world”.
When an interviewer suggested her books portrayed a conservative world, Rowling replied, “So I’m told repeatedly. The two groups of people who are constantly thanking me are Wiccans and boarding schools. And really, don’t thank me. I’m not with either of them. New ageism leaves me completely cold, and would never go to boarding school. I went to a comprehensive.”
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Subversive And Anarchistic Message
Gerson of the Washington Post also described what he considered to be the very subversive nature of the Harry Potter books in the answer they offer to death. Voldemort believes that death must be mastered and “beaten”. In contrast, Harry accepts the necessity of his own death for the sake of love. Gerson also suggests that some will ask the book series about tolerance also be a book series about religion. He answers that many others “believe â not in spite of their faith but because of it â that half-bloods, werewolves and others should be treated with kindness and fairness. Above all, believers are called to love, even at the highest cost.”
In a 1999 interview with Rowling, The Guardian Unlimited‘s Joanna Carey said, “JK Rowling is every bit as witty and subversive as you’d expect. Rowling described her admiration of Jessica Mitford since age 14, her time at Exeter University “not quite the chance to be the ‘radical’ I planned”, and said the later books dealing with Harry’s hormones, and deaths would be unlike other children’s series like the Famous Five. Carey suggested a parallel between Harry Potter and Prince Harry which Rowling laughs off saying a friend said never let the press make you discuss the royal family.”
Neoliberal And Capitalist Values
In an article published in prominent French newspaper Le Monde, literary scholar Ilias Yocaris argued that Harry Potter “probably unintentionally … appears as a summary of the social and educational aims of neoliberal capitalism.” According to Yocaris’ analysis, all life at Hogwarts is dominated by a culture of competition: “competition among students to be prefect competition among Hogwarts houses to gain points competition among sorcery schools to win the Triwizard tournament and, ultimately, the bloody competition between the forces of Good and Evil.” The free market plays a prominent and positive role, while the state is presented as inefficient and bureaucratic. In this “pitiless jungle”, education only aims to “give students an immediately exploitable practical knowledge that can help them in their battle to survive,” while artistic subjects and social sciences are useless or absent. Yocaris concludes that “like Orwelliantotalitarianism, this capitalism tries to fashion not only the real world, but also the imagination of consumer-citizens,” producing literature that suggests that no alternative is possible. In an article published in Journal of Contemporary Religion, Michael Ostling also argued that the series depicts a modern capitalist and consumerist society, where the role of gadgetry is played by magic. The article by Yocaris provoked the response by Isabelle Smadja cited previously.
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Center For Science In The Public Interest
A worldwide campaign to “save Harry Potter from the clutches of the Coca-Cola Company” was launched by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. The group says that by aggressively marketing sugar- and caffeine-laden drinks to young fans of the Harry Potter series, Coke is helping fuel the childhood obesity epidemic.
Conservative Objections To Liberal And Socialist Values
The right-wing U.S. John Birch Society has objected to Rowling’s books and her public statements. In his article for the John Birch Society’s magazine The New American, Constitution Party Communications Director Steve Bonta compared Harry Potter negatively to The Lord of the Rings, saying, “The Potter books read in places like diatribes against the modern middle class, especially whenever Harry confronts his ludicrously dysfunctional and downright abusive adopted family, the Dursleys.”
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Harry Potter Fandom In 2021 Is More Complicated Than Ever
Image by IGN artist Amanda Flagg.
What It Means to Be Trans
The word trans is an umbrella-term that people often use to describe themselves when the gender they identify with doesnt match the biological sex they were assigned at birth.
- Some may choose to identify as binary trans men or trans women, whereas others may opt for non-binary, genderfluid, agender, or whatever identity best reflects their personal experience.
- Trans people may choose to transition by changing their appearance, adopting new pronouns, or using medical assistance.
Learn more at HRC.org
Dont Deserve: Cho Chang
Cho Chang is one of the supporting characters that isnt well-liked by fans and that most characters in the book dont seem to like that much either. This is really unfortunate because she never did anything that bad.
It seemed like most fans liked her until she ended up not being a great romantic match for Harry. Much of the hate directed towards her just seems to come from her being a love interest rather than because she is a bad character.
