Cockrell sites several clumsily formed opinions on why the American religious right condemns fantasy, specifically Harry potter. He says that Harry Potter mixes reality and fantasy instead of making a clean break. However, he fails to acknowledge that "The Lion, the With and the Wardrobe" was a box office hit with the American religious right, and it also combined fantasy and reality. "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" was lauded by the religious right because the characters referred to humans as "sons of Adam," a reference to the book of Genesis in the Old Testament. If that line had not been in the story then the American public would likely have treated it the same way they treated Harry Potter. If J.K.Rowling had simply made Harry Potter's scar in the shape of a cross or had the students say Christians prayers before eating then the religious right would have embraced the series.
Cockrell also muses that if the title of the first Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" hadn't been changed to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" it might have helped the American public to understand that J.K. Rowling intended the use of magic in her stories to be a sort of science, and then the Christian right wouldn't have confused J.K.Rowling's magic with demonic sorcery. This statement ignores the reason the title was changed. The title was changed because marketers understood the extent to which anti-intellectualism pervades American culture. Americans, particularly the religious right, view philosophy as nerdy, geeky, suspicious and uncool. The book "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life" by Richard Hofstadter paints a clear picture of how Christianity and isolationism have caused the American religious right to view the world in black and white, good and bad, us and them. The only reasons American Christians needed to hate Harry Potter was that he wasn't explicitly Christian, and he used magic.
The other major factor that Cockrell overlooks is that since American Christians don't look at the world logically, systematically or objectively they have left themselves suseptible to the influence of charismatic leaders who have learned that the easiest way to motivate ignorant people is to prey on their fears. Leaders of the American political right (which is synonymous with the American religous right) have a consistent track record of demonizing outside groups to motivate their followers, and their followers, in turn, have a consistent track record of falling for it. Harry Potter was an easy target for the fear mongers in America to whip up a contrived contraversy around, and they made a lot of money preaching against Harry Potter from the pulpits. Cockrell points out that a 6 DVD set analyzing the demonic nature of Harry Potter was sold in America. That set wasn't sold to save souls. It was sold to make a profit, but in order to sell those DVDs someone needed to get Christians scared of Harry Potter first.
Frankly, I don't think Cockrell understands what he's talking about.
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
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