Why does the religious right in the US Condemn fantasy, according to Cockrell? On what grounds does Cockrell defend fantasy literature using harry potter?
Cockrell (2004) states that, “another prevailing belief among fundamentalist parents is that fantasy equals deceit, that fantasy and storytelling “will lead to lying and other deceitful behavior,” and this factor combines with the necessity “to protect their children from evil forces in the fantasy world” (p.g, 25).
I think the religious right in America are (or were) afraid of Harry Potter becoming an allegory of a new religion, like the tree was for the Navi in Avatar (which also raised concerns). Anything that challenges or doesn’t not conform to traditional Western Christian beliefs is often viewed as heretical, and they saw HP as a tool by which children were able to learn ‘deceitful behavior’. Harry Potter may have been about a 10ry old boy wizard, but the novel itself also appealed to adults because they probably viewed it as a fantasy novel as opposed to a child’s fantasy novel. But isn’t HP JUST a fantasy novel? Such a broad readership allowed HP to transcend into cult status.
The Christian Right believed that America’s pop culture has a detrimental effect on traditional morality, and HP only increased their efforts to have all things HP; who they saw as having un-Christian beliefs (Nexon & Neumann, 2006) ‘removed’ from the “hostile mass media” (Nexon & Neumann. p.g, 80) to avoid the possibility of their children falling victim to the un-Christian influences that pervasive on TV, radio, books and in schools.
What makes HP a threat to children in terms of religion is that he is a child, who although in the books is portrayed as such, in the movies we see Harry grow from a young boy into a young man who often lives in the normal world (Cockrell, 2004). And in reality, if a child grows up ‘with’ HP in a sense that he is reading every adventure Harry takes off on, there is probably a concern the child will in turn mimic what Harry does (Cockrell, 2004) or they may begin to question their religious beliefs under the notion that magic/sorcery is a form of religion in itself.
Cockrell (2004) attempts to defend criticism of Rowlings use of fantasy in HP by hinting that changing the title (American title) robbed readers understanding of the difference between Rowlings ‘science’ and magic, though I doubt it had little effect. Tumminio (2011) is a priest, theologian and writer who believes people need to look beyond the withcraft and “consider other tenets of Christian thought” i.e sacrifice, salvation to clearly understand Harry Potter. She and two friends created a syllabus aptly named Christian Theology and Harry Potter, where each week students would ready 250 pages of the book alongside the 150-200 pages of theology.
As a result student crammed to enroll, students who were the first generation to grow up with the HP series on their dressers. Her students were from all religious backgrounds ranging from secular Jews, agnostics, atheists, mormons and even Christians and Roman Catholics from all levels of study, who all shared a passion for the HP series. She found that throughout the course of the semester, through all analytical discussions of the text series, her students displayed an impressive amount of tolerance who she believes Rowling had hoped for the wizarding world; Slytherins, Gryffindors, atheists, roman catholics etc seated side by side and “united by their commonalities instead of separated by their distance” (Tumminio, 2011). I appreciated the fact that the students were able to approach the series without the barriers of religion, and look at it from a personal perspective as mature minded people.
To quote Cockrell (2004), “Harry frightens only those who want the answers to be the same every time the question is asked. In Rowling’s world, the answer is not the same” (p.g 29).
References
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.
Nexon, D. H., & Neumann, I. B. (2006). Harry Potter and International Relations. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
Tumminio, E. D. (2011, July 12). The Theology of Harry Potter. Retrieved October 19, 2011, from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/jul/12/harry-potter-theology-christian-thought
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