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| Harry Potter. An international literary phenomenon or one woman's attempt to brainwash youth? |
Questioning what it is about Harry Potter that makes a Christian fundamentalist draw so much contempt for this literary phenomenon Cockrell (2004), is quick to draw parallels between the magic seen in Harry Potter and the magic from Cinderella, Glinda the Good Witch and Gandalf the Grey and wonders what it is about this boy and his story, that sets it apart from the long literary history of magic in fantasy fiction.
Could it be the popularity (perhaps far too disseminated for the bible lovers of the world) that shifts the focus of ‘censorship efforts from sex to the occult’ in Harry Potter (Cockrell, 2004)? Alternately, it could be the presence of a fantasy world residing in the back door of reality as Rowling has a contemporary London setting for her novels, rather than a mystic far away setting that is nothing like it is here. Offering up also, the way that one cannot escape the ‘magic’ and ‘at any moment it may manifest itself’ evidenced in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone and the relentless way of informing Harry that he is, indeed a wizard (Rowling via Cockerell 2004).
Cockerell has to take literal the Christian fundamentalists belief of the ‘monsters and miracles’ that are in the bible in order to argue that ‘Harry Potter’s subversive placement within perceived fact...makes him so slippery and troublesome to readers’ (2004). This bridge between fantasy and reality leads one to believe that ‘if art may make the unreal real, it may also disguise the real as fiction and teach witchcraft in the guise of fantasy’ (Cockerell, 2004). Clearly this idea frightens those who oppose the idea of magic, good or evil, and also frightens those who require answers, but is quick to note that ‘In Rowlings world, the answer is not [going to be the same] everytime’ (2004).
Cockerell, A. (2004) Harry Potter and the Witch Hunters: a social context for the attacks on Harry Potter. The Journal of American Culture, Vol 29, No 1
Rowling, J,K. (1997) Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. Bloomsbury.
Hey Catherine,
ReplyDeleteI also choose to look at why fundamentalist Christians, mainly in the United States, condemn the fantasy genre (Cockrell, 2004). And as you have said, it may indeed have a relationship with the shift in censorship during the 1980s, creating a shift in the public moral panic of censorship issues from plain ‘sex’ to the likes of more obscure issues (Cockrell, 2004).
It was also interesting to note that Christian parents in Cockrells (2004) research tend to associate imaginary/fantastic ideas with the devil, and an evil force “ready to swallow up the hapless child”. While in other religions and/or continents, ideas of imaginary forces, especially imagery friends, are considered a blessing, like in India for example.
Again, I think we need to link at the definitions of fantasy, and how they vary across history and cross-culturally.
REFERENCE
Cockrell, A. (2004) Harry Potter and the Witch Hunters; a social context for the attacks on Harry Potter. The Journal of American Culture, Vol 29, No 1