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Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
In the second instalment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling introduces Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of a teenage Voldemort that resides inside a magical diary found by Ginny Weasley. In this book, Ginny is written as a shy girl with a crush on Harry. Feeling anxious and lonely, she begins to write into the diary and shares her deepest fears with the sympathetic Tom. However, at the climax of the story, when Riddle rearranges the letters in his name to write I am Lord Voldemort, Riddle is revealed as a magical manifestation of the boy who would later grow up to become the Dark Lord. Riddle states he has grown strong on Ginnys fears and eventually possesses her, using her as a pawn to unlock the Chamber of Secrets, whence a basilisk is set free and petrifies several Hogwarts students. Harry defeats the manifestation of Riddle from the diary and the basilisk. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Albus Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the diary was one of Voldemorts Horcruxes.
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Because The Golden Trio’s Mental Health Is Not Explored At All
Of course, the Epilogue is only a few pages long and focuses in on the happy occasion of the Golden Trio’s children heading off to Hogwarts. But there is something off about the fact that Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s mental health is not discussed at all. Millennials are part of a generation who are more open about the importance mental health care than ever before, so ignoring any PTSD, anxiety or depression these beloved characters might have felt after their decidedly harrowing ordeal rings false. Yes, 2016’s The Cursed Child delves deeper into adult Harry’s state of mind, but imagine the powerful impact this discussion would have had on a generation of teens and pre-teens finishing this story back in 2011.
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Make The Most Of The New Year
For those who are eager for the new year to arrive, there are some ways to make sure the opportunity doesnt slip past.
It shouldnt be a surprise that a rock-solid plan is the foundation of it all, rather than fortune-cookie-style wishful thinking.
Once you have established an understanding of why your resolution is important, the next step is to create a strategy and to identify the tools that will help you manifest what you want, said Author and Speaker Tony Robbins. Without a plan, your resolution will remain a pipe dream. To make your goal reality, put pen to paper. Commit yourself even further and write it down for yourself to review every day this year,
A bit of rational optimism can go a long way, according to some leaders in the business world. Theres no denying that the new year offers a chance to reset, recharge, and get to work.
If youre going all-in on a new years plan, you might as well make it detailed and give it your best effort, said Cody Candee, Founder and CEO of Bounce. Set up a daily schedule if that helps, and self-audit to make sure youre minimizing wasted time. Map out goals for each week and month, and reflect on what you did well or where you need improvement. Treat it as a serious project, because thats what your life is! If we prioritize our well-being and personal goals as highly as our work and family responsibilities, wed all be happier and healthier people.
Vernon And Petunia Dursley
We know the awful Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon are Harry’s protection against those Death Eaters who want to do Harry harm, but couldn’t our hero’s first years have at least been a little more pleasant? Thanks, Dumbledore.
Petunia hates the fact that her dear dead sister, Lily, turned out to be a witch, and Petunia thinks she was a freak. Therefore, she shows Harry absolutely no love. Vernon is a blowhard who resents the fact that they have to look after Petunia’s weird nephew and does everything in his power to make Harry’s life miserable, including shoving him into a tiny space under the stairs. And boy do they flip out when Harry brings magic into the house. It’s like their worst nightmare come true, and there’s nothing they can do about it. The older Harry gets, the more satisfying it is when he wields his power over them and watches them lose their minds. They really do give Muggles a bad name.
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Some Conservative Christians Opposed Harry Potter As A Gateway To The Occult Others Sounded A Note Of Caution
Dobson was far from the only conservative Christian leader who sounded a warning about the books. Just a quick Google search turns up articles, books, websites, andotherresourceswarning families away from the books and movies because of their connection to witchcraft. A Jack Chick tract called The Nervous Witch, about Wicca and witchcraft, even features a character who says she got into the craft through the Harry Potter books.
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In several states, parents sought to have the books removed from schools, suggesting in some cases that they were connected to Wicca and thus their inclusion in school libraries violated the separation of church and state.
Others, however, were more measured than Dobson and those who suggested Christian families shun the books.
Chuck Colson, the former Nixon administration official who became an evangelical leader, initially praised the books on his own radio broadcast in 1999. If your kids do develop a taste for Harry Potter and his wizard friends, Colson said, this interest might just open them up to an appreciation for other fantasy books with a distinctly Christian worldview.
But seven years later, he had changed his mind without going so far as to outright decry them he said that while he didnt personally recommend the books or movies to Christian families, they were a good opportunity to teach children to exercise discernment that is, to examine them critically through the lens of their faith.
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